defied wrote:It's good you are letting other divers know that you practice horizontal trim in the water, I do too. I try to be as flat as possible in training (repeat: In Training).
However, if the agency requires perfect trim during skills as a pass (eg: the diver can perform the skills with ease in the water, but at a 45 degree angle, thus failing), I think that might be a little strict.
I also think it would be difficult in trim hauling a 12" ID, 8' pipe coupler to mate to a retrofit.
That said, my point of the post should be read over again. As the OP is interested in DIR, I was stating that focusing on the DIR Approach should not be agency dependent.
The intent was to let the OP know that GUE and UTD are not the only options out there, nor is any other agency. The community is the big educational strong point, and I would suggest that regardless of which agency the OP goes with, he keep an unbiased view of other divers methodology, which could help him enhance his further diving education.
If he felt the urge to choose an agency, and stick with it completely, I would strongly urge choosing one which is modular in nature, and willing to evolve with the community.
D
Well, to answer your point more directly, part of team diving is being in the proper "position". If you are going to stay in the proper position, you need to have control of your buoyancy, kicks, etc. Proper trim directly effects your buoyancy control, kick efficiency, etc. That's why the most basic classes focus on those aspects. Because before you can be a good teammate, you need to have control of those skills.
It's not uncommon for a student to enter Essentials with a fairly decent handle on buoyancy control and/or trim and/or kicks, independently. However, when they try to combine all of those at once, or throw in a basic 6 or airshare, they go into 45 degree trim, start sculling, etc and the resulting mushroom cloud is erupting. From a team diving approach, this is unacceptable, because you're unnecessarily limiting visibility. If there's a 3rd teammate, they are likely outside of the plume, or possibly engulfed in it. It doesn't really matter, as it's going to be tough to keep the team together.
These skills are in no way exclusive to UTD. However, my students are paying me to teach them team diving, and help them to acquire the precise skills noted above, as they are critical (though not exclusive) to team diving. It's my job to teach them how to perform those skills, and help them to achieve proficiency with them, to very high standards. It's their job to apply (or not apply) those skills/tools to their own diving, after the class.
Additionally, if a student does go "out of trim" (I don't have a 0 degree, or 45 degree, or any other degree of pass/fail, as Essentials isn't a pass/fail class), if they can provide me with an explanation why, then great. If they go out of trim because they can't remain in trim, then it's time to revisit their balance, kicks, etc.
They also get to break trim on ascent, to look above them, vent their drysuit, etc.
Fast forward to more technical/advanced training...they are put into many situations where horizontal trim is not the best option, or maybe impossible. But, before they get there, they have become very proficient with horizontal trim.
It's not about teaching them how they must dive. It's about giving them the skills to dive in the manner that they are paying me to teach them. How they choose to dive after the training is completely up to them.
And has been stated earlier in this thread, GUE and UTD are not the only options for this, especially locally.