Wikipedia article on "Doing It Right"

[rlynch]

Something to this effect:
DIR position on the snorkel: Not used unless there is an operational need, If needed it is stored in the pocket and only deployed for that phase of the dive where it is needed. Normal gas plans are sufficent for surface swims and the surface gas requirments need to be factored into the overall plan. This is the perfered solution to a surface swim situation where swiming on your back, head out of water is impractical. The snorkel is not a required peice of gear by any DIR focused training agency.

I do own a snorkel however have not carried it in a long time while diving. I normally just swim to the beach as a planned part of the dive or on my back.

I'm not going to wade into the jacket vs BP/W discussion here.

 

[Tortuga68]

For normal use, it would be more like having a Halcyon Diver's Life Raft..for when the boat is GONE when you surface..they are cheap, and good insurance ...and in 30 years I have only been left by a boat one time (in maybe 10,000 dives or something ridiculous)..

$275 for something the vast majority of people will never ever need. Bargain

What happened to "if you don't need it don't take it"?

 

[danvolker]

$275 for something the vast majority of people will never ever need. Bargain

What happened to "if you don't need it don't take it"?

I was talking about the snorkel--that it was cheap and emergency equipment, in the same way a life raft would be emergency equipment, but much cheaper....the best freediving snorkels cost about $20.

If you are shore diving, or have an unreliable captain, I would say you may "need" the snorkel.
Certainly the normal way we swim toward the boat with bp/w is on our back.....but this is in normal situations, not the emergency scenario when there is no boat and a 2 mile swim....Given that 2 mile swim, with a compass and a snorkel, I could make shore easily and without effort, in a fraction of the time it would take to do this on my back....one way is streamlined, low drag, the other is not....
The bigger issue may well be " is it DIR to put yourself in a situatiuon where you are likely to need to do the long surface swim....

 

[Sat Diver]

I was talking about the snorkel--that it was cheap and emergency equipment, in the same way a life raft would be emergency equipment, but much cheaper....the best freediving snorkels cost about $20.

If you are shore diving, or have an unreliable captain, I would say you may "need" the snorkel.
Certainly the normal way we swim toward the boat with bp/w is on our back.....but this is in normal situations, not the emergency scenario when there is no boat and a 2 mile swim....Given that 2 mile swim, with a compass and a snorkel, I could make shore easily and without effort, in a fraction of the time it would take to do this on my back....one way is streamlined, low drag, the other is not....
The bigger issue may well be " is it DIR to put yourself in a situatiuon where you are likely to need to do the long surface swim....

You do not always find yourself in situations of your own making ... sometimes stuff happens, and the ones who make it back are sometimes the ones who carry the stuff they are not "supposed" to need.

I have seen this time after time in the 32 years I have been doing this for a living.

 

[nadwidny]

How often do you carry a snorkel while doing this for a living?

 

[Sat Diver]

How often do you carry a snorkel while doing this for a living?

not often

 

[Peter Southwood]

I use a snorkel when shore diving though kelp around Cape Town. It allows you to look forward while surface swimming to see where the gaps in the kelp are, and where the gaps between the boulders are, and avoids all the snagging of kelp fronds on the pillar valve and 1st stage which you get when swimming on your back. As the surface swim can be in the order of 100 m, and the water can be quite shallow, sometimes with surf, it is not always a good plan to try to swim under it all the way, besides the waste of gas that would require you to carry an extra cylinder or a larger heavier cylinder down the mountainside and over the rocks to the shore from the road. This can save a lot of effort, which may be character building, but is not really much fun at the time. It can also reduce the risk of heat exaustion before you get to the water when you are wearing a dry suit because the water is 10 degrees C and the air is 35 degrees C. Yes, you could charter a boat and travel 10 km from a crowded launch site, but I find the snorkel is cheaper and more convenient, and when stored in a pocket during the dive has entirely failed to snag on anything significant.
This is quite a common scanario off the west coast of the Cape Peninsula in summer. This is how we get to most of our best summer shore dive sites.
Cheers,
Peter

 

[gsk3]

Ok guys this snorkel discussion is ridiculous. No one is saying a snorkel isn't occasionally a useful tool in certain circumstances, but standards to not require you carry one when it wouldn't be helpful, and they do require that you stow it if carried when submerged because it can interfere with long hose donation.

 

[jago]

You do not always find yourself in situations of your own making ... sometimes stuff happens, and the ones who make it back are sometimes the ones who carry the stuff they are not "supposed" to need.

I have seen this time after time in the 32 years I have been doing this for a living.

Do you carry a hyperbaric mobile chamber everytimes you dive ? Have you hired some bodyguards ? I don't think so. Some risks are negligible.

 

[Peter Southwood]

Could we clear up a point here? Who decides what is or is not DIR?
Cheers,
Peter