DIR says leave snorkel on boat

[aclivity]

<font color='#810541'>I was taught that you might need to use your snorkel to prod things that were in crevices. &nbsp;Like trying to get that extra big crab out from the rocks.

[And]

<font color='#0000FF'>Hi Lisa

Snorkels are a pain for a number of reasons.
If they are attached to mask (the PADI way)

1. They can interfere with your reg underwater
2. They interfere with deploying the long hose underwater
3. They are an entanglement hazard

If they are kept in a pocket fair enough and some DIR divers in certain parts of the world are forced to have them due to certain rules

A snorkel is however great for snorkelling!

You are asking about kit config. What would you like to see exactly?

Mark Emery and I are at Stoney tomorrow (sad I know but St Abbs is only a few weeks away) and so if you or anyone else is around then please say hi. I have both the twinset rig and singles rig if anyone wants to have a looksee.

Andy

[Gavin Yates]

<font color='#000F22'>I don't use a snorkel and I would much rather see people breathing through the reg if conditions are difficult.

I agree with WL about them a potential entanglement hazzard.

The DIR kit configuaration as outlined by JJ makes a great deal of sense and you can dive it without being DIR - singles or twins.

[Finless]

Originally Posted by [b

Quote[/b] (peter k @ Sep. 26 2003,14:13)]I find my snorkel keeps all the various other useless items I have aquired company in the box in my garage.

Pointless bloody things!!!!!

IMVHO
Peter

Apart from when I go snorkelling on hols - I quite agree.

[aclivity]

<font color='#810541'>

Originally Posted by [b

Quote[/b] ]
And if you're male, you might get some laughs from the fact that drinking the same stuff will make your urine glow.

Dominic, how do you find these things out?

[Dominic]

Sheer, unadulterated boredom coupled with a fast internet connection..

[lizardfish]

<font color='#810541'>Hello all avid DIR supporters.

Firstly. I am not completely against DIR.

I am a PADI Instructor and I do have some issues with PADI and I have and will continue to voice these in addition to regimes set out by other organisations.

The images of kit configuration do suck IMO. That IS a bad thing about the book. I shouldn't have to get on here and ask you guys.

I am sorry that some of you have ended up feeling attacked. I was attacking a statement in a book, not anyone in particular. If someone attacks PADI I don't immediately assume they are attacking me and get all hissy about it, unless they say &quot;all PADI instructors suck!&quot;

Yes, agreed, you should have plenty of air for a surface swim back to the boat. When I said &quot;running low air (ish)&quot; I meant still above your &nbsp;50-70 bar safety reserve amount. However, I prefer to use my snorkel just incase I need that tank air again for something like rescuing someone. It's better IMO to always have snorkel somewhere on you. Another example off the top of my head for taking a snorkel on dives is, when doing drift dives, most of the time one would have to surface and then get the boat's attention. But the boat would often have several divers to fetch on the way and it is nice to have a snorkel while waiting for the boat so you could still watch the turtles etc, keep any waves out of your mouth and conserve the air in your tank just in case anyone needed help below the surface.

Also would like to add that DIR is for ALL divers apparently, inc. new recreational divers straight out of a PADI OW course who may accidentaly consume more air than they should if they are new divers. People make mistakes esp. when new and according to DIR advocates, significantly undertrained. I would highly reccommend that THEY have snorkels, to make a surface swim back to the boat more safe, if they are actually abnormally low on air, perhaps due to gauge faliure etc. or through their own fault.

IMO, and I am perfectly welcome to it! DIR and GUE pride themselves on their safety and I think that it is rather ironic they don't reccomend the snorkel AT ALL. And I mean tucked away!, I never said on the mask. having a snorkel in your BCD pocket or stowed away somewhere is a good idea for safety reasons IMHO, more so than a spare mask. Even swimming to a site on your back, the conditions may be such that you will get water in your mouth. No, you may never need it. But then you may never need your spare regulator, or your spare mask either. It seems everyone has replyed with &quot;I never need it, it gets in the way&quot; but I could say that about a lot of DIR equipment. I have never needed another regulator or a spare mask. The point is, with DIR you MIGHT need it. At least that is certainly the impression I get from the book!

I don't &quot;expect&quot; anyone to support me at all. I actually wanted to see what folk on this site would say to my points. I'm interested. The replies are indeed interesting. I don't agree with them mind but still, interesting all the same.

Dave Williamson - Funny how you accuse me of posting in such an agressive manner when your reply to me personally is just as aggressive if not more so, because it is directed soley at me rather than at a diving regime.

Also Dave. I have been diving in many places. (see my profile if interested) and have not observed the trend, which you say is spreading everywhere. Besides, even if you are right and &quot;most&quot; divers are discarding their snorkels doesn't mean it is a good idea! If everyone else started diving with the kitchen sink straped to their head, would you do it too?

I think for myself I don't just follow others like a sheep.

Wetlettuce - Sorry to dissapoint you but this weekend I'll be diving in Bermuda (hopefully if hurricane Juan leaves us alone) and the weekend after that and after that... and there will be a snorkel in my BCD pocket because it makes a lot of sense to have one.

If I follow the logic in most of these replies, I'll leave all the extra DIR equipment in the dive shops cos I don't think I'll ever need it and because so far, I never have

Dominic - cool about the air pocket. Must remember to try that one!

Lisa

[Phil Ennis]

<font color='#810541'>It looks to me like you are flicking through the book and not reading it. Read it with an open mind and you will gain a lot from it. The snorkel is just a bloody nuisance and the only time I wear one is when I am teaching a PADI course and standards require it, which by the way is not on all training dives. How many times do you see students grabbing the snorkel instead of the BCD inflator? If you want to carry one in your pocket then fine, why not!

If you return to the surface with a third of your air then that is plenty, even enough to do another descent for a short time. If you need to do a longer search then YOU shouldn't be doing it anyway, another diver(s) with full tanks should be doing it. I am sure you mean well but you don't seem to have thought this out very well, had you posted this on handbagnet I feel you would have been shot down big time.

Take care and keep an open mind. &nbsp;

[lizardfish]

<font color='#810541'>Phil,

Just because I disagree with something does not mean I have a closed mind.

Also, you are wrong to assume I am &quot;just flicking&quot; I have read it word for word so far and although I have not finished the book I doubt that getting to the last page will change my opinion on this one issue. I finished reading the paragraph on snorkels and I understood the point it was making about leaving them on the boat. I don't have to read the chapter on rescue to be able to rightfully disagree with the text on snorkels.

It's great to hear your opinions but don't go telling me mine aren't valid because of assumptions you have made about me.

L.

[Phil Ennis]

<font color='#810541'>I think we have covered why we BELIEVE your opinions aren't valid. As I said in my last post, if you want to carry one in your pocket I don't have a problem with that, it makes sense if you feel that you NEED one. I personally feel that it is just a possible entanglement hazard and gets in the way of long hose deployment.

I am not having a go at you, I just feel that you jumped in with both feet and I am not the only one that felt the post had an aggressive edge to it. We must cut you some slack though as you have to dive warm water everyday with all those bloody annoying pretty fishy things getting in the way. &nbsp;