DIR without the gear

[lamont]

Oh, my goodness, Dan . . . Peter a poster child for DIR? We really DO need to come to Florida and dive with you.

Did he like the GUE cupcake? =)

 

[rockclimber26]

Hi Peter,
Probably alot of the DIR crowd would be split on this advice....one of the really cool things I like to show divers new to the gear and ideas of DIR, is how AMAZINGLY EASY AND COMFORTABLE it is to use a 7 foot long hose for donating. Not just the ease of instant deployment to the buddy pretending to be OOA, but even more dramatic for them, how easy it is to swim..basically to do a dive while on a long hose....it is almost like being on a hooka ( Brownies Third Lung)...no restriction, no concerns....the typical response is "wow, I could do a whole dive like this"

While the DIR primary donation can work perfectly with shorter length hoses, as you suggest, the cost of the long hose is not high, and the benefits in an airshare are so intense, they are almost fun!

I see brand new divers and their brand new diving buddy's as being in a much higher probability of actually getting into an OOA scenario than most of us on this board...as such, giving them the easiest air share equipment, appeals to me.

It's not something I could get preachy about....it's just a "cool factor" I think they would appreciate, without any real downside.

REgards,

DanV

Dan,
Currently we are using safe seconds instead of octos. Sounds like another change to make at some point in the future.

David

 

[Peter Guy]

a. Cupcake good!

b. "Safe second?" -- is that another name for inflator/octo combo? If so, then you are in the "donate primary" mode in an Out of Air (OOA) situation which is, of course, the "DIR way." But, fair warning, PLEASE make sure you have an appropriately long hose on your primary.

 

[DiverLaura]

cupcake = spiked with blueberry and lime koolaid *evil snickering*

 

[lamont]

peter has now eaten the GUE koolaid...

everything is proceeding exactly as we have foreseen...

 

[TSandM]

Although it might seem that using a octo-inflator is as far from DIR as you can get, it's actually much more compatible than using a traditional octo, because you are using the "donate the primary" concept. As Peter mentioned, you should get a longer hose on your primary -- if you have not tried sharing gas on a 24" hose, I can tell you you will find it uncomfortable.

I'll think you'll be pleased, when you switch to the bungied backup, with both the ready accessibility of the backup regulator for your OWN use (it works for me -- I tend to fall down a lot ) AND how much more comfortable the use of your inflator becomes when it's much smaller and less unwieldy in the hand.

 

[boulderjohn]

Although it might seem that using a octo-inflator is as far from DIR as you can get, it's actually much more compatible than using a traditional octo, because you are using the "donate the primary" concept.

I made the switch with my singles gear not so much for the idea of donating the primary but more for the fact that I would be sure to have access to the bungeed alternate. I switched hoses right after hearing a story of a diver drowning when she went OOA and her buddy's traditional octo had come loose and gotten stuck in his gear behind him, out of her reach. Thus there is a second reason that the octo-inflator is more like the DIR approach than one might at first suspect.

 

[kathydee]

Yep, that's me ... unless Kathy has another friend moving to Boulder .

That's her !