Fundies 27 Feb 06 Vobster, The Devil rides in

[SoB]

Mark,

A tremendous write up and I think you are being tough on yourself. As you say, the devil is in the detail and I'm certain that the cold was a big factor in many of the issues you had.

What most impressed me about your entire chronicle was your honesty with yourself at the very end. You've hit on the very nub of DIR diving when all is said and done - it isn't just about you and your diving it is much more than that. At its heart DIR appears (imho) to be about team work and your comments at the end show that you have, again imho, taken that to heart in the very best way.

Congratulations on your hard work and don't let it put you off. Getting a Provisional under the conditions at Vobby last w/e was a great achievment.

I look forward to seeing you again.
Simon

[Bogwoppit]

I think its worth me adding a little to Marks report from my perspective. Marks report is fairly accurate and not a little damning on my in water skills and if I was reading Marks report I would probably consider myself to be a Muppet of the first order with no right to be in the water. Other people may find my info usefull.
I did make mistakes before I started these were :
1. Reducing my in water weight by 1 KG as my kit was setup for Sea not freshwater.
2. Changing my under suit just before the course giving me strange results which took time to get used to.
3. Adding to much air to my dry suit due to the cold which could now move around my body in a bubble due to my new super thin undersuit.
4. Not carrying out any training as such beforehand, this gave me a greater learning curve than everyone else.
6. Running through the skills quickly without allowing myself to settle before each action.
6. Getting out of Bed on several occasions.
Something I didn’t really consider at the beginning of the course was it was going to be carried out at 6 M. The last time I spent any serious time at that depth was during my open water course several years before. This depth is very unforgiving and any issues you have are amplified and there is no comfort zone where your buoyancy can be sorted as you can hit the surface very easily.
The very first thing that was carried out before we got into the water was the kit fettling where we were taught how to adjust our Harnesses to be more DIR standard which resulted in my Harness being tightened and Hoiked up my back and then my Cylinder bands being shifted up the cylinders by 1.5 “ which made a major change to my in water position and forced my weight forward. This had the effect of making me feel like I would tumble forward as soon as I flattened out and tried to trim. This takes a lot to get used to and add that to having to carry out in water skills where your valves were once they no longer are and you can begin to see where issues might come in from.
What do I need to do? Well get my arse back in to the pool and mess around with my weighting and practise carry out the skills once my weight is sorted and redemonstrate some skills keeping my trim correct to Richard when I am ready. I got a provisional on my trim only my other skills are fine and I learnt a lot on the course. One thing this course didn’t do was ram the DIR philosophy down my throat things were approached as a standard and I completely agree with that approach.
Ultimately there are only 4 dives on this course which means there is little time to get things right if things are going wrong. You are assessed on each dive so unless you have your Sh*t stowed away beforehand you may struggle.
My designation is 1 of 9 tertiary 16 and you will be assimilated comply…..

[SoggyFox]

Interesting report. Honesty of the first order.

So is this a course or an assessment, I thought having read somewhere else that its better to turn up as a blank canvas rather than lots of pre-course training. From your report it comes across as a set of constant in-water assessments.

[Janos]

Excellent report Mark. It certainly sounds like you got a lot out of the course, even if it wasn't the skills that you expected. It is amazing how just a small change in kit configuration can send everything to ratshit if you're not comfortable with it. I remember one particular dive I did where I had changed my setup and something wasn't quite right and I kept rotating round to the left. Dealing with this occupied my whole dive and I hated it!

I wouldn't beat yourself up about the taskloading either. Dealing with multiple problems is something that most people can't deal with. However the experienced DIR divers are used to (for example) clipping off the long hose so it doesn't feature in their task loading. I'm sure if you asked them to do something that they're not used to (putting up a DSMBi? ) then they would not be perfect first time either. Practice makes perfect etc.

If I were King of DIR, then I would make fundies into two-parts: A definite two-day course followed a few weeks later by a clear two-day exam. The exam is often an identical copy of the course, except with no instruction - just assessment. BSAC do this with some of their instructor course / exams and it works really well as you know exactly what to expect.

Anyway, I'm sure with a bit of practice you'll have it sorted.

Janos

[Mark Chase]

Id like to point out for the record that I sent this trip report to Ian for his approval before posting it. I think he was very brave to let me put it up unedited.

Ian said in an earlier thread that he felt it wasn't worth training for Fundies as you should do the course and let the course train you. Personally I think thats OK as long as your happy with a provisional and a resit but Ill go into much more detail in the article I am doing about DIRF for Travel Dive.

