Is Side Mount the new DIR??? Building resentment towards us as a group...

[Pullmyfinger]

The worst thing that could happen is for absolutist standardization to come back to sidemount someday.

Hypothetically speaking; If any agency out there felt the need to standardize a sidemount configuration for their courses, why would it matter to anyone that was not going to take those courses, or dive with teams that adopted that form of standardization?

That agencies standardization would have no impact on any sidemount diver that was not taking part.......yet I suspect many out there would take issue with it.

The loudest screaming would come from those not affected by it at all.

Perhaps some form of standardization is coming. There are a lot of agencies out there, so who knows.

-Mitch

 

[nakatomi]

Germany is known to be 'special'. We standardize everything, most of the time before we allow anyone to use it.
DIR is so strong in Germany that most people ignore names like Hogarth, Gavin and Jablonski and act like Germans invented it or at least are responsible for most of the standards.

I've never heard anyone say that, maybe this is exclusively the case for the DIR divers in your neck of the woods?
Surely it makes zero sense at all to me!
We all know who came up with DIR. Besides, GUE as the source of DIR is very popular in Germany.
Why would anyone pretend it was anyone aside from the original founders who came up with it?

 

[Colliam7]

The repeated use of the word, 'standards', in this thread and another recent thread ('Why did GUE, DIR take so long . . .') raises a question for me. Much of the discussion where the word is employed involves gear (although 'procedures' are necessarily associated with that issue).

Some have proposed what are essentially standards. For example, a specific approach:

I think a basic set of standards can be written where some things are standardized such as the long hose on the right tank and having the bottles and diver in proper trim without spg's pointing down and such.

And, a more general approach:

cylinders should be in trim with the side torso of the diver. Valves in the armpit. Not hanging below, not floating above, not extending forwards.

And, these kind of comments prompt my question: if you - anyone can post on this one (ideally from the perspective of some experience ) - were to write a set of 'standards' for SM equipment configuration, what would some of those standards be?

I am not trying to derail this thread, and it may turn out that we want to separate it, depending on responses. But, I am genuinely interested in reading about what people would 'standaridize' with regard to SM gear, since that seems to be a sub-focus of this thread. Or, procedures. Comments on training are welcome, but I would really prefer to see comments on standardization of gear, if possible.

 

[Jack Hammer]

I don't see it as BM vs SM, I see it as skilled divers vs crappy divers. Spin it how ever you like, SM is fashionable at the moment. Because of this current trend the crappie divers who wanna look like the cool kids and were messing up caves and taking up boat space in BM are now messing up caves and taking up boat space in SM. Skilled divers in any configuration are quick to gear up and... SPOILER ALERT:...

...skilled in the water.

The rest is just ego stroking.

Safe Diving - Jeff

 

[The Chairman]

First standard: Stop telling everyone to try side mount.

 

[cool_hardware52]

Sidemount doesn't really lend itself well to standards.

Not currently, but eventually the range of gear configurations will settle down to 1-2 main approaches and 1-2 "alternative" approaches. It's what happens with every new activity, from autos to mountain bikes to scuba. Then standards will emerge.

At the start of a new activity there are endless things tried. That's a good thing, but after a while what works best, what is most economical to produce, what is easiest to teach, what is most durable etc. becomes apparent and the field narrows. That's not a bad thing either. Look at the evolution of suspension MTB's 15 -20 years ago there were many many ideas being tested, most are a memory.

What happens on the marketing side is also predictable. The offerings become more similar and we find the various brands screaming ever more loudly about smaller and smaller differences. Look at the big beer brands, they have been reduced to marketing the container (temperature indicating bottles and wide pour mouths etc.) because the contents is basically all the same.

We are early in the SM "revolution" but give it a few more years and there will be fewer choices and more standards. It's what happens.

Of course this alone will sour some who were attracted to SM by a need to different. Once something becomes "standard" and main stream there is no status to had by being a "bleeding edge innovator". This stage often kills the growth as the "need to be different" crowd frequently spends freely.

The folks that migrated to SM (or suspension bikes or whatever ) to fill an operational requirement usually stick around as they weren't motivated by status seeking.

This is just the natural "life cycle" of the new and different.

Tobin

 

[MXGratefulDiver]

The folks that migrated to SM (or suspension bikes or whatever ) to fill an operational requirement usually stick around as they weren't motivated by status seeking.

... and they already have their gear ... unless there's a specific need to buy something different. As an example, I'm considering buying a second sidemount rig before my Red Sea trip in August ... the Nomad's quite nice for cold water diving, but it doesn't travel well and isn't ideal for diving AL80's in a 3mm wetsuit ...

... Bob (Grateful Diver)

 

[Razorista]

Sidemount diver's aren't interested in non standard diving because they dislike standards.
It is because they have learned diving to be too complicated for easy answers that fit everybodys needs at once.

 

[MXGratefulDiver]

First standard: Stop telling everyone to try side mount.

... I'd apply that standard to pretty much all forms of diving ...

But the corollary would be to stop offering advice or opinions on things you've never tried yourself ...

... Bob (Grateful Diver)

 

[MXGratefulDiver]

Sidemount diver's aren't interested in non standard diving because they dislike standards.
It is because they have learned diving to be too complicated for easy answers that fit everybodys needs at once.

I don't think it's a matter of complicated so much as it is a matter of personal preference and diving environment. There's a massive difference in the needs and preferences of divers where you live vs where I live vs where NetDoc lives, for example ... and what's going to be optimal in one diving environment will be far from it in a different one.

... Bob (Grateful Diver)