DIR-F in Milwaukee, June 18-20th

[Chris H]

Saturday: We spent the morning going through equipment, testing the fit, or lack there of, on our dry suit insulation and then the dry suits. We then were shown how to properly adjust the back plates, and then headed to the quarry.

Visibility was horrible, and we managed to silt out Lannon Quarry so badly that we didn't get any skills video taped at all, and we managed this "Charlie Foxtrot" on three separate tries. We needed help, but the vis didn't help our cause. We were all pretty frustrated and went back for more lecture. Saturday was 9am- 9:30pm.

Sunday, needing to find better vis that was convenient for all of us, we met at Pearl Lake @ 8am and spent a little over an hour underwater (42min and 23 minutes) attempting to do the skills we wanted to do Saturday. We then watched the video taped attempts and hopefully know what we need to work on in the future.

That is obviously a very brief overview. As I alluded to in my post on Friday night, this class is so much more than the majority of the BS you see people argue about on forums like this. The instructors couldn't care less if you don't have a single blue H on any of your gear. They focused on why things work, not what brand it is. If you come into a class like this with an open mind, you will learn something. Check your ego at the door, because it isn't about that. It really is the whole package, not just a BP/wing or a long hose, but the whole thing. After seeing Mike and Brando in the water on video next to the rest of us goobers; why wouldn't I want to dive like them?

None of us “passed”, but we missed half of the dives because of the conditions. I still don’t know that any of us would have made the cut, but I’m truly convinced that it isn’t about that. There will hopefully be another Milwaukee class in the early fall. You can bet I’ll be back.

mmmmm…Kool-Aid