The Fundaments of Enjoyable Diving

[Mark Chase]

I appreciate the effort that went into writing this post but It left me shaking my head in bewilderment.

Personally after PADI OW I felt great. I believed i knew all there was to know about diving and I blindly dived for several years in blissful ignorance of silly stuff like redundancy, deco, twinsets etc.

All the courses I have done since have not been any where near as fun as PADI OW. They have all felt like hard work and yes that does include PADI AOW and trying to get my head around multilevel dive planning and navigation.

DIRF was a challenging course and I found it all rather depressing as it was so damed frustrating all the time. Trying to get all the drills right and do it in 6m of water whilst staying flat and struggling against my old enemy of reaching my valves was a very very frustrating thing to do.

I felt fairly depressed after DIRF just like i did after the Cave course recently. Probably my expectations of my own performance are just too high but far from it making my future diving more enjoyable id say I was more inclined toward quiting if anything.

DIRF is a good course and id recommend it to any one contemplating OC technical diving especially OHE and cave. BUT to get the skills right you need to be able to dedicate a LOT of time to practice. If you can afford the time for 20-30 practice days in a puddle per year, go for it.

If you cant? Dont worry about it, most of it is just diving bling. Just go diving and have a laugh instead like the milions of other divers do.

ATB

Mark

[divingniknaks]

Originally Posted by thehappychappy

I cant thank Clare enough for the friendly touch this weekend.

Davie

She could get in a lot of trouble for that !


Sorry, couldn't resist

Glad you enjoyed it.

[TerryH]

Well if we are being honest.

I'm looking ay this from a training perspective, because that is after
all what will be happen when anybody goes into GUE etc.

I actually think DIR/GUE is one of several very good "end" systems and
those that come out the other end, are without a doubt profficient divers.
This naturally makes them passionate advocates for that type of training.

Of all training etc. DIR/GUE can only be described as having one single
direction. Ok fine that's the whole point, so no arguments, but that also
means combine that passion with a mantra that says no variants are
allowed, and what then?

Not surprisingly any plee or cry for help results in a "do fundies" response.
And that is IMO, the problem.

If a PADI diver comes to me with an "issue" i'll teach PADI. I might think
that occi left is better and that snorkels are for wimps, but I'll go over the
EXISTING system and ONLY introduce another element if that fails.

I have great issue with any agency/organisation etc. that runs roughshod
over what has gone before and although I think that GUE is damn good
at giving competent divers direction, I have personal experience of divers
going for fundies as a solution to a lack of basic diver training.

Point is that if presented with another agency diver, would a DIR Instructor
reccommend going back to PADI/BSAC or would he say "do fundies". I'd like
to think that it's down to the individual, but again personal experience
has said that once you go black, you dont go back.

This is not an anti-DIR post and both PADI & BSAC Instructors arent
immune from promoting there agency as THE one, but its more of a plee to
both instructors and DIR officianados alike, to consider that fundies is not
THE solution to any problem. Yes I understand your passion and aligence to
your agency, but that should never be at the expense of the individual.

[Garf]

Originally Posted by TerryH

Well if we are being honest.

I'm looking ay this from a training perspective, because that is after
all what will be happen when anybody goes into GUE etc.

I actually think DIR/GUE is one of several very good "end" systems and
those that come out the other end, are without a doubt profficient divers.
This naturally makes them passionate advocates for that type of training.

Of all training etc. DIR/GUE can only be described as having one single
direction. Ok fine that's the whole point, so no arguments, but that also
means combine that passion with a mantra that says no variants are
allowed, and what then?

Not surprisingly any plee or cry for help results in a "do fundies" response.
And that is IMO, the problem.

If a PADI diver comes to me with an "issue" i'll teach PADI. I might think
that occi left is better and that snorkels are for wimps, but I'll go over the
EXISTING system and ONLY introduce another element if that fails.

I have great issue with any agency/organisation etc. that runs roughshod
over what has gone before and although I think that GUE is damn good
at giving competent divers direction, I have personal experience of divers
going for fundies as a solution to a lack of basic diver training.

Point is that if presented with another agency diver, would a DIR Instructor
reccommend going back to PADI/BSAC or would he say "do fundies". I'd like
to think that it's down to the individual, but again personal experience
has said that once you go black, you dont go back.

This is not an anti-DIR post and both PADI & BSAC Instructors arent
immune from promoting there agency as THE one, but its more of a plee to
both instructors and DIR officianados alike, to consider that fundies is not
THE solution to any problem. Yes I understand your passion and aligence to
your agency, but that should never be at the expense of the individual.

