Long hose primary now, BP/W later?

[b1gcountry]

TS&M, if you honestly think you can balance out a BC setup as well as a backplate and wing, well, that explains a lot of the background paranoia in a lot of your other posts.

If this is just an, I want to be pretend DIR post question, the long hose is fairly useless anyway. If the poster really wants to make the transition to DIR diving, getting used to the basics and perfecting buouancy is the first big step.

Enough on the crappy attitude. Let folks ask an honest question for once without getting all huffy. Especially with our ever nice and patient Lynn.

also, you spelled Buoyancy wrong :mooner: What a stroke. Where was your teammate to run spell check for you!?

 

[TSandM]

This is a diver on about his tenth dive, using a SeaQuest Balance. Somewhere, I have an even better picture of my husband in his Balance, six inches off the bottom in perfect trim, getting ready to take a photograph, but I can't find it.

Weight is weight. If you move weight around, you balance the diver. A backplate moves five pounds up onto the diver's back, but you can move five pounds up in other ways and balance the diver as well.

I'm a great fan of a backplate and wing; it's all I own, and all I dive, and I think just about everybody would enjoy diving one. But good buoyancy is good buoyancy in any gear, and good trim is good trim, and I'll bet JJ could trim out in a poodle jacket if he had to dive one.

 

[coldsmoke]

Does DIR own the Long Hose these days?

Oh no- not you again. Didn't we go over this in this thread?

http://www.scubaboard.com/forums/te...backup-reg-necklace-austin-area-question.html

Are you still confused or are you just trolling?

Hunter

 

[ianr33]

Oh no- not you again. Didn't we go over this in this thread?

http://www.scubaboard.com/forums/te...backup-reg-necklace-austin-area-question.html

Are you still confused or are you just trolling?

Hunter

Maybe you should post a poll to find out.

 

[SandyRobinson]

Hey Sam, my buddies and I made the transition in one step (for rec and tec), and it was a non-event. You had mentioned a 5' hose. I use a 7' which is wrapped under a knife if I am not using a can light. My daughter uses a 5' hose which goes under her arm and around her neck. Both methods works well for us. Good luck

 

[RTodd]

The only problem with that order of operations is: You can't take GUE-F without the requisite gear.

And if you can't find other DIR divers to loan it to you to try out/ practice and use for the class, you aren't trying very hard. Also, DIR diving has some up front costs. You either accept those costs or it isn't for you. Frankly, they can be kept pretty low with ebay. If someone isn't willing to pony up the minimum amount to get started they probably aren't actually committed enough to DIR diving to actually understand its logic anyway.

 

[RTodd]

But good buoyancy is good buoyancy in any gear, and good trim is good trim, and I'll bet JJ could trim out in a poodle jacket if he had to dive one.

I agree that good divers can make any equipment work. (And some new divers are just naturally much better than others.) It is why it is very difficult to get very experienced divers to see that there are better ways to dive than the abominations many of them have adapted. But, the right equipment is easier for all divers, particularly newer ones.

While I have seen JJ do some pretty amazing things, if he can use a cloth second stage regulator cover as a BC, I will eat my shoe.

Now, if the original poster wants to switch to a 5' hose first, I really don't care. (Mistake, he should use a 7' if his diving budget is this restricted.) But, asking the question that was asked as it pertains to DIR is about as relevant as someone asking if it is okay to just use one pink jet fin since they are still in the closet.

What the OP needs to do if he is interested in DIR is to perfect the basic skills. The best way to learn to do that should be an open water class. But, 99% of the time, that doesn't work out. So, the safe bet is a fundamentals class. And, barring that, getting out and learning for himself good buoyancy (and yes, I rarely spell that correctly) skills. DIR Atlanta's advice, while not the fully formed advice you would get from say a fundamentals class, was correct in terms of directly answering the original posters question of whether or not to get a BP first. To better practice his buoyancy, he would be better off with a BP. But, since this is the internet and you can't learn to dive here, that advice isn't the whole piece of the picture as I pointed out earlier.

 

[Peter Guy]

RT -- you may very well be a true "true believer" but, quite honestly, your advice not only is wrong but you do a very good job of confirming what too many people think of "DIR Divers" -- that they are arrogant SOB's.

Fortunately for many of us, GUE has NOT been the only "DIR" game in town -- which has thus permitted some of us to get introduced to the important aspects of "DIR Diving" without getting a whole lot of new gear. I hope the OP takes advantage of one of those classes if he can.

I have contended that the IMPORTANT aspects of DIR Diving have very little to do with the gear and a whole lot to do with attitude and training. Thus if someone, like the OP, wants to make a "tiny step" towards the Hog rig (NOT the "DIR" rig), why not put a long hose on the primary and bungie the backup? This becomes a very nice recreational diving setup REGARDLESS if the individual goes on to drink the Kool-Aid or such.

Me, I relearned diving in a "traditional" poodle-jacket and hated it (couldn't stand the stupid cummerbund) and got a back-inflate BC which I still have and use. In fact, I was permitted, if not encouraged, to take my first "DIR" class in the back-inflate BC using a 5' hose on my primary and a bungied backup.

OP -- put a 5' hose on your primary, bungie your backup on a short, 24"?, hose, and enjoy your recreational diving. There are a lot of advantages and I have yet to come up with a disadvantage to that configuration.

 

[lamont]

The only problem with that order of operations is: You can't take GUE-F without the requisite gear.

You can't pass fundies without the requisite gear, but you may be able to take it.

It used to have the purpose of being a workshop course, where divers who were simply interested in technical training would show up in whatever they had and the instructors would go over the gear and the skills. That got lost in the switch over to the pass/fail tec/rec cert card situation, but if you talk to an instructor they can probably work something out (although last time i recall an instructor posted about this they were okay with split fins and a jacket bc -- and felt the video footage in class of that gear would be instructional -- but needed the long hose in order to do s-drills).

 

[nadwidny]

RT -- you may very well be a true "true believer" but,

Dude. RTodd is not only a true believer, unlike most on this forum he is a true do-er.

Me, I relearned diving in a "traditional" poodle-jacket and hated it (couldn't stand the stupid cummerbund)

For the record, when GIII talked about "poodle-jackets" he wasn't talking about BCs. If all you provisionals and wannabes want to quote George at least get your references correct.

Newbies...sigh.