Quote:
| Originally Posted by JamieG Just a genuine question as I'm wondering what is it about DIR that attracted you to the system... |
I stumbled across DIR shortly after learning to dive and was doing some research on BCDs. I found a discussion about jackets vs wings, came across some folk who used wings and had something to do with DIR and read a little about it. What I read seemed to make sense and after a chat with someone who sold wings (a certain Mr Walker
) I decided to sign up for the fundamentals course just to find out more about it.
Personally I found the course superb. Most of the academic stuff made sense and some of it made me realise that I didn't really appreciate what I was doing at the time. The in-water skills sessions also made me realise that there was a whole other level of skill that I could aspire to.
The in-water part of the course I found extremely challenging - but with 20 dives under my belt at that time I fully expected it to be tough
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| Originally Posted by JamieG ... and what is it that made you stay with it? |
A few dives later and I've had the privilege of diving with quite a few DIR divers and you know what - I've had an absolute blast. I can't think of anyone that I haven't enjoyed a dive or some banter with and the ability to "shake hands and go diving" has been put to the test many times and it really does work. Sure it's possible to do this outside of GUE training as well, but I think the sheer amount that you have in common as DIR divers makes this far more comfortable. I know exactly how other people's kit is configured, how they'll react to different signals or an emergency, what gas they're using, what our ascent will look like, etc, etc.
I haven't found anything in the kit config, procedures, etc that has been a problem for any of the recreational diving I've done so far and the skills I learnt have definitely been useful. Consequently I'm now moving on to tech training with GUE and I'll see how that goes.
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| Originally Posted by Woz Then they've developed it into a commercial enterprise to make some coin. Good for them. |
As Al said, not quite Woz
GUE is a small non-profit training agency. The WKPP is the Florida cave exploration arm which I daresay has a degree of sponsorship, but I know there's a lot of folk in that team who pay their own way. Halcyon is JJs commercial enterprise
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| Originally Posted by Scu-bamboo if you are a DIR diver - would you buddy up with someone who wasn't? |
Sure, for some dives
As the complexity or risk of a dive increases then as others have said it's less likely. However for some shallower, min deco (or NDL) dives then I would - and have.
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| Originally Posted by telsa I'm not a DIR diver. I have noticed of the few that I know that all their kit is generally of the same type and configured the same way.
So I was wondering, do individual divers have the freedom to use what they wish and configure it as they like once qualified? |
Absolutely. The configuration and type of kit (wing, umbilical torch, etc) is a key part of the system and so you'll be expected to toe the line for any training - which is not unreasonable. Afterwards you're free to do what you like. Nobody is going to take your card away if you decide to put stages on the right or dive indies. However once you start to make fundamental changes to the kit or how it's configured then you dilute a big part of the strength of the system and make it harder to dive in the same way with other DIR divers.
I think what you'll find is that a lot of people really push the instructors on the fundamentals and tech1 courses to understand why things are the way they are and generally come away happy that there is a sound reason for it.
I don't think many people who decide to continue training/diving in a DIR stylee actually change much because it pretty much works as it is.
Keep in mind that the point of the system is not to have something that is highly optimised for one specific scenario, it's to have something that will work no matter what diving you are doing. To that end there are some compromises and sometimes slight changes made to suit the actual dive that you do. (No point taking an SMB into a cave
)
That ended up being a bit of an essay - thanks if you stuck with it to the bitter end