I think that's an excellent post, and I'd only pick up on one thing. with regards to the "cry for help" you describe, I don't think it's still the case that the cry is then "do fundies". We've tried to open it up to get rid of the old perception of elitism and funny handshake bollox by having these experience days for anyone interested. I also probably spend a couple of days a month (not a lot I know) 1 to 1 all day in a quarry with people who are curious about DIR but doesnt want the flak on the boards. DIR definitely is not as open and accessible as the other agencies, but we are trying...

[Bottle Maker]

Originally Posted by Garf

I think that's an excellent post, and I'd only pick up on one thing. with regards to the "cry for help" you describe, I don't think it's still the case that the cry is then "do fundies". We've tried to open it up to get rid of the old perception of elitism and funny handshake bollox by having these experience days for anyone interested. I also probably spend a couple of days a month (not a lot I know) 1 to 1 all day in a quarry with people who are curious about DIR but doesnt want the flak on the boards. DIR definitely is not as open and accessible as the other agencies, but we are trying...

It is the continual use DIR that give the elitism reputation.

Graham

[TerryH]

Originally Posted by Garf

I think that's an excellent post, and I'd only pick up on one thing. with regards to the "cry for help" you describe, I don't think it's still the case that the cry is then "do fundies". We've tried to open it up to get rid of the old perception of elitism and funny handshake bollox by having these experience days for anyone interested. I also probably spend a couple of days a month (not a lot I know) 1 to 1 all day in a quarry with people who are curious about DIR but doesnt want the flak on the boards. DIR definitely is not as open and accessible as the other agencies, but we are trying...

I know it's a bit of an aside, but I strongly believe GUE's bar is so high as
to make fundies a second or even third level course for some. Instead of
wasting time on entry level courses, it would be good if GUE concentrated
on a foundation course that honed basic skills prior to fundies.

[Garf]

Originally Posted by Bottle Maker

It is the continual use DIR that give the elitism reputation.

Graham

well, I can't argue with that becuase I agree with it. We (our team) assign no meaning to DIR tbh, its just DIR. It doesn't stand for anything. Perhaps we can get Howard to think of something else and we can refer to that instead. It'll give him the opportunity to think up something truly horrific

[Garf]

Originally Posted by TerryH

I know it's a bit of an aside, but I strongly believe GUE's bar is so high as
to make fundies a second or even third level course for some. Instead of
wasting time on entry level courses, it would be good if GUE concentrated
on a foundation course that honed basic skills prior to fundies.

I guess that depends on where you believe the bar should be. people get through fundies with 50 dives. I've also heard of trimix instructors with thousands of dives really, really struggling. GUE genuinely believe that the standards required by fundies ARE the bare miniumum that all divers should have, and fundies IS the foundation course (hence the name). They absolutely will not compromise on those standards, which is fair enough, that's what they believe. i know they have an open water course on the way, but I believe its just so they can say they have one, I suspect they will struggle to get anyone on it!

[purple vonny]

Originally Posted by Mal Bridgeman

[color="DarkRed"]
I have, on occasion, suggested that people who I see as being interested in improving their diving skills, or proficiency, or confidence, or level of enjoyment with their diving, book to go on a GUE Fundamentals course.

Can I ask a question? or 2 questions? I'm genuinely intersested in the replies.....

If I felt that I was fairly skilled, proficient, confident and enjoyed my diving already, Would attending a course make any difference to me?


And... why doesn't DIR do entry level courses for new divers who are learning from scratch?


I'm not interested in DIR for me but I do enjoy reading about it sometimes. What I love hearing about in any diver is the passion they have for their hobby. The reason it is not for me, is that I prefer an ecclectic approach with a lot of choice to suit individuals. But I appreciate that DIR/GUE prefer a more uniform and disciplined approach, it suits some people and makes them feel safe. That's not meant to be in any way insulting or condescending, I really can see why you like it.

I would be interested to read the answers to my 2 questions though.

[MarkP]

Originally Posted by purple vonny

If I felt that I was fairly skilled, proficient, confident and enjoyed my diving already, Would attending a course make any difference to me?


And... why doesn't DIR do entry level courses for new divers who are learning from scratch?

1) Possibly. But you might just hate it. It often makes people re-evaluate their opinion of their proficiency.

2) There's been one in the pipeline for a l-o-n-g time. It's still not been released, but, if and when it is, I suspect the only people who will enroll on it will be partners and offspring of existing GUE-trained divers.