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Dive Reports > 4/26-28/2002. DIR Fundamentals. Dave Dalton
The weekend of April 26-28th found Nova Tech Divers Todd Clagett, Allyson Clagett & Dave Dalton involved in the DIR Fundamentals Class, taught by Andrew Georgitsis for the VB Tech group. As regular divers with VB Tech, Todd, Allyson & Dave were included when the class was formed several months ago. This report is intended to give you a flavor of the class, not to try to pass on what was taught. This
class is not for the purpose of collecting another piece of "plastic"
but rather, as it's name implies, teaching the fundamentals of the DIR
way of diving. It has, for the most part, become a prerequisite for other
courses offered by GUE. It deals with equipment configuration, philosophical
approach to diving methodology as well as in-water hands-on practical
exercises. Class was made up of divers with between 4 and 40 years diving
experience with 80 to 1000 plus dives, and depths ranging from Class began Friday evening at 7 pm and continued until approximately 11 pm that night. Many of us originally expected that the lecture wouldn't be much more than "long hose on the right post" yada yada yada..... however, we were all surprised and amazed at the depth of the information provided and the detail into which Andrew went. Subject matter included buoyancy, trim, dive planning, wreck diving problems, dive teams and on and on, with an approach we had never before seen or heard. The next morning it was a long drive to Lake Rawlings. After arriving we went over the plans for the day and then started right in. We spent the next several hours going over each piece of gear from the fit of your drysuit undergarment to the attachment of your spool to your lift bag/surface marker. A pile of unnecessary clips, attachments and the like grew as Andrew went over each persons gear surgically removing the offending items. After a while it started looking a bit like an operating room as Andrew would say "What's this for?" to which the response was "mumble...mumble...mumble" to which Andrew's response was, with an outstretched hand, "Knife!" and quickly the offending item was removed with surgical precision. Luckily the changes were relatively minor, no "double bondage wings" or "shower head" regs were anywhere to be seen, however, it is rumored that one participant bought a new set of Jet Fins Friday night after Andrew spoke about the negatives of split fins. Andrew's ability to articulate the reasoning behind the where's and the why's of gear configuration were so spectacular that in no time the class size had grown from 10 to close to 40! Divers, instructors and the like stopped what they were doing and started listening and in some cases changing their gear! There was one fellow in a yellow drysuit that stood off to the side for the better part of an hour listening and each time Andrew said something about gear placement he would check his and try to change it to what Andrew was saying! After two hours of gear configuration and lecture we hit the water. We were split into teams with Andrew taking half of the class and Mike Kane who assisted him taking the other half. A wreck reel line had been laid in a circular pattern and we were instructed to work on various kicks while maintaining trim and neutral buoyancy. Andrew and Mike would observe and then pull a team off to the side and put them through various drills. We quickly learned that it is one thing to maintain neutral buoyancy while swimming around in a circle but quite another to do so while being task loaded! Andrew's presence alone was often enough to make one's buoyancy go to hell! After an hour in the water we broke for lunch for an hour and then back to it for another hour. Following this we headed back to JT's house where his "better half", Nancy, had prepared a wonderful dinner for us all. The meal would have been much more pleasant if we hadn't been forced to watch U/W videos of our performance that day. Oh, didn't we mention, there was a cameraman taping all the mistakes! Class
ran until about 11 pm and resumed the next morning at Davis Lake, which
was picked due to it's closer proximity. Day three started with more detailed
lectures on wreck diving approaches, gas Then
it was off to the water for some more abuse. Water skills had improved
a bit but there was more and new task-loading to keep one humble. Following
the dives we once again headed back to JT's for some more of Nancy's great
cooking and were once again assaulted by videos of our mistakes. Following
that came still more lectures. Class broke up at about 4:30 as Andrew
and Mike headed off to the airport and Todd, Allyson and Dave headed back
to DC. Participant's Comments: " I appreciate the no-nonsense approach Andrew and Mike took during the class and I want to thank them for being frank and honest with us. It was nice being told about our shortcomings instead of just being patronized so everyone 'passes' a class. I like the fact that there is no 'c-card' to add to the pile of plastic because the only goals were to learn and become safer divers. I
know two days was not enough to fix all the stuff that we were doing wrong,
and I am definitely not "GUE's DIR Fundamentals class is incredibly challenging to those who have received their certifications with a "pat on their head" and a tour of the diving environment in which they wish to be certified. There is no such patronizing in the Fundamentals class. It is also challenging to seasoned divers with God knows how many dives under their belt. ANYONE will benefit from a Fundamentals class whether your goal is to dive on shallow reefs, deep wrecks, or back in a cave. The skills and techniques are inherent for ALL good diving. *Gear aside*, I jumped on the opportunity to take the class because I was looking for the information that would help me develop precision and finesse in the water and I was not disappointed. I found that this precise and tactful diving style is in 1) the placement of gear on your person and 2)the subtle technique of your body's motion. These facets are a great portion of the class. We
were loaded down with all kinds of new information and skills, hence most
of us did poorly in trying to execute these learned skills. Not meeting
the basic standards of this class does not mean you cannot dive. But let
it be known, I for one (and I know my dive buddies agree), believe that
these skills are essential to safe, stress-free diving and we plan to
change our practice regimen and diving styles. We plan to practice these
rudimentary skills until we can do them without having to think. We will
also incorporate all that we learned into well thought out, well planned,
and well executed dives. There is no other option for us. This is *fundamental*
to fun safe dives." I
look forward to doing Tech 1 with them when I have developed my skills
to the appropriate level and truly appreciate them for directing me down
the right path." © 2002 Nova Tech/Northern
Virginia's Technical Diving Community |
