Couple questions on a pony bottle for bail out

[lowviz]

...//... Dir is a good system, and serves people well. But at the recreational level it is not the only system or even the "right" system; it is just one of many systems. The nature of recreational diving does not demand stringent adherence to such ideas as standardization, beginning with the end in mind universality etc...

Agree. But as I progress, I find DIR/GUE/UTD concepts becoming more interesting, but not enough so to make me swallow the whole pill.

...//... Which is why, other than SB and a few cloisters of active divers, dir represents a minute fraction of today's recreational divers. Because it's gear and admonitions simply don't resonate with recreational reality. Some dir divers may be somewhat blind to this otherwise obvious fact because they tend to self select to only associate with like minded divers.

Also agree with that analysis, but first you have to tease out divers that just want to join the DIR pack for protection. You don't see that with any other agency. Question me and all of IANTD will get their hackles up? Nah.

 

[dumpsterDiver]

This is ridiculous. What does it matter if there isn't a DIR protocol? Figure out the best way to accomplish as a team while being safe and using the procedures and protocols as building blocks/guidelines and call it a day.

If you're trying to say that spearfishing is actually solo diving... well we all know there is no DIR protocol for that.

NO, NO No... "you people" or whoever it was, brought up DIR GUE spearfishing... I said "fine" tell me about it.. the procedures the protocols the particular aspects of it which make it what it is: DIR spearfishing. I never said spearfishing is a solo activity. It CAN be solo .. same as just about any other diving..

Spearfishing is a very diverse activity and it can be as simple as spearing a lionfish in 2 feet of water or chasing giant fish in 400 feet. What I wanted to learn about was DIR/GUE spearfishing protocols...

If DIR is just diving as a team, using the DIR ideas as "building blocks" (whatever that means) and then figuring out on your own - the best way to accomplish the dive, then that sounds awfully loose and VERY un-DIR to me. I thought one of the most basic premises of your system is that people can pair up from other sides of the world and dive together as a perfectly coordinated team... presumably because everyone is following the same procedures... that is far different than follow a few building blocks and figure out for yourself what the best way to do things is....

I like my stringer on my left side. I put my stages on the right side. that is the best way for me to spearfish.. Is that DIR diving or not?

 

[lowviz]

...//... I thought one of the most basic premises of your system is that people can pair up from other sides of the world and dive together as a perfectly coordinated team... presumably because everyone is following the same procedures... that is far different than follow a few building blocks and figure out for yourself what the best way to do things is.... ...//...

OK, score one for DD in my world.

But still, I think that GUE will survive this hit.

 

[DaleC]

Agree. But as I progress, I find DIR/GUE/UTD concepts becoming more interesting, but not enough so to make me swallow the whole pill.
Also agree with that analysis, but first you have to tease out divers that just want to join the DIR pack for protection. You don't see that with any other agency. Question me and all of IANTD will get their hackles up? Nah.

Agree on both counts. I also find many dir points to be valid and noteworthy. I am definitely not anti dir.
I see rec diving as a two way split. You have vacation type divers (no negatives intended) that dive a few times a year, often guided, often with rental gear. You also have local divers who go out regularly, own their gear, and seek more than the basic level of skill/kit. I belong to a club and dive every week yet there are also members who only dive on vacation. I will dive almost anything wet yet there are some who will only dive off charters.

I also experienced self preservation pushing me towards dir solutions offered but then the counter pull of not wanting to completely corrupt my diving goals to assimilate into a collective approach. If 80% of my diving fit within dir philosophy I probably would have gone that route. as it was, and is, only about 20% does.
Where the line between conservative and fearful is drawn I do not know or attempt to define for anyone but me.

 

[lowviz]

Dale,

Agree almost completely. But PLEASE, PLEASE don't use 80%. Pick any number as close as you like, just not that one...

 

[PfcAJ]

Its almost like you expect GUE to spell out every aspect of your dive, and without that then its somehow not "DIR" in your mind.

Newsflash, world: Its not like that.

 

[lowviz]

Its almost like you expect GUE to spell out every aspect of your dive, and without that then its somehow not "DIR" in your mind. ...

I respect you too much to get pissy. OK, I'll fall in line. Me and AL Faber, solid dive buds...

 

[PfcAJ]

Fine by me. I don't really care one way or another, it doesn't affect me at all. I don't think I've written a thing about pony bottles and/or solo diving at all in this thread.

The stuff I actually care about is cave stuff because it gets caves closed and the folks I dive with. Ya'll can go on and any which way you choose. We can argue the merits of any particular method all day long, of course.

 

[lowviz]

Well this DID start out as kind of a pony bottle thread...

I care about cave stuff too. Check the rolls, I'm a member of the NFSA. I have a full tech cave cert. Which means, at this point in time, and with my current experience, that I can enjoy a tourist cave in the company of an instructor. I'm a realist at heart.

And yes I will go on any way I choose, so will you, I love diving the NE Atlantic. I also totally appreciate karst systems. I just don't live there. But that is OK, I love diving here. Let's uncross our swords until next time...

 

[PfcAJ]

Consider them uncrossed, bud