first Dive with DIR Divers

Gareth Burrows · December 4th, 2005, 12:57 PM

I had my first dives with true DIR divers yesterday, in vobster with Gledders and Al. I rocked up at 8am, having left home at 0530. We chatted away until 0830 at which point the gates opened and we were allowed down to the bottom car park.

A coffee and a sausage bap, and then the pain began.
first up was the kit, which was laid out on a pallet and inspected with a fine tooth comb, and I really do mean fine. The knots I had attached the boltsnaps to the primary reg were not quite correct, so these were chopped off. The jubliee clips on the torch canister were facing outwards, which could apparantly catch on something, so this was taken apart and redone. The plastic dust caps on my Scubapro first stages were cut off with a stanley knife. eek. We then looked at the positioning of the bands, the weighting routing of the hoses, pretty much everything. Gledders is nothing if not dedicated and thorough.

At this point, Ahar turned up, and I thought thank Christ for that, maybe the vindictive cow, sorry I mean helpful Gledders, will attack his kit and leave me alone. I'm glad I left the VR3 at home, as I had visions of Clare and Al jumping up and down on it.Ahar got his kit out and onto the pallet, at which point I was invited to help Gledders criticise. and this time, I was given the craft knife

All the hose protectors were cut to pieces, and the boltsnaps were cut off, hoses rearranged, rubber cover on the spg chopped to pieces. By now I was having fun and wanted to actually start cutting his hoses to pieces, but Gledders proved she could be merciful and stopped me.

We then got into the kit and started running through valve drills and S Drills. Now I had something of an advantage here as I had the week previously worked out the precise steps for the valve drill, laminated them and stuck them to the side of the pool I train in each week. So the actual process was no problem. However, as with everything in DIR, the devil really is in the details, and it's only by being walked through it that you start to understand WHY things are done in a very particular way. I often used to accuse DIR divers of having an answer for everything, and actually they do, but its usually because that particular question has been thought through time and time again.

Then it was time to get in the water. there followed about 30 mins of pain and suffering as muscles I didn't know existed started complaining to me that all my previous diving had not worked them into shape and they had been ignored. I was a little worried about my trim as I had messed about with my weight during the week but it wasn't as bad as I had hope. My situational awareness left much to be desired. As soon as I focussed on something, such as a valve drill, my awareness of what was happening with the rest of the team started to dissapate, which is of course a result of too much diving on my own. It was, of course, also when Gledders would throw other things at us, such as OOA drills in the middle of other drills etc.

At the end of the dive, I bagged up and here ran into difficulties. I had removed a little too much weight and was very light in the water, and started to rise. At this point, gledders threw me an OOA drill and it all became a little too much. I donated to Ahar, made sure he was ok, clipped off the spool and then let go of it as I had enough on my plate staying beneath the surface of the water. All in all, a pretty messy dive.

Out of the water, and time for another coffee and a debrief. Gledders was pretty frank and honest ( many people wear their heart on their sleeve, but only hers is attached with cave line). Trim needed work, position in the water needed lots of work, and situational awareness must have been left int he kit bag at home. Hey ho, things to do. I started beating myself up pretty badly, which Gledders and Al promptly stamped on as being unproductive.

Back in the water after a break, and it was more S-Drills and Valve drills. With the S-Drills, I had no problems with the valves, or the order in which things are done, but it was very slow indeed as I was thinking before each step, and drifting forwards as I was doing it due to unstable trim. I was pleased to only move about 10 feet during the entire dril as opposed to swimming in circles on the first dive. We also practiced frog kicking and modified frog, which was "ok-ish" but definitely needs lots of work before funides. Backwards kicking, yeah right. I have done this intermittently in the past, but trying to do it "properly" was a non-starter. To the pool, Mr Garf.

We also practiced swimming along a flat surface. this was a good excercise as when your knees hit the bottom you knew your trim was out or you were dropping the knees on the excercise, a useful tip which I shall remember.
Back out of the water, and time for fills and gas. The comment "shall I get an Air top top" from Ahar was met with such a withering look from the DIR bods that I really did feel genuinely sorry for him

. At this point Daz turned up with Zak, as he was going to go on a try dive with Zak's kiss. Gledders had a look at the kiss, and as she touched it I had a flashback to the end of the wizard of oz "I'm melting, I'm melllting", but in honesty it intrigued us all. After the appropriate level of teasing Daz that he was about to expire, we let them get on with the seriousness of preparing for the dive and started getting ready for ours.

