a retreat from DIR

[Soggy]

This is how I visualize it as well...the crotch d-ring is lowest but so is your knees and shoulders...if it´s ok to clip things to the shoulder d-rings (backup lights comes to mind) then I don´t see what´s wrong with clipping the spg to the SAME lowest point:06:

I'm a skinny guy , but if I bump something on the bottom, it is my belly/crotch area first. Your shoulders are higher in the water column than your crotch strap. Backup lights are secured with bungee and under your arm, not hanging down. Like I said, maybe I don't understand what exactly you are doing, but there is no reason for it. An SPG will hang down below you. Stuff hanging below you is bad because it catches on things.

 

[grazie42]

but if your shoulders are higher doesen´t that, by definition, mean that you aren´t horizontal?

(and my backups are secured as well but the "butt" would still be lower than the d-ring, no?)

 

[JeffG]

(and my backups are secured as well but the "butt" would still be lower than the d-ring, no?)

No. They will be tucked somewhere in your side. (If the d-ring is in the "right" place)

 

[Soggy]

but if your shoulders are higher, doesen´t that, per definition mean that you aren´t horizontal?

No...human beings are not square.

The way my clips run, the butt light is roughly in line with the dring, but my hands are in front of it all anyhow. An SPG clipped to the crotch dring is going to hang down by the d-ring amount plus the bolt snap amount plus some fraction of the size of the SPG...i.e. several inches. Brass and stainless steel will always be negatively buoyant.

Maybe you have some system where that is not true, but I cannot visualize it.

 

[lamont]

In the DIR group there are those that study each detail, understand why it's correct, and then apply it. Then there's another fraction of the DIR group that memorize it, and just do it because they can't think for themselves. If a poll was taken and EVERY DIR divers says he agrees with every DIR opinion, then that only proves that quite a few of them just follow the crowd and can't think on their own.

I started diving DIR back at post-BOW dive #1. I agreed with the focus of it and the analysis that I saw going into the design of the system. I certainly didn't understand everything because I had no experience to base it on. 200 dives later there's a lot more stuff about DIR which I'd list in the category of things that I do because I've experienced why its better to do it that way. There's still a lot of stuff in the category of things that I do because I trust that I'll learn why later. That doesn't mean that I "can't think on my own". Several things, like the primary light hand being the left, I do mostly because of how well other parts of the system have stood up under the actual experience that I have. I trust that over time, those things that I do simply because "its a system" will migrate to the category of things that I do because I've encountered real situations where they helped because of the extensive list of things that have already made that migration.

 

[rjack321]

Re breaking the SPG glass by attaching it to the crotch strap

Well if Andy is getting his light cord tangled in his cave crawling and needs to wrap it around his arm, the spg isn't much different.

The crotch/hips are the lowest point because when in good trim your back is slightly arched, raising your shoulders. And your feet are high, knees are thus also high.

 

[CD_in_Chitown]

Well if Andy is getting his light cord tangled in his cave crawling and needs to wrap it around his arm, the spg isn't much different.

Hehe, Touche

 

[grazie42]

depends on how far the light cord hangs down

The crotch/hips are the lowest point because when in good trim your back is slightly arched, raising your shoulders. And your feet are high, knees are thus also high.

Why is your back arched? If you can be horizontal without arching, isn´t that better?

Maybe you have some system where that is not true, but I cannot visualize it.

You just put tension on the knot so that the clip is tied tight to the spg...there is no "hanging"..."hanging things" are bad, are they not?

 

[*Floater*]

The way my clips run, the butt light is roughly in line with the dring, but my hands are in front of it all anyhow.

:dropmouth

 

[Vayu]

Why is your back arched? If you can be horizontal without arching, isn´t that better?

Becuase when the back is arched your knees are up and your head is up. Good position for finning and good position for looking around. If a diver was completely horizontal without arching the back the head would be down (unless that diver strained his/her neck alot).

Generally, a diver that is not arching the back will be in a slightly knee down position as well. This changes the flow that is coming off the fins and in extreme cases could result in silt.