As one of the 3 who did this “workshop” on Friday & have to say it was a very enjoyable day. My motivation was to see if I could learn anything from the DIR style of teaching that would help me inprove my diving & particularly my trim. I have been diving for about 14 years & a KISS CCR for about 3 of those. Since going CCR I have never been 100% happy with my trim but have always blamed it on the unit with it's 1st stages at bum level & couterlungs near the top.

Starting around 9 the day opened with a chat about our individual objectives for the day & Clare explaining how we would structure things.. . Basically dive (to 6m) with Howard following us & shooting video, we were primed to have a go at various skills over the training platform at Stoney, acheiving neutral trim, frog kicking, backwards finning, use of a spool to deploy a bag. 

To cut a long story short my frog kicking turned out not to be frog kicking! & generally I was quite rubbish especially when compared to the zen like level of control shown by our two hosts...we … surfaced, got feedback…dived again…got more feedback …dived again …& eventually went to the pub. The video was very useful as a teaching aid ....there was a noticible improvement in all 3 of us in the afternoon dives... the workshop doesn't aim to provide all the answers in a day but to give the diver the basic techniques to take away & practice. From a CCR perspective there was no CCR bashing & I got the impression that Clare was actually quite surprised just how well the regular DIR trimming out techniques transferred to CCR.

As I said her approach to diving is very Zen & really boils down to getting & keeping a relaxed & efficient position in the water & being able to stop, do tasks etc while not moving out of trim (which applies irrespective of what type of gear is on your back). Got to say I was very very impressed by their level of control…they really have it nailed. 

I won't be selling the KISS but I found the day very useful & would definately recommend it to other CCR divers who want to work on their level of comfort in the water. 

Mike

Our course ran from Thurs to Sunday inclusive and our team of three consisted of Adam, myself and my wife Mrs F. Clare was our instructor.

So.... it's 4 days, pretty expensive as far as 'other' courses go, and we had both read loads on the net naturally we were both pretty nervous as we drove up to the Eden Vale in Frome on Thurs morning. The Edan Vale is a real little gem that Clare has sorted for a course such as this. A warm, cosy, comfortable farmhouse B&B is just the ticket for relaxing and taking in what it a pretty loaded 4 days in terms of theory and lectures.

Day 1 passed without too much drama, apart from realising how little we all realied on computers and tables when it came to gas calcs.... a bit of overnight brain training and we all remembered primary school maths! Down to the pool before dinner gave all three of us the chance to get to grips with the kicks and the swim test.... some better than others, but great fun nonetheless. Rach and I live close by so stayed at home, but night 1 was not spent sleeping so much as doing Nitrox revision and me sat sewing knife pouches as this was an area of the kit we were missing.

Day 2 - The first diving day. Went ok. A chance to use the kicks we had learnt in full kit and cold water, our first chance to dive together as a three, and the realisation that these were the 'easy' dives and that we really needed to start working a bit closer as a team before the next few dives. Fiona had joined at this point for surface support as had Ben (lostdiver) and Al as saftety / camera divers. Everyone was working hard to ensure we got the most from the course, and I speak for all three when I say it was appreciated, you have enough to concerntrate on doing the course, so an extra pair of hands here and there really helped. A final point on day 2 was that having the video for debreif was very helpful, it really allowed all three of us to see where we needed to improve, and something that felt 'right' underwater wasnt always so, and visa versa.

Day 3 - Today we started to move away from diving as individuals and the basic skills and more towards team diving. As most of you know, the course adds a little more each dive, and Clare seemed very good at keeping the learning curve steep, but not too steep that any of us fell back down, she also had a knack of developing team skills as well as individual at the same time. S drills and V drills were introduced today, and whilst they went OK underwater, what was obvious was the lack of situational awareness from each of us when loaded with a new skills such as the S or V drill. Dive 4 finished in the dark and was long. It wasnt quite a clusterfcuk, but near. All I recall was hanging mid-water holding my blob and SMB after a 60 min skills dive with my back and legs screaming in agony, and my head wanting to go to sleep..... I'm not sure how I got out of the water! To illustrate just how knackered I was, when we got home at 10.30pm I went upstairs for a shower, undressed and put all of my clothes into the toilet and shut the lid.... I only realised 10 mins later when I went for a pee!

