Thanks, DevonDiver for the information. Not using a split ring makes sense since it can't be cut away.
There's a lot of sense in most of the standardised configurations used in tech diving. There has to be...
When you boil any of these approaches down, they all essentially amount to the same concept. DIR goes a little further, in that it encompasses team diving, gas mixes and deco procedures into an integrated and standardised concept.
Hogarthian diving is merely a principle - however, that principle has been tried, tested and refined
in an appropriate environment until the point where there is very little deviation in respect of an approach to equipment configuration.
It isn't a static concept - it does retain the flexibility to encompass new developments; new materials for construction, higher performance equipment etc etc. However, one key aspect of the concept is that the system has to be
tested and proven. What currently exists
is tested and proven, with a monumental amount of thought and consensus behind it.
I was wondering what you thought of the link I posted. Is that link all wrong? Maybe you should delete it to prevent future confusion.
What I read was a discussion, much of which was contributed by people who don't have the prerequisite experience to have tested and proven
any type of configuration. There was also a lot of confusion between DIR and Hogarthian... two very similar and non-mutually exclusive concepts, but different nonetheless.
It's informative, if you can sort the wheat from the chaff. It's hardly canonical (if such a thing exists)... and does deal more with specific kit configuration, rather than the mindset and background behind the evolution of the concept.
Personally, I don't give a damn about applying labels to this or that. I have a personal set of principles that I adhere to when diving. Those principles were passed to me by great tutors, superb mentors and through countless hours of personal research and practical experience on ever demanding dives. I never took anything on face value...and I made up my own mind about everything I adopted. That said, I always started out from what seemed to be 'best practice' and made sure to test and confirm it myself.
Most importantly, I make a principle of not regurgitating
any information, that I haven't proven and tested personally. There's far too many anonymous experts doing that online already. I'd advise you to adopt that same principle.
With regards to your 'bungee cord' - I don't feel it is 'Hogarthian' because I've been in situations where superflous elastic cord would present a high risk of snagging. As an open water diver that may not seem like a serious risk to you. I penetrate deep shipwrecks - it is a very serious risk to me. The benefits of that inclusion could never outweigh the drawbacks. Dropped torch versus death. It's easy math.
It's a matter of perspective.... but, as I said, this is all about
mindset and
experience.
Where death is a very real consequence.... you really need to have made the right decisions in advance.
I am sorry that I will never be a member of the secret Hogarthian society.
There's really nothing of the sort. Being a Hogarthian diver is about
mindset. The crux of that mindset is about continual assessment and refinement of your diving practices (and kit configuration) with an absolute emphasis on
safety.
To understand and prioritize
safety, you first have to develop a deep respect, appreciation and understanding of the
risks. That necessitates
experience. Experience at the outer fringes of the diving envelope. Experience in environments where the slightest oversight or simplest error
will kill you, with no chance to resolve the situation or 'scrape through'. That is where the testing and proving have to take place.
You cannot learn to appreciate those risks or test concepts within a recreational open-water diving environment. You won't appreciate those risks with a few dozen, or, most likely, even a few hundred dives. The best you can do is accept the accepted.... and read a copy of '
Shadow Divers' so that you can begin to make sense of it.
Diving is still fun for me no matter what gear I use. I hope it is still fun for you.
Rest assured, it is. Otherwise I wouldn't have sold every belonging I owned, left my job, left my house, left my parents and taken on a life of full-time poverty in a third-world country as a full-time dive pro and wreck chaser. If it wasn't 'fun', then I wouldn't risk my neck doing dives that could easily kill me, should I mess up.
It's fun.... but it's
serious fun.
...and there isn't a dangling bungee cord in sight, because I don't want to die.
