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Hi
Its taken a while but here's day One. Hope you enjoy it.
I wake up early in my luxury ?! Aquahotel room both excited and apprehensive about the day ahead. Excited because I was on the first DIR course in the UK being taught by AndrewG, the GUE training director no less and Andy Kerslake, the only active UK instructor. Apprehensive because I am a relative newbie to diving, only having 60 odd dives and qualified as a BSAC club diver April 2002. I thought that DIR was well supported in the UK, full of diving elitists from the DIS and other lists, and I would be shown up as a newbie thrashing about in the water and frowned upon for my lack of skill. What little did I know…
I went down for breakfast and met some of the guys. Chris and Daniel, who were laughing about their disastrous dives the previous day. Ruy who had come over from Portugal and was using twins for the first time!! Howard, or Bitz, of bitz.fsnet.co.uk, a trimix diver with lots of experience. AndrewG and Andy Kerslake were there and we had a relaxing breakfast. They weren’t the militaristic, overbearing people I imagined, quite a good laugh really and I started to relax.
Before starting we had a little introduction and there were some instructors, some trimix divers, a couple of newbies like me, and a celebrity in the form of Chris Boardman, who not only is famous for his cycling accolades but now writes for Diver magazine and was writing up the course. He had a couple of photographers with him. I finally met nickjb from scubaboard, and also Mark Papp and a number of other familiar names from weblists and discussion boards. My recent DIR dive buddy and YD member Mark Emery didn’t do the fundamentals but was on the Tech1 course being run straight after the fundamentals.
We then started the day by getting our harnesses and thinsulates to check the fitting. AndyG told us that we should be able to touch the top of our backplate with our fingers. Virtually everyone had to have their harnesses tightened to do this. I was lucky really because I had done a lot of reading about DIR and researched thoroughly on the web and so my kit was close to how it should be. Some peoples gear was frowned upon and one guy had his harness taken apart and put back together because it had some quick release strap thing on it. I was amazed at the lack of DIR kit to be honest. AndrewG didn’t really slag anyone off but you knew when he didn’t approve. He would just walk around the class saying “Whats this ?” and “whats that for ?” The theme of DIR is definitely minimalist and reducing snag points as much as possible.
We then tiewrapped our regs to the plates and went through modified sdrills and sdrills. This was a good session as I had only done this under water and it was good to systemise the steps in my mind.
It was now time for the pool session. This was the first time AndrewG had done this course in a pool and it was to prove excellent because of the vis. It’s a 3 mtr pool and saltwater based so the water was warm but not uncomfortable, unless of course, you do what I did. When we got to the pool I needed the loo and so, you can imagine after wearing my suit all morning in a hotel room, and then dragging my cylinders and gear to the pool, I was perspiring somewhat and as I was taking my drysuit off I was a little rough and my neckseal split. Shit !! Chris had a spare suit he offered to lend me but I was well ‘ard being a Yorkshire diver n all and said I’d do it with ductape. Yeah right!! As soon as I got in the water I felt the trickle down my neck. Ugh!! Throughout the pool session my suit became fuller and fuller of water. When we finally got out I could hardly climb the steps (twin twelves!) and I had water upto my knees INSIDE the suit, and was totally soaked. Needless to say I took Chris up on his offer the following day.
Before we got in the pool we had to lay down and do some kicks and Andrew ran through the five basic kicks Frog, Modified frog, Modified flutter, Back kick, Helicopter turn. The trick is to squeeze your buttocks and try to flex the ankles more. If you start using your larger muscle groups like the thighs then you use more energy. We were then put in teams of 3. I was teamed up with Ruy and Howard, and we were to swim around the pool and at each corner do a skill such as backwards kick, helicopter turn. The lengths to do frog kick, and the widths to do modified frog and modified flutter. Ruy was struggling in his first ever session with twins and AndrewG had to help him with his buoyancy, but by the end of the session he was fine. I think it was even his first time in a drysuit !! After a few laps AndrewG told us we were ‘humping the dog’ pretty good and should squeeze our buttocks to keep our knees up. I took his advice and could see later on the video that it worked. Usually when frog kicking or breastroke kick you drop your knees. By intentionally squeezing your buttocks you create a flat surface along the underside of your body making you more streamlined in the water.
