Value of the DIR approach

[Adobo]

If we wait 440 posts, it all starts over again, and again, and again...

what's worse, this post continues or we're all still reading and replying to it?

JR

Not to be mean spirited but several people are acting like those rubber neckers at an accident. You know, complain about all the people who slow down to get an eyeful - thus causing a traffic jam. And then, when the complainers get close by, they slow down and have a look...

 

[JeffG]

Are you the duty expert on WKPP? It has nothing to do with this tired thread.

Your comments on team safety and the WKPP safety record do not match. DIR and team diving go hand in hand. So, One is opinion, the other is reality. Guess which side you fall on and yes, it has everything to do with this thread. Look at the Title "Value of DIR"

 

[mdb]

Not to be mean spirited but several people are acting like those rubber neckers at an accident. You know, complain about all the people who slow down to get an eyeful - thus causing a traffic jam. And then, when the complainers get close by, they slow down and have a look...

Adobo; Good call. This will all start over again. The usual suspects will post the usual stuff and on and on we go. I hope we all have clear water and calm seas over the holidays.

 

[Jason B]

Not sure what you're pushing here, but if these safety spheres come in black i'll take 2

LMAO!

 

[mdb]

I can't believe this post is still going (nor that there is any value in continuing to have the same discussion again and again).

In short, better communication, in-water skills and air management & planning can only help any diver. And it's possible to have all those things with and without DIR, but it is a focus there from the start.

Maybe it's all too easy.

jeckyll: You are a voice of reason in a sea of discontent. Yes this thread will go on and on with the same folks back and forth. It is all very easy. If we only let it be.

 

[jeckyll]

jeckyll: You are a voice of reason in a sea of discontent. ...

I think that's actually a sign of the imminent apocalypse...

 

[Thalassamania]

Thal, I think you are making the point for a DIR standardized configuration. Your problem with the octo's stemmed from them being in a non-standardized location so a fellow diver did not know where it was located.

That was just an example where I was trying to show how you could evolve a standard for some gear and procedures and not for others.

Your team them decided it was not good to carry an octo, even though every diving certification agency promotes carrying one. Your "scientific" team decided it is better to forgo it and have a diver face the risk of blackout or lung expansion injury by needing to return to the surface from depth on a breath hold.

The only offense that I take to your post is your use of quotes. I am not recommending that we not use auxiliaries today; this was in the early 1970s. Within the U. C. Berkeley program and the ones that I established elsewhere, each candidate made well in excess of a hundred shallow free ascents during the course and was highly competent at buddy breathing. We trained to buddy breathe, practiced it on every dive and never had any problem with that as our primary response, backed up by a free ascent that was also trained and practiced without any problems (for an example of both see this post).

I hardly have a close mind, we were building SPG’s and Power Inflators before they became commercial available, I have been in the fore of the development and deployment of surface supplied diving for scientists, dive computer development and deployment, mixed gas diving for scientists and rebreather use for science. We just felt, and frankly I still agree, that at that time and with that group the auxiliary was as I stated earlier a solution in search of a problem. While I understand where you're coming from, keep in mind that the auxiliary was developed to solve a problem we did not have, buddy-breathing failures and was greeted by most of the more experienced elements of the recreational dive community as a boondoggle for the shops and manufacturers.

Not sure what you're pushing here, but if these safety spheres come in black i'll take 2

Sorry, since they&#8217;re not really spheres (n-dimensional hyper-volumes) they only come in pink, and it&#8217;s one to a customer &#8230; but your buddy gets one too.<G>

I dove with one diver over 300 times. We practiced buddy breathing after every dive. One day my "buddy" was OOA @ around 60-80 feet. I donated my primary. I did not have an octo-1971-I never got the reg back. I made a free ascent. I still kept diving with my friend.

I don&#8217;t doubt your word, but I find it truly bizarre that someone with at least 300 dives and with at least 300 successful buddy breathing repetitions, would fail when faced with a real situation.

jeckyll: You are a voice of reason in a sea of discontent. Yes this thread will go on and on with the same folks back and forth. It is all very easy. If we only let it be.

Let it be, let it be ... There will be an answer ... Let it be, let it be.<G>

 

[mdb]

I don&#8217;t doubt your word, but I find it truly bizarre that someone with at least 300 dives and with at least 300 successful buddy breathing repetitions, would fail when faced with a real situation. QUOTE]

I was surprised too. We dove almost every weekend, both Saturday and Sunday. We did lots of OOA practice. On this day we were only about 10-15 feet apart. We were looking for Abalone off "the pipeline" in Point Loma. My bud had a J valve tank. He sucked through the final 500 PSI I gave him my reg, held onto to it, expected 3-4 breaths and a return, when that did not happen, I bailed out and made the free ascent. My friend came to the surface a bit later in a sea of bubbles; " I was just going to give your regulator back"- maybe he was.

 

[SparticleBrane]

This thread became much funnier after I had a martini.

 

[Thalassamania]

I was just going to give your regulator back"-While, maybe he was.

Good thing you kept that free ascent in your back pocket, I always do.