What Makes Divers a "DIR Diver"?

[JeffG]

As the dive world becomes more technical, does the DIR issue come down to branding? Like cheeseburgers, you have the PADI Big Mac, the NAUI Whopper, and the DIR Veggie Burger. They are all some form of burger, but still brand specific. So you wouldn't call a Big Mac a Veggie Burger, but you could call it a Royal with cheese?
<snip>

It seems some people seem to care about the branding. For myself, I care this much (picture me holding my forefinger and thumb together) about labeling myself as a "DIR diver" (One reason...being that I don't believe there is such a thing as a DIR diver...only DIR dives)

In the perfect world, DIR would be a nice big global standard and every DIR diver would always be on the same page. The reality is that isn't even close to being true. There will be minor variations depending on where, when and who the training was done with. There will even be minor variations between teams.

So, ultimately, I only need to answer to myself and my team.

 

[lamont]

As the dive world becomes more technical, does the DIR issue come down to branding?

Nope.

You can't clone the equipment config and take some basic skills and principles and consider it equivalent to DIR only packaged differently.

I can get a pretty decent steak in downtown Seattle. If all I'd had before was the steak that Seattle had to offer, I'd probably think that I'd seen good steak and that it was all just a matter of branding and selling it to the customer. If you go to Peter Luger's in NYC, though, its clearly better. Its all steak, and its branded differently. But once you've established some level of discriminating tastes, the steak at Luger's is better.

I can't remember my point now, I'm hungry and I need plane tickets to NYC...

 

[do it easy]

Nope.

You can't clone the equipment config and take some basic skills and principles and consider it equivalent to DIR only packaged differently.

I have to admit that I don't follow all the details, but aren't there some people at NAUI tech who are Doing It Right? If I'm a PADI diver, is it impossible for me to be DIR? Will the quarry silt never wash off from my kneepads?

You might be right that my analogy isn't as apt as it is appetizing. Maybe comparing cuisines to cheeseburgers would have been better, or vegetarian lifestyles to non-vegetarian lifestyles...

 

[daniel f aleman]

do it easy,

You're right of course. DIR didn't invent anything, ask the Navy. As PADI, CMAS and NAUI advance, and then mainstream their "tech" programs, GUE will lose it's cache for the uninitiated.

 

[JeffG]

Nope.

You can't clone the equipment config and take some basic skills and principles and consider it equivalent to DIR only packaged differently.

You make it sound like DIR is some big mystery. Its not. But there is a difference (and lots of examples of this) where X% of DIR is adopted by an instructor and they (or their students) try to pass it off as some kind of DIR-Lite or a Semi-DIR like program. I find that a little self-serving and a bit of a disservice to compare them vs DIR...there really is no such thing as DIR-lite, semi-DIR or DIR'ish. That’s just another description of personal preference.

 

[JeffG]

DIR didn't invent anything, ask the Navy.

You keep bringing this up. Why? Neither GUE, JJ, GI3 ever said they did. Or do you just like to see and read your own posts?

 

[cbfin]

Rather than labeling someone DIR or not DIR, I think it is more a kin to studying martial arts. Just because someone took a Kung ** class does not make them a Kung ** master. Conversely, just because someone is not a black belt does not mean that they don't know Karate.

I just completed Fundies so I'm a yellow belt (or whatever the lowest belt is). If I wish to continue my training, to say Tech 1, there are certain philosophies (i.e., mix gasses, deco procedures, extensive dive planning, etc.) that I need to learn and certain skills that I need to practice. These I will learn from an instructor and when I think that I proficient, I will take a "test" to see if I meet the minimum requirements for that level. If I wish to advance to the next belt (Tech 2), I will learn and practice a higher level of philosophies and higher standard of skills. If I wish to just stay at the Tech 1 level, I will still need to practice at that level to maintain proficiency.

Additionally, obtaining a belt level by completing a skill set does not necessarily mean that you follow a DIR mindset. This is probably the separation between someone who believes they are DIR because they have the gear and can do a skill, and someone who simply looks at it as a philosophical approach to their diving in which the other details simply stem from.

Okay, okay...I admit I did watch Crouching Tiger over the weekend but that doesn't make it a bad analogy.

 

[cbfin]

Apparently the server gets nervous when the letters "F" and "u" are put together. It looks like it automatically bleeped me just to be on the safe side.

 

[Ben_ca]

You mean we can't do Kung ** here?

 

[JeffG]

Apparently the server gets nervous when the letters "F" and "u" are put together. It looks like it automatically bleeped me just to be on the safe side.

You are just a potty mouth