Sunday, SDUE will kickoff  this season's "DIR Tweak" practice dives at:

La Jolla Shores

Meet near the Flag Pole

9:00 AM

Sunday April 13, 2008

Marc Hall (GUE instructor) and several experienced DIR divers will be there.   Everyone who is interested in DIR/Hogarthian/Unified team diving is welcome.  You don't need DIR gear or experience, only an interest or curiosity in DIR diving.  Single tanks or doubles are welcome.   Backplates/wings are available if you would like try one.

An RSVP post on this thread or email to with the skills/course you want to work on and the whether you'll be bringing a single or double tanks is appreciated.   If you would like to try a backplate/harness/wing please mention that and plan on coming a bit early for sizing.

These "DIR Tweak" dives are practice dives to build and maintain safe diving skills using the  unified team DIR diving philosophy.  There are over 25 people that expressed interest in San Diego DIR tweak dives.   We plan on scheduling regular weekday and Saturday DIR tweak dives alternating based on interest and skill level.   I understand Sunday morning can be difficult, but please try to join us for this kickoff if possible so everyone can meet.  

Sunday we will spend about 1 hour topside talking about DIR gear, philosophy, skills, training paths, etc., then breakup into groups and splash to work on skills.   It's fine if you only want to attend the topside portion.  

In the water, we usually shoot at bag from the sand in 30' of water and use that line as a reference to do ascent drills, etc.   We will buddy up and group up with a drill leader.   We are just a group of like-minded divers, this is not formal dive instruction and you don't have to participate on skills you're not comfortable doing.  For example if we are practicing valve drills and you're not comfortable turning your gas off under water, that is perfectly ok, just wave your hand with a "no thanks".

We often do a fun dive after the drill dive.   Bring a 2nd tank or doubles for Sunday if you're interested in doing a fun dive in the canyon after the drill dive.

If you want to receive email notices for SDUE DIR tweak dives, please subscribe to the mailing list here:

http://groups.yahoo.com/group/sdue/

We will help setup Fundamentals/Essentials and Tech courses if there is enough interest.   It only takes 3 committed divers to schedule a tech course in San Diego or OC.  There are several skill groups that we hope to organize this summer.  

New to DIR

Divers interested in the DIR philosophy or preparing for GUE DIR Fundamentals, 5thD-x Essentials, or NAUI Intro to Tech courses.  

Typical skills worked on:

* Trim and buoyancy

* GUE "basic 5"  http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tTj8CiTz_rI

* Gas sharing

* ascending up a line from 30' stopping every 5' to practice buoyancy control

* shooting a bag while holding buoyancy

* frog kick, backwards kick

* hand signals, light signals

Technical 1

Graduates of GUE DIR Fundamentals or NAUI Intro to Tech courses who are preparing to take GUE tech1 or NAUI Technical/Trimix courses.   Also for those already trimix certified that are interested in joining SDUE's tech1 dives (160' max trimix).

Typical skills worked on:

* valve drills in doubles  http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_-netyt3rkw

* ascending up a line from 30' stopping every 3' to practice buoyancy control

* watching team members and line while descending/ascending

* Line skills

* shooting bag

* Holding buoyancy under task load

Technical 2

Graduates of GUE Tech1 or NAUI Technical II / Trimix I who are preparing to take GUE Tech2 or NAUI Trimix 2 courses.

Typical skills worked on:

* all the above plus:

* managing multiple stage/deco bottles

* passing stage/deco bottles to teammate

* ascending up a line from 30' stopping every 3' while moving bottles, switching deco gas.

Technical Explorer Team

Graduates of GUE Tech2 or NAUI Trimix II who are interested in joining the SDUE exploration team.   Also for those already trimix certified that are interested in joining SDUE's exploration team.

Typical skills worked on:

* all the above plus:

* deco strategies

* scooter skills

* multiple stage bottles.

* mapping and surveying