Holistic system or can skills be separated?

[gsk3]

A recent post got me thinking about this. What skills/equipment taught in "DIR" are more easily peeled off from the rest, versus skills/equipment that fits better into a system?

I'll start with some thoughts, trying to cover both dependencies on other skills/equipment and what it enables in terms of other skills/equipment.
-Back kick: Useful pretty to pretty much everyone, but has at least some equipment dependencies (solid paddle fins), and enables tighter team formation.
-Can light: Enables better team coherency and facilitates better hose-routing with a long hose.

Will add more later when I have time, but interested in others' suggestions (including corrections).

 

[gsk3]

-Bottom timer: Lack of integrated air or deco information depends on and encourages gas planning and dive planning. Wrist-mounted location enables better bouyancy mid-water.
-Mid-water stability: Depends on team, buoyancy, trim, back-kick; facilitated by wrist-mounted bottom timer. Enables proper stops (and therefore use of mental deco rules like Rule of 130 and Ratio Deco, thereby enabling the use of only a bottom timer).

 

[tbone1004]

Not all of those are DIR specific. We teach all of that in our NAUI program and have long before DIR was out there. Doesn't require solid paddle fins and can be done in splits. Can also be done barefoot. You don't break any land speed records, but it's there.

None of the DIR teaching anything is truly DIR only. All of it was pulled from cave diving where they realized the benefit of adding it to recreational diving classes. Many instructors have been teaching that way thru NAUI for decades, but GUE was the first to write their curriculum around it.

Not bashing DIR per se, but everything you mentioned except can lights and the long hose *we use a long primary and octo on suicide strap but on recreational length hoses* are taught in many different programs that aren't DIR associated.

This is all in the basic open water class.

 

[TSandM]

Standard gases Enables simple dive planning and site flexibility. Depends only on the decision to use them.

Standardized equipment setup Enables rapid and efficient response from buddy in the event of problems; makes pre-dive checks easier; may make swapping spares out in the event of failure easier. Depends on what may be a significant investment in changed equipment from what one had before adopting the system.

One handed signaling system Enables easy signaling at night (where you have to shine a light on your hand to be seen) or when one hand is otherwise engaged (with a reel or dive float or anything else). Depends on having learned it; may cause confusion when used among divers who are not familiar with it.

Here's an example of a non-separable concept: Response to freeflow - shutting down gas Enables a quiet ascent, without the noise or reduced visibility produced by bubbles, and at a rate that can follow standard ascent procedures, as one is on one's buddy's long hose. Also prevents water entry into regulator or tank as a result of lost tank pressure. Depends on the ability of the divers involved to remain calm, initiate an air-share, and COMPLETE that air-share competently without ANY real risk of separation. In addition, the diver with the tank turned off must be able to reach and manipulate his own valve (a requirement for a rec pass from Fundies) so that, if there IS separation, he can reestablish his own gas supply. This is definitely an approach which is dependent on multiple other parts of the system, from the long hose regulator to the facility with air-sharing, to the buoyancy control, to the tank valve access.

 

[MXGratefulDiver]

Diving as a team would be at the top of my list. I emphasize this heavily in my AOW class, and often get this reaction like it never occurred to these people before that there's more to being a dive buddy than just jumping in the water together.

I've been thinking about this recently ... a pretty hefty percentage of my AOW students go on to take Fundamentals. I don't pretend to train my students like DIR divers ... nor do I particularly promote DIR classes except to those whose personality I believe it's a good fit for. But I do emphasize team coherence, good buoyancy control, and the ability to manage task-loading ... and that often leads people to look for follow-on classes that refine those skills. Fundamentals is a really good fit for what those folks are looking for. Tack onto that the fact that I teach in a BP/W and long hose, and this is often the student's first exposure to that setup.

Introduce a diver to the concept of "our" dive rather than "my" dive, and suddenly the DIR way of doing things takes on a whole new appeal. But the beauty of it is that to begin down that path takes nothing except basic equipment and a willingness to develop the skills you were introduced to in your OW class ...

... Bob (Grateful Diver)

 

[aquaregia]

Can light: Enables better team coherency and facilitates better hose-routing with a long hose.

I don't think this is separable. At first, my OW buddies and I would stay within a foot or so (10-15' vis) so that we could tap the other on the shoulder. When we got rec lights in AOW, we'd get further apart to the point that if the buddies weren't paying attention to the light beams, we'd have to spend some time to close the distance to actually get their attention. I've dove with people with can lights that were comfortable diving at the limits of visibility with the idea that they could see each other's light beams, but then have been unable to successfully signal when needed.

I think that things like powerful lights, without a proper team mindset and situational awareness, increase the likelihood of buddy separation and decrease the likelihood of appropriate, timely response.

 

[gsk3]

That's a good point. Can lights are double-edged swords with regards to team coherence. They don't call them light sabers for nothing!