RAID Cave 1 - Good Course?

[Germie]

At the end it is what you want and what you can pay. AND it must fit your personality. There is no cheap technical diving, but sometimes you really can save money by doing it with instructor X or in country Y. Best value for money. Also it depends where you take your course. I have travelled all over the world for my courses, but sometimes helium is cheaper in country X than in country Y and then it is better to travel to a cheaper helium country. I did courses with DIR instructors and completely non-DIR instructors. It gave me a broad view of what is possible in technical diving and what I want and what I don't want. It also makes that I can dive with really almost every diver, bad trained or good trained, DIR or non-DIR. I understand standarizing, and non-standarizing, best mix vs standardgases, ean80 vs 100% and know advantages vs disadvantages. If you are interested in sidemount or rebreather, remember: also this can fit in the DIR filosophy, even if you dive it the standard way (ccr 3 liter cylinders to have less weight and less drag, more streamlined, or sidemount with steels, or other rigs), good DIR is also wide seeiing, DIR doesn't mean being a horse with blinkers.
So choose what fits you. And stay current after the course, practise, try to improve your level, even if you are certified.

 

[leadduck]

Why is sidemounting in situations where restriction is not the primary consideration so broadly disdained? If someone is more comfortable in the sidemount setup, and it is being done properly, why is it wrong?

I don't think it's broadly disdained, there's just a small vocal religious group who don't get it. Open water sidemount is wonderful, feels very nice to have the weight off your back, good for people with lower back pain or knees / joints getting older, valves and first stages easy to inspect, easy to open/close/feather valves, truly independent redundant gas supply. Solo divers love it. I don't think it's for beginners though, better not OWD sidemount. All open water sidemount divers I know have many years of backmount experience, some GUE / cave trained, some solo divers. I see the main factor: age. I know young tech divers in their mid 20s, with only little diving experience, knew they want tec diving right after OWD, and almost all of them go backmount DIR style. But among the 40+ years old ones with many years diving experience and hundreds of backmount dives, also in twin tanks, open water sidemount becomes popular.

 

[txaggie08]

I don't think it's broadly disdained, there's just a small vocal religious group who don't get it. Open water sidemount is wonderful, feels very nice to have the weight off your back, good for people with lower back pain or knees / joints getting older, valves and first stages easy to inspect, easy to open/close/feather valves, truly independent redundant gas supply. Solo divers love it. I don't think it's for beginners though, better not OWD sidemount. All open water sidemount divers I know have many years of backmount experience, some GUE / cave trained, some solo divers. I see the main factor: age. I know young tech divers in their mid 20s, with only little diving experience, knew they want tec diving right after OWD, and almost all of them go backmount DIR style. But among the 40+ years old ones with many years diving experience and hundreds of backmount dives, also in twin tanks, open water sidemount becomes popular.

I guess I fit kind of in the middle. I've been diving for several years, and never logged the majority of my time in the water.....most of it was crawling around in a nasty river or pond looking for remains/evidence. I'm 32, and have definitely moved past any desire to continue that line of thinking, but the mistakes of my early youth(I'm no old woman!) have caught up with me in the joints, and my physical problems from birth have cause me to reach a limit with backmount. I love the mindset of DIR, the conscientious, meticulous thought process behind selection and planning of dives, it's just a shame that there is no flexibility for those with limitations, or sound reasoning behind the logic in their gear selection.

 

[helodriver87]

I guess I fit kind of in the middle. I've been diving for several years, and never logged the majority of my time in the water.....most of it was crawling around in a nasty river or pond looking for remains/evidence. I'm 32, and have definitely moved past any desire to continue that line of thinking, but the mistakes of my early youth(I'm no old woman!) have caught up with me in the joints, and my physical problems from birth have cause me to reach a limit with backmount. I love the mindset of DIR, the conscientious, meticulous thought process behind selection and planning of dives, it's just a shame that there is no flexibility for those with limitations, or sound reasoning behind the logic in their gear selection.

There's plenty of logic behind the gear selection, it's just not tailored to individuals. It's tailored to the dive. Nothing is simpler than breathing off the same reg the whole time and checking a single spg. If I'm going somewhere restrictive where doubles won't fit, there's now a dive driven reason to change configuration. Same if I'm going somewhere too far or deep for OC. The gear philosophy is about diving what's right for the job at hand and using the tool most suited to the task, not diving what you'd prefer to dive.

 

[txaggie08]

You seem to be ignoring the difference in safety and ability vs preference.You're functionally telling me that Because you see reg switches and a second spg as more complicated, that health concerns and physical ability can't have anything to do with it.

I've listed the why's of my choice for sidemount as a necessity for safe diving for ME. When the final analysis is done, switching regs and a second spg is less dangerous than an inadequate ability to manipulate valves in the event of a failure. It appears to me that GUE's answer is not "ok, so here's an alternative that falls within our standards", but "well, you shouldnt be making the dive unless you can do it with THIS equipment, even though we condone safe usage of standard equipment in other environments".

Instead of allowing a diver to adapt and overcome an obstacle in a safe manner for themselves, the team, and the dive, the good book must never be deviated from.

I'm gonna stop hijacking the OPs thread. I am not here to bash DIR divers. There are many usernames on this forum who have taught me, influenced me, and inspired a mindset in me that kept me alive through some very dangerous dive deployments. They've also inspired me to interest in progressing into caves and technical diving, and a great many of them are DIR divers. It is just a shame, to me, that the dogma has stretched into SOME insisting that divers cannot use proven and safe (and within standards) configurations to overcome physical abnormalities and/or failings.

 

[helodriver87]

I'm not telling you it's unsafe, I'm telling you why GUE teaches it a certain way. You're free to take whatever you want from that philosophy or ignore it altogether, but there is logic and reason behind it. You may be better off with a different agency/instructor with a different philosophy on gear selection in your case.

 

[cerich]

Added complexity with no benefit. Same reason it's a bit pointless to dive Peacock on a breather unless you're just trying to build hours on the unit. You need to recognize what tool is best for the job at hand and balance its necessity against potential drawbacks.

so remembering to change regs every 500psi is too complex for GUE and yet GUE expects divers to do deco calculations in their heads? LOL

Sidemount is no more complex than backmount doubles. It can be worn as a gear configuration as opposed to a configuration only for tighter spots.

 

[helodriver87]

so remembering to change regs every 500psi is too complex for GUE and yet GUE expects divers to do deco calculations in their heads? LOL

Sidemount is no more complex than backmount doubles. It can be worn as a gear configuration as opposed to a configuration only for tighter spots.

GUE teaches sidemount. My point was that, from the perspective of actually doing the dive, there's no value added if you don't need the specific advantages it can offer.

 

[cerich]

GUE teaches sidemount. My point was that, from the perspective of actually doing the dive, there's no value added if you don't need the specific advantages it can offer.

disagree

 

[leadduck]

It is just a shame, to me, that the dogma has stretched into SOME insisting that divers cannot use proven and safe (and within standards) configurations to overcome physical abnormalities and/or failings.

I have one buddy who dives a backmount doubles DIR setup although he can't reach his valves due to some shoulder problem. He thinks a pony tank or going sidemount are too much of a hassle or incompatible with his team, and that it's OK because he stays close to his buddy. I don't think many tec instructors would agree with him, but it's the kind of thinking you instill when you talk about a dive as a job that needs the one and only same right tool for everyone, promote only the advantages of identical gear in a team and condemn individual preferences.