The "other" end of the DIR question

[boomx5]

In fact, we taught several classes in Kona, so I'm just looking for another reason to come back ;-)
Regards

and I'm looking for a good reason to work on my videography skills; let me know if you need a camera man?

 

[LioKai]

MHK, thank you for your response. I will read what you have listed.

Your statement "Jarrod resists compromise more strongly then anyone I've ever encountered, so I have great faith in his leadership abilities."

The above statement, the level of "resistance", borders on a level of closmindedness that concerns me. That resistance is what seems to be giving credence to the DIR bigmouths. I do not want to see any standards dropped, on the contrary, I agree with you that standards need to be raised, but an openminded approach would (in my opinion) be better than a closed minded one, especially for someone in JJ's position of 'leader'.
Again, thank you for your responses.
Matthew

 

[gj62]

I'm confident in saying that what JJ is referring to in that point is the fact that initially [ read that as prior to Halcyon's existence] JJ tried to work with several prominent gear manufacturer's to produce gear to the specifics of what Halcyon is now producing. Several, at the time, saw no marketplace and little profit incentive so they passed on many of the ideas. Accordingly, now that many of us have done the hard work to educate divers in the benefits associated with these design concepts many of those manufacturer's are jumping on the band-wagon. Obviously in a capitalistic marketplace that is to be expected, but I suspect his point is two-fold, they aren't doing it as well, and they lack the same appreciation and understanding for the marketplace so it's more of an after thought then a core belief.

Hope that helps.

Ah - that explains much - the quote snippet didn't indicate a "pre-Halcyon" point-of-view. Thank you - enjoy your weekend...

 

[Boogie711]

LioKai - it's not wrapped around your neck. It comes around the back of your neck and up into your mouth from the right side, but at no point does the long hose wrap around your neck. It's not an entanglement hazard in any way. This is a common misconception I've seen a few times.

 

[LioKai]

LioKai - it's not wrapped around your neck. It comes around the back of your neck and up into your mouth from the right side, but at no point does the long hose wrap around your neck. It's not an entanglement hazard in any way. This is a common misconception I've seen a few times.

My apologies, it is hard to tell from that photo.

 

[gj62]

My apologies, it is hard to tell from that photo.

Check out this movie - http://e-nekton.com/archive/edition9/mod_s-drill_pool.mov About 1/2 way through the routing is clear when he goes back to the primary.

LioKai, it's easy to see how you might say it is wrapped around your neck. In truth, it's only around your neck for 270 degrees, instead of the full 360 - be careful of your semantics & vocabulary... I've actually tried it and don't mind it, but I also didn't adopt it either...

 

[Scubaguy62]

Personally, I don't care how long you have been diving, or where, or with whom you have trained. There is no substitute for an open mind and a willingness to learn. And this goes for the newly certified as well as the vintage "C" card holders.

There are old divers and there are bold divers but there are no old bold divers. I am a firm beliver in the idea of 'a good diver is always training'. I have been diving since 1990 and I have well over one thousand dives, and I learn something new every day. Weither I am playing or working, on the water, in the water, or in the repair shop.

Funny the way you put it, but I completely agree with you. I only have about 170 dives, but I have over 4,000 flt hrs, and in aviation the saying is the same; there are old pilots and bold pilots, but there are no old bold pilots.

I also agree that a good diver is always training, and while there are some DIR divers with the proverbial "holier than thow" attitude, there are a lot of DIR practices from which all divers can benefit, so an open mind is almost necessary. I'd be as scared to dive, or train with anyone who was so closed minded that merely because they have been diving for so many years they "know it all," as I would be to dive or train with someone who says that because someone has only been diving so long their practices aren't credible or safe. Reminds me of a fellow flight instructor who was a WWII P-51 pilot, and who used to say "I have more time upside down in an aircraft than you do right side up, so don't tell me anything." (the old pilot mentality)