AndrewG split the group up so 6 of us were with AndrewG and 6 with AndyK. AndyK was looking at SDrills and AndrewG would demonstrate the kicks and then we would attempt them in front of the video camera. So AndrewG demonstrated the frogkick and we all followed, then modified frog, then modified flutter, then backward kick and finally helicopter turn. For the helicopter turn he placed a scout torch on the floor and spun round it without moving out of line. This is done using one leg in a backward kick and one leg in a forward kick. I had been practicing the kicks using the videos on the 5thD site in the pool and over the previous few months and so could backkick although this was vastly improved when AndrewG moved my fins for me for a couple of kicks. Its all about the ankles!! Anyhow my claim to fame is that I was the only one to do a backkick successfully on the course (Head growing exponentially!!) although later it was pointed out that I had practiced loads for the course and still wasn’t perfect. Ah well
A few people were extremely upset after the pool session, and I think AndrewG was right, it is a great leveller. Some even dropped out of the practical session the following day, which I thought was a shame, because the aim is to improve your diving and you only do that by diving ! Perhaps its an ego thing. I am always self critical of myself and so someone else telling me I can’t dive was not a big thing to me. I already knew. I was just surprised that there were others having the same, if not more problems than I was.
After getting back to the hotel and getting changed, sorting our gear out and having lunch, we got back on the floor and practiced our kicks again. This is hard work!! We were then shown the video of our underwater session in which AndyG would shout ‘WHO’S THAT’ followed by a sheepish ‘me…’ and then a blunt comment on what you were doing wrong. Everyone was ‘humping the dog’ and there was no one who looked any better than anyone else. It is truly a great leveller. Seeing how you look when your diving is amazing but at the same time humiliating as your faults are there for all to see. You can’t hide them from the video camera. At one point there were four or five people trying to do backwards kicks against the wall of the pool. It looked so funny, everyone was able to laugh at themselves, which was good. This has to be the best part of the course. There is nothing like looking at yourself underwater and critiquing yourself. Very rewarding and just this session I feel has improved my diving exponentially.
There then followed a lecture session with mpegs showing us the kicks, the valve drills and deploying an smb. A new drill was the CG drill or centre of gravity drill. AndrewG showed us why DIR advocate that particular kicking style and position in the water using a see saw as an example. Did you know that your head weighs 5kg and therefore if you look up and stretch your legs out (which we have all been taught to do when flutter kicking) then you effectively go vertical and at the same time all the energy is being forced downwards wasting energy and silting up the place.
After all the lectures it was finally time for AndrewG to cash in on his Guinness and for us to have a meal, and very nice it was too.
On to the next day….
Hi
Its taken a while but here's day One. Hope you enjoy it.
I wake up early in my luxury ?! Aquahotel room both excited and apprehensive about the day ahead. Excited because I was on the first DIR course in the UK being taught by AndrewG, the GUE training director no less and Andy Kerslake, the only active UK instructor. Apprehensive because I am a relative newbie to diving, only having 60 odd dives and qualified as a BSAC club diver April 2002. I thought that DIR was well supported in the UK, full of diving elitists from the DIS and other lists, and I would be shown up as a newbie thrashing about in the water and frowned upon for my lack of skill. What little did I know…
I went down for breakfast and met some of the guys. Chris and Daniel, who were laughing about their disastrous dives the previous day. Ruy who had come over from Portugal and was using twins for the first time!! Howard, or Bitz, of bitz.fsnet.co.uk, a trimix diver with lots of experience. AndrewG and Andy Kerslake were there and we had a relaxing breakfast. They weren’t the militaristic, overbearing people I imagined, quite a good laugh really and I started to relax.
Before starting we had a little introduction and there were some instructors, some trimix divers, a couple of newbies like me, and a celebrity in the form of Chris Boardman, who not only is famous for his cycling accolades but now writes for Diver magazine and was writing up the course. He had a couple of photographers with him. I finally met nickjb from scubaboard, and also Mark Papp and a number of other familiar names from weblists and discussion boards. My recent DIR dive buddy and YD member Mark Emery didn’t do the fundamentals but was on the Tech1 course being run straight after the fundamentals.
We then started the day by getting our harnesses and thinsulates to check the fitting. AndyG told us that we should be able to touch the top of our backplate with our fingers. Virtually everyone had to have their harnesses tightened to do this. I was lucky really because I had done a lot of reading about DIR and researched thoroughly on the web and so my kit was close to how it should be. Some peoples gear was frowned upon and one guy had his harness taken apart and put back together because it had some quick release strap thing on it. I was amazed at the lack of DIR kit to be honest. AndrewG didn’t really slag anyone off but you knew when he didn’t approve. He would just walk around the class saying “Whats this ?” and “whats that for ?” The theme of DIR is definitely minimalist and reducing snag points as much as possible.
We then tiewrapped our regs to the plates and went through modified sdrills and sdrills. This was a good session as I had only done this under water and it was good to systemise the steps in my mind.
