Attitudes Toward DIR Divers

[ginti]

@Wibble doesn’t like GUE fundamentalists. The thing is, in the UK you rarely see GUE diving outside of a quarry, so you tend to mostly run into the crazy types

Everyone has his personal things. I am ok with @Wibble not liking Fundamental (assuming this is the case - I remember he praised fundies more than once). But in that case, a wise approach would be to state real facts, and THEN explain why he is ok or not with them.

Saying false stuff is just disrespectful to new divers who may be reading to understand new things.

I appreciate way more @Germie's post, which I feel sends a similar message to what @Wibble thinks, but it's not false and it makes clear that it is only about the author's personal experience, without the author pretending to have full knowledge of any aspects.

Anyway, I am really out of this specific topic. Happy to contribute to this thread in a more constructive way

 

[ofg-1]

For all of you sane people, if there are any out there, that do not want to waste your life reading 550 posts about attitudes of dir divers, please allow me to summarize the high points.

1 - Some DIR divers are nice people.
2 - Some DIR divers are jerks.
3 - Some DIR divers are bleeding hemorrhoids on the anus of sport diving.
(Items 1-3 also apply to non DIR divers)
4 - Some people like GUE.
5 - Some people do not like GUE.
6 - Some people get oddly aroused thinking about GUE.
7 - Everyone hates PADI for one reason or another.
8 - GUE is superior to PADI because __________________ (fill in bank)
9 - GUE is superior to ___________(fill in agency) because _________________(fill in bank)
10 - Bill Main is old.

This horse is not only dead, its been beaten to a fine pulp, fed to a roving band of hyenas, digested by the hyenas, the hyena shiat collected and used to fertilize tomato plants, the tomatoes allowed to go rotten on the vine, and then the rotten tomatoes are to be thrown at your local PADI dive center.

Have I missed anything?

 

[flymolo]

I appreciate those who are passionate about their sport and strive to become excellent, some want to improve and fine tune their configuration by observing different systems and embracing those aspects that are better- thats fine by me. Some just want to dive now and again on vacation for example and dont really care, thats ok too

What irks me is this underlying disapproval of those that dont agree with "my" method, or those that dont meet "my' standards It must be tiring constantly measuring others

It’s funny you should say this because I’ve encountered far more posts saying it’s wrong to dive a gue-style rebreather configuration or do team diving on wrecks

 

[Eric Sedletzky]

For all of you sane people, if there are any out there, that do not want to waste your life reading 550 posts about attitudes of dir divers, please allow me to summarize the high points.

1 - Some DIR divers are nice people.
2 - Some DIR divers are jerks.
3 - Some DIR divers are bleeding hemorrhoids on the anus of sport diving.
(Items 1-3 also apply to non DIR divers)
4 - Some people like GUE.
5 - Some people do not like GUE.
6 - Some people get oddly aroused thinking about GUE.
7 - Everyone hates PADI for one reason or another.
8 - GUE is superior to PADI because __________________ (fill in bank)
9 - GUE is superior to ___________(fill in agency) because _________________(fill in bank)
10 - Bill Main is old.

This horse is not only dead, its been beaten to a fine pulp, fed to a roving band of hyenas, digested by the hyenas, the hyena shiat collected and used to fertilize tomato plants, the tomatoes allowed to go rotten on the vine, and then the rotten tomatoes are to be thrown at your local PADI dive center.

Have I missed anything?

That about sums it up.
Now, who want’s to join us for purple urchin removal dive tomorrow?
I don’t care if you’re GUE/DIR/UTD/PADI/SSI/NAUI/SDI/TDI/NASDS/RAID/CMAS/AHOLE, or ABCDEFG, the proof is in the bags you haul in and the poundage you get, and I don’t care how you get it. All the other crap is out the window.

 

[Lorenzoid]

In my country, most people do fundies with a twinset and drysuit, because the only thing that is important is the 'techrating'. The rest means 'failed'. And I think this is more or less true. So this means the twinset is the bible of diving.

In my country, I believe plenty of people take Fundies in a single tank and a wetsuit. I did. I took Fundies because when I asked here on SB what I could do to improve my skills as a recreational diver I received a number of suggestions to take Fundies and few if any alternative suggestions besides "dive more." In my Fundies class, all four of us students--my wife and I and another couple--were in recreational single-tank gear with wetsuits. None of us aspired to tech diving or twinsets or anything of the sort at the time. Your country may differ.

 

[eightytwenty]

For all of you sane people, if there are any out there, that do not want to waste your life reading 550 posts about attitudes of dir divers, please allow me to summarize the high points.

