Please help me stop!

[miketsp]

I'm pretty flexible about other divers' gear configurations...although I still cringe when I see other divers letting octos/gauges dragging the reef......and I'll admit I'm very anti-Sunnto, meaning I try to avoid Sunnto divers, nothing personal, it's their business if they want to get half the bottom time I do using my Oceanics/Cochrans (for the same amount of $ spent per dive) but I don't appreciate anyone wasting MY hard earned dive $'s, so they can dive with someone else.

To each his own. I gave up diving my Beuchat Maestro Pro (made by Cochran) when I realized how aggressive it is. My wife used to get occasional skin bends when we dove it to its limit and I met one very experienced professional diver who assured me that he'd been to the chamber twice while diving within the limits of his Maestro Pro.
Since we both changed to Suunto Vypers, my wife never again had any problems. So I know which I prefer.
As for limiting the bottom time of other divers if we're in a group, that has never happened. Firstly because we will adjust our profile to match the run time and secondly because at the most we may pay a couple of minutes of deco and that's rarely even noticed by others if there's a group waiting to get up the ladder.

 

[Slamfire]

I think it has more to do with the way the test is scored... I took a test in my dim and distant past that was scored something like this:

Correct answer = +1 point
Answer left blank = 0 points
Incorrect answer = -1 point

It was specifically designed to discourage guessing; if you weren't sure of the correct answer, there was a penalty to guessing incorrectly, but no penalty to leaving the answer blank. On the SAT, I believe they didn't want to penalize guessing.

You could very well be right and my memories are just melding and confusing instructions from other regular and standardized tests. I also took the ACT (another SAT "equivalent"), and then later on the GMAT (for grad school) and the MAT (miller analogies test also for grad school). I looked into taking the MCAT (for medical school - over here you get admission into med school after you get your undergraduate education, or least 3 yrs of it as pre-med) and did some practice MCAT tests. But then I chickened out of going into med school because I already had a grad degree and a career and going back to student status with several years of heavy student workload ahead of me did not seem as attractive anymore.

 

[DaleC]

I'm pretty flexible about other divers' gear configurations...although I still cringe when I see other divers letting octos/gauges dragging the reef......and I'll admit I'm very anti-Sunnto, meaning I try to avoid Sunnto divers, nothing personal, it's their business if they want to get half the bottom time I do using my Oceanics/Cochrans (for the same amount of $ spent per dive) but I don't appreciate anyone wasting MY hard earned dive $'s, so they can dive with someone else.

You just haven't been diving with the right Suunto divers. Come out this way and we'll bend that Cochran for ya

 

[Diver0001]

Here is your chance - what do you think?

I think there are stages in everyone's development as divers as they learn and grow become more experienced. You're taking things personally that were not intended to be personal.

So what if some people believe in DIR (which is what I think you're talking about). Some very fine divers believe strongly in DIR. Some very fine divers have taken elements from it but only see it as a statement of best practices in a given context. Some very fine divers have nothing to do with DIR.

You will eventually gain confidence in your own choices. Don't worry too much about DIR. Study it, learn what you can from it. Accept it or reject it... but don't write it off because of a few blabber mouths. There *is* some wisdom that went into it.

As for the blabber mouths.... they are just that. It doesn't reflect on you so your best strategy is to just ignore them. You can't stop some people from being arrogant but you can change how you view it. It's their problem. Don't make it yours.

R..

 

[Randy43068]

There is only one way, that is my way, it's the best way in all things.

As long as you agree we'll get along just fine.

 

[TSandM]

BTW, I've had a PM exchange with the OP, and he did not have DIR in mind when he started the thread. We are not the bad boys here!

 

[boulderjohn]

Amen to that! I wish that more divers tried before they bought, and were supported in this by their LDS. I am guessing that the profit margins on BP/w aren't as good as BCs, and they require more initial setup/adjustment.