Day 4 - All three of us were now begining to show signs of stress. Adam R had been struggling with a few skills (kicks and trim etc) as well as not being able to reach his valves - but fair play to the guy he kept a superb mental attitude throughout which didnt effect the team. Rach was beating herself up with high self improsed standards which was stressing her, and I was just very aprehensive about how much tougher this could all get! Dive 5 started well, slow, but well. V and S drills and completed as a team and then off for a swim. But as the usual failures started to happen progress in the water slowed up and the cracks in the team really started to show. The dive was ended by Clare for several reasons, but embarrasingly we had breached min gas and she hadnt been able to achieve all the skills required as we had not swan far enough.....bugger. We then found out this would have been the last dive.... so we now needed to go in again.... At this point all three of us sat together and really agreed a strategy, hoping that we could improve on the previous dives. This was the moment of epiphany for me and when the whole course 'clicked' into place - I think the others agreed. The dive felt good from the start. Pretty quickly my mask is gone....flash, flash and after what feels like ages but is only a few seconds both the team are by my side and we are still swimming. mask back on... phew.... to cut the next 15 mins short we then experiance 2 primary light failures and 5 back up lights either fail or go missing, as do all of the teams contents gauges. BUT.... this time it didnt stress the team - it was actually pretty fun!..... after about 20 mins we reach the wreck which was the final destination of the dive - swiming over to it and I notice Clare hovering about the wreck in the gloom and as we get closer her right hand D ring is stuffed with boltsnaps and back-up torches! PMSL!

We then have an S drill on the wreck which moved into a gas sharing ascent followed by Rach deploying the bag - which for her 2nd time ever with a spool and blob went very well. A reasonable ascent and back on the surface, where all the worried faces have been replaced by big grins!! Back on land we pack up and head down to the pub for a de-brief and final outcome. We all agreed it was the toughest course any of us had done. As has been said many times, you get what you pay for, so in hindsight the course is remarkable value. I am like a zombie today, and I know that Clare had to work twice as hard as the students, so respect for the effort she put(s) in. Finally, both Rach and I had said on day 1 that we wernt sure if we would progress training past this level but after the last 4 days both of us are keen to look forward to more!

I don’t do mornings … really I don’t! I took 30 mins of snoozing the alarm plus a phone call from the fiancée to get me up! So I staggered bleary eyed down the stairs to receive a fantastic fry up from Barbara at 8am.

Clare soon arrives and introductions are made. Assisting Clare is John Grogan. My first impression of both Clare and John was surprise … when you read about “celebrities” such as these I was expecting GI3 type characters … but when I met them they are down to earth normal people!

I’m by far the youngest and most inexperienced of the group. Walking into the class at 20 with only 72 dives to my name. That eventually came back to haunt me. Coffee peculators are distributed and then the course officially starts at 9:30am. A round the table introduction gives each other a quick insight into each other and why we want to do the class. I wanted to do the course to become a better diver and become more proficient in the water.

The lectures started – I was particularly interested in the decompression lectures and how the DIR way of recreational deco is conducted. Rather than the typical “stop at 6m for 3 minutes” that most divers who have come up through PADI/BSAC know, this is more of a gradual/continual deco – known as Minimum Deco. At this point I started picking brains into the details of decompression at the levels Clare and John dive at. Wow it gets fun!

Then we rolled onto nitrox … of even more interest was the oxygen toxicity and the mechanisms behind it and why 32% is considered ideal for its balance of 02 content and reduction of nitrogen. How Sudafed decongestant tablets are proven to be exciters of oxygen toxicity, why PP02 should be kept as low as possible, how to track CNS % and OTU counts …

At this point I could feel steam raising off my head … the knowledge to take in is immense and I considered myself quite wised up before walking into the class! Lectures rolled onto minimum gas … why 50bar is absolutely useless! Even in twin-12! It’s incredible the amount of gas that is required to do a safe ascent from depth., at some point we all had to do the calculations, my minimum gas (in twin-12’s) for a 30m dive is set at 80bar. Clare asked us what pressure we would turn a dive at – later it revealed that what we thought was safe … wasn’t! Colin revealed that he would end a dive at 80bar on a 15 … after crunching some numbers he decides to up it to 100!

John told a story of when he was doing a push dive in Ressel, he had left twin-18’s plus other safety reserves of gas as back up, when something went wrong and they decided to leave, they managed to burn through all that gas (that’s two twin-18’s at 240 bar … nearly 18,000 litres of gas purely for emergencies gone). Minimum gas calculations for our dives may seem a bit trivial, but it could save your life later on…

More lectures on trim, finning techniques, buoyancy characteristics, balanced rig … you name it we learned (well tried to absorb!) it. An interesting lecture was narcosis where Clare admitted to being narked at 3m. I found this truly ridiculous. 3m! I mean come on – admitting to being narked at 30m is understandable! In theory you are narked the minute you descend, the effect just increases with depth. However, thinking that when we do a deep dive where we are nervous and tense we usually feel more narked, the same process should apply shallow. Looking back I am convinced I was narked at the 6m platform during the first two days diving on the course… I was stressed to the max and I can’t remember parts of the dive. Hmmm … I think helium is on its way soon as humanly possible…

Day 2 We went out into the car park and learned the S-Drill. Actually quite a simple drill, but you have to really take your take and think. What we must have looked like to the people walking around nearby I have no idea.

