DIR-F Advice please

[Helen F H]

Originally Posted by And

Hi

275 meters in 14 minutes

I hope thats along the surface and not down (joking! )

[andy b]

Hi Helen

Adam posted a few wise words on DIR-F sometime ago, have a peak here.

Hope you enjoy the course.

andy

[graham_hk]

My advice is go somewhere warm - Did I mention I live in tropical paradise?

Failing that I would do nothing specific before the course you are much more likely to pick up bad habits rather than gain anything. I am sure you will do well I have seen guys with 20 dives do better than those with 1000s. Go with an open mind and enjoy!


Graham

[Mystery Dive bum]

Hi Helen
If i could give only one piece of advice to you it would be to practice before you go.Me and some members of my club spent a few days up in Cappy doing some skills and giving feedback (not always constructive) on each others performance.Although the instructors don't recommend you do any prep i would tend to disagree as i was comfortable with my kit and still had to do a re-assessment.
If you can get hold of anyone who has GUE training get them to run through a few basic skills with you and it will all be less of a shock on your first dive.
Good luck and enjoy yourself (who am i kidding)
Neil

[CALLISTO]

apart from all the other good advice...Read fundamentals of better diving, get your kit together and get familiar with it.

NO new kit and using it for the first on the course!!

last but not least its a couple of long days no time to go for food etc take some high energy drinks/bars and sandwichs

Andy

[Davey Willo]

If you were to ask Mike Kane and others you may be told that you don't need to be prepared, after all its fundamentals and they would rather teach you from the start rather than you have to unlearn poorly practised skills.

Well I have to disagree with this, fundamentals is pretty intense, your taught to work as a three man team from the get go and if your bouyancy control, trim or awareness skills are lacking in anyway you're going to have a tough time.

My personal thoughts are that if you're comfortable in the water, comfortable with your equipment, happy with controlled ascents/descents etc then you'll take a lot more from the class then if you're struggling or overwhelmed by whats going on.

Don't get me wrong Porg, I'm not trying to scare you, this isn't Tech 1 and the instructor (No doubt Mr Walker in this instant) takes account of that, so errors are expected, failure to achieve tasks in the water is expected, but what I am saying is that you'll have a better chance of success if you are, to a certain extent, prepared.

I agree with the comment of getting in with some GUE divers, that way you shouldn't be practising anything incorrectly and you'll have a better chance of feeling more relaxed when it comes time to do it all for real in the class.

I'll go practise with you anytime you want mate, just gimme a shout and we'll get it on.

Don't worry about fundy, as Andy say's you'd have to be a proper gimp to fail completely, but you may get a provisional pass which just means go away and practise XY or Z and then we'll have an evaluation dive later on to pass you.

[Rick Huggins]

Helen, as the others have said really.

Go with an open mind, learn what you can and be prepared to be dis-heartened on the Saturday night and inspired on the Sunday; Pro or Full pass

Remember to fill out the student application form from the GUE website, print it off and take it along.

Bring your swimming kex and good luck mate

Edit: Just read Willo's post and totally agree. I was advised just to go and take from it what I could. In hindsight I wish I had trained with GUE divers prior to the course to get more a feel for the skills and team work etc!

[Al_Star]

Hi Porg,

The advice I'd give is practise your bouyancy!

- Practice in the rig you'll dive in beforehand concentrating on buoyancy control. Do a mask clear and see if you change depth. Do a full mask removal and replace and see what happens.

Myself and Rick have tried spending a couple of minutes just relaxing at the start of the dive and settling the bouyancy while hovering over a platform before we started skills. You're much more in tune then - gradually we're spending less time getting it dialed in at the start of the dive.

- Make sure you try your bouyancy while stationary in the right position (i.e knees bent fins parallel to surface, body horizontal). Finning can cover up bad bouyancy.

If you've got that sorted and are hovering horizontally in the water and are basically comfortable the rest isn't too bad.

Everyone's kind of mentioned everything else I can think of.

It's well worth doing fundy's even if you don't feel ready - it points you in the right direction and then you can start practising everything in the "correct" way

Cheers
Al

[And]

Depending on the mix between single cylinder and twinset divers, you will be doing at least 4 dives of between 30 mins and 45 mins each, but usually only a short surface interval which means you may be in the suit for quite a while.

On the recent DPV workshop at Capernwray the water was 6 degC and the cold makes you want to pee

Andy

[adam]

Hi,

Just to add to all the wise words above, whether you practice or not is up to you, but go with an open mind!

Despite rumours to the contrary(!) there is often more than one way to acheive things in DIR/GUE, particularly at this level-often the way you have been practising may be more difficult/complicated than is needed!

The great thing about DIRF is that you will come away with a big "wish" list of things that you realise will need time and practise. I would argue that the real learning takes place after the course itself! With that in mind, ignore passing/failing and accept that what you are doing is learning!

Most importantly, try and relax and enjoy it!

Adam