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Hi Simon - On Wednesday, August 14, 2002, at 11:33 PM, Simon Naunton wrote: > > "So - answer me this: If you were a new diver choosing an instructor > - do you want the dude hanging on the rope teaching you how to dive, > or do you want the people who taught the guy holding the video camera?" > > The answer is obvious, but, to re-iterate, not all non-GUE instructors > are bad instructors e.g. I have never been anywhere near a GUE > instructor, but my buoyancy appears to be at least as good as yours. > And, I know of plenty of people in the same position as me. Simon, I'm still a "rookie" diver, at least by the standards of individuals on this list. I expect that my buoyancy skills are nowhere near as good as yours or others here, and I practice and practice and practice them and still silt out more frequently than I find acceptable as a photographer. Even the thought of comparing my dive skills to trained technical divers makes me uncomfortable. BUT - a key difference in me and in my non-DIR friends is that I am *aware* of my buoyancy - and my body position - underwater. My biggest beef, as a photographer, is that I see literally hundreds of divers who simply don't *know* any better. I didn't (intentionally) imply that one has to be a GUE instructor to be a good instructor - I happen to know some pretty good divers/instructors that aren't GUE. BUT - To my limited knowledge, no other dive curricula emphasizes buoyancy, safety drills neutral in the water column, body position, finning techniques, etc. the way GUE does - the "Right" way. THAT is why I selected GUE, and not because I was "brainwashed". What I am trying to do with this video is show my non-DIR friends that DIR offers them, as recreational divers, HUGE benefits to their safety, comfort, skills and *enjoyment* of diving, just as it has for me. Nine months ago, I was taking a wreck 1 course (SSI) on a fairly deep wreck (by recreational standards), and on the way up, I was hanging on to that downline for dear life making my safety stop - I didn't know how to do it any other way... the deal is, IT WASN'T FUN! I was a nervous wreck! Being able to free-ascend from a hundred feet is not only a practical safety skill to have, but it means that I can *relax*, and a relaxed diver is a diver that is having a good time! :) I want my buddies to have that same experience! > However, until GUE is firmly established in the recreational (as > opposed to technical) diving space then this is not really a fair > comparison to make. I do agree that your video was a good example of > recreational diving instruction at close to its worse. Being a rookie, the way I see it is that DIR proponents (I am one, again, for selfish and practical reasons) have a tough time with the recreational dive community. How do you tell a fellow diver that you "Do It Right" without, in the same breath, imply that they "Do It Wrong"? After all, they ARE carrying a C-Card from the largest agency in the world, right? The benefits of DIR are obvious even to a diver of my limited skill level, but telling others about it is difficult to do without being condescending and coming off like a butthole - even if your intention is to help. I am really struggling with that, but I really believe in the training I got based on my own before and after results. I am of the opinion that the skills taught in DIR Fundamentals should be incorporated into Open Water curriculum, or at least introduced there. But because of economies of scale where large classes and lowest-common denominator skills are required to ensure that students get certified (and quickly), I'm afraid this won't happen any time soon. So in the mean time, I try to "preach" the benefits of DIR to my fellow recreational divers in order to encourage them to learn to Do It Better in a way that their Open Water instructor, perhaps by necessity, ignored altogether. If that makes me a member of the "Cult", then sign me up, give me my Nikes, and pour me a glass of that Kool-Ade :) > All this aside... nice site... and I am extremely jealous of your orca > experience. Thanks! The orca experience was once in a lifetime, and is an indelible memory for me. The expression "religious experience" is overused, but this certainly was one. I don't have the words to describe it. It was awesome in the extreme. Anyway... I didn't intend to offend or come off as an ass with my remarks. In this crowd, I am but the "grasshopper", and I joined this list to learn from people more experienced than myself. I was not yet ready to introduce myself to the list, but being called a "DIR cultmember with nothing better to do than make propaganda video" kinda rubbed me the wrong way, so I felt compelled to explain myself (obviously, John missed the other 800+ photos on my website of other things I see when I dive). I will now go back to lurking and learning. Thanks sincerely for the kind comments! -David Evans www.diveseen.com -- Send mail for the `techdiver' mailing list to `techdiver@aquanaut.com'. Send subscribe/unsubscribe requests to `techdiver-request@aquanaut.com'.
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