Dive #1 Depth: 12.5m Duration: 45 mins The first dive was to try out the new finning techniques Frog Kick, Mod-Frog Kick, Flutter Kick and Mod-Flutter Kick. It was supposed to be a nice easy shake down dive. Pleasant swim round to the platforms, we go straight through a silt cloud where I lose my sense of direction and have a buoyant ascent … I get back down and carry on and arrive at the platforms.

Clare demo-ed each kick and then we did laps around the platform. Everyone did OK although I had the problem of dropping my knee’s during the power phase of each kick. The back kick was a failure; I just couldn’t do a thing! I just stayed where I was, if anything I went forward and down!!

Next was no-mask swim … was not looking forward to this whatsoever. Richard led me well and gave me the all important feedback of where I was … managed to get my mask on and hey – still somewhere near the platform! I ended up having some buoyancy issues as I was getting ready to lead Richard on a no-mask swim which resulted in massive stress and an equally massive CO2 hit (I learned this in the evening).

Gas got to my feet and no matter what I did I couldn’t get comfortable, I was getting extremely stressed. Although my average SAC for this dive was 30 l/min, at this point I was hitting close to 70 l/min. Although I was panicked and stressed I tried my best to get it sorted, in the end I did a gradual ascent and relaxed for a bit – I could see everything with the appearance of fog/mist – a positive sign of C02 hit caused by stress and an ineffective breathing cycle.

We ended the dive with an attempted 9m/min ascent to 3m, a stop then slow ascent upwards.

I just went up and up and I felt horrible, I had two buoyant ascents, a stressed but vaguely controlled ascent, couldn’t do the drills, couldn’t do the finning techniques, couldn’t keep trim, couldn’t get comfortable, had floaty feet … I just wondered why I dived.

But after feeling low and a chat with the fiancée I shaked myself down for dive #2 – I refused to be beaten – I would not quit at this. I was determined not to be beaten.

Dive #2 Depth: 12.5m Duration: 55 mins

This dive was an attempt at the basic 5...Step 1 – take your primary regulator out and put it back in – did ok. Step 2 – take your primary regulator out, stow it and switch to back up – did ok. Step 3 – deploy long hose, switch to back up, restow and return to primary – did ok. Step 4 – Mask flood and clear – did ok. Step 5 – Mask removal and refit – massive problem.

Doing step 5 horizontal compared to kneeling on the floor was freaking hard! I also had a bad habit of spitting my primary reg out when I took the mask off! Don’t understand why that happened! The first time I did this I floated up and had to be pushed down, the second time I did quite well and stayed within about a meter of starting point.

Doing the second one took a bit of building myself up to – although I didn’t show it, I really hated having my mask off. In warm Florida waters I would open my eyes so at least I could see, even in a pool I can do it however the water was freezing and it gave me headaches when I had my mask off, so that wasn’t an option to me. In return it did panic me a bit. Which is why it took me so long to do it the second time.

Day 3 Dive #3 Depth: 6.4m Duration: 49 mins

Clare ran us through the pre dive checks and demonstrated valve drills. I even noticed one bloke who kept shuffling over to us and then whenever I looked at him he would pretend to not look at us and look the other way … that guy wanted a free lesson.

This dive was all about S-drills and Valve-drills. We got in and did a left turn around the scaffolding to the deeper platforms. I was buddied up with Richard, I let him do the valve drill first, he did well looking very relaxed. Then it was my turn, for a bit of safety I moved over the platform, as the last time I did a drill like this I dropped down quite a bit. OK breathe deep, quick wriggle to stretch the suit out and then throw the arm back ... right ... the valve is around here somewhere.... couldn’t touch it! I was nowhere near the valve! I kept trying and trying I got to the point where lactic acid had built up so much I just couldn’t move my arms any more. So I cut the drill.

Next was the S-drill, again I let Richard go first, the drill went well. My turn OK I went OOG got a reg ... a little nervous and ... hey those sodding floaty feet are back!! I resisted the urge and carried on with the drill but it just got worse. Eventually all my energy was going on keeping down, Richard eventually took his reg back and I went to my backup.... no time to grab my primary – my legs gave up and off I floated ... feeling sheepish again.

