Near-DIR diving: Are there DIR things you would probably never do?

[CompuDude]

Changing stuff around is expensive and it takes some "hard knocks" to understand its limitations. DIR as an equipment and procedural system has been vetted. The limits are generally known, the little things that can trip up a new system have either been found and eliminated or they have been recognized and their risks mitigated somehow. Or those issue just have to be recognized, eg. sidemount. I don't have any real need to reinvent the wheel. I appreciate being able to ask someone who's diving at my or higher levels how to either: manage what seems to be a new issue or manage a new peice of kit. There is a well trodden logical path ahead as far as I wish to go as long as it doesn't include sidemount, independent doubles, or a CCR.

FWIW, they've been using sidemount to explore certain tighter paths in the WKPP project. JJ has essentially developed an official DIR gear configuration for sidemount... they just haven't had the spare time to put it all into writing, since they don't consider it a high priority.

 

[nereas]

I prefer to design my own DIR configurations, rather than wait for JJ to come up with ideas for me. I call them hogarthian so as to distinguish them, however.

DIR, one chance to Do It Right, has been around a lot longer than GI has been diving, although he did indeed try to get a corner on that market, like in his stockbroker day trading job.

 

[nereas]

I'm not tired of thinking, but I don't find the need to reinvent the wheel, either. Some very smart people with a hell of a lot of diving experience in some pretty demanding settings came up with a system that they feel works well. In my experience so far, it does for me, too. I COULD insist on experimenting with a bunch of different ways of doing things and a bunch of different equipment, and that might be fun (and expensive), but settling on this way of doing things has found me a whole bunch of great buddies and a very comfortable way of diving. Works for me.

Then I would recommend for you to put your snorkel back on, anytime you are not actually going into a cave or shipwreck.

And get yourself a backup timer-gauge, so that you are not buddy-dependent.

And hold your light in your right hand, to keep it away from your compass on your left wrist, so that the electrical current does not deflect the needle.

And give up deco on the fly, because it simply is not reliable for everyone across the board.

Just suggestions, to get over the intense programming.

 

[ScubaAndDreams]

Then I would recommend for you to put your snorkel back on, anytime you are not actually going into a cave or shipwreck.

And get yourself a backup timer-gauge, so that you are not buddy-dependent.
And hold your light in your right hand, to keep it away from your compass on your left wrist, so that the electrical current does not deflect the needle.

And give up deco on the fly, because it simply is not reliable for everyone across the board.

Just suggestions, to get over the intense programming.

See bold, once again--where do you get your faulty information from? As for the other stuff, you're smoking crack...

Oh and before you group me into the "I am programmed by GUE category" I am now experimenting with a CCR...guess what a lot of the DIR stuff translates....

I still refuse to dive with a diver with an unsafe attitude
I still refuse to SOLO dive
I still use ratio deco; backed up by constant PO2 V-Planner
I still practice skills, constantly with a mixed team such as donating gas, ascend drill etc
I STILL HAVE MY CAN LIGHT ON MY LEFT...SINCE I USE A SCOOTER...
I still use GUE EDGE (or SADDDDD or whatever acronym you want to insert), I still do a modified valve drill, I still deploy my longhose, I still do a bubble check blah blah blah...
the list goes on and on......am I DIR...probably not with a MEG on my back...but I would like to think of myself as a much safer diver due to my "upbringing".....

Then I see the other clowns with CCRs around here...no bailout 200' dive...and stirring up the bottom making the vis in Hawaii look like the Yukon on a bad day....if there was a GUE for CCRs I gurantee you would see A LOT less CCR deaths.

 

[Adobo]

Then I would recommend for you to put your snorkel back on, anytime you are not actually going into a cave or shipwreck.

And get yourself a backup timer-gauge, so that you are not buddy-dependent.

And hold your light in your right hand, to keep it away from your compass on your left wrist, so that the electrical current does not deflect the needle.

And give up deco on the fly, because it simply is not reliable for everyone across the board.

Just suggestions, to get over the intense programming.

And:

- bring a pony since you cannot trust anyone to be there in an out of gas emergency. Except if you are travelling, in which case, bring your spare air.
- trade in your jet fins for those apollo bio fins. Every navy seal swears by bio fins.
- all those drills you do.. give them up. I mean really, how many OOG emergencies have you actually seen?
- get one of those wireless air integrated computers. Extra hoses mess up your streamlining.
- forget all that gas planning business. Keep it simple and be back at the boat with 500psi.
- Use a mares dragon air trim and single tanks for open water. BP/w, doubles, cannister lights, scooters are all convolutions that are not needed for recreational diving.
- When diving a bp/w, use dual bladder/double inflator wings in case your primary wing fails. Heck, make it a triple bladder wing. If more is better, why stop at 2? (Note: it is unfortunate that mares hasn't seen fit to install triple bladders and inflators into the dragon. Haven't they heard of redundancy? Duh!!)

The programming that in DIR diving is causing your brain to rot. Might as well get a lobotomy too.

 

[OneBrightGator]

...I don't find the need to reinvent the wheel...

...I don't have any real need to reinvent the wheel...

Are you guys taught to hold the same misconceptions too? Where do you get this stuff...

Just because I'm not diving DIR doesn't mean I thought all this **** up by myself out of the clear blue sky. A basic kit is not rocket surgery. I took that and then spent a lot of time talking and diving with lot of people doing a lot of the diving I want(ed) to do making the changes that made sense. I still have an open mind to changes that may improve my diving.

 

[TSandM]

I'm always curious when I see people doing things differently. For example, I dove with a fellow who ran his light cord behind his neck to his left hand. I thought that was interesting, because it avoids the whole "light cord over or under the long hose" issue. I played with it at home. It made thumbing the light to do things impossible for me. Idea considered and rejected because it didn't work -- for me.

So far, I haven't found anything about the DIR kit or procedures that I've been taught that doesn't work for me. That doesn't mean I don't think about anything else -- I swam a sidemount rig around in open water when I was in Florida last, for example. I've played with a double hose regulator. I'd love to attend one of the CCR experience seminars. I've read a ton of deco stuff written by people who don't do deco on the fly, or even adapt their deco the way GUE does. I make a strong effort to acquire as much information as I can, but something will really have to stand out as significantly better, for me to discard the enormous advantages I see in a standardized system.

But it's OK, Ben. For me and Richard, this works and we're happy with it. For you, it has no appeal. The great thing is that we can all go diving (and sometimes perhaps even together) and enjoy it. I think you know that I don't believe that the only good diving is DIR diving -- I seem to remember having written some very complimentary things about YOU after the trip to Florida where we met . I just prefer it for me.

 

[JeffG]

I'd love to attend one of the CCR experience seminars.

I tried a Meg when WeDiveBC (Dave) came to Edmonton.

Felt like a brand new diver. (ie I was all over the place...LOL)

 

[Blackwood]

I would recommend for you to put your snorkel back on...
And get yourself a backup timer-gauge...
And hold your light in your right hand...
And give up deco on the fly, because it simply is not reliable for everyone across the board.

Those are all valid suggestions except the last one.

If you are going to strike out a decompression algorithm because it doesn't reliably work for everyone across the board, you have to strike them ALL out. And then all we're left with is 1ATA suit diving.

 

[JeffG]

And then all we're left with is 1ATA suit diving.

Well, you have to remember the source. All he does is 1 ATA Google Diving.