Imported post
This s a review, written by Nick Banks and originally submitted to his club's newsletter, of the 1st GUE Fundamentals Course to be held in the UK, which he attended. I think Andy Carroll (Wetlettuce on here) was also on the course. Any way, I've 'liberated' it from D-net for your delectation and perusal.
**********************************************
"I'm sure most of you are familiar with DIR or 'Doing It Right'. DIR is the style of diving taught (or preached, depending on your point of view) by Global Underwater Explorers (GUE). GUE started by offering technical courses but found a lot students lacking in the basic skills so they created a course to cover the fundamentals. This course, 'DIR Fundamentals', is now available in the UK. I was booked on the very first one in Portland, Dorset earlier this year. The course was run by the first UK DIR instructor, Andy Kerslake, although Andrew Georgitis was over from headquaters to get things running smoothly. In the end Andrew G did almost all of the teaching (he is a domineering chap).
The course was due to start at 8:00am but most of us were staying in the Aqua Hotel so we met up at breakfast. Full English nearly all round. After breakfast we moved into one of the hotel reception rooms and changed into our undersuits while the other people on the course turned up. One of the others was Chris Boardman (Olympic gold medallist etc.) who planned to report on the course for 'Diver' magazine. There were twelve of us in total. This was within the letter of GUE rules as there were two instructors but as most of the course was with Andrew G teaching and Andy K assisting it did seem crowded.
We had a quick run through of names and experience, we ranged from around 50 to 700 dives. In our undersuits we did a little stretching and AndrewG ran through how undersuits weren't designed for diving. We then put on our drysuits for more stretching and more of AndrewG describing how drysuits weren't designed for diving. Next, we put our backplates on. AndrewG described the proper and improper fit using us as examples. AndrewG and Andy K then helped us on a one-to-one level to get ours set-up correctly. This was very thorough and I think most people found it very useful. Next we added regs (cable tied to the backplate) as Andrew took us through the correct configuration and air sharing drills. The proper drill is very thorough and I'd certainly been missing a few steps previously.
Pool availability was a limiting factor and we had to go to the pool a little earlier than AndrewG would have liked. First we got down on the floor while Andrew G ran through the five basic kicks (frog, mod frog, mod flutter, backwards and helicopter) and proper trim position. If you see me in the pool on Friday randomly flailing my fins around then I'll probably be practicing these kicks. These where hard. It didn't take long before there were plenty of aching backs, knees and (especially) ankles. Once we had a reasonable idea of what to do (i.e. didn't do a backwards kick instead of a frog) we kitted up and jumped in the water in groups of three. Quite a relief as we'd been in the drysuits for a couple of hours, although the water wasn't very cooling.
We did laps of the pool changing kicks every turn under the ever watchful eyes of Andy K and Andrew G. After a lot of laps and more instruction we had to demonstrate each kick in groups of six in front of the camera. We weren't pretty and quite a few backwards kicks involved going forwards (into the pool wall).
Back to the hotel for lunch. Fish and chips for me, I needed the energy boost.
The afternoon consisted of lectures and a review of the video from the pool session; No one was looking forward to that. Fortunately we were all pretty bad. It really was a great leveller for all the differnet experiences. As Andrew G ran through the video there was much pausing and rewinding. "Who's that?" Andrew G would bellow, each time "me" would be the sheepish response from somewhere on the floor. This was a great learning experience for all. No matter how good you felt in the pool the video showed the truth. Even if you have no plans to take the course borrow an underwater video camera and have someone tape you. You'll be amazed.
We finished around 8pm. Just enough time for a pint before dinner. Andrew G gets a Guinness for each time someone forgets to clip off their primary reg. Fortunately he didn't cash them all in.
Most people sloped off to bed early a little tired and more than a little dejected.
Next morning...
Once again we met for breakfast, more full English.
Into the hall, wet backplates on for S drills and buddy skills. Our sea dives were looming. The force 8 never turned up and it was decided that we would dive off the beach at the back of the hotel. We split into four groups of three. I was buddied with a friend from the internet and Chris Boardman (and his two photographers). The water was a refreshing 7 degrees with around 2m vis (when we started). We dropped to 3m and positioned ourselves above the silty bottom. As we ran through the skills the vis deteriorated and we had to keep moving. I guess our fin kicks weren't quite perfect yet. My fin kicks and general positioning were pretty poor but I got through the skills (reg swap, air share, mask flood, mask remove) with some semblance of buoyancy control. I found it hard in the shallow water especially when I'd lost sight of the bottom and had no visual reference. I have a lot to practice, but at least I now know what to practice.