I came out of the dive feeling shite. The past three dives on the course made me feel so low – I couldn’t do a thing! I kept wondering how I was so bad and that I’m letting the team down. Another chat with the fiancée and I’d shaken myself down ready for the next dive. As always I wasn’t giving up. I had come into the class with the attitude of not being fussed if I failed – I was going to do my best and if I wasn’t up to scratch then at least I knew where the bar was!

Dive #4 Depth: 12.5m Duration: 55 mins

In my opinion I had been performing the worst in the class. Clare recognised that I was unhappy and struggling and that the team was stressed, so decided to call the end of the class for the day, she made us jump in for a nice long pleasure dive with no instructors to try to relax and enjoy a dive. 52 minutes later we surfaced – the others felt better, I was less convinced, I had tried to do what I was told such as arching my back, clenching butt cheeks etc came out feeling low as I was still useless in the water.

Day 4

On the surface we practiced valve drills and s-drills. I had also decided to scrap the HID torch – reason? I was too task loaded doing the skills and handling the torch.

Dive #5 Depth: 6.1m Duration: 50mins

This was actually two dives rolled in one. The first was recovery of an unconscious diver. Richard tried to raise me, however I wasn’t having a good time with my feet and he couldn’t manage the lift. Clare stayed eye level with me which gave me an excuse to relax as I concentrated on her – still didn’t get the feet sorted, I ended up hanging on to the platform while Richard got himself in a good position but eventually Clare cut the drill. I didn’t know this and I was raised to the surface by Clare! Size doesn’t matter she said …. If you know Clare, think off opposite to her, Clare is a short petite woman and I’m well ... quite simply not short, not petite and certainly not a woman! 6ft 5in and a few stone of man!

We descended and I recovered Richard, I felt I did really well on everything except the trim, we went vertical on ascent. And I managed to knock the reg out of his mouth …. Oops! But this was while he was on the platform so he got it back in and we continued the drill. Clare was at eye level with Richard, so if anything were to go wrong Clare wouldn’t have been more than a second away. Clare told me horizontal is best because (for me) if it were to happen at the back of a cave, you would have to swim out horizontally but she did congratulate me for a good recovery and controlled ascent. At least the fella would be alive!

We dropped down again to conduct valve drills, S-drills and then finally SMB deployment. Since taking a knife to my under suit and learning to stretch my legs out to keep my trim, I managed my first ever valve drill quite comfortably. The S-drill also went well. Clare was impressed and I got a strong congratulatory hand shake. Finally things are looking up!

I can actually do this diving malarkey! Now the adrenaline was pumping, but it wasn’t for fear, it was for excitement, it was starting to come together, I thought that I might just be able to prove myself worthy.

Colin and I did the S-drills, we finished and then had to wait for Richard and Stathis to finish their SMB drill, because, somehow, Stathis dropped a semi-inflated SMB through the platform and it got completely stuck! While waiting I even asked John how my trim was while we waited for Stathis and Richard to finish their drills– he said I looked good! My moral was picking up.

SMB deployment went fantastically although I did forget to look up. I came out of this dive with an ear-to-ear grin! I was the happiest I have ever been on the course– I dekitted and rang with missus and I was beaming! For the first time on the course I felt like I actually was half decent under water. My trim and in-water comfort had improved so drastically in four dives it was incredible. At no point on the dive did I have a problem with my feet!

Dive #6 Depth: 12m Duration: 37 mins For this dive, John was joining us as our #3.

Colin and I were to plan and execute a dive including calculations for minimum gas. The plan was to go in the slipway, drop down to 4.5m and hang to the left of the path where a square shaped boulder would mark a location for us to do S-drills. Colin seemed chuffed to find it he was constantly signalling “THERE!”

We then followed the quarry wall to the right and headed for the 9m platform. Clare hit us with S-drills; again Colin struggled to keep horizontal and silted the area out! In the middle of the drill we lost John (I think Clare told him to swim off – we found him sat over a hole waving at us). I felt sheepish that I couldn’t keep track of a bloke with a HID torch sat next to me when I’m usually quiet aware of the team. Yet again shows how team awareness goes out the window when a bit of stress and hard work is put on me.

Clare led us to a platform to conduct backup light deployment and then we continued to the crushing works, which is actually a really impressive place! We hovered over a bridge which would have been an amazing Kodak moment! John was made out-of-gas and it was my job to deploy the SMB and lead the ascent. I was half way through deploying the bag and Colin (tried) to tell me to look up before launch, I couldn’t figure this out, he took the bag off me and I thought he implied a free ascent – particularly as we had two divers sharing air, I figured that it is on its way to being depleted very quickly, so I put it away, Clare told me to launch the (damn!) bag so I launched it and still forgot to look up. The ascent started OK but I soon ended up being pinned against the trapeze and then in the mess that followed I floated up to the surface.

