DIR(F) with JJ and Andy Kerslake

[Lanny]

Most of the divers on course arrived at Portland on the Friday afternoon in order to get a few warm up dives in before the course started properly at 1900.  We had a couple of nice dives on the Hood and the Countess and took the opportunity to get to know each other and compare notes on kit and preparation.  It was also my first dive in my new 40lb wing, the 55lb being a bit big for steel 12s. I had brought along a couple of veterans from the first DIR(F) course (Rob K and Tibbs) who gave me a thorough beasting (6 S-Drills, valve drills etc.) to get me in the right frame of mind!  The dive went well and the course assembled at the Aquasport that evening.

There were 11 people in total on the course, from a wide range of backgrounds and abilities.  Experience ranged from around 30 to over 500 dives and certification level from AOW to Trimix qualified divers and instructors.  Three guys were diving singles and 2 of them were in wetsuits.  We also had a couple of divers from overseas, specifically Greece and Portugal.

JJ and Andy Kerslake immediately put everyone at ease, and we introduced ourselves and stated what we wanted from the course.  Motivations varied, but the bottom line for most of us was to improve our basic diving skills and become better, safer divers.  The first evening's lectures started with an overview of DIR/GUE and its evolution.  It was great to be talked through the whole philosophy by the guy who started it all.  JJ has a very relaxed and humorous style and is extremely unassuming for one who has achieved so much.  DIR as a whole is extremely anti-ego and this was very evident in all the lectures.

We then went through the open water skills that we would be covering, including video of the techniques involved.  The main skills covered on the course are:

Frog Kick
Modified Frog Kick
Modifed Flutter
Centre of Gravity Drill (tilting forwards and backwards using leg position for control)
Backward Kick
Helicopter Turn
Basic 5 Drills (Regulator Removal, Regulator Exchange, Modified S-Drill, Mask Clear, Mask Removal)
S-Drill (donate and receive)
Valve Drill
5 Minute Ascent/Descent
OOA Ascent
Lift Bag Deployment

No real mysteries there!  Most of these skills are covered at a fairly low level with most agencies, but it is the emphasis on perfect neutral buoyancy, horizontal trim and absolute control that makes them a bit more demanding.

Day 2 started with some more lectures on various aspects of the DIR philosophy and kit configuration.  We all donned our drysuits in the warm Portland sun and had a session ensuring that our backplates were correctly adjusted.  Most people were either a bit too loose or too tight (I had cheated slightly by adjusting mine with Chris and Rob the previous day) but we soon had correctly fitting plates all round.  Everyone was able to reach the top of their plate whilst wearing a drysuit, which was very positive and boded well for the success of shutdowns later in the course.

We then went over to the pool for the swim test, which was not particularly onerous and well within the limits of anyone who can swim!  Basically it consists of a 15m breath hold underwater swim, followed by a timed 300yard/11 length swim.  Everyone passed easily as the time allowed is fairly generous.

Refreshed by a short dip, we put our dive kit together and had a chat about configuration with JJ and Andy.  Few significant changes were made to most people's gear, although UE did sell a fair number of short hoses!  I was pretty sure my kit was squared away and all I changed was to put caveline instead of a breakaway on my SPG (Andy quite rightly pointed out that entanglement was fairly unlikely, and if it did occur my knife is to hand!) and remove unnecessary hose protectors on my "under-stress" LP hoses.  In fact, the protectors were only moving the stress down a few inches.  Overall it was a useful session and it is not often you can get first hand advice on how to rig gear from the CEO of the company that makes it!

After a spot of lunch, we geared up and made our way onto Saracen, the Breakwater RIB, for two back to back skills dives on the Dredger, just outside Portland Harbour.  I was in the second wave of divers with Andy Kerslake and we had a fairly entertaining couple of dives practising kicks, valve drills and S-Drills.  The skills generally went well and the effectiveness of our approach was firmly emphasised by the arrival of a RIB load of other divers who proceeded to demonstrate how poor trim and buoyancy can stir up silt very well! The only snag I had was the onset of cramp in my calves from too much backwards kick practice.

