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Having been one of Andrew's early tech victoms, er guinea pigs, er students prior to the advent of the DIR Fundamentals class I know how wild that was. I wish the Fundamentals class would have been available for me at the time. Instead, I got them both at once. The Fundamentals class does a number of things - 1) it helps all divers improve their skills, not just those going into technical diving, 2) It frees up the time in Tech class to focus on relevant skills and information like gasses and decompression theory without having to cover the basics, and 3) it provides a filter for people thinking about going into tech diving who might not be ready for it. As far as Andrew messing with you in class, the reality is that he will create a "situation" where there is a single problem or failure and then sits back and video tapes the resulting CF. In almost every case it's the divers themselves that cause the problems to cascade. The video tape is just to prove it once the accusations start :). This demonstrates quite graphically what can and does happen underwater while teaching divers what to expect, how to think and react to problems, and generating a sense of confidence for dealing with problems without panic. Kurt > George, > > Having worked with Andrew for the better part of the last year, and having seen > the evolution of this class in my view AG has it just right.. While both you > and I have the luxury of other revenue sources, and I think we all agree that > absent GUE the status of dive instruction is atrocious. The approach that > Andrew had adopted is from his past experiences in pilot training and flight > school.. In that scenario pilots train for failure after failure in simulators > so if the shit hits the fan they have the opportunity to train on correcting the > problem in a controlled environment. AG developed the classes based upon the > same foundation. You simulate failure in 20' and build the building blocks, the > foundation and show the students the bar that they will ultimately need to > achieve.. Realize that as the Fundamentals class evolved it was a byproduct > from students that were signing up for the tech1 classes, and they had been > accustomed to the industry standard of paying lip service to quality > instruction, and sleep walking through the classes. The tech1 class was a GIANT > wake up call, and as a result of the inordinate number of wash-outs in the tech > program AG & JJ decided to *strongly encourage* <wink-wink> that all prospective > tech students take this class.. > > What is first demonstrated is the proper skills needed to secure the foundation > of a solid diver. Things that most of the divers on the WKPP take for granted, > such as balance, trim and buoyancy control are demonstrated. We spend an > extraordinary amount of time reconfiguring gear and explaining every aspect of > the overall system. We spend countless hours explaining why every thing is the > way it is, and most importantly we explain WHY.. > > For certain no one would ever dream of showing up at Wakulla with some > completely stroked out rig, but by in large that is because they have had the > benefit of learning first hand from you and JJ.. Most that aren't part of the > WKPP only know what they see on the net, and as you know most of it is bullshit, > so the Fundamentals class is there first *real* exposure to the information.. > > Each step along the way we demonstrate the proper manner to do the skills, then > we allow the students to try it themselves. By videotaping this as we do, we > then do a thorough and very candid de-brief.. None of the PADI positive > reinforcement crap, we tell the students what is needed to get to the *bar*, and > how to go about doing it.. Usually trim, buoyancy and balance is a mess, so by > squaring away their harness, using the proper tanks, eliminating all the useless > crap that the dive industry has sold them prior to the class the student sees > and feels for themselves why their balance and trim were off, they realize in > 20' why buoyancy is problematic when we ask them to do the basic 4: Reg R & R. > Reg remove and switch to back up, Mask flood and clear and Mask R & R.. We make > them do it in 20' and clearly demonstrate the buoyancy control issues.. More > often then not they either face plant or surface once their mask is off.. And > FTR, we don't fuck with them, they take it off themselves.. In the tech > classes, some *problems* may occur, but more often then not they are > self-created ;-) > > I hear you are joining is soon for one of these classes, I think you'll have an > eye opener.. > > Later > > > ----- Original Message ----- > From: George Irvine > To: scuba@md*.co* ; trey@ne*.co* ; Capt JT ; techdiver@aquanaut.com > Sent: Tuesday, May 07, 2002 6:01 PM > Subject: RE: Dir fundamentals - Here is the point! > > > Ted, as far as I know the GUE guys go to the pool before they risk getting > into the water with unknowns. If they did not in this case, it was simply > because Andrew never suspected that this would be an issue with these guys. > > I do not agree with GUE's method of fucking with people in the water, but I > don't have any alternative ideas on how to test people for falling apart under > stress. I also disagree with wasting time proving to people what does not work, > I simply take the attitude that they only need to see the right way, but then I > can only teach people who are already good and highly motivated to do what I ask > - dive instructors have to deal with everyone. > > I can tell if somebody is going to fall apart under stress when I cave dive > with them, but at that point it is generally too late to do anything about it ( > I don't think anything can be done about it ) and I just don't dive with them > again. > > My opinion on dive instruction is that the student needs to dive his ass off > and practice, do dives with instructors for fine tuning, and that 99% of the > information side is classroom ( like gases and such). That is not too cost > effective for the student or profitable for the instructor, nor is it time > effective. But, I am not in the business, and I have to defer to whatever Andrew > and JJ can come up with, whether or not I agree with it. > > The biggest obstacle all of you instructors face is that you dive all the > time, your clients do not. > -----Original Message----- > From: Ted Green [mailto:scuba@md*.co*] > Sent: Tuesday, May 07, 2002 8:45 PM > To: trey@ne*.co*; Capt JT; techdiver@aquanaut.com > Subject: Dir fundamentals - Here is the point! > > > From: "George Irvine" <girvine@be*.ne*> > > > Ted, I agree 100%. This is total bullshit. > > > > The suit needs to have the proper garment under it and it needs > to be > filled to comfort, not squeezing. That is pure idiocy. If you > guys did > anything other than bounce dives, you might appreciate > how the suit is > supposed to be worn, or learn the hard way what > problems are produced by tight > suits, as is all kinds of skin > damage and DCS. You never let the suit squeeze, > and if it > > were about to due to some failure, you go up. > > To all, > A couple of points: > > As I originally said, "you have a skill problem, or you don't understand how > to operate a dry suit properly If your not putting gas in your drysuit until you > hit the bottom". The above is also true if your using the suit for buoyancy > control or you can't maintain depth or attitude at a deco stop because of to > much gas in the suit. > > Andrew, do you make it a habit of hadicapping people YOU HAVE NEVER BEEN IN > THE WATER WITH BEFORE! > > Andrew, do you mean to tell me that YOU can't figure out if someone is using > their drysuit for buoyancy just by looking at their wing and drysuit while there > diving? > > Andrew, do you mean to tell me that you lack the ability to communicate to a > diver underwater that they need to let gas out of their drysuit and control > their buoyancy with their wing? > > Andrew, when you teach basic scuba, do you tie the students hands together > so that they have to swim with their feet? > > Andrew, here is something you could learn from my 22 years of teaching > diving and 10 years of teaching technical diving. Take divers whom you have > never dove with on a short 10 minute dive before trying to tech them anything. > Observe their basic diving skills. Then in a friendly and positive manner > correct deficiencies before trying to teach them anything new. People generally > learn better when they are comfortable with their equipment and their > instructor, not when they are trying to over come the equipment and survive the > instruction! > > George, am I right, or am I right! > > > > > Ted Green > ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ > Dive Charter Boat: O.C. Diver > Sunset Marina in Ocean City, Maryland > http://www.ocdiver.com > 410.742.1992 800.637.2102 > Fax 410.749.9410 > "Diving the Atlantic coast from Cape May NJ to Cape Charles VA." > ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ > > > -- Send mail for the `techdiver' mailing list to `techdiver@aquanaut.com'. Send subscribe/unsubscribe requests to `techdiver-request@aquanaut.com'.
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