The minimalist movement

[Eric Sedletzky]

You have provided many examples of my point. We can agree with the concept of "minimalism" but when it comes down to the dive.... What you consider "minimal" for any given dive might be "too much" for another minimalist.

You might feel than an SMB is warranted, someone else might feel that an SMB, whistle, strobe and beacon are warranted, but you both might call yourself "minimalists" for that dive.

There's a fine line between "minimalist" and "dangerous."

You might solo without a redundant air supply. You might call that minimalist, I might call that dangerous not minimalist. But I bet that both of us could agree on the concept of "minimalism."

BTW, I consider myself a "minimalist" most of the time so it's not that I disagree with the concept. I embrace it wholeheartedly. For example, I want to state that I only dive with my sunglasses during the day, I leave them topside at night.

Let's look at it this way.
In other diving configurations and mentalities, they are taught to dive with all the stuff their particular school or protocol told them they needed. Wether they are doing a dive to 130 feet or 20 feet the configuration stays the same because they were told that if they violate the configuration then their whole structure falls apart and they are no longer part of the team or group or whatever they call themselves.They do not have the freedom to remove gear as needed to suit even the simplest of dives. As far as the deepest dive or longest cave their gear may be considered minimal, but for most of the dives I see them do they are way over clutterd. Not to mention the money they need to spend to get decked out in all that stuff, Wow!

Minimalism is a whole new mindset. It's a philosophy, an art, a skill, like a master chinese brushman painting sumi-e. With one masterful stroke he produces a masterpiece with the absolute minimum of tools and effort, paper, brush and colored water, that's it. Minimalism is much the same in that it is very zen. It follows the same mental path. One who practices minimalism works on mastering skill and bringing out the maximum potential that he may have within. There is no fancy gear to hide behind.

Hiding behind a bunch of gear does not do much for a persons lack of watermanship skills. Yeah, they may be able to do a dive provided nothing goes wrong, but the problem lies in the fact that they could go on for years this way then one day something happens and they realize they really knew nothing.

I found that since becoming a minimalist my skills have dramatically improved just from the lack of unneeded gear. I think freedivers are the most minimal of all. Imagine setting yourself up for freediving and all you add is a tank on a pack, one reg and a guage and remove a little weight off the belt to balance it out and that's it.

 

[Kern]

Let's look at it this way.
In other diving configurations and mentalities, they are taught to dive with all the stuff their particular school or protocol told them they needed. Wether they are doing a dive to 130 feet or 20 feet the configuration stays the same because they were told that if they violate the configuration then their whole structure falls apart and they are no longer part of the team or group or whatever they call themselves.They do not have the freedom to remove gear as needed to suit even the simplest of dives. As far as the deepest dive or longest cave their gear may be considered minimal, but for most of the dives I see them do they are way over clutterd. Not to mention the money they need to spend to get decked out in all that stuff, Wow!

If you're refering to DIR proponents you may need to do a little more research. I'm not DIR but I have a felling that this is not really the case. I'v seen DIR divers in dry suits & trunks, doubles & singles, with or without can lights, with DSMB or without etc. etc. depending on the dive.

As to what others spend on their diving, well that's their business not mine.

As has been said before there is a line somewhere that minimal ends & unsafe begins. As we don't dive together it matters little to me where you draw that line, but I know where I draw it.

Minimalism is a whole new mindset. It's a philosophy, an art, a skill, like a master chinese brushman painting sumi-e. With one masterful stroke he produces a masterpiece with the absolute minimum of tools and effort, paper, brush and colored water, that's it. Minimalism is much the same in that it is very zen. It follows the same mental path. One who practices minimalism works on mastering skill and bringing out the maximum potential that he may have within. There is no fancy gear to hide behind.

Hiding behind a bunch of gear does not do much for a persons lack of watermanship skills. Yeah, they may be able to do a dive provided nothing goes wrong, but the problem lies in the fact that they could go on for years this way then one day something happens and they realize they really knew nothing.

I found that since becoming a minimalist my skills have dramatically improved just from the lack of unneeded gear. I think freedivers are the most minimal of all. Imagine setting yourself up for freediving and all you add is a tank on a pack, one reg and a guage and remove a little weight off the belt to balance it out and that's it.