The rest of the evening was spent watching video of our dive, with critique from Andy, JJ and the rest of the course.  I really cannot overemphasise how useful a tool this is.  You can pick up every nuance of your trim, configuration and skills from watching the video.   I was quite happy with my "video evidence",which was generally in accordance with Rule 6, aside from the horrific convulsions trying to stretch out my cramp! There were a few comedy moments with some less than perfect trim and a very memorable valve drill where the look on the divers face when he realised he had isolated his left post before switching on his right again was highly amusing.  For the record, he soon corrected his error and reopened right and his buddy was obviously standing by with long hose ready!  We then had another lecture on dive planning and finally finished at just after 2200, with time to grab a large Chinese take away before a well-earned rest.

Day 3 again started with lectures, tying up the loose ends from the previous night and going into some detail on gas planning with some worked examples.  After a couple of hours in the classroom, it was time to dive again and we prepared our gear for the final 2 dives of the course.  One of the funniest moments happened in the Breakwater carpark just as we were preparing our gear.  An Inspiration diver had attached an "ironic" Halcyon sticker to his YBOD, and JJ strolled over, introduced himself and commented that he was not aware of that particular product made by his company. Cue much blushing and farting from the Inspiration diver.  It was all extremely good-natured but certainly provided some entertainment for the course.

The final skills dives were conducted from Top Gun and were again on the dredger.  The groups swapped round so we were under JJ's instruction for these dives.  Generally these dives were consolidation of the previous day's skills dive, sharpening up our S-Drills and valve drills and generally correcting any weaknesses exposed by the video.  My big problem on the second dive was a fervent wish that I had got round to fitting the P-Valve that is sitting in my dive bag.  Doing skills with your legs crossed is no fun, and on surfacing I had to ditch my kit, swim to the breakwater to climb out for some relief - another skill that made the video debrief!  All's well that ends well, however and the dives were good overall, with everyone showing a big improvement from the first day.

We then went back to the classroom for some more "video nasties", a final lecture and closing statement from JJ and a post-course debrief.  I felt the course had gone fairly well for me and I definitely benefited massively from skills training with GUE trained divers before going on the course.  A big thank you to Bob Cooper, Chris Tibble, Rob Kelly and Graham Blackmore for their help and (mainly) constructive criticism.  The overall verdict for me was that skills were good overall, and just required a couple more practice dives to sharpen up before going on to Tech or Cave training.

The course as a whole is the most rewarding I have taken. Although the dives are fairly demanding skills-wise, passing is well within the capabilities of most proficient divers.  No-one on our course failed and apparently failures are fairly uncommon.  As long as you can demonstrate good buoyancy control, an improvement in skill over the course and a willingness to keep practising then you should pass!  The one regret I do have is not taking the course a lot sooner. The fact that I had done lots of practice beforehand meant that I was already fairly comfortable with a lot of the skills and used the dives as further improvement and fine-tuning. The guys who got the most from the course were the ones with limited prior exposure to the skill-set required.  Less experienced divers tend to do very well as they have less bad habits to unlearn.  The insistence of BSAC, PADI et al of doing skills on your knees means that most divers have an ingrained tendency to go vertical when solving problems.  I have certainly found the elimination of "seahorse diving" when doing drills one of the hardest parts of my own transition to DIR.

Overall then, a great weekend and a superb opportunity to meet some other like-minded divers and dive with the best in the world.  Seeing JJ's skill and control in the water makes you realise what is attainable with practice and conversely, what a bunch of utter dive pygmies most of us are!

If you are wondering if you are ready for DIR(F), then you probably are. I would strongly recommend taking it sooner rather than later for maximum benefit.  If you are interested in a course, they are running very regularly now (another one next weekend) and you can contact Andy Kerslake on 07789 797460.

Safe diving all,

[Davey Willo]

Excellent report Lanny

Thanks for that mate, it's really wetted my appetite for mine in November with AG and MHK... glad to see that Bob and others helped to get you up to speed beforehand, I think that is pretty important so that you can take more from the course instead of spending the three days struggling to do something that initially feels very unnatural..

I've been lucky enough to have had Bob Cooper, Andy (Wetlettuce) and just recently Chris Boardman taking me through what's required, it definitely makes a difference to be able to practise the stuff with people who've already been there and done it..

Did you take any pics?? if so get them uploaded somewhere matey, letssee letssee!!  

[Andy Phillips]

I would love to try the course, I can't, I smoke, I could last half a day, the other half would have me in isolation mainly because my dive kit contains a sharp knife.

Bugger. Sounds like a fun weekend though,

Take care

Andrew