This time we were going in as a 2 and a three. Gledders and Al were leading out, and Sterny, ahar and myself were going to dive as a three, just a bible really. Yeah right. More OOA drills, more Valve drills. We also did a 6-3-0-3-6 drill, which was new to me, and something that requires a bit of practice to get the timing right. What was great about this dive is that it went dark during the dive. 24W of Salvo kicked in and I was in heaven

At the end of the dive, sterny and I decided to swim into the aircraft fuselage. Ahar and i decided not to. Of course, this meant when he got out of the other side, Gledders was waiting with the OOA drill for him. I had somewhat pre-empted this and swam around the fusalage to meet him. sure enough, there he was coming towards me making "oh shit" signs. I donated. At this point, Gledders told us to do an ascent whilst sharing the air. we had, of course, completely forgotten abaout ahar, who was now below us.

The feet-up posision eventually go tthe better of Sterny and he inverted. I tried to follow him, but eventually he spat my primary reg out and went back to his own as he rocketed to the surface. This was no emabrrassment, as I had been there myself earlier during the day. The pin-point trim precision required by DIR has little room for errors. Get it wrong and you are goin up feet first.

end of the day and a briefing for everyone. I left the day feeling somewhat humbled, as Clare and Al are just breathtaking to watch in the water, and I felt both Ahar and Sterny were stronger divers than myself. The last time I saw gledders in the water was barely a few short months ago, when I was hovering on a deco stop in stoney and she was swimming in circles around me. Oh how the tables have turned. I couldn't believe the astonishing difference in her diving, all those months of diving every week, with people she can learn from, and all the training, has paid off in a massive way.
that being said, I left the day fairly confident that with 8 weeks practice at the various skills and drills, I should be able to scrape through to a provisional unless I really make a misery of it on the day. and then I guess we will just have to see. About DIR I learnt that there is flexibility even in a system that appears rigid to outsiders, and that talk on the web can be backed up with performance in the water.

So big thanks to Clare and Al, and Ahar and Sterny. It was also great to catch up with Daz again and meet up with Zak.

roll on fundies at the end of Jan.

scubajay · December 4th, 2005, 01:12 PM

Crap.

After reading an interesting post like that I have realised that I am in the poo come this weekend.

I can't do any of this stuff. Although I am flexible, I still have to be able to reach the damned valves, which seemed so easy on the surface, but not so easy underwater. Dammit.

Jonathan · December 4th, 2005, 02:37 PM

Quote: (Originally Posted by scubajay)

Crap.

After reading an interesting post like that I have realised that I am in the poo come this weekend.

I can't do any of this stuff. Although I am flexible, I still have to be able to reach the damned valves, which seemed so easy on the surface, but not so easy underwater. Dammit.

Hey Jay.

Seriously don't worry about it. Go in with an open mind, concentrate on learning as much as you can - that's more important than coming away with a pass.

In a way I'm glad I got a provisional first time round. It meant I could go away and let everything sink in, ask lots of questions, and get back in the water and practice.

Oh and Garf - you're getting a big head start here, with your pre-fundies spoilers, I just hope Rich rises to the challenge and makes it that bit harder for you! :D Nice post by the way

**Alastair** · December 4th, 2005, 05:11 PM

Quote: (Originally Posted by scubajay)

Crap.

After reading an interesting post like that I have realised that I am in the poo come this weekend.

I can't do any of this stuff. Although I am flexible, I still have to be able to reach the damned valves, which seemed so easy on the surface, but not so easy underwater. Dammit.

I got a provisional on fundies as well - don't worry about the pass/fail nature of the course, just treat it as an opportunity to learn. The way I looked at fundies was as an opportunity to find out if DIR was for me.

Just relax and try and have some fun.

Garf - similiar applies, don't get too worried about it all, most of us don't dive as often as Clare

Cheers
Al

fraser · December 4th, 2005, 05:39 PM

I liked the idea of Fundies as a workshop. It cuts out all this pass/fail worrying stuff that people seem to focus on, and you just go and learn. Shame they decided to make it a c-card course IMO.

Garf - nice post, sounds like the guys were particularly cruel to you though

Fraser.

Gareth Burrows · December 4th, 2005, 05:42 PM

Quote: (Originally Posted by fraser)

Garf - nice post, sounds like the guys were particularly cruel to you though

Fraser.

If you think they were cruel about me, you should have heard what they were saying all day about you

*Clare Gledhill* · December 4th, 2005, 09:47 PM

Garf - I would like to say don't be so hard on yourself - but I know, coming from me, that would have lots of people who know me and how hard I was on myself all through the training, howling with laughter so I won't.