1 - Some DIR divers are nice people.
2 - Some DIR divers are jerks.
3 - Some DIR divers are bleeding hemorrhoids on the anus of sport diving.
(Items 1-3 also apply to non DIR divers)
4 - Some people like GUE.
5 - Some people do not like GUE.
6 - Some people get oddly aroused thinking about GUE.
7 - Everyone hates PADI for one reason or another.
8 - GUE is superior to PADI because __________________ (fill in bank)
9 - GUE is superior to ___________(fill in agency) because _________________(fill in bank)
10 - Bill Main is old.

This horse is not only dead, its been beaten to a fine pulp, fed to a roving band of hyenas, digested by the hyenas, the hyena shiat collected and used to fertilize tomato plants, the tomatoes allowed to go rotten on the vine, and then the rotten tomatoes are to be thrown at your local PADI dive center.

Have I missed anything?

Hugely productive thread. Shut it down!

 

[AsherN]

Plus one on this.

I'm a "recreational" diver; the education/training I received from PADI, (AOW/Nitrox), has equipped me with the necessary training to do the diving I currently want to. The process was fairly straightforward, affordable, and sufficient for my needs.

If I choose at some point in the future to go more "technical", I'll seek out the training. Until then, I've got lots to see underwater, and more practice needed on the stuff I've been taught.

I'll add to that. I certified with ACUC in 1979. part of a college course. The course work was closer to today's OW/rescue. Dove a bunch. Then stopped. Started again about 6-7 years ago. I'm a vacation diver. Since starting again, I did my AA with SDI and Nitrox. I'm reasonably proficient for what I dive. Read/heard a lot about GUE and how Fundies is a great skill enhancer. I wouldn't mind doing it. But there is no way I'm ditching my current kit for their kit.

If GUE was truly serious about improving the skills of the dive community, they would offer the Fundies class without their gear requirement.

 

[steinbil]

Read/heard a lot about GUE and how Fundies is a great skill enhancer. I wouldn't mind doing it. But there is no way I'm ditching my current kit for their kit.

I don't know why you are so adamant about this, especially without having taken the class and learned the reasons for why the gear requirements are what they are, and how it is set up. If I were you, I'd try the class in loaned/rented equipment (a GUE instructor might be able to help with this), and then re-evaluate after taking the class. If you don't like the gear used in the class, then GUE diving might not be for you, but you can do whatever you want with what you learn in the class. Go in with an open mind if you want the best learning outcome.

If GUE was truly serious about improving the skills of the dive community, they would offer the Fundies class without their gear requirement.

If you knew why the gear requirements are what they are, and the importance of standardization to the GUE way of diving, I think you would understand why this would not work. It's such an integral part of GUE that it wouldn't make any sense. Also, even though GUE are serious about raising awareness of conservation and to provide excellent training to the dive community, their priority is not simply to raise diving skills of everyone at any cost, especially if it goes against their methodology and standards.

Take the class. You can learn a lot even if you choose not to continue down the GUE path, and who knows, maybe you will like it and decide to continue after all...

 

[Lorenzoid]

If GUE was truly serious about improving the skills of the dive community, they would offer the Fundies class without their gear requirement.

Although it's not quite as easy as using the search function on GUE's website to locate a Fundies instructor, with a little digging around I'm pretty sure one could find non-GUE instructors capable of and willing to do a "skills" workshop or, if they prefer to do it under an established course, an Intro To Tech course.

What "gear requirement" do you believe is so onerous or undesirable? For my original Fundies course, I borrowed a BP/W, never having used one before. But the BP/W is increasingly common among recreational divers, so it's hardly an alien thing these days. The long-hose/primary-donate configuration is pretty common nowadays, even increasingly common among rec-only divers, so ditto. A Fundies student could borrow or rent that reg set, too. Moreover, donating gas using that configuration is one of the major skills taught, so a skills workshop that doesn't include donating gas would be lacking. Some of the skills and some of the gear are interrelated. There's nothing especially unusual about GUE's standard gear configuration, and even so, you are not required to continue using it after the Fundies course.

 

[lermontov]

It’s funny you should say this because I’ve encountered far more posts saying it’s wrong to dive a gue-style rebreather configuration or do team diving on wrecks

no doubt - but do those same people claim to be right about the rest of their configuration? and by implication everyone else is wrong? As soon as you make a claim that your way is the best and only way, you immediately put a target on your back irregardless of which agency/ideology you adhere to