| No criticism, as team diving is something DIR do very well, but sometimes it gets misinterpreted.
When I dive in a team, which is not normally the case, largely due to a shortage of people who dive in a similar way and who are prepared to follow the restrictions it entails, then we will carry enough gas for someone else to deco out on (halves) and have enough gas to get them to their first stop. So if they blow their backgas I give them my reg and come up. Get to gas swtich and they are ok again, gas to breathe. Deco gas goes they come up on backgas until I can pass off the stage.
I'll avoid goign into RB team diving and stuff because I don't know enough about it and it's not DIR by a mile, so different forum.
I was taught to stay witht he team and plan for others needs by a PSA and IANTD intructor. IANTD seems to have a focus on the team and on attitude and preparation more than the TDI courses I've encountered. It depends ont he instructor you train with, but nowadays any instructor who isn't giving you a focus on the people you dive with and to be able to assist them in some way is behind the times. There's a place for solo diving, but self-sufficiency doesn't mean you're capable of that. I am a self-sufficient diver but for a solo dive my planning and gear is completely different.
It does annoy me a bit when I see the perception that you have to be DIR to dive in a team. There are thousands of divers who have exactly the same attitude to it and work the same way, but you don't often see them because they just get on with it and keep their heads down. Team diving isn't a new idea, and most of the DIR divers I know will agree.
Digs.  |