Value of the DIR approach

[djanni]

I find that the diving I adore most is the diving I do with other people who share my conviction that it's important both to understand what you are doing, and to be good at it. Or at least to try to be good at it

Lynne: I know what I'm doing and I'm good at it and I wouldn't mind diving with you either - provided the water is warm.

 

[boulderjohn]

I'm sorry if anybody thinks I talk down to them. I don't intend to do that. I will plead guilty to proselytizing, but that's because so many of the issues I had about diving got solved once I found a place where I could get both the education and the training I needed to be more comfortable. And I adore diving (I don't think ANYBODY on this board could dispute that) and I find that the diving I adore most is the diving I do with other people who share my conviction that it's important both to understand what you are doing, and to be good at it. Or at least to try to be good at it

It is a challenge for me to say what I want to say clearly and without offending anyone, so I beg forgiveness in advance for any poor communication skills I am about to exhibit.

Look at what you wrote here. You are describing a situation that is true of so many serious divers. I, too, had a lot of "issues about diving," and I have "solved" almost all of them "once I found a place where I could get the education and training I needed to be more comfortable." I, too, feel "that it's important both to understand what you are doing, and to be good at it."

I'm pretty comfortable with my diving now. I know there is much more I can learn, and I am always looking to learn more.

You may find this unfathomable, but I somehow managed to accomplish this without taking a DIR course.

I am not into cave diving at this point in my life, and, considering my advanced age, I probably will not be into it ever. If that changes, I will suddenly be very interested in learning this stuff. Right now, I am satisfied that I am a safe diver with adequate skills, even though I feel that thre is an assumption among a group of people on SB that because I don't look like them I must be a piece of crap who should not be allowed in the same ocean as them.

 

[TSandM]

I feel that thre is an assumption among a group of people on SB that because I don't look like them I must be a piece of crap who should not be allowed in the same ocean as them.

I don't think ANYBODY has ever said that.

I've written before about a dive I did off the Mike Severns boat in Maui. There were about a dozen of us on the boat, and Peter and I were just about the least experienced divers there. These divers were awesome . . . Very skilled, beautiful buoyancy control, and TONS of knowledge about the marine life we were seeing. (There were four PhDs in marine biology on the boat.) None of them was DIR. Most of them were diving solo in a group. They were very good divers, and I admired lots of things about them.

DIR is AN answer, not THE answer, and not everybody's answer. But I think it's not bad to know about it. Even if what you do is look at what the DIR prescription is, and what you do, and decide you like what you do better, at least you looked at what you do and why you do it, and there's huge value in that.

 

[Kwbyron]

Wow, 34 pages in 2 days, you are giving mof/nmof a run for their money! anyways; a few comparisons have been made between DIR and Religions...which I find highly appropriate once I think about it. So much debating is from lack of knowledge from non-DIR divers, and Evangelical DIR divers who have "SEEN THE LIGHT!" At first I was getting into it, then got turned off by some, but I do take away somethings that I like, and because of the recreational diving I do, I can safely pick and choose what aspects I like:
Long hose; once you share air on these, it's like, "who thought of the octo system?"
BP/W; but I didn't like the clutter of the jacket, and the wing does improve bouncy!
Fining techniques: these are probably taught in other classes, but I didn't know you could swim back-wards until a DIR seminar I sat in on... but these weren't' covered in my class.

 

[almitywife]

Long hose; once you share air on these, it's like, "who thought of the octo system?"
BP/W; but I didn't like the clutter of the jacket, and the wing does improve bouncy!
Fining techniques: these are probably taught in other classes, but I didn't know you could swim back-wards until a DIR seminar I sat in on....

hmmm, i dont have the long hose, im waiting patiently for my BPW price to come thru for my chrissy present and i already fin like the guy in Catherines photo (and thats with ankle weights) and can go backwards

so what does this make me and what box do i fit into???

i must say, this thread has been educational and i have enjoyed reading it

 

[shoredivr]

Had a great dive today, anybody else? Sherkston Quarry, 38 degrees, 30 minutes, 30 freaking feet of viz...it was excellent, a sunny day. Old (1900's) flooded limestone quarry that has locomotives, ore carts and railway tracks down there. The owners just released about 150 rainbow trout into it and one of my buddies was surrounded by them. Cool.

Transpac, OMS wing, long hose, steel tank. Always learning.

 

[MXGratefulDiver]

Had a great dive today, anybody else? Sherkston Quarry, 38 degrees, 30 minutes, 30 freaking feet of viz...it was excellent, a sunny day. Old (1900's) flooded limestone quarry that has locomotives, ore carts and railway tracks down there. The owners just released about 150 rainbow trout into it and one of my buddies was surrounded by them. Cool.

Transpac, OMS wing, long hose, steel tank. Always learning.

Yeah, I had a great dive today too ... 150 feet in Lake Washington. Managed to survive a training dive despite making a few mistakes. Hopefully learned a few things about planning, preparation, and execution for a dive that I hadn't previously had to give much thought to. Things get a little more exacting when you start throwing bags, reels, and deco stops into the mix.

But hey, I went down ... and I came back up. Doesn't get much better than that ...

... Bob (Grateful Diver)

 

[shoredivr]

Sounds like a great dive, Bob. Sort of sounds like my deco training dives this spring....

 

[kidspot]

...I feel that thre is an assumption among a group of people on SB that because I don't look like them I must be a piece of crap who should not be allowed in the same ocean as them.

Whoever this group is, it is most certainly NOT anyone that has dove with you ... their loss I say...

 

[TSandM]

Well, I didn't dive today, but I spent the whole day learning about inspecting tanks, and it was eight hours well spent. Moral of the story (and for the thread also): Never stop learning.