It was now time for the pool session. This was the first time AndrewG had done this course in a pool and it was to prove excellent because of the vis. It’s a 3 mtr pool and saltwater based so the water was warm but not uncomfortable, unless of course, you do what I did. When we got to the pool I needed the loo and so, you can imagine after wearing my suit all morning in a hotel room, and then dragging my cylinders and gear to the pool, I was perspiring somewhat and as I was taking my drysuit off I was a little rough and my neckseal split. Shit !! Chris had a spare suit he offered to lend me but I was well ‘ard being a Yorkshire diver n all and said I’d do it with ductape. Yeah right!! As soon as I got in the water I felt the trickle down my neck. Ugh!! Throughout the pool session my suit became fuller and fuller of water. When we finally got out I could hardly climb the steps (twin twelves!) and I had water upto my knees INSIDE the suit, and was totally soaked. Needless to say I took Chris up on his offer the following day.
Before we got in the pool we had to lay down and do some kicks and Andrew ran through the five basic kicks Frog, Modified frog, Modified flutter, Back kick, Helicopter turn. The trick is to squeeze your buttocks and try to flex the ankles more. If you start using your larger muscle groups like the thighs then you use more energy. We were then put in teams of 3. I was teamed up with Ruy and Howard, and we were to swim around the pool and at each corner do a skill such as backwards kick, helicopter turn. The lengths to do frog kick, and the widths to do modified frog and modified flutter. Ruy was struggling in his first ever session with twins and AndrewG had to help him with his buoyancy, but by the end of the session he was fine. I think it was even his first time in a drysuit !! After a few laps AndrewG told us we were ‘humping the dog’ pretty good and should squeeze our buttocks to keep our knees up. I took his advice and could see later on the video that it worked. Usually when frog kicking or breastroke kick you drop your knees. By intentionally squeezing your buttocks you create a flat surface along the underside of your body making you more streamlined in the water.
AndrewG split the group up so 6 of us were with AndrewG and 6 with AndyK. AndyK was looking at SDrills and AndrewG would demonstrate the kicks and then we would attempt them in front of the video camera. So AndrewG demonstrated the frogkick and we all followed, then modified frog, then modified flutter, then backward kick and finally helicopter turn. For the helicopter turn he placed a scout torch on the floor and spun round it without moving out of line. This is done using one leg in a backward kick and one leg in a forward kick. I had been practicing the kicks using the videos on the 5thD site in the pool and over the previous few months and so could backkick although this was vastly improved when AndrewG moved my fins for me for a couple of kicks. Its all about the ankles!! Anyhow my claim to fame is that I was the only one to do a backkick successfully on the course (Head growing exponentially!!) although later it was pointed out that I had practiced loads for the course and still wasn’t perfect. Ah well
A few people were extremely upset after the pool session, and I think AndrewG was right, it is a great leveller. Some even dropped out of the practical session the following day, which I thought was a shame, because the aim is to improve your diving and you only do that by diving ! Perhaps its an ego thing. I am always self critical of myself and so someone else telling me I can’t dive was not a big thing to me. I already knew. I was just surprised that there were others having the same, if not more problems than I was.
After getting back to the hotel and getting changed, sorting our gear out and having lunch, we got back on the floor and practiced our kicks again. This is hard work!! We were then shown the video of our underwater session in which AndyG would shout ‘WHO’S THAT’ followed by a sheepish ‘me…’ and then a blunt comment on what you were doing wrong. Everyone was ‘humping the dog’ and there was no one who looked any better than anyone else. It is truly a great leveller. Seeing how you look when your diving is amazing but at the same time humiliating as your faults are there for all to see. You can’t hide them from the video camera. At one point there were four or five people trying to do backwards kicks against the wall of the pool. It looked so funny, everyone was able to laugh at themselves, which was good. This has to be the best part of the course. There is nothing like looking at yourself underwater and critiquing yourself. Very rewarding and just this session I feel has improved my diving exponentially.
There then followed a lecture session with mpegs showing us the kicks, the valve drills and deploying an smb. A new drill was the CG drill or centre of gravity drill. AndrewG showed us why DIR advocate that particular kicking style and position in the water using a see saw as an example. Did you know that your head weighs 5kg and therefore if you look up and stretch your legs out (which we have all been taught to do when flutter kicking) then you effectively go vertical and at the same time all the energy is being forced downwards wasting energy and silting up the place.
After all the lectures it was finally time for AndrewG to cash in on his Guinness and for us to have a meal, and very nice it was too.
On to the next day….
