DIR Article - Gear Configuration

[dsteding]

For those of us who are parsing every pound, Al80s in cold water are frightening.

I walk into the water with more than my body weight in gear as it is. Al80s would give me less gas for more tank weight, and require 8 pounds more than the 20 I already wear with LP85s. If you're 6'2" and in your 20s, you can laugh at that. 5'4" and in my fifties, and I don't.

Fair point Lynne, I figure my rig with 119s is about 120 pounds all told full, or about 60% of my body weight. I couldn't imagine having to put 200+ pounds on me to do a shore dive . . . and I'm only 6'1" and in my 30s.

 

[Adobo]

For those of us who are parsing every pound, Al80s in cold water are frightening.

I walk into the water with more than my body weight in gear as it is. Al80s would give me less gas for more tank weight, and require 8 pounds more than the 20 I already wear with LP85s. If you're 6'2" and in your 20s, you can laugh at that. 5'4" and in my fifties, and I don't.

Remember what it was like lugging that gear through Monastery beach?

If Monastery wasn't such a spectacular dive site, I would dive whatever set of doubles without much concern for weight. However, we do get that occasional opportunity to dive Monastery. And for those occasions, I just shudder at the idea of having to carry an extra 8lbs.

 

[rhlee]

Now try to recall lugging that gear through Monastery beach.

Just about everywhere else, I would not really complain. However, when conditions are right, Monastery is just absolutely spectacular. And diving Monastery in doubles for me, I look to shave every pound I can.

Start getting on the ball with the Lobos reservations, and you won't need to bother with Monastery

Are you going to join us on Sat.?

 

[grazie42]

I have a bunch of stuff collecting dust in my dive-bin. A Seaquest BC, OMS 94lb (liferaft/bondage) wing, AL fins, 7mil wetsuit etc.

Having used all of the above I can say that most of the arguments against those gear choices make little or no sense to me. All the things usually said about bondagewings has been disproved by both my own experience and that of others I´ve dived with. I have to say that I don´t consider any of my "dust-collectors" a waste of money, they helped me understand and explore my own gear-preferences and weren´t really that expensive...

I use something different today because what I use does feel better to me (and some of the instructors I´ve taken courses from "asked" me to try something different). The difference only became apparent after I tried something else. I wasn´t "suffering" from trapped air in my oms-wing, I actually liked it until I tried something different.

I use an al-plate for all my diving, I don´t need any additional weight when I dive doubles and "only" 14lbs when I dive single. I gave my SS-plate to my brother who uses ridiculous amounts of weight (still a new diver)...

 

[Adobo]

Start getting on the ball with the Lobos reservations, and you won't need to bother with Monastery

Are you going to join us on Sat.?

I've fallen on my arse at Lobos too.. I did that cockroach maneuver. You know, laying on my back with my arms and legs flailing about. It took two big men to drag me to water deep enough that I could float.

 

[MikeFerrara]

Something that I think has only been touched on a little in this thread is procedures. Key points of the equipment configuration remain constant from start to finish because it's desireable to keep key procedures the same. Air sharing, deploying a backup light or whatever can always be done and taught the same if certain elements of the configuration are there. Keeping procedures consistant reduces the likelyhood of mistakes. If you're diving alone you can do things about any way you want. If you want to design your own team procedures you can design them and debug them however you like. I see DIR as a specific implimentation of team diving. It's a system that addresses a wide range of situations and tasks. There can be other systems but when you need to get multiple divers and tasks working togehter things go better if there is some kind of well thought out, debuged and proven system. That gets everyone on the same page without having to design a new system for every dive or group of divers.

 

[Colliam7]

This is a great thread for a lot of reasons – a thoughtful (and thought-provoking), civil exchange of ideas, and helpful to many of us to reflect on what we do and how we have evolved in diving.

’Bill was always working on his gear configuration, trying to find an optimal setup for convenience, reliability and streamlining.‘ The point that is missed is that the Gear Configuration for DIR was not picked because it was the most optimal, best, safest...etc etc. It was picked because it was the safest consistent setup across a large cross section of diving.

Good point. It is important to add the word ‘consistency’. Maybe, DIR is ‘optimal’ from that perspective. It is a system that allows consistent adaptation of equipment and procedures across a variety of situations. You may have said you were ‘stirring things up’, but you have really provided a great platform for discussion.

I have a bunch of stuff collecting dust in my dive-bin. A Seaquest BC, OMS 94lb (liferaft/bondage) wing, AL fins, 7mil wetsuit etc. … I don´t consider any of my "dust-collectors" a waste of money, they helped me understand and explore my own gear-preferences and weren´t really that expensive... )...

Very well said. Many of us get enthused about trying different gear over time, and learn from the process. I do not view many purchases as mistakes, simply opportunities to learn from experience. A thread in another forum, about the Evolve wing vs the Explorer, vs others, is a good example. The particular wing one uses is primarily a matter of personal preference (not trying to start something here about bungees, etc.). I have 5 wings, just ordered a 6th. I am probably ready to part with several of them, not because they are bad, unsafe, or inefficient. I just have refined what I like to the point I do not need them. They are all wings, and I have learned something from using each.

Some posters here have said they only use an AL BP. Others have said they use / need both an AL and a SS. I use only a SS (but have 3 of them for the same reason I have tried different wings). But, they are all still a BP.

I think if you take the GUE training approach, as you move through, you will see that gear (although it is vital to get it right) makes up a smaller and smaller percentage of "what it is to be DIR"

and

Something that I think has only been touched on a little in this thread is procedures. Key points of the equipment configuration remain constant from start to finish because it's desireable to keep key procedures the same. … Keeping procedures consistant reduces the likelyhood of mistakes. I see DIR as a specific implimentation of team diving. It's a system that addresses a wide range of situations and tasks. There can be other systems but when you need to get multiple divers and tasks working togehter things go better if there is some kind of well thought out, debuged and proven system.

A very lucid, sensible statement. Perhaps, DIR is like a common language. People can communicate easily from the outset, without needing a translator or a dictionary. Team diving can be as simple as two divers buddying up for the first time on a coastal charter. They have similar gear configurations and they have a common understanding of procedures, so their pre-dive safety check is efficient and effective, even though they have never met before.

Every religion probably has a small group of zealots, and they will eagerly, and aggressively tell you that you are going to burn in eternal fires, that God won’t hear your prayers, or that your are an infidel and should be killed, etc., if you do not believe and do EXACTLY what they believe and do. Every religion probably also has a group of passive believers, who pick and choose the parts of the religion that they like or are comfortable with (cafeteria believers). But every religion also has a core of simple, straight-forward believers. They continually study the doctrine of their religion in an effort to better understand it and appreciate the basis for its practices, they follow the doctrine because they believe in it, they are consistent in their belief and practice, they will share their belief when asked, etc. They go through life with a simple, streamlined approach. It works for them.