mech:
I bought my first BP/wing rig long before I heard of DIR.
It just looked right and felt comfy.
I took my PADI rescue class in it (about a year or so before fundy's)and my instructor went verbally bizerk,used me as a "what not to wear" example and ridiculed me in front of my kid....before we had the "TALK".
I ended up feeling sad that I embarressed my kid.No kid needs to see that.
If I could do it over I would have better screened the instructor and done the class after fundy's.
YMMV.
Andy
I guess the question I would have for any student who gets "talked" to by an instructor in that manner is this ... why would you put up with it? About two seconds into "verbally bizerk" I'd have found a creative way to let the guy know that I don't pay money to get abuse.
C'mon ... really. Forget about the fact that it's unprofessional ... you are the customer ... and you're paying the instructor to provide you knowledge and skills, not use you for personal ego gratification.
My advice to any diver ... if your instructor cannot treat you in a professional, respectful manner, get a different instructor ... because that one doesn't deserve your trust.
A Rescue course shouldn't be about personal preference ... yours or theirs. The reality is that you need to learn how to deal with this gear ... because even if you're not wearing it, the person you might have to rescue could be.
Almost all commercially available scuba gear is incredibly safe to dive in. Therefore it boils down to personal preference. Every piece of gear you can own has positives and negatives. An instructor's job should be to tell you what those positives and negatives are in as non-judgmental a manner as possible, and assume you are smart enough to weigh them against your personal goals and decide for yourself what's right for you.
After all, for the most part scuba students are adults ... we're all capable of making rational decisions.
Some of the stuff I hear coming from instructors (including some on this board) just make me shake my head and wonder how the CD's who certified these people ever justified putting them in such a position of responsibility ...
... Bob (Grateful Diver)