a retreat from DIR

[H2Andy]

well, after thinking about this for a while, and trying various things out,
i have decided that after about two years of diving with the standard DIR
configuration (plus computer), i will change two more things about the DIR
equipment configuration:

1. the light on the left hand is not working well for me. the main problem is
entanglement in narrow passages. no matter how tight i try to keep it, the
cord stretched across my chest is bound to catch on something. this has
happened many, many times. on the other hand, by putting the light on
my right hand, i quickly eliminate this problem. i've tried this back and forth,
and the right hand just works better for me.

2. SPG on left waist D-ring. with the amount of taskload happening at times,
it's cumbersome to unclip the SPG, bring it to my eyes, and clip it back. clipping
it back, despite lots of practice, is still not going as smoothly as i'd like it. thus,
i've changed the SPG to the top left D-ring. it's very easy to simply look at
the gauge without having to disconnect it. saves time, task-load, and it just
works better.

i came to the DIR system with an open mind, and what works, works. however,
after a long time thinking about this and trying things out, i've decided to make
these two changes.

just thought i'd share

 

[H2Andy]

i'd like DIR diver's responses, which is why i put it here

 

[jonnythan]

I don't think this statement (there isn't a single question mark in the original post) really fits the DIR forum as stated, but I did leave a redirect from the original forum since you do seem to want replies from DIR divers.

 

[Dive-aholic]

Andy, I'm not DIR, never taken the fundies class, but have studied their ways.

I have never dived with the light on my left hand. It just never made sense based on the reasons you give for moving it to the right hand.

I have tried the spg on my waist ring, but changed it to the chest ring for the same reason. I can look down and see it when it's on the chest ring without touching it. I can't do that when it's on the waist ring.

I think DIR has some good things to contribute, and I've based a lot of my gear configuration on it, but some things just don't work for all divers.

 

[onfloat]

How do the changes affect your diving team? I know that when I'm diving I will sneak a glance at my buddies spg every so often and he doesn't even have to know.

The light on the left hand, keeps the right hand free for scootering and tying line while running it, among other things, so......

 

[rjack321]

Can you clarify?
For:
Point 1, what kind of narrow passages are catching the cord?

Point 2, what kind of task loading is getting in the way of checking your gauge?

EDIT:
Another question, do you ever dive with a stage bottle?

 

[TSandM]

How do you deal with the excess length with the light in the right hand? Do you wrap it around your forearm? That's always seemed awkward to me, and maybe even risky. And if you have to air-share, aren't you going to blind your buddy -- particularly bad deal in a cave, I would think.

 

[onfloat]

I didn't even ask what you do with the light during an airshare, blind your buddy, or drop the light?

 

[Tollie]

Hi Andy,

My 2cents worth…

Part depends on the kind of diving you are doing. In a recreational context the margin is much fatter and so might be the latitude. As the diving becomes progressively more demanding the latitude becomes smaller…

In an OOA event you are passing the reg with the light hand thus the light will be shining directly into the eyes of the receiver. This seems like a problem to me. As for the spg at first it was awkward but by now as you have been diving the dir system it should be second nature to you. There may be a couple of reasons. First, insufficient drill. I clipped and unclipped about 50 times in a row one dive just to get it down. Second is the possibility that the hose is too long or too short relative to your body size thus when you reclip you are not hitting the d-ring. Third… is the d-ring properly positioned so you can hit it easily?

A question… if you wanted to show your team your pressure could you smoothly clip and unclip from the chest position? Or is the spg “affixed” to the left chest d-ring for your use only.

I guess I could talk about streamlining and entanglement hazard with the spg clipped to the chest but in truth I’m not really convinced this is the problem. It just seems cluttery and unnecessary to me on the chest. I’d also think strict DIR trained folks will expect it in the hip position… you are creating a complication and uncertainty that skills training should avoid.

I know you know this mantra but once you begin to tinker with a holistic system other parts do not work as smoothly… including team skills.

I’m interested in how this thread proceeds. Thanks for posting.

 

[Dive-aholic]

My wife and I both dive with the light head on our right hand. We practice air share all the time. Neither of us has ever had the light shine in our eyes during the exercise. I think it's probably because our hands are naturally positioned so the light is aimed above the head. If the light were aimed at your buddy's eyes, then the regulator would have the mouthpiece facing down, not towards your buddy's mouth. We wrap the cord around our right arms. This could be a risk, but I don't think it's any more risk than across the chest. As for running a reel and scootering, can't think of any issues with that either. I guess we've just adapted to keeping the light on the right.