When has DIR training resulted in a "save"?

[headhunter]

Hi Gilless,

I hope the intent of the original question was to further the learning experience.

It was put up with exactly that intent.

I think the better question (or even another forum) would be to tell all about your accidents or near accidents. The cause/solution, what you would do differently now that your on the surface with time to Monday morning QB your actions.

That was also the intent of this thread, but it was started in this forum to analyze things specifically from a DIR perspective.

Lastly my guess is that the DIR philosiphy was developed with the hope of preventing accidents, and that it was based on real accidents and events. It's an ever changing world, training must always strive to evolve to the next level. This type of discussion may go a long way to help that evolution for all agencies.

To quote GUE instructor Dan MacKay from the beginning of his just released book on DIR gear configuration Dress for Success (which I thoroughly enjoyed), "DIR is a living entity that continues to grow and expand though less rapidly now that basic equipment solutions have developed. We should reasonably expect that slight changes and clarifications would happen as time marches on."

I don't think that DIR is static as many would have you believe. It will continue to grow and improve. This is evidenced by comments like the one I quoted above by Dan MacKay. No one is asking that one stop thinking and accept things "just because". As I move toward becoming a DIR diver, I have had the opportunity to meet more DIR divers in person. I have always been given answers to any questions that I've asked. In fact, the answers have been given with patience and concern and I have not yet encountered one of these Internet caricatures that we so often here about. As I understand it, it was questions that ushered in the current DIR philosophy as we see it today.

I think it's about continuing to educate oneself to make all dives safer and more fun.

Christian

 

[MXGratefulDiver]

You're absolutly correct on the points you're making regarding the skills of GUE trained divers. But we'll need to pick up the comparison again when the GUE starts producing OW divers because at some level we're still comparing apples and oranges. I still maintain that comparing PADI OW divers to GUE trained *tek* and *cave* divers isn't a fair fight. You can't even take a GUE class unless you have over 100 dives IIRC.

R..

First off, I agree with what you said about avoiding an "us" vs "them" attitude ... but it's difficult to discuss topics like this one without making certain comparisons.

That said, the biggest thing I took away from my DIR-F training, and my association with other DIR-trained divers, was the mental approach to diving. This is irrespective of the amount of training or experience a given diver may have. I know divers with thousands of dives who don't make good dive buddies. Sometimes it's because they long ago locked into certain diving habits and simply haven't moved beyond them. Other times it's because, as they got more experienced, they became complacent.

Those who adopt the DIR style of diving don't do that. In fact, I would say that the more experience and training one gets through the DIR regimen, the closer attention one pays to planning and executing the dive ... and the closer attention one pays to the other divers on the team. It's not the training, per se, so much as it is the mentality that one develops by diving this way. Over time, you get so used to being in constant contact with your dive buddy (or buddies) that if you break that contact for a couple of seconds, you get this impulse to look around and see what's going on. For me, if the light beam disappears from my peripheral vision I don't even have to think about it ... reflexes kick in and I'm looking to see what's going on. Usually, my buddy just moved it to look at something ... which has its own benefits, because now I can look at it too ... but if a problem is developing, that quick response that's triggered by how you've trained to dive together can often be the difference between fixing a minor issue, or dealing with a building one.

Every agency encourages their students to develop good diving habits ... but most leave it up to individual instructors to teach students HOW to implement those habits. Therefore the results are widely variable, even comparing two or more similar classes within the same agency. With the DIR training, the HOW is endemic to their whole approach to diving ... the mental and physical aspects of the skill are both key components to what is being taught.

That's the thing that, I think, makes the DIR training so valuable. It isn't so much the gear, or even the skills themselves ... it's the fact that they teach you to adopt a conscientious attitude about dive planning, buddy skills, and gas management ... and those are the things that will keep you out of trouble.

... Bob (Grateful Diver)

 

[Meng_Tze]

........
That's the thing that, I think, makes the DIR training so valuable. It isn't so much the gear, or even the skills themselves ... it's the fact that they teach you to adopt a conscientious attitude about dive planning, buddy skills, and gas management ... and those are the things that will keep you out of trouble.

... Bob (Grateful Diver)

Amen Bob.