Attitudes Toward DIR Divers

[Nick_Radov]

Yeah right..... Simple question. Do your organization rules explicitly exclude folks like me who enjoy a cigar on the golf course while not diving?...... And does your organization exclude anyone who who chooses to dive solo? It's really a simple yes or no answer.

What do you mean by "your organization"? None of us here are GUE employees or members of the Board. Regular members have no control over standards or training course admission. Waivers are available for many requirements with sufficient justification. If you actually want a simple yes or no answer instead of whining about exclusion then contact GUE directly and ask. Or if you're interested in taking a specific class then talk to the instructor and see what it would take to get in.

Any GUE restrictions that might exist around smoking or solo diving are related to training courses or instructor status. Anyone with $39 can join as a regular member. There are no GUE police to enforce member behavior. Any member can also submit a "Request for Change" (RFC) so if this is something that you really care about then you could formally ask them to add an exception in the standards for golf course cigar smoking or whatever.

To be honest I doubt you're really sincere and are just looking for excuses to keep doing what you're doing. And that's fine, no one cares. I'm posting this comment mainly to set the record straight for others.

 

[SpeedyJ]

There are no GUE police to enforce member behavior.

Wait, if the guys in the surveillance van parked outside my house 24/7 aren't from GUE, what three letter agency are they from?

 

[Lorenzoid]

What do you mean by "your organization"? None of us here are GUE employees or members of the Board.

I would also point out to @NW Dive Dawg that plenty of divers who have taken one or more GUE courses and decided to dive the way they were trained do not choose to buy a GUE membership. Membership in the organization is totally optional and a separate thing from the dive training.

@NW Dive Dawg, nobody is out at the dive sites policing individual divers except in the imaginations of some people on the internet. If someone with GUE training (whether member or not) is okay with diving with you, knowing you have occasionally enjoyed a cigar or dived solo, that's their business. Conversely, I wouldn't be surprised if some who dive GUE-style have occasionally enjoyed a cigar or dived solo and simply don't announce such departures from standards to the world. I dive with people I judge to be safe divers.

 

[Lorenzoid]

Wait, if the guys in the surveillance van parked outside my house 24/7 aren't from GUE, what three letter agency are they from?

Get with the times, man. I could swear I saw an underwater surveillance drone at Ginnie Springs.

 

[jborg]

Never mind

 

[h2o_hamilton]

You hunt for lingcod, I know you do.
I’ve never known any DIR’s to ever hunt.
You probably also solo dive, and try different gear configurations and probably none of them are DIR compliant, are they?
Don’t worry about it, you’ll never become a DIR compliant, just like me.
For years I thought it was all mythology. It still is mythology to me and an abstract concept because we don’t have any here. We used to have one but he left. So it’s all just air, it means nothing, just words on a screen is all.
Keep shooting ling’s man and if and when you ever get a chance to come visit, you can go home with a barrel of urchins and even give some to your friends.
And this ‘ain’t mythology.
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I am a convert to the GUE way of diving from my PADI beginnings. More accurately, I enjoy trying to excel in diving and don’t really care what org can help me achieve that goal, but I’m too lazy to interview dozens of instructors and I recognize that GUE has high QC standards I’m nearly assured of excellent training.

I occasionally solo dive (to 15’) and most definitely hunt and lobster. If I were a GUE instructor, the only change would be that I would not solo dive and I’m ok with that.

The GUE people I dive with (mostly I dive with non-GUE people though) go out of their way to avoid snobby know-it-alls, no matter what agency. Also, some of them dive with air (!) or 36% (!!!!!) on our rec dives.

It’s so much more fun to just dive and know if an issue occurs I know the gear and processes to handle it. Less “buddy checking” and more diving and filling for lionfish locker.

 

[Cthippo]

Wait, if the guys in the surveillance van parked outside my house 24/7 aren't from GUE, what three letter agency are they from?

TV licensing agency

 

[NW Dive Dawg]

What do you mean by "your organization"? None of us here are GUE employees or members of the Board. Regular members have no control over standards or training course admission. Waivers are available for many requirements with sufficient justification. If you actually want a simple yes or no answer instead of whining about exclusion then contact GUE directly and ask. Or if you're interested in taking a specific class then talk to the instructor and see what it would take to get in.

Any GUE restrictions that might exist around smoking or solo diving are related to training courses or instructor status. Anyone with $39 can join as a regular member. There are no GUE police to enforce member behavior. Any member can also submit a "Request for Change" (RFC) so if this is something that you really care about then you could formally ask them to add an exception in the standards for golf course cigar smoking or whatever.

To be honest I doubt you're really sincere and are just looking for excuses to keep doing what you're doing. And that's fine, no one cares. I'm posting this comment mainly to set the record straight for others.

Really? If you read this thread you'll see that I have no interest in becoming a GUE / DIR diver. The OP started all of this by creating a thread wanting to discuss "Attitudes Towards DIR Divers". I guess he should have followed up by stating that only DIR compliant attitudes will be allowed in this thread.

 

[Eric Sedletzky]

I am a convert to the GUE way of diving from my PADI beginnings. More accurately, I enjoy trying to excel in diving and don’t really care what org can help me achieve that goal, but I’m too lazy to interview dozens of instructors and I recognize that GUE has high QC standards I’m nearly assured of excellent training.

I occasionally solo dive (to 15’) and most definitely hunt and lobster. If I were a GUE instructor, the only change would be that I would not solo dive and I’m ok with that.

The GUE people I dive with (mostly I dive with non-GUE people though) go out of their way to avoid snobby know-it-alls, no matter what agency. Also, some of them dive with air (!) or 36% (!!!!!) on our rec dives.

It’s so much more fun to just dive and know if an issue occurs I know the gear and processes to handle it. Less “buddy checking” and more diving and filling for lionfish locker.

Yeah I do all that.
I check my stuff.
I work on my own stuff.
I use air
I use 32
I use 36
Mostly air
I originally “got my PADI”
Not all of it was considered technically perfect by todays GUE standards, but it was good. They taught more about hazards and stress management, currents, cold water and surf acclimation, surviving cold water, and I continued to build on that. There was not so much perfect trim, perfect kicks, etc. we didn’t obsess over that stuff, kind of pointless in our environment.
We did standard from the hip alternate normal full leg kicking like you would freediving. I was an avid freediver/abalone diver before I “Got My PADI”.
Yeah we had jackets on and used snorkels. I got rid of all that stuff later, except for the snorkel, very useful on shore dives. I did a little TDI stuff, AN/DP, that was fun but I didn’t stick with it because I was more into solo spearfishing and just having my own fun, exploration, hiking to remote beaches on goat trails to shore dive just to see what was there, diving the jetties where no one else would dream of going, I’ve been to some of the hairiest triple diamond dive spots in Norcal.

I’m sure you GUE DIR guys have found your diving nirvana. So have I, so how about we just call it even.
I figured it out, thank you, west coast style.
Wetsuits with steel tanks baby!!
And no $$$$$ training needed. Did my own “on the job” training, old school, just like the original guys did. And I sometimes dive with no BC (oh f**k I’m gonna die!!!) lol.