A long surface swim back to the shore and we dekitted and waited for the other team to eventually got our results. Part of me felt that I could get the rec pass as I had shown determination through the course and at the end it finally came together. But another (more significant) part of me felt that I just wasn’t anywhere near the standards. Fingers crossed!

Reflections

How was the course? It was officially the most difficult diving I have ever done. However, the knowledge I am leaving the course with has made me an infinitely better diver. Anyone who thinks they are a good diver should take the course. It will reveal you for your true colours, yet also give you the tools to walk away far more competent even if you failed the course. Knowing the outcome, would I still do it? Absolutely, my in-water comfort has improved so much and it was due to a lot of little things. That on its own was worth it. My skills and abilities and even my capacity has improved.

Would I recommend it? Absolutely, if you want to improve you’re diving and become a better diver you NEED to do this. I thought that I was half decent underwater and that I was safe. However on day 2 of the diving I came to a realisation that I was nowhere near as good as I thought and that I wasn’t safe. But by the end of the course I can at least say that I am a safe diver and that I’m definitely improving the right way.

Have I changed? Absolutely, I have always admired cave divers and technical divers for the discipline and the dedication to the level of diving that they are at. I have even more respect for technical/cave divers, particularly the DIR crew. I can see how high the bar is held and I have almost been humbled by the course.

Are you considering doing Fundamentals? You should definitely do it. It is money well spent. Getting four days to pick the brains of an instructor is worth the money. If you are having issues with trim & weighting, don’t worry – it will get sorted on the course! My issue of rolling over head first was solved by stretching my legs out! Every tail weight under the sun wasn’t fixing the problem!

How can you prepare? DO NOT PRACTICE SKILLS! Best thing you can do is just get in the water and toddle about and get more comfortable. Ask a DIR diver to demonstrate the skills but don’t bother doing them yourself. Experience in the water is the best thing you can do for yourself. Hope this has been an interesting read for you all - it was certainly the best course I have ever done in my life.

My diving background - I came to the course with 25 dives, most of which have been in and around the Tampa area where I was staying for work. As such I was doing the course in a wetsuit and on a single tank, and with no primary light. Diving in the UK is still a fairly novel experience for me, and one I'm slowly growing to enjoy.

I won't go into the details of exactly what we did on the course, but more what I came away with from it.

1) The video reviews were incredibly helpful - not only do they highlight the bad points, and make you cringe at times, they also clearly show you the good as well. When you're having what you think is a really bad dive, it's reassuring to see later that you did have good trim for parts of it. For me it showed me how much I'm still trying to use my hands though - it's something I've now got in my mind on every dive, and I can work on, which I may not have picked up on without the video.

2) Kit - I thought I had a pretty good set up before this course. Now I really do have a good set up. Until you really use these things "in anger" so to speak, you don't realise that your D-rings need moving, or that a 5 ft hose is a right PIA on S-Drills, and that a 7 ft is far better.

3) This course really shows you what team work is all about. In the space of a weekend I learnt to be alert whilst others are doing drills, ready to react in case something goes wrong. I learnt to act as a visual reference for others, and what that really means to do it when there is no other solid visual reference (admittedly through blowing it completely and following the person carrying out the drill downwards...). A key lesson I learnt is that there is nothing wrong with asking another member of your team to clip something off, or retrieve something (the less said about my butt d-ring and smb stowage, the better...) - it's not about being the biggest, baddest diver there was, it really is about being an effective team. I could go on forever on this point alone.

4) The skills are obviously a key part of the course, and whilst I'd done air sharing on a long hose as practice before this, I'd not done full s-drills the way they are are taught. I also got a lot out of watching the others carry out the valve drills and s-drills in doubles and with their primary lights. I got so much out of watching them, listening to advice given to them, and also asking questions about their set ups.

One thing in particular I liked was that every piece of advice about kit, skills etc, every tip etc, they were all backed with solid reasoning about WHY they are that way. There is never a situation where it's just "Do as we say", there is always a "because of..." Often it's not something you'd see yourself, but as soon as it's mentioned it makes total sense, and you wonder why you never saw it before.

Finally, I can't say enough good things about the whole team - Clare managed to make the course serious and straightforward, yet with a good dose of fun in there too. She also was able to take someone like myself - a natural pessimist in life, and turn any of my negativity around as soon as it came to the fore. I don't think I thank Clare enough for this course - I know I'm a better diver for it. Would also like to extend those thanks to James, Al and Fiona for their roles, and every piece of advice and assistance they provided!!