The state of sidemount in DIR/GUE? Part II

[KMD]

Since the thread was closed perhaps a bit to quickly, I opened a new thread.

As had been said before, currently GUE offers no coursed in sidemounting.

But has been questioned before, is GUE the regulator of all things DIR? Not wanting to rehash this tired question, I will just comment that there are several orginizations who have attempted to take the concepts of DIR and translate them to sidemound diving with varied levels of success.

Steve Boegarts for example has been a proponant of sidemount diving for many years and gave a presentation at last years GUE conference.

You also have UTD, who has jumped into the market in recent years.

 

[Insta-Gator]

Try TDI.

 

[RTodd]

Does anything UTD does count as DIR anymore? I don't keep up with the politics of this stuff, but from what I have heard, UTD doing it is pretty strong evidence it isn't DIR at this point.

Yes, there are ways to sort of put together a sidemount DIR rig. But, it is compromised from a backmount rig. The need for sidemount and the compromises required just don't apply to enough divers to really make it worth it. The GUE guys in Mexico don't really sidemount anymore due to a lack of real need. That says about all you need to say about how often sidemount is really necessary.

 

[boulderjohn]

Does anything UTD does count as DIR anymore? I don't keep up with the politics of this stuff, but from what I have heard, UTD doing it is pretty strong evidence it isn't DIR at this point.

KMD said it is a tired question, and it certainly has been asked before, but who decides what is DIR and what is not DIR? Is there a DIR Grand Master who gives the thumbs up or thumbs down to any changes? Are the guidelines laid down years ago immutable?

 

[LiteHedded]

Since the thread was closed perhaps a bit to quickly, I opened a new thread.

As had been said before, currently GUE offers no coursed in sidemounting.

But has been questioned before, is GUE the regulator of all things DIR? Not wanting to rehash this tired question, I will just comment that there are several orginizations who have attempted to take the concepts of DIR and translate them to sidemound diving with varied levels of success.

Steve Boegarts for example has been a proponant of sidemount diving for many years and gave a presentation at last years GUE conference.

You also have UTD, who has jumped into the market in recent years.

Yes they are

 

[boulderjohn]

Yes they are

Does GUE make that claim?

 

[nadwidny]

KMD said it is a tired question, and it certainly has been asked before, but who decides what is DIR and what is not DIR? Is there a DIR Grand Master who gives the thumbs up or thumbs down to any changes?

George or JJ.

Are the guidelines laid down years ago immutable?

No. I think the pocket contents guidelines changed less than 5 years ago.

 

[LiteHedded]

Does GUE make that claim?

Nope.

 

[boulderjohn]

Just to be clear, I am not really arguing. I don't have strong feelings one way or the other.

There is obviously a difference of opinion. My UTD training was billed as DIR, and it was considered acceptable for my admission into the DIR Practitioners forum on ScubaBoard.

In summary, some people think that it has to come from GUE or George to be DIR, and some people don't. Andrew obviously thinks what he is doing is DIR. Has the term been trademarked?

 

[MXGratefulDiver]

Sorry, I just can't think of that convoluted manifold thingie on the UTD rig as DIR ... seems like the only reason for it to exist is to emulate some semblance of sameness in air share procedures ... and in doing so introduce failure points that ultimately do more harm than good.

What's wrong with just admitting that sidemount isn't DIR, and that if you want or need to sidemount it is going to be outside of the tenets of that particular system?

DIR isn't the only responsible way to dive, after all ... it's just another useful tool. In any craft, a true master uses more than one tool ...

... Bob (Grateful Diver)