Ok does this go for the rest of my equipment then?
I can do Fundies in my own kit and still pass? I can then change my kit to move on to the next stage?
I've had a little bit of a read but it sounds like lots of it is not right, if its a kit think I am happy to change as and when money allows as long as everything I change to is better than I have.
As for style, any training that makes me a better diver has to be good.
Would I need to replace all the following?
Regs: Poseidon xstreams one, long hose one short.
Fins: Mares Quattros
Wing: Frog Midnight
Harness: OMS Comfort
Suit: Othree msf500tb
Torch: GF F2 tristar plus (umbilical)
Cylinders: twin ten fabers MDE manifolded with slob knob.
Compuer: Suunto D9 with Air Integration
Stage: Ali seven with Scubapro MK20 & S600.
Waiting on me book, summer reading...
Davie.
I am sure someone better qualified will be along in a minute, but I asked the exact same questions at the tail end of 2005. I had just bought a twinset, and DIR was causing much ruckus at the time, so I signed up for a fundies course in order to a) see what the fuss was about and b) use it as a twinset orientation.
I dived a twinset w/boots, heavy neoprene suit (poseidon jetsuit) and split fins. Now Rich W. asked me to rent some compliant gear (fins) and asked me to take off the boots which I did.......and the main thing he asked was "Dive like I am going to train you during the course. If you don't like it then change back afterwards". He gave me the freedom to dive my gear, as he knew it was impractical to rent a new drysuit as well, but he did say that whilst it was not ideal, as long as I could do shutdowns ok then it didn't matter.
I rocked up and did the fundies course and it still ranks as one of the hardest courses I have ever done. I really struggled with the buoyancy and the in water skills, but they gave me a set of tools which I then practised the shit out of for a few months, until in October 2006 I did the fundies re-evaluation and got the full pass.
For me it was all about what I got out of it:
1) In water confidence
2) Massively improved buoyancy
3) Back finning, spool and SMB deployment
4) Ability to do shutdowns
5) Properly rigged kit (for me that is. I am a minimalist, and I liked the way I was taught to do it by Rich W.)
6) Training in something a little different.
Nowadays I still have the boots on the twins, and the poseidon is on it's way out for a better neo suit - an o3 is my goal, but I stick to alot of the principles and skills I was taught by Rich. Will I go on down the line to tech 1 and 2....probably not as my buddies don't dive that way, and it's not the way I want to dive.
There are a lot of naysayers, and GUE has used some clever marketing, but at the end of the day they do teach well, and without my little foray into DIR I wouldn't be the diver I am today.