... I don't dive DIR. I've taken a few GUE classes and workshops, and affiliated myself with a GUE shop for a while ... so I know something about it. I'm also a solo diver, which is about as anathema to the DIR approach as you can get. And yet every year, when I get on The Peace with a couple dozen of my DIR friends, strap on my little aluminum buddy, and step off the boat without a teammate, not one DIR diver on that boat gives me grief about it. Ironically, the only people who have ever given me a hard time about solo diving are my non-DIR friends, who've been taught that you should always dive with a buddy. So ... to use your logic ... who's being judgmental and "sucking the fun out of diving"? The truth is, there are judgmental people representing every agency and every style of diving out there ... because it isn't someone's training that makes them that way ... it's their personality. And no agency trains people to have monolithic personalities.
So I'm not promoting DIR ... I'm promoting telling the truth. What I've found over the years is that those who speak the loudest against DIR ... or PADI ... or any of those other tiresome subjects we see on SB all the time ... are speaking from ignorance and promoting an agenda of fear. It usually turns out that they're insecure about their own choices, and therefore need to put someone else's down to make themselves feel better. I see you as one of those people.
It would be helpful if you put some qualifiers to your comments, like ... "I have no actual experience with DIR, but my opinion is" ... so that people would understand where you're coming from. You're entitled to express your opinion. And I'm equally entitled to point out that, on this particularl topic, you don't know what you're talking about.
To state that DIR divers don't love diving and don't have fun doing it is one of the stupidest comments I continually read on ScubaBoard. A significant percentage of my diving friends are DIR ... and I've yet to meet one who doesn't dive purely for the joy of it.
Everybody's different ... and everybody expresses their joy in different ways. So try judging people based on their personalities ... rather than their training. It's what you keep demanding of those who come in here with criticisms about the agency you teach for, after all ... and your objections to them would have a lot more validity if you didn't turn around and emulate their behavior.
... Bob (Grateful Diver)
Wow, this whole post really could have described me. When I first heard of DIR I was instantly opposed to it. I figured if they were arrogant enough to call their style Doing It Right, they must figure I am Doing It Wrong, and who the hell are THEY?!
So i spent some time being the exact thing I thought I hated about them. I heard of all the drills and the absolute rigid POV on team diving as opposed to anything else. I heard of the gear demands and jumped to the conclusion that all these folks are scared to death of being under water.
Then, in an effort to slay the DIR dragon during a debate, I started doing a lot of research into the program and concepts, I was looking for ammunition but instead I found that maybe some of that stuff makes some sense.
Fast forward to where I am at now, I am confident enough in my abilities and such that I am not really put off by such trivial things as a name any more. Not just DIR but in a great many other areas of my life as well.
I have never taken a GUE course, UTD course or even attended a workshop. What I know I have learned on the Web and from some other readings. I respect a lot of what I have learned, even if I do not necessarily agree with all of it. I have incorporated some of the things I have learned into my own diving, and what do you know? I can see a lot of improvement in areas that I was comfortable. I was comfortable because I wasn't really aware that I wanted to improve those things.
With so much variety in scuba, and in our own personalities, I have learned that there is room for a lot of ideas. I also think it is a great idea for people to expose themselves to as many of those ideas as they can. If someone is content with limiting themselves to one agency, that is fine if it works for them. I say experience as much or as little as you feel you need.
I don't think anyone needs to have a reason to take a DIR course, other than simple curiosity. I look at it the same way as all those PADI courses...if the student feels they add value, then who am I (or anyone else) to say otherwise?
I can see that there is a lot of value in the DIR courses. Maybe one day I will fork over the money for one. Or maybe not. One thing I know I won't do anymore is make judgments based on assumptions.
