[Mark Chase]

Originally Posted by [b

Quote[/b] (Bob Cooper @ Nov. 30 2003,15:20)]

Originally Posted by [b

Quote[/b] ]

Well actually I do....(I'm sure that doesn't surprise you!).  The point is that the DIR system works for *all* kinds of diving (cave, wreck, open water etc.) in *all* situations (stage dives, back-gas dives, scooter dives etc.)

Bob, I would love to try a set of US ali stages and if I did you may well be able to convince me that your correct. But my opinion is experience based not theoretical. That experience being with Faber lightweight steel tanks admittedly. However much as I respect your diving ability and credentials you will never get me to agree that DIR is suitable for all diving. I could outline my principle areas of concern but these chaps say just about everything that I believe and they have the cred to back it up:  

An extract from the British Cave Diving group



CAVE DIVING - BRITISH STYLE
B Schofield, Dave Ryall.



Now let’s look at gear & techniques. Many divers will have come across the 'Hogarthian'/ 'Doing It Right' philosophies promoted by the WKPP, GUE, etc..... No argument - these principles are perfect for the large, deep, easy-access springs, and the open water sites they dive. The value of the techniques and gear configuration is reflected in the amazing explorations they have carried out with few accidents. As the old saying goes - the proof of the pudding....

Sadly, such gear configuration and techniques cannot be used in British cave diving. Let us explain why...

"Quite simply, you would not fit through the cave passages"
For a start, most sites in the UK are inaccessible to divers using back-mounted bottles - quite simply, you would not fit through the cave passages. Thus the long hose/ short hose debate, and where to put one’s light, etc. does not arise. And you can leave the scooters at home! Here streamlining is vital, and side-mounted tanks are de rigeur

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Next, in the UK, we always wear helmets! We guarantee you that your head gets bashed on the roof of the cave at least once during a dive, and in some of the smaller sumps, it will be constantly grinding against the rock roof. It's also a handy thing to mount lights on - so you can see something (albeit a brown glow and a line pressed against your mask) while you are negotiating some of the less pleasant sumps. We normally wear two twenty-watt lights, with 10 degree beams, plus two or more focusable 6-C-cell torches, on the helmet. Hand held lights and a bare head add up to trouble over here ! Most UK cave divers will take a minimum of 5 different light sources on a dive, and all of these will be helmet-mounted.
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Perhaps even more strange than the gear configuration, for many open-water divers, is that you can forget about having a 'buddy' underwater in British caves. Most cave divers in Britain believe that being solo in a sump is safer for any number of reasons - such as:-

There's no-one to get physically jammed in the passage behind you (thereby blocking your exit);
There's no-one behind you who may get tangled in the line, and have to cut it - leaving you with no guide home;
There's no-one to accidentally disturb your 'out tags' at line junctions (e.g. in one cave there are 10 branch lines off the main line in the first 500m of passage);
There's no-one to cause silt problems (but yourself);
There's no chance of being called upon to share air - in small passages thisThere's nothing to get confused about - communication in sumps varies from the difficult to the impossible would be impossible anyway;
There's no-one to provide you with a false sense of security;
There's no-one to worry about, but yourself - you can concentrate on your own safety.
This all presumes, of course, that your gear is suitable and properly cared for, and that you are fully proficient in all the techniques required.

But if this were not the case, you would be liability to yourself and any buddy anyway.

A 'buddy' out of the water is, however, nice to have along - for the company (caves are lonely places), to help each other kit up, as a safety measure against accidents such as slips, falls, etc. in the passages approaching and beyond the sumps, and to compare notes with afterwards regarding the nature of the cave and possible leads. Similarly there may be odd occasions (e.g. digging/ drilling & scaffolding) where you may be better working together underwater
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The same diver may well use different configurations at different dive sites, and even on different occasions at the same site, depending on the purpose of the dive. And they may well have come up with a wizard idea which they would love to share with you....
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Put ten cave divers in a room with their kit, and everyone will have his own way of doing it - each method refined to suit it's user. Of course, they will all take the Mickey out of the other nine, but then they will sneak off to try out someone else's ideas!

What they will not do, however, is to ram it down your throat and tell you that theirs is the only way to do it! What is right is what is right for you, to keep you safe and happy & get you back home in one piece. Just think carefully, first, about what you are doing, before you do it.

Jammed by your backmounts in a tiny passage, banging your (unhelmeted) head against the roof, while trying to untie your handheld light & 17ft long hose from a 2mm white nylon line that's spilled off your beautifully engineered (but broken) plexiglass line reel, it will be small comfort to know that you are fully compliant with some well-publicised philosophy and gear configuration that was developed for use in very different conditions.

Think of the Eastern European divers who refused to be beaten by a low mud filled sump, and finished up putting their bottles into a streamlined container made from two child's plastic sledges - so they could push it forward through the ooze in front of them, like a snow plough. What they did was right for them.

In the same way, CDG members are often seen to abandon their sidemounted tanks when they are away on holiday, playing in the big, clear springs in France, etc. - simply because it's easier carrying big bottles from the car to the water on a back mount. Horses for courses.



Very interested in the vidio footage let me know where to send a SAE and replacement disk.

ATB

Mark Chase