gecko3s(Offline)

Well, after 3 looong days, our fundies is finally over! Thanks to everyone who's posted and helped about fundies. Everything was a great help.

Although I only walked away with a provisional, it made me happy, as I only have 20 dives, and I saw the tremendous amount of improvement I made over the 4 dives this weekend.

I would, however, like to send a big shout out and congratulations to PfcAJ on the board, who looked like a fish underwater who'd been doing DIR for months, and passed! WTG!

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Matt

MKDVR(Offline)

Congrats. Glad you survived. Your fortunate to get this training straight away IMO. I learned a lot of it by rumor and word of mouth before it became a formal course. PM if you want and let me know what they want you to work on.

Clare Gledhill(Offline)

Forget PMs unless you are really THAT shy

Tell us how you got on, what you thought of the course etc. etc.

I know that there are several people on here who are thinking about doing fundies and all the information you can give will be gratefully received :D

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Interested in DIR dive training? Always happy to chat/answer questions so get in touch via PM or visit www.dirdiver.co.uk

gecko3s(Offline)

Well, as most people already know, buoyancy is the key to all diving, with proper trim a close second. I would have to say work on these and try to get it as best you can before hand. As far as buoyancy, I would recommend working on the one minute decent/ascent drill, being one minute per ten feet down, one minute holding depth and one minute per ten feet up. For our dive site, this was to 30 feet and back up. Whether it takes you 30 seconds to go ten feet and hold for 30 seconds, or you go at exact one minute intervals, I think this would be invaluable.

Trim, which was my main problem, also needs to be worked on before the class. My major problem was my knees. I could stay with my torso trimmed correctly, but I had a lot of problems keeping my knees up. Luckily we had 4 instructors for our two person course. I got lots of pointers and tips in this area and was able to improve dramatically over the four dives. The best way it was explained to me, is to stretch yourself out as long as you can. If you do this on the floor or your bed, you will find that your legs are naturally lifted off the ground. Squeeze your glutes and keep your back tight to hold that position, then bring your knees up to about a 90 degree angle..voila! you’re in trim position…on your bed. Transfer this underwater, and you’ve got a good basic idea. Another suggestion given to me is while underwater, go all the way to the bottom of the pool, or to a platform and just lay on it. Then bring yourself trim, and play with your fins to see how they work. Let yourself get a bit off the bottom, and again, move around, maintaining trim. Then a little higher, etc etc. By moving slightly off the bottom, you’ll know if anything is dropping.

Once you’re trim and neutrally buoyant underwater…add a task.. just take your mask off and put it back on..see what happens. If you can do this and hold your depth and trim, you’re off to a good start…do it in a pool without touching the bottom or surface, and you’re really in style.

All in all, I would say that’s the main thing to practice. It was what got me. Not so much maintaining trim and buoyancy, but doing it while doing other things.

I would not recommend practicing the propulsion techniques on your own. It’s easier to learn them the correct way first, than it is to unlearn the wrong way. If you have access to a DIR diver who is willing to help, then maybe, but I would be careful.

All in all, I really enjoyed the class. I had Mark Messersmith as primary instructor, as well as instructor Sonya Tittle, and interns Rick Gomez and Derek (from EE). I was awesome having a 2:1 instructor to student ratio, as we were able to get different pointers on how best to perform a task, or in my case, maintain trim. It really helped.
It was certainly one of the most challenging courses I have ever taken, and I would certainly take it again in a heartbeat.


I hope this helps someone, and if it is as long and confusing to you as it is to me, PM me and I’ll try to clarify!:D

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Matt

Beth(Offline)

Thank you Matt - it is helpful to hear how people get on.

It's funny but all this talk about trim - I seem to have been able to do 200 odd dives (mainly abroad) without anyone mentioning it ever - my buoyancy is OK - although I'm not sure that it would be without being able to see.

I'll have to get in the pool and have a play.

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Beth

MKDVR(Offline)

It seems like the course has evolved some since I took it. We didn't do a swim test or or the 1 minute ascent. I actually learned that from the guys at the local DIR club.....among other things.

Sonya Tittle! Last I heard she moved to California and quit teaching. Did I miss something?

gecko3s(Offline)

Sonya just came back from South Africa. She is actually working for GUE now. From what I understand she is the second of about two employees. (The other being Jarrod). She was just helping with the class...But I'm sure she will be teaching again.

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Matt

vadiver(Offline)

Matt, congratulations on getting your provisional! Reading your post brought back memories of my fundies class and the after dive video! I just got a dry suit and it seems like I'm taking my DIR-F class all over again.

The ascent/decent drills are extremely valuable and do a lock in buoyancy. When I took my fundies course it seemed like almost everyone had issues shooting a bag too. I think that takes a lot of practice to perfect and maintain as it's not done on every dive (wrecks off the NC/SC coast).

MKDVR(Offline)

My mistake. I was thinking of Tamara Kendel. I met Sonya when she worked at Brownies.

MKDVR(Offline)

Funny. The only thing I did right in the whole class was the lift bag.:D