Deep-Sea Sherpa » dir

Essentials of Recreational Diving in Monterey

lol1001 — Sun, 17 Oct 2010 06:18:15 +0000

For those who are interested in what Essentials in Monterey looks like, here’s a video.

October 30, 2009 – UTD Stage Mini

Don — Sat, 31 Oct 2009 16:54:47 +0000

On Thursday, Kenn, Steve, I took a mid week day for a
UTD Stage Mini.

For technical diving, the use of deco bottle or stage bottle is a necessary skill. The UTD Stage Mini allows one to learn how to use a deco bottle in a workshop format. The day consists of lecture, equipment review, dry runs, in water skills, and then post dive review.

Kenn recently acquired a Flip HD with the new Ikelite Flip housing. To increase the viewing angle, he mated it with a wide angle lens. As the result, we had some great video of the day. Definitely watch in the UTD Stage Mini in HD mode.

Essentials October 2009

Don — Mon, 12 Oct 2009 19:46:03 +0000

Pictures from the UTD Essentials scuba diving class in Monterey, CA this past weekend.

Find more photos like this on Unified Team Diving

How to mark a stage or deco bottle

Don — Mon, 05 Oct 2009 18:26:09 +0000

Brian of Frog Kick Diving in the Pacific Northwest has a good article on how to mark a stage and deco bottle. In addition to the how, he also explains the whys, which is equally important for the thinking diver.

For all countries, O2 bottles are to marked with “OXYGEN,” in English. This is to avoid any confusion when diving mixed nationality teams.

For those diving Metric, standard practice is to mark the depth with an “M.”

How to rig a stage or deco bottle

Don — Mon, 14 Sep 2009 08:08:20 +0000

Andrew recently put together a video blog on how to rig a stage or deco bottle. This is useful viewing for anyone getting ready for technical diving and setting up their own stage or deco bottles.

Find more videos like this on Unified Team Diving

Here is a another very good reference for making your own stage bottle rigging. The bottom knot is a little more fancy, but both solutions are acceptable.

How to clip the SPG to the hip D-ring

Don — Thu, 20 Aug 2009 18:25:51 +0000

The Hogarthian/DIR/UTD equipment philosophy has the SPG attached to the left hip D-ring. This promotes streamlined gear configuration and doesn’t clutter up the chest (workspace area).

For new divers, this set-up requires work since the clipping and unclipping of the SPG has yet to become automatic. Instead of practicing, some divers choose to solve this by equipment – using fixed D-rings or larger than necessary bolt snaps. These changes are unnecessary as a little technique and some practice goes a long way.

Hold the bolt snap with the middle and ring finger, adding the pinky to capture the hose for security
Open the gate with the thumb
Find the D-ring with the index finger, and guide the gate into position

A variation of the above technique is the put a finger into the ring of the bolt snap.

The bolt snap for the SPG is 3/4″.

Scooter technique – dumping gas

Don — Wed, 05 Aug 2009 00:53:41 +0000

KMD posted a very nice short video on how to dump gas while riding a scooter.

In his words:

Some items to notice.
* By thumbing the light the diver keeps it pointed forward into the view of her buddies and frees up a hand to manipulate dump valves
* The divers movements are smooth and deliberate to minimize extraneous light signals
* The diver keeps looking forward to view the path ahead and navigate.

Find more videos like this on Unified Team Diving

Model is AWL of Cold Water Kitty.

DIR Equipment Configuration: Light Head

Don — Sun, 21 Jun 2009 22:51:53 +0000

While Internet forums are filled with discussions on DIR/UTD equipment configuration, I typically ignore most of the banter. Often times, these threads end up as nit picks on fine details, but miss the overall goal and value of DIR. However, the best discussions are typically improvements or recommendations that enhance the way we dive.

Based on recent discussions, we updated our light head configuration with a double-ender and bungee overtop. This equipment configuration now successfully serves multiple purposes.

Light can be clipped with head up on the D-ring
Light can be clipped with head down on the D-ring
Bungee provides convenient thumb loop
Bungee allows for temporary holds of cookies/arrows
Prevents Salvo lighthead from accidentally on unsnapping from the handle*

There’s a recent video on the UTD site about this DIR goodman handle light head configuration.

Equipment needed:

Stainless steel double-ender
1/4″ bungee
Cave line
O-ring

*Personally, I think that if the Salvo clamp on the handle was a little bit longer, more of “C” shape instead of a “U” shape, it might make the accidental unsnapping a non-issue.

Fundamentals or Intro-To-Tech class reports

Don — Mon, 23 Mar 2009 22:07:17 +0000

As the foundation of technical training, GUE’s Fundamentals of Diving or UTD’s Essentials of Technical Diving (formerly Intro-To-Tech) are an important stepping stone for many divers. The skills and techniques taught and tested are quite different than what most divers experience in their recreational dives.

Another class worth noting is the UTD Essentials course. The goal of the course is to introduce divers to the same foundational skills but in a workshop format. There is no pass/fail grading like Intro-to-Tech and Fundamentals.

Because of the growing popularity of these classes, there has been a multitude of class reports on various boards. Unfortunately, these stories become buried with every new post.

To help divers interested in these courses, I collected reports about DIR-F (Fundamentals or Fundies), Intro-to-Tech, or Essentials of Diving courses below.

I know that I have missed a few, so please feel free to comment and add to the list. Or email me and I’ll add to this article.

Lost Yooper – July 2002
DIRF, A Sobering Experience

O-ring – July 2002
DIRF Trip Report

large_diver – August 2002
Trip Report — DIR Fundamentals — August 9-11 — Boston, MA

Cave Diver – August 2002
DIRF Class Report

SeaJay – February 2003
DIR Class: The Truth Comes Out

Mo2vation – March 2003
The Assimiliation Continues – Part 7a (DIR/F Class) What I wanted, what I got
The Assimiliation Continues – Part 7b (DIR/F Class) Day 1 – the class, the team
The Assimilation Continues – Part 7c (DIR/F Class) Day 2/3 – dry drills, in water
The Assimilation Continues – Part 7d (DIR/F Class) Last one – Final Thoughts

Rick Inman and TSandM – November 2005
Nightly F Report

alwaingold – March 2007
Fundies Report
GUE Fundamentals Report

amascuba – March 2007
GUE Fundamentals – March 2007

bismark – March 2007
DIRF Course Report March 22-25

ScubaAndDreams – September 2007
Class Report