Way to serious for me, but have fun with it.

 

[Doc Harry]

Let's look at it this way.
In other diving configurations and mentalities, they are taught to dive with all the stuff their particular school or protocol told them they needed. Wether they are doing a dive to 130 feet or 20 feet the configuration stays the same because they were told that if they violate the configuration then their whole structure falls apart and they are no longer part of the team or group or whatever they call themselves.They do not have the freedom to remove gear as needed to suit even the simplest of dives. As far as the deepest dive or longest cave their gear may be considered minimal, but for most of the dives I see them do they are way over clutterd. Not to mention the money they need to spend to get decked out in all that stuff, Wow!

Minimalism is a whole new mindset. It's a philosophy, an art, a skill, like a master chinese brushman painting sumi-e. With one masterful stroke he produces a masterpiece with the absolute minimum of tools and effort, paper, brush and colored water, that's it. Minimalism is much the same in that it is very zen. It follows the same mental path. One who practices minimalism works on mastering skill and bringing out the maximum potential that he may have within. There is no fancy gear to hide behind.

Hiding behind a bunch of gear does not do much for a persons lack of watermanship skills. Yeah, they may be able to do a dive provided nothing goes wrong, but the problem lies in the fact that they could go on for years this way then one day something happens and they realize they really knew nothing.

I found that since becoming a minimalist my skills have dramatically improved just from the lack of unneeded gear. I think freedivers are the most minimal of all. Imagine setting yourself up for freediving and all you add is a tank on a pack, one reg and a guage and remove a little weight off the belt to balance it out and that's it.

Beautiful and eloquent, and I agree with you 100%.

 

[Walter]

Interesting thread. I don't know where I fall and I really don't much care. When I dive vintage, I use a double hose on a 72 with a J valve and straps bolted to the tank, I rarely use a back back. I slip the sheath of the BFK on the waist strap that holds the tank on my back, add an oval mask, boots, duck feet and a swim suit and I'm ready to go. Short of leaving the knife behind, I don't think it gets closer to the ideal you're discussing. OTOH, when I'm not diving vintage, I have a standard set up that I very rarely alter, so I'm minimalist in my approach to work. My regulator has an octo. I do not take it off when I'm diving solo. My console has an SPG, depth gauge and compass. I don't remove the compass on dives I don't expect to use it. I do wear a computer on my wrist. That's not minimalist. In my BC pocket, I keep my gloves which are rarely used except when diving wrecks and hunting and my light, also rarely used. Except when diving vintage, I take the light with me, not that you would know it unless you asked. In my other pocket, I keep my buddy line which has 1001 uses. Attached to my BC is my knife. My BC is a Scubapro Classic Sport which is the BC Nemrod was describing in post number 10.

Scuba Pro Classic non weight integrated Stabilizing Jacket

If diving current, I'll clip on a SMB. Add a mask, boots, Jets weight belt and a swim suit and I'm ready to hit the water.

 

[Nemrod]

If you're refering to DIR proponents you may need to do a little more research. I'm not DIR-------
Way to serious for me, but have fun with it.

We do have fun with it. Removing all the clutter that resides between the diver and the environment is fun, it is pure, it is zen. Diving becomes a 3 dimensional experience. We swim down, we swim around, we swim up.

The main impediments to minimalism are the dogmatic attitudes of the modern consumerist driven dive community, a more closed minded group would be hard to find. Kind of like the Catholic Church in the Inquisition. If you don't have a BC you will die and go to hell, if you don't have a snorkel you will die and go to hell, if you don't have an octopus/alternate you will die and go to hell, if you don't spend tons of money at the local Padi 3.46 star retail store you will die and go to hell.

Minimalist diving = zen, guiding philosophy, purity, take nothing with you that you don't need, take nothing from the environment but memories, leave only bubbles, minimal impact, maximum fun, maximum skill, knowledge and ethics

Diving has gotten to serious, lighten up and by lighten up I mean get rid of all that Scuba Steve crap you drag around because your "instructor said" or because the retail store ("my lds") sold it to you. You won't die, you will DIVE. You guys are not divers, you are like lawyers with fins arguing the infinitesimal nth degree, talk about serious, Zen Minimalism is the way.

