DIR-F Buoyancy requirements/drills?

[DevonDiver]

Hi guys,

I've been interested in DIR stuff for a while now, having dived on Brian's boat a few times in 2006. Sadly, I'm now stuck working on a remote island in the Gulf of Thailand, without access to any DIR training (Gideon visited for a talk once, but no courses here yet) or access to enough money to travel away for training.

Anyhows...I've read a few DIR books, lots of net articles and seen the GUE and 5thFX (?) dvds, but I really wanted some more information for my own self-development. In particular, I wanted to work on my buoyancy skills (which I do daily in both recreational and tech diving). Are there any particular drills used to improve buoyancy on the DIR-F (or subsequent) courses and what standards are expected (I'd like a yardstick to measure myself against). i.e. how do GUE instructors teach their buoyancy?

Cheers!

[GLOC]

Originally Posted by DevonDiver

How do GUE instructors teach their buoyancy?

In the water

You should have got hold of Rich (Walker) while he was out your way recently, he came back from the Far East this monday, jammy git

[RichW]

Originally Posted by GLOC

In the water

You should have got hold of Rich (Walker) while he was out your way recently, he came back from the Far East this monday, jammy git

I'd be more than happy to go back

Rich

[Mal Bridgeman]

For buoyancy - Proper weighting, balanced config, no unnecessary movements, controlled relaxed breathing .... just like everyone else. Fundamentals requirement is within 0.5m of the target depth.

For trim - 30 degrees to the horizontal for a Rec pass and 20 degrees for a Tech pass. Students spend a lot of the course close to a reference point learning to maintain a "geo-stationary" position. Although 20 and 30 sounds a lot, it definitely requires work. During finning it is much easier to get flatter trim but the natural reaction of many divers, when they stop finning, is to drop their knees and adopt a 45degree attitude.

The problem with that is that if a buddy has a problem and you need to swim toward them to help, then your first kick will take you shallower. Your buddy's kick will do the same thing, so at least you meet and can resolve the problem ..... but you now have a buoyancy issue to deal with

The flatter you are, the less the buoyancy change.

Students get videoed to understand how their attitude in the water measures up to their mental image and the instructor will help the student dip forward to get closer to the required trim. Each time progress is reviewed on video. When a student can feel what flat/near flat feels like it's much easier to re-establish. Keeping it when things don;t go so well can take a little longer though.

HTH
Mal

BTW Books, internet and videos don't compare to the real thing though

[Mal Bridgeman]

Originally Posted by RichW

I'd be more than happy to go back

Rich

Will they let you?
Mal

[MartyC]

Originally Posted by Mal Bridgeman

For buoyancy -
The flatter you are, the less the buoyancy change.

B#llocks, I thought it said "the fatter you are" - penny drops

[neilh]

Originally Posted by GLOC

he came back from the Far East this monday, jammy git

Not sure coming back was jammy, jammy would have been staying out there for even longer

[Mark Chase]

Originally Posted by DevonDiver

Hi guys,

I've been interested in DIR stuff for a while now, having dived on Brian's boat a few times in 2006. Sadly, I'm now stuck working on a remote island in the Gulf of Thailand, without access to any DIR training (Gideon visited for a talk once, but no courses here yet) or access to enough money to travel away for training.

Anyhows...I've read a few DIR books, lots of net articles and seen the GUE and 5thFX (?) dvds, but I really wanted some more information for my own self-development. In particular, I wanted to work on my buoyancy skills (which I do daily in both recreational and tech diving). Are there any particular drills used to improve buoyancy on the DIR-F (or subsequent) courses and what standards are expected (I'd like a yardstick to measure myself against). i.e. how do GUE instructors teach their buoyancy?

Cheers!

Simple answer is get a buddy to video you doing skills on the hover. It will show up all the areas of improvement needed.

Its the most powerfull teaching tool there is.

ATB

Mark

[Mal Bridgeman]

Originally Posted by Mark Chase

Simple answer is get a buddy to video you doing skills on the hover. It will show up all the areas of improvement needed.

Its the most powerfull teaching tool there is.

ATB

Mark

I certainly agree with the first bit but I am not so sure that just knowing what the gap is between your current performance and your desired performance is all you need to know to fix it.

It presumes you already know how to get and maintain the trim you desire, which I don't think is the case, in most people I've discussed it with.

Rgrds
Mal

[Mark Chase]

Originally Posted by Mal Bridgeman

I certainly agree with the first bit but I am not so sure that just knowing what the gap is between your current performance and your desired performance is all you need to know to fix it.

It presumes you already know how to get and maintain the trim you desire, which I don't think is the case, in most people I've discussed it with.

Rgrds
Mal

True


But I do remember being on DIRF and thinking i was flat as a board till i saw the video. Had the instructor just told me my trim wasent flat id have thaught he was being hard on me.

It was very dificult to argue with the video footage

ATB

Mark