I am associated with a shop that sells all manner of BCDs, including BP/Ws. The profit margin for all is about the same. Because there is a chance that the diver will later want to buy a different size wing (say for doubles), or a second BP (AL and SS having different buoyancy characteristics), the financial incentive is probably tilted in favor of the BP/W.

When I teach a class, I show students all options and discuss the pros and cons of each. I tell them what I use and why I prefer it. Several other instructors I know do the same, so a fair percentage of students are hearing very positive things about BP/Ws.

Despite that, it is a pretty rare day when a BP/W goes off the shelves. I am guessing that I regularly dive with more than 90% of the people who use our shop and also use BP/Ws.

Nationally, BP/Ws account for less than 1% of sales. I am not sure that our shop reaches that percentage. A lot of stores don't even stock them. If they did, there is a really good chance they will have unsold inventory. I know a shop that even stopped selling back inflate BCDs because their inventory just sat there forever.

On top of that, a number of the companies that sell BP/Ws make it very hard for such stores to do business with them. They require a very large initial purchase and a very large annual volume of sales. If you are the buyer for the shop, you will think long and hard about making such a huge financial commitment with the possibility that you won't be able to sell that gear. You could bankrupt the business.

 

[Slamfire]

I'm pretty flexible about other divers' gear configurations...although I still cringe when I see other divers letting octos/gauges dragging the reef......and I'll admit I'm very anti-Sunnto, meaning I try to avoid Sunnto divers, nothing personal, it's their business if they want to get half the bottom time I do using my Oceanics/Cochrans (for the same amount of $ spent per dive) but I don't appreciate anyone wasting MY hard earned dive $'s, so they can dive with someone else.

Have you thought about getting decompression training? Not necessarily for becoming an uber diver that can now wear the "Technical" label and proudly carry around heavy doubles, but more for being confident and knowledgeable and feeling free to take your diving beyond the NDL.

Here's how I see it. If gas supply, cold, the urge to relieve bladder or bowels, hunger, comfort, impatience, etc. were not limiting factors, and you could stay at decompression depths long enough, nobody would get bent irrespective of whether they went beyond NDL or not. In fact, a well structured deco dive profile can be more conservative and safer than riding a computer within the NDL limits. If you don't mind taking a dive beyond NDL, then a conservative computer will no longer be a hindrance, it'll be, once again, your friend.

Deco dives do not need to be very deep complicated dives. If bottom time is the concern, no problem, just take that Suunto into deco. If you talk to instructors about your reasons for taking deco training I'm sure you'll be able to find one that'll be ok with giving you deco training for your specific purposes without having to become an uber diver "Technical" guy.

 

[AbyssalPlains]

Diving is a matter of personal preference, fraught with controversy and different opinions. Why dwell on it? Who cares? Take what works for you in your book and leave what doesn't. Dive the way you want and be happy! Life is too short to waste time debating WHY some people do what they do and how to "make them stop."

 

[Randy43068]

Have you thought about getting decompression training? Not necessarily for becoming an uber diver that can now wear the "Technical" label and proudly carry around heavy doubles, but more for being confident and knowledgeable and feeling free to take your diving beyond the NDL.

Here's how I see it. If gas supply, cold, the urge to relieve bladder or bowels, hunger, comfort, impatience, etc. were not limiting factors, and you could stay at decompression depths long enough, nobody would get bent (maybe so, maybe no) irrespective of whether they went beyond NDL or not. In fact, a well structured deco dive profile can be more conservative and safer than riding a computer within the NDL limits. If you don't mind taking a dive beyond NDL, then a conservative computer will no longer be a hindrance, it'll be, once again, your friend.

Deco dives do not need to be very deep complicated dives. If bottom time is the concern, no problem, just take that Suunto into deco. If you talk to instructors about your reasons for taking deco training I'm sure you'll be able to find one that'll be ok with giving you deco training for your specific purposes without having to become an uber diver "Technical" guy.

You make good points, however, the fact remains that divers will get bent even when doing everything correctly. That applies to divers running deco profiles as well.