N,
The future is here and it is minimalism, doing more with less and having more fun than ever

 

[wreckchick]

So... after years of trying to convince regular divers that bad things can and do happen and trying to properly equip them both mentally and with gear appropriate to handle most common diving occurrences; you're saying to the diving public at large that they've been oversold gear and that being cautious and taking standard emergency equipment LIKE AN OCTO is just silly and they should disregard all their training and the advice they've been given and chuck all the gear in favor of a hardpack and a single hose reg?

Rachel

 

[Doc Intrepid]

Nemrod,

You know I agree with you conceptually, as would Jarrod Jablonski in his own fashion, so you'll realize I'm not poking at you. I'm just curious. You've done a lot of private boat diving where some pretty stiff currents could come up. A massive cramp on your part or your buddy's, or some other combination of mishaps (medical or otherwise), and you could conceivably wind up downrange of the boat.

Do minimalist divers carry USAF-type signal mirrors or SMBs? If so, where do they put them?

Just wondering if there is flexibility to the configuration as you have described it,

Doc

 

[Blackwood]

Minimalism is personal AND situational.

I think most every diver is a minimalist. Hardly anyone likes strapping on stuff they don't expect to need. Where the differences lie are in what various divers consider to be the minimum amount of necessary gear.




When you get right down to it, what's the minimum necessary gear? A tank of compressed air and a way to get said air into your lungs. Nothing else. No mask, no exposure suit, no fins, no gauges, no lights, no BC, etc.. However, most people find that those things enhance a dive. I want to see, so I'll bring a mask and a light. I want to move, so I'll bring fins. It's chilly, so I'll bring an exposure suit. I want to know how deep I am, how long I've been down, how much gas I have, so I'll bring gauges, I want to take pictures so I'll bring a camera, I expect my exposure suit to compress and I want to be neutral in the water so I'll bring a BC, etc..

It's all about what one considers necessary to safely and comfortably complete a dive. Bringing the necessary items = minimalism. Bringing more is not. Bringing less is stupid.

 

[Nemrod]

Nemrod,

You know I agree with you conceptually, as would Jarrod Jablonski in his own fashion, so you'll realize I'm not poking at you. I'm just curious. You've done a lot of private boat diving where some pretty stiff currents could come up. A massive cramp on your part or your buddy's, or some other combination of mishaps (medical or otherwise), and you could conceivably wind up downrange of the boat.

Do minimalist divers carry USAF-type signal mirrors or SMBs? If so, where do they put them?

Just wondering if there is flexibility to the configuration as you have described it,

Doc

Of course there is, have you knowlege of, I know you do the concept of a MEL for an aircraft? Well, maybe not a good example but anyways, minimalism would have the diver equipped as needed, it is just that many of us disagree upon what is really needed.

No, there is no standard equipment list as there is for other diving concepts, it is controlled by need and not dogma.

N

 

[Nemrod]

So... after years of trying to convince regular divers that bad things can and do happen and trying to properly equip them both mentally and with gear appropriate to handle most common diving occurrences; you're saying to the diving public at large that they've been oversold gear and that being cautious and taking standard emergency equipment LIKE AN OCTO is just silly and they should disregard all their training and the advice they've been given and chuck all the gear in favor of a hardpack and a single hose reg?

Rachel

You use the words "silly" etc, I did not I don't recall but yes, in lieu of my feeling like going through it all again I will just say yes, the grossly nannified and warped concept of safety at all costs is an impediment, a barrier to zen minimalism.

If you read what I have said and refer back you will see I left an octo as optional. There is no standard minimalist configuration since minimalism is as much a guiding over principle, not just a pile of wet stinking scuba gear. The ideal minimalist configuration is driven by the need of the that diver interacting in that environment and not the typical SCUBA dogma. The minimalsit diver would always endeavor the following, to go over it again:

Minimalist diving = zen, guiding philosophy, purity, take nothing with you that you don't need, take nothing from the environment but memories, leave only bubbles, minimal impact, maximum fun, maximum skill, knowledge and ethics.

And you are right, in some cases an octopus/alternate is not needed and therefore it would be abandoned like dust from my shoes.

This safety thing, it is a filter concept and an aberration in human evolution.

N