Please help me stop!

how do you feel about diving styles

  • There is only one true way to dive - I practice it.

    Votes: 10 6.6%
  • There is only one true way to dive - I do not practice it.

    Votes: 0 0.0%
  • There are many ways to dive, but my style is superior.

    Votes: 22 14.5%
  • There are many ways to dive, and my style is not superior.

    Votes: 120 78.9%

  • Total voters
    152

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Some dives I'm an "OW diver" and I do this with BPW. Amusingly, one of my dive buddies in ON is an M Petryk, but I think a different M Petryk :D
Now when diving solo, I have a slung 30 or 40Alu.

Must be a different M. Petryk, but the name is the hallmark of trustworthiness. :)
 
Cave Diver, is there any way we can see who voted, and how? Or is that not allowed/possible?
 
I'm not DIR myself, but I have a great deal of respect for it as a philosophy.

I find myself adopting a somewhat DIR style rig over time, but there are minor aspects of it that I either just don't agree with or that I think are unnecessary outside of caves and wrecks. I like having a pony bottle for one. I don't need doubles for an 80' shore dive, but I feel having a completely redundant source of air is nice. I'm also not sold on the necessity of a long hose. Yes, I can see where you need it in a confined space where you have to travel single file, but for an open water dive I think my 4' hose is more than adequate.

BPW's however rock. I get by with less lead, less total weight, I'm more streamlined and my tanks are more stable on my back.
 
It is completely possible to dive beautifully in any gear. I have seen photos of Diver0001 in the Red Sea, in a rental BCD, looking like the dolphin he's watching. I have dived with Charlie99, who dives like a fish, and doesn't use a backplate or a long hose.

I don't try to tell anyone that the system in which I dive is the only way to dive. I love it, myself; I find the advantages of standardized equipment, standardized procedures, and a strong emphasis on high quality skills to make for a wonderful dive community. In addition, for reasons I don't completely understand, our community seems to epitomize mentoring and generosity to new and upcoming divers, which is how I got shanghaied in the first place.

I think, in general, when someone finds something that really works well for them, they get very animated and fervent in advocating that thing, whether it's Force Fins, backplates, or DIR diving. I can forgive people for being passionate -- it beats not having opinions, or not having any experience. I think people on SB are less intolerant than the OP might suggest, though. We love the gear we have, and the training we've had, and the diving we do. But rarely, if ever, do I see someone say, "If you don't do such and such, or own such and such, you shouldn't be diving and you're a danger to self and others." I see that said about dangerous ambitions (there are two threads running currently about that) but not about gear, or diving styles.
 
There is a missing response

Whatever you and your buddy are comfortable with.

I use split fins, no snorkle, an Air2, a BCD, my dry suit for bouyancy, wireless air intergrated computer, no spg, hate diving with flipper users because of the slit they kick up, and some other stuff. Oh and I dive cold water with a balanced piston first stage

This forum is one of my resources for info on my hobby and it is second to my experience and observations in ranking. Or is that third...

When it comes to advice, throw a big net and trust what you know and understand.
 
snip- Can anyone tell me how to stop pointing out that there is more than one way to dive? -snip

Maybe a counsellor could help you find out why you need this constant validation on a diving forum. Once you understand why you need to do it, maybe you'll be able to stop.
 
Can anyone tell me how to stop pointing out that there is more than one way to dive?
Here is your chance - what do you think?

Okay, calm down. Have a little something to drink...try this...it's cold, a little sweet...purple...:stirpot:


There are many safe, fun ways to dive. There are many reasons to dive, too. I'd love to see a hardcore "tech" diver team dive in my marina to scrub my boat or weld a pipe in trim; that's a silly as a newbie warm water reef diver thinking they can dive the Doria.
 
Can anyone tell me how to stop pointing out that there is more than one way to dive? [snip] I can't bite my tongue when someone posts "you should only dive horizontally." Here is your chance - what do you think?
Can't resist leaping into the fray, eh? I suppose, having been online since the first modems and text bbs's, I've been singed often enough that I leaned to think before posting.

For example, "will my post contribute to the discussion?" and "am I in reaction mode?" The latter's the best indicator that I need to step aside, deflect, or just walk away (think Judo or TaiChi).

And maybe I've come to accept that each will have his own opinion and that's okay. It's not my job to change minds online or defend what I think is the more rational position.

You may also find you occasionally need to hold your tongue when actually diving. I was kitting up recently on a small boat in the Pacific Northwest. Another diver (not my buddy) saw me placing my alternate second-stage on my neck (surgical tubing necklace) and said (and I quote), "boy, no one's getting your octo from you, are they?" I couldn't think what to say short of a dissertation on the variety of OOA practices and the need for buddy agreements, so I said nothing, just smiled and nodded.

-Bryan
 
I would say developing a relationship with a group of nice, easy going real life divers would go a long way to curbing the "needing to fix the world" thingy. At least it did for me. There is the internet (or internets if you use more than one), where people only have opinions to share (and like A holes everbody has one) and there is real life where people with different ideas still manage to get together and have fun diving. In our group we often bat different ideas about but we don't go the extra distance of deriding each other if we do something differently. On any particular dive you may see BP's, Jackets, Rear inflates and Horsecollars all frollicking about in the surf together. Kind of like really cheezy dive porn.
 

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