You did yourself credit on the day - not injustice. Not only did you embrace a number of new concepts quickly and efficently but the massive improvement each of you showed from the beginning to the end of the day showed both the excellent ability you brought to the day, and how much you will get when you do the course.

See you next weekend.

*Clare Gledhill* · December 5th, 2005, 11:10 AM

Scubajay - don't fret. Garf, Ahar and Sterny have all passed Advanced Nitrox and Deco courses, were diving familiar rigs, and so were happy to be challenged.

Rich will not push you beyond where you are comfortable or capable of going. He will help you set up your harness to ensure you have the best chance of reaching your valves and assist you in becoming familiar with your new kit and how we use it.

You will have a great time - promise

ahar · December 8th, 2005, 05:06 PM

Well, it should be interesting in Jan

My tendons on my left arm still hurt from that shut down drill

daz · December 8th, 2005, 09:22 PM

Don't get hung up on shutdowns. I used to dive inverts

because I found shutdowns a problem (The pictures are out there

)

Shutdowns can normally be resolved with a bit of practice, adjustments on harness, adjustments of bands, a decent fitting drysuit/undersuit and good instruction.

Just because you are struggling now, don't sweat it, I'm sure that with some good instruction you will get it sorted.

Daz

December 4th, 2005, 12:57 PM	#1 (permalink)
Gareth Burrows(Offline) Chimp 2 Join Date: Nov 2005 Location: Horsham, West Sussex Posts: 369	first Dive with DIR Divers I had my first dives with true DIR divers yesterday, in vobster with Gledders and Al. I rocked up at 8am, having left home at 0530. We chatted away until 0830 at which point the gates opened and we were allowed down to the bottom car park. A coffee and a sausage bap, and then the pain began. first up was the kit, which was laid out on a pallet and inspected with a fine tooth comb, and I really do mean fine. The knots I had attached the boltsnaps to the primary reg were not quite correct, so these were chopped off. The jubliee clips on the torch canister were facing outwards, which could apparantly catch on something, so this was taken apart and redone. The plastic dust caps on my Scubapro first stages were cut off with a stanley knife. eek. We then looked at the positioning of the bands, the weighting routing of the hoses, pretty much everything. Gledders is nothing if not dedicated and thorough. At this point, Ahar turned up, and I thought thank Christ for that, maybe the vindictive cow, sorry I mean helpful Gledders, will attack his kit and leave me alone. I'm glad I left the VR3 at home, as I had visions of Clare and Al jumping up and down on it.Ahar got his kit out and onto the pallet, at which point I was invited to help Gledders criticise. and this time, I was given the craft knife All the hose protectors were cut to pieces, and the boltsnaps were cut off, hoses rearranged, rubber cover on the spg chopped to pieces. By now I was having fun and wanted to actually start cutting his hoses to pieces, but Gledders proved she could be merciful and stopped me. We then got into the kit and started running through valve drills and S Drills. Now I had something of an advantage here as I had the week previously worked out the precise steps for the valve drill, laminated them and stuck them to the side of the pool I train in each week. So the actual process was no problem. However, as with everything in DIR, the devil really is in the details, and it's only by being walked through it that you start to understand WHY things are done in a very particular way. I often used to accuse DIR divers of having an answer for everything, and actually they do, but its usually because that particular question has been thought through time and time again. Then it was time to get in the water. there followed about 30 mins of pain and suffering as muscles I didn't know existed started complaining to me that all my previous diving had not worked them into shape and they had been ignored. I was a little worried about my trim as I had messed about with my weight during the week but it wasn't as bad as I had hope. My situational awareness left much to be desired. As soon as I focussed on something, such as a valve drill, my awareness of what was happening with the rest of the team started to dissapate, which is of course a result of too much diving on my own. It was, of course, also when Gledders would throw other things at us, such as OOA drills in the middle of other drills etc. At the end of the dive, I bagged up and here ran into difficulties. I had removed a little too much weight and was very light in the water, and started to rise. At this point, gledders threw me an OOA drill and it all became a little too much. I donated to Ahar, made sure he was ok, clipped off the spool and then let go of it as I had enough on my plate staying beneath the surface of the water. All in all, a pretty messy dive. Out of the water, and time for another coffee and a debrief. Gledders was pretty frank and honest ( many people wear their heart on their sleeve, but only hers is attached with cave line). Trim needed work, position in the water needed lots of work, and situational awareness must have been left int he kit bag at home. Hey ho, things to do. I started beating myself up pretty badly, which Gledders and Al promptly stamped on as being unproductive. Back in the water after a break, and it was more S-Drills and Valve drills. With the S-Drills, I had no problems