Agencies?

[PfcAJ]

Look, I'm sure AG and the UTD crowd are great divers, and some of them are real nice folks. But the stuff that their doing isn't DIR anymore. Just calling something "DIR" doesn't make it so. It would be like if I started calling an aardvark an elephant, and got a bunch of my buddies to do the same thing. I mean, they're kinda similar, right? Long nose, 4 legs, tail, some fur, but the aardvark rather distantly related to elephants to the point where its a completely different animal.

SM, CCR, Stage bottle nonsense, These things they're doing are in direct, obvious, and blatant violation of what DIR is about, especially in the higher level classes. There are some other nit-picky things, but those are the 'big 3' in my opinion.

Fwiw, I don't know a whole lot about AGs involvement in the WKPP, other than I don't see any AG arrows in any caves, no one has any AG stories (and 'kpp story time is worth the effort to drive up to Tallahassee), he's not in any of the films, and he's not mentioned in any of the old dive reports that I've read. Imo, his involvement seems to have been minimal (didn't he live in south africa and then moved to the west coast of the US?). I fully understand that he was heavily involved with early GUE and some course development, but that came to an end for reasons that can be found elsewhere on the interwebs.

 

[TSandM]

I think the term "DIR" has all but lost meaning, which is why even GUE doesn't use it any more.

There is GUE diving -- standardized, team-oriented, conservative and risk averse. There is UTD diving, which begins with the same platform and very much the same skills and academic materials. But UTD goes on to a rather bewildering set of options which have been heavily engineered to try to make diving mixed teams possible.

GUE solves the problem by saying, "Don't dive mixed teams, keep your platforms the same." UTD says, "Sure, dive mixed teams -- here are a bunch of setups that all integrate seamlessly."

Those of us who decided to pursue the GUE direction obviously had some issues or doubts about the seamlessness of the integration.

That said, at the OPEN WATER level (non-technical diving) both are good choices. Both will introduce a streamlined, skill-intensive approach to diving as a team. Where it gets complicated is beyond the single tank level, and there, as I have said several times before, you have to make a choice. You may make it based on your own personal evaluation of the strategies chosen by each agency at the technical level, or you may make it based on what the teams you want to join are doing.

I think it would behoove most divers to opt into the standardized/team diving approach at the single tank level, and then spend some time educating themselves about a variety of diving directions, so that they can make a really educated decision as to which direction they want to go.

For the record, people I love and respect have gone in both directions.

 

[Pullmyfinger]

Begin with the end in mind, would probably be the best approach.

GUE may have dropped the "DIR" usage officially (I guess it's a P.C. thing), but I still hear it being used by GUE trained divers.

It's not like it's a dirty word or anything.
I realize that a lot of non-DIR divers got butt hurt on the internet about it, but it's was a cool term. What's wrong with saying "Do it this way, or go do it with someone else." That's pretty much the way things are done in my world anyway.
But I work with a tough crowd.

Halcyon's logo looked better when it said "DIR Dive Systems".

We live in a world of easily hurt feelings.....all of my friends are pretty thick skinned and good humored, so I have a hard time "getting" the playing of the hurt feelings card.....not just in the diving world.

-Mitch

 

[ScubaFeenD]

Why is this thread still going?

 

[TSandM]

I would imagine because some of us have felt that there was still something to say -- isn't that why most threads keep going?

 

[ScubaFeenD]

I would imagine because some of us have felt that there was still something to say -- isn't that why most threads keep going?

Probably, but it read more like argumentative white noise and "who is better than who" BS than actually addressing anything useful. I knew coming back to the boards was a bad idea.

 

[Blackwood]

"who is better than who"

Elephants

 

[Rainer]

Nope. Aardvarks.

Elephants

 

[Scott L]

Probably, but it read more like argumentative white noise and "who is better than who" BS than actually addressing anything useful. I knew coming back to the boards was a bad idea.

Most posts were citing the differences between the two agencies and doing a good job of it IMO. I am guessing the Ravens lost today Mr. Cranky. Let me check. Ahh, a nail-biting 24-23 lose to the Eagles.

 

[ScubaFeenD]

Elephants

Wow, grammar nazi. Now that is funny.