Out of the water, we dekitted and broke for lunch.
The second dive was more skills, shutdowns and shooting a bag. I couldn't do the shutdown in my singles rig and no amount of tugging my arm from Andy K could make it work. Chris ran through his very smoothly. He also shot the bag with moderate ease (he later confessed to having practiced that a lot, the big cheat). I've never used a spool and have little experience with dsmbs so I found the whole thing very difficult to do while still maintaining good trim, buoyancy and position. After a brief trip to the surface I gave up, another thing to practice. We managed to stir up a lot less silt this time and our positional control was generally a lot better.
More lectures in the afternoon. We mostly covered gas management. This was pretty informative and I found it very useful. Some of the calculations were based on rules of thumb - the reasoning was a little bit glossed over. Throughout this Andrew G demonstrated his mastery of the numbers. While this bordered on showing off it demonstrated how using a few simple rules and standard mixes allowed him to calculate and recalculate with ease. We were finished by 6pm. While I was expecting another half day I'm not sure there was much else we could have covered and my brain was certainly full and my body drained.
Into the bar for a couple of pints before dinner and more Guinness owed to Andrew G.
Overall it was very useful. I don't think it was quite the revelation to me that it was for some of the others on the course. I have read a lot of background stuff and was fairly well informed but this was no substitute for doing the course and experiencing it first hand.
This is not a course for the beginner. Several of the more experienced divers said they wished they had been shown some of this stuff years ago but if you are still unsteady in the water then task loading would be a bit much. Anyone who comes on the course needs to expect to be taken down a rung or three. You will be criticised (but mostly by yourself).
I found some of the digs at PADI and other mass market agencies and various equipment manufacturers a bit unnecessary. Some of the reasons why things are done one way and not another were a bit weak and Andrew G would often change the subject or give a standard response rather than debate a point. This was definitely in the minority, though. Most things were well reasoned and well explained.
It has certainly made me think about my diving, my dive planning and my equipment and I have several changes to make to all of these things.
Safe diving
Nick"
This s a review, written by Nick Banks and originally submitted to his club's newsletter, of the 1st GUE Fundamentals Course to be held in the UK, which he attended. I think Andy Carroll (Wetlettuce on here) was also on the course. Any way, I've 'liberated' it from D-net for your delectation and perusal.
**********************************************
"I'm sure most of you are familiar with DIR or 'Doing It Right'. DIR is the style of diving taught (or preached, depending on your point of view) by Global Underwater Explorers (GUE). GUE started by offering technical courses but found a lot students lacking in the basic skills so they created a course to cover the fundamentals. This course, 'DIR Fundamentals', is now available in the UK. I was booked on the very first one in Portland, Dorset earlier this year. The course was run by the first UK DIR instructor, Andy Kerslake, although Andrew Georgitis was over from headquaters to get things running smoothly. In the end Andrew G did almost all of the teaching (he is a domineering chap).
The course was due to start at 8:00am but most of us were staying in the Aqua Hotel so we met up at breakfast. Full English nearly all round. After breakfast we moved into one of the hotel reception rooms and changed into our undersuits while the other people on the course turned up. One of the others was Chris Boardman (Olympic gold medallist etc.) who planned to report on the course for 'Diver' magazine. There were twelve of us in total. This was within the letter of GUE rules as there were two instructors but as most of the course was with Andrew G teaching and Andy K assisting it did seem crowded.
We had a quick run through of names and experience, we ranged from around 50 to 700 dives. In our undersuits we did a little stretching and AndrewG ran through how undersuits weren't designed for diving. We then put on our drysuits for more stretching and more of AndrewG describing how drysuits weren't designed for diving. Next, we put our backplates on. AndrewG described the proper and improper fit using us as examples. AndrewG and Andy K then helped us on a one-to-one level to get ours set-up correctly. This was very thorough and I think most people found it very useful. Next we added regs (cable tied to the backplate) as Andrew took us through the correct configuration and air sharing drills. The proper drill is very thorough and I'd certainly been missing a few steps previously.