with the valves, or the order in which things are done, but it was very slow indeed as I was thinking before each step, and drifting forwards as I was doing it due to unstable trim. I was pleased to only move about 10 feet during the entire dril as opposed to swimming in circles on the first dive. We also practiced frog kicking and modified frog, which was "ok-ish" but definitely needs lots of work before funides. Backwards kicking, yeah right. I have done this intermittently in the past, but trying to do it "properly" was a non-starter. To the pool, Mr Garf. We also practiced swimming along a flat surface. this was a good excercise as when your knees hit the bottom you knew your trim was out or you were dropping the knees on the excercise, a useful tip which I shall remember. Back out of the water, and time for fills and gas. The comment "shall I get an Air top top" from Ahar was met with such a withering look from the DIR bods that I really did feel genuinely sorry for him . At this point Daz turned up with Zak, as he was going to go on a try dive with Zak's kiss. Gledders had a look at the kiss, and as she touched it I had a flashback to the end of the wizard of oz "I'm melting, I'm melllting", but in honesty it intrigued us all. After the appropriate level of teasing Daz that he was about to expire, we let them get on with the seriousness of preparing for the dive and started getting ready for ours. This time we were going in as a 2 and a three. Gledders and Al were leading out, and Sterny, ahar and myself were going to dive as a three, just a bible really. Yeah right. More OOA drills, more Valve drills. We also did a 6-3-0-3-6 drill, which was new to me, and something that requires a bit of practice to get the timing right. What was great about this dive is that it went dark during the dive. 24W of Salvo kicked in and I was in heaven At the end of the dive, sterny and I decided to swim into the aircraft fuselage. Ahar and i decided not to. Of course, this meant when he got out of the other side, Gledders was waiting with the OOA drill for him. I had somewhat pre-empted this and swam around the fusalage to meet him. sure enough, there he was coming towards me making "oh shit" signs. I donated. At this point, Gledders told us to do an ascent whilst sharing the air. we had, of course, completely forgotten abaout ahar, who was now below us. The feet-up posision eventually go tthe better of Sterny and he inverted. I tried to follow him, but eventually he spat my primary reg out and went back to his own as he rocketed to the surface. This was no emabrrassment, as I had been there myself earlier during the day. The pin-point trim precision required by DIR has little room for errors. Get it wrong and you are goin up feet first. end of the day and a briefing for everyone. I left the day feeling somewhat humbled, as Clare and Al are just breathtaking to watch in the water, and I felt both Ahar and Sterny were stronger divers than myself. The last time I saw gledders in the water was barely a few short months ago, when I was hovering on a deco stop in stoney and she was swimming in circles around me. Oh how the tables have turned. I couldn't believe the astonishing difference in her diving, all those months of diving every week, with people she can learn from, and all the training, has paid off in a massive way. that being said, I left the day fairly confident that with 8 weeks practice at the various skills and drills, I should be able to scrape through to a provisional unless I really make a misery of it on the day. and then I guess we will just have to see. About DIR I learnt that there is flexibility even in a system that appears rigid to outsiders, and that talk on the web can be backed up with performance in the water. So big thanks to Clare and Al, and Ahar and Sterny. It was also great to catch up with Daz again and meet up with Zak. roll on fundies at the end of Jan. __________________ Garf Amusing and Clever Signature under construction.

December 4th, 2005, 01:12 PM	#2 (permalink)
scubajay(Offline) New Member Join Date: Nov 2005 Location: Great Totham, Essex Posts: 59	Crap. After reading an interesting post like that I have realised that I am in the poo come this weekend. I can't do any of this stuff. Although I am flexible, I still have to be able to reach the damned valves, which seemed so easy on the surface, but not so easy underwater. Dammit. __________________ We can't all be heroes because somebody has to sit on the curb and clap as they go by. 20,000mm Under the Sea

December 4th, 2005, 02:37 PM	#3 (permalink)
Jonathan(Offline) New Member Join Date: Nov 2005 Location: Kent, UK Posts: 215	Quote: (Originally Posted by scubajay) Crap. After reading an interesting post like that I have realised that I am in the poo come this weekend. I can't do any of this stuff. Although I am flexible, I still have to be able to reach the damned valves, which seemed so easy on the surface, but not so easy underwater. Dammit. Hey Jay. Seriously don't worry about it. Go in with an open mind, concentrate on learning as much as you can - that's more important than coming away with a pass. In a way I'm glad I got a provisional first time round. It meant I could go away and let everything sink in, ask lots of questions, and get back in the water and practice. Oh and Garf - you're getting a big head start here, with your pre-fundies spoilers, I just hope Rich rises to the challenge and makes it that bit harder for you! :D Nice post by the way Last edited by Jonathan; December 4th, 2005 at 02:39 PM.

