Why NOT DIR?

[SparticleBrane]

Step 1: Grab reg in mouth, dip head, push to OOA diver.
Step 2: OOA diver puts in mouth. You put your bungied backup in. Not necessarily in that order.
Step 3: Breathe...
Step 4: Disaster averted.

Skips that whole "where the heck is my octo?!" problem, and "oh I'm sorry I didn't know there was coral in my octo because it was banging into the reef!" problem, not to mention the "geez I don't even know if this thing works, but here you go anyway..." issue.

 

[Randy43068]

I have found that most people who don't like DIR, don't know jack squat about it (or what they "know" about DIR is totally false).

that's been my experience as well.

 

[JeffG]

I still prefer to hand off a (clear reg) rather than donate my primary, but that's because I'm old and trained that way. When I handed my octo to a rapidly ascending diver a few weeks ago, I felt it was the quickest/safest thing to do. It required nothing more than a quick grab of the octo, a quick purge in the mouthpiece down direct enroute and a direct push into his face (he'd spit out his reg on the bottom). I can only imagine the difficulty of doing that with my primary, especially one that was routed around my neck. With my left side routing, I was able to hand off to him in a "facing position" which I think (hope) he found reassuring.

Then again, I'm sure DIR (or Gooey or whatever) has a method of handling this rapid hand-off duriing ascent issue. I would certainly be willing to study the matter...

There is no problem doing it your way for recreational dives.

One of the reasons that DIR always hands off the breathing reg is that it is always a safe gas to breath. Lets take a scenario where the OOG happened at a deco stop. I know that my gas is safe, so I can pass it to another diver. If I grabbed a random reg from my side, I might give a reg that could kill the other diver. (Lets say, I passed a 100% O2 gas to my buddy at 70ft)

So thats one of the big reasons that a DIR diver trains to always give up the reg that he is breathing. But for recreational diving its not a big deal, but in tech diving could mean life or death.

 

[Rockhound76]

I would definitely have to practice that a few times to see how truly "easy" it is to give up a primary reg while dealing with a panicked diver on a rapid ascent. In my instance, my mask had already been knocked askew (still on, but flooded). Donating my reg by dipping my head on a too-rapid ascent (I was slowing him down a lot, but not enough), would have added a measure of task loading that I'm not comfortable with using my current skills (allowing that these can always be improved).

As for my octo, it is always firmly mounted and I treat it like my primary (breathe it before and often during my dives..although as a left mount, it will breathe wet when in my mouth upside down.). I have used it once on an emergency ascent (split exhaust valve on primary fighting heavy current), so I MAKE sure it works.

I agree that divers managing different gasses have a strong reason to dive this way-as pointed out earlier.

I'm not criticizing DIR, just stating why I haven't adopted it, yet. With knowledge comes understanding. I still don't have the knowledge base to criticize.

Step 1: Grab reg in mouth, dip head, push to OOA diver.
Step 2: OOA diver puts in mouth. You put your bungied backup in. Not necessarily in that order.
Step 3: Breathe...
Step 4: Disaster averted.

Skips that whole "where the heck is my octo?!" problem, and "oh I'm sorry I didn't know there was coral in my octo because it was banging into the reef!" problem, not to mention the "geez I don't even know if this thing works, but here you go anyway..." issue.

 

[John_B]

I still prefer to hand off a (clear reg) rather than donate my primary, but that's because I'm old and trained that way. When I handed my octo to a rapidly ascending diver a few weeks ago, I felt it was the quickest/safest thing to do. It required nothing more than a quick grab of the octo, a quick purge with the mouthpiece held down while pushing it directly into his face (he'd spit out his reg on the bottom). I can only imagine the difficulty of doing that with my primary, especially one that was routed around my neck. With my left side routing, I was able to hand off to him in a "facing position" which I think (hope) he found reassuring.

Then again, I'm sure DIR (or Gooey or whatever) has a method of handling this rapid hand-off duriing ascent issue. I would certainly be willing to study the matter...I DO NOT like the fact that my gear is setup differently than most folks, although I like the logic of it. I agree that standardized gear does provide an added measure of safety, in certain situations.