Pool availability was a limiting factor and we had to go to the pool a little earlier than AndrewG would have liked. First we got down on the floor while Andrew G ran through the five basic kicks (frog, mod frog, mod flutter, backwards and helicopter) and proper trim position. If you see me in the pool on Friday randomly flailing my fins around then I'll probably be practicing these kicks. These where hard. It didn't take long before there were plenty of aching backs, knees and (especially) ankles. Once we had a reasonable idea of what to do (i.e. didn't do a backwards kick instead of a frog) we kitted up and jumped in the water in groups of three. Quite a relief as we'd been in the drysuits for a couple of hours, although the water wasn't very cooling.
We did laps of the pool changing kicks every turn under the ever watchful eyes of Andy K and Andrew G. After a lot of laps and more instruction we had to demonstrate each kick in groups of six in front of the camera. We weren't pretty and quite a few backwards kicks involved going forwards (into the pool wall).
Back to the hotel for lunch. Fish and chips for me, I needed the energy boost.
The afternoon consisted of lectures and a review of the video from the pool session; No one was looking forward to that. Fortunately we were all pretty bad. It really was a great leveller for all the differnet experiences. As Andrew G ran through the video there was much pausing and rewinding. "Who's that?" Andrew G would bellow, each time "me" would be the sheepish response from somewhere on the floor. This was a great learning experience for all. No matter how good you felt in the pool the video showed the truth. Even if you have no plans to take the course borrow an underwater video camera and have someone tape you. You'll be amazed.
We finished around 8pm. Just enough time for a pint before dinner. Andrew G gets a Guinness for each time someone forgets to clip off their primary reg. Fortunately he didn't cash them all in.
Most people sloped off to bed early a little tired and more than a little dejected.
Next morning...
Once again we met for breakfast, more full English.
Into the hall, wet backplates on for S drills and buddy skills. Our sea dives were looming. The force 8 never turned up and it was decided that we would dive off the beach at the back of the hotel. We split into four groups of three. I was buddied with a friend from the internet and Chris Boardman (and his two photographers). The water was a refreshing 7 degrees with around 2m vis (when we started). We dropped to 3m and positioned ourselves above the silty bottom. As we ran through the skills the vis deteriorated and we had to keep moving. I guess our fin kicks weren't quite perfect yet. My fin kicks and general positioning were pretty poor but I got through the skills (reg swap, air share, mask flood, mask remove) with some semblance of buoyancy control. I found it hard in the shallow water especially when I'd lost sight of the bottom and had no visual reference. I have a lot to practice, but at least I now know what to practice.
Out of the water, we dekitted and broke for lunch.
The second dive was more skills, shutdowns and shooting a bag. I couldn't do the shutdown in my singles rig and no amount of tugging my arm from Andy K could make it work. Chris ran through his very smoothly. He also shot the bag with moderate ease (he later confessed to having practiced that a lot, the big cheat). I've never used a spool and have little experience with dsmbs so I found the whole thing very difficult to do while still maintaining good trim, buoyancy and position. After a brief trip to the surface I gave up, another thing to practice. We managed to stir up a lot less silt this time and our positional control was generally a lot better.
More lectures in the afternoon. We mostly covered gas management. This was pretty informative and I found it very useful. Some of the calculations were based on rules of thumb - the reasoning was a little bit glossed over. Throughout this Andrew G demonstrated his mastery of the numbers. While this bordered on showing off it demonstrated how using a few simple rules and standard mixes allowed him to calculate and recalculate with ease. We were finished by 6pm. While I was expecting another half day I'm not sure there was much else we could have covered and my brain was certainly full and my body drained.
Into the bar for a couple of pints before dinner and more Guinness owed to Andrew G.
Overall it was very useful. I don't think it was quite the revelation to me that it was for some of the others on the course. I have read a lot of background stuff and was fairly well informed but this was no substitute for doing the course and experiencing it first hand.
This is not a course for the beginner. Several of the more experienced divers said they wished they had been shown some of this stuff years ago but if you are still unsteady in the water then task loading would be a bit much. Anyone who comes on the course needs to expect to be taken down a rung or three. You will be criticised (but mostly by yourself).
I found some of the digs at PADI and other mass market agencies and various equipment manufacturers a bit unnecessary. Some of the reasons why things are done one way and not another were a bit weak and Andrew G would often change the subject or give a standard response rather than debate a point. This was definitely in the minority, though. Most things were well reasoned and well explained.
It has certainly made me think about my diving, my dive planning and my equipment and I have several changes to make to all of these things.
Safe diving
Nick"