December 4th, 2005, 05:11 PM	#4 (permalink)
Alastair(Offline) DIRX Supporter Join Date: Nov 2005 Location: UK Posts: 693	Quote: (Originally Posted by scubajay) Crap. After reading an interesting post like that I have realised that I am in the poo come this weekend. I can't do any of this stuff. Although I am flexible, I still have to be able to reach the damned valves, which seemed so easy on the surface, but not so easy underwater. Dammit. I got a provisional on fundies as well - don't worry about the pass/fail nature of the course, just treat it as an opportunity to learn. The way I looked at fundies was as an opportunity to find out if DIR was for me. Just relax and try and have some fun. Garf - similiar applies, don't get too worried about it all, most of us don't dive as often as Clare Cheers Al __________________ Helium is our friend - GI3

December 4th, 2005, 05:39 PM	#5 (permalink)
fraser(Offline) "I'm only late on your timescale" Join Date: Nov 2005 Location: Kent, UK Posts: 463	I liked the idea of Fundies as a workshop. It cuts out all this pass/fail worrying stuff that people seem to focus on, and you just go and learn. Shame they decided to make it a c-card course IMO. Garf - nice post, sounds like the guys were particularly cruel to you though Fraser. __________________ Damn it feels good to be a gangsta

December 4th, 2005, 05:42 PM	#6 (permalink)
Gareth Burrows(Offline) Chimp 2 Join Date: Nov 2005 Location: Horsham, West Sussex Posts: 369	Quote: (Originally Posted by fraser) Garf - nice post, sounds like the guys were particularly cruel to you though Fraser. If you think they were cruel about me, you should have heard what they were saying all day about you __________________ Garf Amusing and Clever Signature under construction.

December 4th, 2005, 09:47 PM	#7 (permalink)
Clare Gledhill(Offline) GUE Instructor Site Admin Join Date: Nov 2005 Location: UK Posts: 1,547	Garf - I would like to say don't be so hard on yourself - but I know, coming from me, that would have lots of people who know me and how hard I was on myself all through the training, howling with laughter so I won't. You did yourself credit on the day - not injustice. Not only did you embrace a number of new concepts quickly and efficently but the massive improvement each of you showed from the beginning to the end of the day showed both the excellent ability you brought to the day, and how much you will get when you do the course. See you next weekend. __________________ Clare . "Keep away from people who try to belittle your ambitions....Small people always do that, but the really great make you feel that you too can become great." Interested in DIR dive training? Always happy to chat/answer questions so get in touch via PM or visit www.dirdiver.co.uk

December 5th, 2005, 11:10 AM	#8 (permalink)
Clare Gledhill(Offline) GUE Instructor Site Admin Join Date: Nov 2005 Location: UK Posts: 1,547	Scubajay - don't fret. Garf, Ahar and Sterny have all passed Advanced Nitrox and Deco courses, were diving familiar rigs, and so were happy to be challenged. Rich will not push you beyond where you are comfortable or capable of going. He will help you set up your harness to ensure you have the best chance of reaching your valves and assist you in becoming familiar with your new kit and how we use it. You will have a great time - promise __________________ Clare . "Keep away from people who try to belittle your ambitions....Small people always do that, but the really great make you feel that you too can become great." Interested in DIR dive training? Always happy to chat/answer questions so get in touch via PM or visit www.dirdiver.co.uk

December 8th, 2005, 05:06 PM	#9 (permalink)
ahar(Offline) New Member Join Date: Nov 2005 Location: Harrow - NW London Posts: 42	Well, it should be interesting in Jan My tendons on my left arm still hurt from that shut down drill __________________ There are 10 types of people in this world - those that understand binary and those that don't.

December 8th, 2005, 09:22 PM	#10 (permalink)
daz(Offline) "Don't worry I'm approved" Join Date: Nov 2005 Location: Bristol Posts: 209	Don't get hung up on shutdowns. I used to dive inverts because I found shutdowns a problem (The pictures are out there ) Shutdowns can normally be resolved with a bit of practice, adjustments on harness, adjustments of bands, a decent fitting drysuit/undersuit and good instruction. Just because you are struggling now, don't sweat it, I'm sure that with some good instruction you will get it sorted. Daz