ATB

Mark Chase

[Lou]

Nice report Mark but I have to admit to being somewhat confused by your and Ian's honest opinions of the course.

On the one hand we have the instructors being involved in suggesting that people do not practise, as such, for the course as they will only have to undo learning (primacy and all that good stuff) and reteach skills, and yet the message from you guys is very much that it didn't feel like you were taught, only like assessment and if you can't do it before the course you will struggle.

Do you think this was because it was a group of experienced divers and that it may have been different if the students had gone in professing less knowledge, or do you think this is something fundemental about fundies?

Anyway, respect for getting in there and sticking with it all weekend.

[Mark Chase]

Originally Posted by Lou

Nice report Mark but I have to admit to being somewhat confused by your and Ian's honest opinions of the course.
On the one hand we have the instructors being involved in suggesting that people do not practise, as such, for the course as they will only have to undo learning (primacy and all that good stuff) and reteach skills, and yet the message from you guys is very much that it didn't feel like you were taught, only like assessment and if you can't do it before the course you will struggle.
Do you think this was because it was a group of experienced divers and that it may have been different if the students had gone in professing less knowledge, or do you think this is something fundemental about fundies?
Anyway, respect for getting in there and sticking with it all weekend.

Good points Lou and ill deal with them in a separate article. I have been asked to do an overview of the course its self and i wanted to separate my personal experience from my opinion of the actual course. Thats not easy i know, so I will be discussing my views in detail with Richard before I publish or comment further.

ATB

Mark Chase

l

[MATTBIN]

Good report Mark. The question of difficulty at 6m is an interesting one, I have doen a few dives at Wraysbury and off the 6m shelf at Stoney and you are so right in how much a minor movement has a dramatic affect on bouyancy. I suppose its something we dont practice that often, given that we are diving 30/40/50m wrecks in a very square profile. It may be that a good pre DIRF practice would be to get that 6m stuff sorted to a high level.

I find it very interesting that a hugely experienced diver such as yourself struggled on the course and received a provisional rather than a pass, perhaps its an analogy to an experienced driver re-taking their car test, I suspect we'd all fail that one!

After years of DIR bating I think your honesty in the report very brave or stupid.

Hope it goes well for you on the re-assesment.

Its certainly whetted my apetite to seriously think about doing it (the course) apart from having to get rid of half my kit, or replacing some of it, of course!

Matt

[Mark Chase]

Originally Posted by MATTBIN

After years of DIR bating I think your honesty in the report very brave or stupid.

Matt

I am a crap liar M8 I cant remember what i said last time I find it easier to remember what actually happened.

Strangely to me the DIR baiting issue is dead but the DIR debating issue is still very much alive. The course did highlight some things I will be integrating into all my diving be it DIR or CCR. There is a work in progress thing going on right now to attempt a set of standard procedures for CCR diving and I will be doing my best to be part of it.

The coarse also told me a few bits about DIR i didn't know the expansion of the thirds rule was very interesting and totally killed off one of my anti DIR issues. However my key issues haven been dealt with and still remain. There is no chance they would be able to convince me unless i moved all the way to TECH2. Only at this level would the training cover the aspects of the training i disagree with.


ATB

Mark Chase

[Bogwoppit]

Originally Posted by Lou

On the one hand we have the instructors being involved in suggesting that people do not practise, as such, for the course as they will only have to undo learning (primacy and all that good stuff) and reteach skills, and yet the message from you guys is very much that it didn't feel like you were taught, only like assessment and if you can't do it before the course you will struggle.
.

Fair point as Mark said Lou, I still think that I was right not to practise and to see what the course would teach me. However I am satisfied with my provisional at this time and I feel that I have learnt valuable lessons which I will take forward with me.

However without training you will need to be a dive God to get through it with a straight pass. I think that is pretty much impossible to be honest unless you are really really together on the day. I know only one diver who I would think would pass without practising and he is DIR in the attitude and skill levels in diving even if they won't admit it.

It is a assesment there is no denying that but its also teachs you a whole lot but does not give you a lot of time to adapt to those recommended changes. That is exactly why they dish out provisionals so you can get up to the required standard.

I think if I had have passed it would have devalued the course and I would be standing here saying it was a lot of Bollox. Which it was not.

Divers in nature are proud of their skills and hate to be reminded that they are only human. Its the nature of what we do which is dangerous so we make ourselves feel better but blowing up our own opinions of our selves. Its a difficult pill to swallow when you are reminded of your fallibility.

Oh and lets not forget shit happens:-)