The line, as I see it, is drawn in one factor that varies from one diver to another, judgment. Diving DIR is not just a question of equimpent, nor is it a question of a stamp of approval, or following some manual. It is a question of applying what they teach for what suits you. Personally, I don't like strapping on doubles, carrying stage bottles and more than one reel, or diving below 130 fsw. On the other hand, I believe that in a true OOA situation, any other diver, not my buddy, will reach for, and probably rip my primary reg before I can hand my octo, hence, I wear my octo on a necklace, just like DIR divers do. I don't have my primary on a 7' hose basically because I've been lazy, but that's the next step. I don't mind sharing gas with anyone other than my buddy (my wife), but I certainly don't want a diver that sucumbs to panic so close to me. I also dive based on the rule of thirds, as well as make my 1st 1 minute safety (deco) stop at 80% of my max depth and I'm currently learning how to estimate my gas consumption. I also set up my gear on the basis of DIR streamlining. Have you ever seen a DIR diver with something that hangs so low that destroys the reef? I have and there are many "high timers" out there like that.

These are the few DIR principles I believe, at the moment, to be beneficial to MY diving. Some of you may disagree, and that's ok. On the other hand, I don't believe in having anyone tell me that if I don't have a certain brand of gear I'm not DIR because that's their opinion and one I don't share. I am DIR within my level of experience and more so, within my diving budget. If this offends any "all go, no stop" DIR divers, I apologize, but I've dived with enough of them to know that there isn't a darn thing below 130 that interests me and that I can't see within recreational depths.

Semper Safe,

Rick

 

[IndigoBlue]

Let me provide a brief over view, and I suspect if you do a search or check the DIR forum you'll see that we've covered this over the years in great detail. In fact, we taught several classes in Kona, so I'm just looking for another reason to come back ;-)

Essentially DIR, and by extension GUE, was created to cater to a diver that isn't willing to accept mediocrity in training and is fed up with classes that don't challenge a diver inasmuch as they positively reinforce the status quo. Most divers that take OW or even AOW training for that matter, lack fundamental skills of bouyancy, balance, trim, propulsion techniques and so on, but yet these diver's are "passed" and "certified" only to be offered a continuing education class to supplement what we believe shoudl have been taught in the first place. Now that being said, I acknowledge that this is an over sweeping generality and that there are many quality instructors from a wide variety of agencies available, but I doubt many will challenege the idea that training has been dilluted over the last 5 or 10 years. Faster, shorter classes catering to the vacation diving market are commonplace, and you see now where students need never meet with an instructor for the academic portion of the class and can do it via telephone or internet. That is a direction that GUE was created to combat. We believe that more training and education is needed, not less. We recognize that many may well in fact appreciate a class where you can do the academics over the telephone, but we also realize that there are a class of diver's out there that want more challenging training, that want more stringent standards and that expect more from their instructors. In short there are many intangibles that we hope set us apart from the rest, and we fully appreciate that we will always be a small and elite organization that will never cater to the masses. If that trend did happen, which I'm confident in GUE leadership will never, but if it did I'm sure you'd see a mass exidous from the current instructor corps. But that's a hypothetical to far stretched to imagine. Jarrod resists compromise more strongly then anyone I've ever encountered, so I have great faith in his leadership abilities.

In any event check www.gue.com or e-mail me at mhk@gue.com or do a search and I suspect you'll have more info then you'll have time to digest. I'm heading out for the weekend so I won't be able to respond until Monday so have a good weekend everyone.

Regards

People have to make choices in their lives, and I doubt that anyone can afford to invest in every choice available. There is the CCR route, SCR route, the sidemount route, the OMS route, there is your GUE-DIR/Hacyon route, there is the DUI route, and Zeagle has a route of their own (sheriff's depts prefer this one, if you look closely to the TV news), and for the truly economically challenged there is the Oceanic route.

GUE-DIR/Halcyon was momentarily probably the best cave diving route. That is, until the sidemount alternative came along.

There are just a lot of choices. They all have their place.

 

[DennisS]

There are just a lot of choices. They all have their place.

Different strokes for different folks

 

[quimby]

DennisS
Different strokes for different folks

No pun intended eh