The DIR method has a bunch of standardized procedures including pre-dive checks. The first thing I do when I get in the water is bubble checks with my buddy, followed by a modified s-drill. The s-drill is simply a practice exercise of deploying the long hose to your buddy (mouthpiece facing them, purge valve not covered) while going to the backup. Its practiced at the start of every dive, in part because it validates that the hose routing didn't hung up on anything so it will be deployable if its actually needed.

Edit: The important thing is to practice deploying it until its second nature. There is a small learning curve, then by practicing literally at the start of every dive it becomes automatic. Yes, unpracticed it could be a cluster.

JeffG's and SparticleBrane's comments obviously are also spot on.

John

 

[JeffG]

I agree that divers managing different gasses have a strong reason to dive this way-as pointed out earlier.

I'm not criticizing DIR, just stating why I haven't adopted it, yet. With knowledge comes understanding. I still don't have the knowledge base to criticize.

Just remember...

DIR is not necessarily a "Best of Breed" approach.

Its a consistent approach to wide variety of diving.

So, each of the DIR gear/procedure choices may not be "best". They are best that work within the system. (but I doubt you will find a "bad" solution in DIR.)

 

[ZzzKing]

Skips that whole "where the heck is my octo?!" problem, and "oh I'm sorry I didn't know there was coral in my octo because it was banging into the reef!" problem, not to mention the "geez I don't even know if this thing works, but here you go anyway..." issue.

The basic assumption that anyone who isn't diving with a bungeed backup drags their octo through the sand, knocking into the reef and just generally don't where their octo is, is equivilent to the assumption that all DIR advocates are jack*sses. Neither is true but both are often used as proof that one either should or should not use DIR/GUE practices.

 

[Guba]

Gotta agree with zzzking here.
I know exactly where my octo is and so does anyone I dive with, just as I know where theirs is located. That's firmly established in the buddy check. If they don't have a keeper for it, I provide one. They pull breaths from it when we go over the placement, and I do the same, just as we do with our primaries when we check each other's gas. In other words, the octo won't be "dragging on the reef" and I won't be wondering if it works and neither will the partner.

As for the practice of donating the primary, I'm not entirely convinced. Maybe it's my "other training" (fire department), but to give someone in trouble my primary goes against a reinforced behavior. If, by some strange occurence, my octo DIDN'T function properly, that means the diver in trouble (and likely panicked) now has the sole functioning reg, and I am now a potential victim. It's unlikely I'll be able to reclaim it from the panicking diver. My FD training taught me not to make a new problem by attempting to solve one. I think I prefer to give the diver in trouble my long octo instead, and I'll keep my primary.
However, I'm open to new ideas. I'm still listening.

 

[SparticleBrane]

At least 95% of people who I've seen diving the non-bungied backup way have their octos dragging through the mud. They might start clipped off or otherwise, but usually they end up dragging.
Just an observation.

 

[SparticleBrane]

As for the practice of donating the primary, I'm not entirely convinced. Maybe it's my "other training" (fire department), but to give someone in trouble my primary goes against a reinforced behavior. If, by some strange occurence, my octo DIDN'T function properly, that means the diver in trouble (and likely panicked) now has the sole functioning reg, and I am now a potential victim. It's unlikely I'll be able to reclaim it from the panicking diver. My FD training taught me not to make a new problem by attempting to solve one. I think I prefer to give the diver in trouble my long octo instead, and I'll keep my primary.
However, I'm open to new ideas. I'm still listening.

You as the donor should be calm enough to deal with a backup that isn't working, whether it doesn't deliver air at all (post turned off) or gives you watery breaths (any myriad of issues). The most important thing at that particular point in time is to get gas to the diver who NEEDS it.
YOU just took a few breaths, you should be good for awhile even if they don't want to give up your reg if the need arises to buddy breathe for whatever reason. They are OOA and need it right then.

It's faster, easier, and gets good gas from a working reg to someone who needs it. No fumbling around for an octo (Murphy says it won't be where you put it), no handing off dead regs or regs that breathe wet, etc.