DIR says leave snorkel on boat

[lizardfish]

<font color='#810541'>Have been reading my lovely glossy DIR fundamentals manual.

Says, &quot; when diving, leave snorkel on boat&quot; .....

GREAT ADVICE, yeah! reallllllllyyyyyyyyy safe!!

Says also &quot;carry spare mask in pocket on leg, but make sure that every time you pack the spare, to treat it with anti fogging fluid before getting in the water&quot;

For starters, how likely is a mask going to fail if you check it before the dive and make sure everything is in order? And secondly, what is the chance that you will need to use a snorkel after surfacing when you are low (ish) on air and the boat is far away. OK, I know DIR divers are unlikely to surface so far from the boat, because their navigational skills will be spot on right? But, you can't tell me it doesn't happen.

What about snorkeling out to a dive site first, saving air in your tank etc. What about having air left in the tank at the end of the dive just in case you need to do a rescue and while waiting on the surface to get on the boat, it's choppy and you'd rather not use your reg. What about all these situations where a snorkel really would be more useful on YOU than on the BOAT?? Agencies like PADI, NAUI and all the other ones DIR author Jarrod Jabolinski (sic?) says provide F all training for safe diving techniques.... insist you have a snorkel for every dive.

I am a PADI trained diver and I keep mine in my BCD pocket. DIR divers leave them on the boat it would seem!

Does that seem a little strange to anyone??

Who's the stroke?

Also, the DIR manual has incredibly unclear pictures of equipment configuration. Most of their stuff being black, you really can't see where everything is. Grrrrrr!!!

I'm still reading though. Haven't thrown it in the bin just yet.

Lisa

[Dominic]

We had a huge thread on snorkels a while ago.. umm... *rummage* Here we are!

The majority on this board don't take snorkels with them.

The spare mask isn't for a mask that falls off - it's for one that gets knocked off, or the strap breaks.

It's not that you should always surface near the boat - it's more that you shouldn't surface so low on air you can't get back to the boat without a snorkel.

I carry a tiny fold-up snorkel in a pocket. Have never used a snorkel on any scuba dive, probably never will, but I'm paranoid.

Congratulations on keeping your snorkel in a pocket and not attached to your mask

[peter k]

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

[Pierre Farrugia]

<font color='#0000FF'>Hello,

Me I have probably 4 or 5 very expensive ones &nbsp; &nbsp;of which I find on the sea floor &nbsp; &nbsp;I never use one as I find it point less. I do all my dives either with a single 18liter 50bar reserve or twin 12's 70bar reserve so a surface swim or a wait at the surface will not do any harm. What I find useful is to carry 2 knifes so that if I need one I can just use knife to get one from other divers &nbsp;

[Andy Phillips]

Snorkel out to the dive site implies a surface swim, I don't do surface swims so why do I need a snorkel

Andrew

[RobK]

Originally Posted by [b

Quote[/b] (lizardfish @ Sep. 26 2003,13:56)]Have been reading my lovely glossy DIR fundamentals manual.

Says, &quot; when diving, leave snorkel on boat&quot; .....

GREAT ADVICE, yeah! reallllllllyyyyyyyyy safe!!

Glad you agree with JJ. It is really safe and I don't actually know anyone who actually takes a snorkel with them on a dive.

Originally Posted by [b

Quote[/b] ]
Says also &quot;carry spare mask in pocket on leg, but make sure that every time you pack the spare, to treat it with anti fogging fluid before getting in the water&quot;

For starters, how likely is a mask going to fail if you check it before the dive and make sure everything is in order? And secondly, what is the chance that you will need to use a snorkel after surfacing when you are low (ish) on air and the boat is far away. OK, I know DIR divers are unlikely to surface so far from the boat, because their navigational skills will be spot on right? But, you can't tell me it doesn't happen.

Spare mask, always handy. Not absolutly vital depending on the dive. I tend not to take one in the pool but the idea of doing a reasonable hang with no mask isn't something I'm over keen on.

Originally Posted by [b

Quote[/b] ]

What about snorkeling out to a dive site first, saving air in your tank etc. What about having air left in the tank at the end of the dive just in case you need to do a rescue and while waiting on the surface to get on the boat, it's choppy and you'd rather not use your reg. What about all these situations where a snorkel really would be more useful on YOU than on the BOAT?? Agencies like PADI, NAUI and all the other ones DIR author Jarrod Jabolinski (sic?) says provide F all training for safe diving techniques.... insist you have a snorkel for every dive.

If I needed to swim a distance, I'd swim on my back.

Remember PADI/NAUI and all the other ones are the training agencies that teach you to do everything on your knees. When was the last time you spent a dive shuffling around the bottom on your knees?

Originally Posted by [b

Quote[/b] ]
I am a PADI trained diver and I keep mine in my BCD pocket. DIR divers leave them on the boat it would seem!

Does that seem a little strange to anyone??

Not to me it doesn't

Originally Posted by [b

Quote[/b] ]
Who's the stroke?

You don't really want me to answer that do you?

Originally Posted by [b

Quote[/b] ]
Also, the DIR manual has incredibly unclear pictures of equipment configuration. Most of their stuff being black, you really can't see where everything is. Grrrrrr!!!

Which bits are unclear? If your not sure of something why not ask?

Originally Posted by [b

Quote[/b] ]
I'm still reading though. Haven't thrown it in the bin just yet.

Lisa

Good, don't throw it away, it has some good points and at the very least should provoke some thought.

HTH
Rob.

[Davey Willo]

Why do you feel it necessary to come on and post in such an aggressive manner? wouldn't it be more condusive to creating a reasoned debate if you came on the DIR forum and questioned the reasoning for not taking a snorkle from the DIR advocates on this forum, sans attitute..

I'm always amazed at the venom that some people use when they attack DIR, I'm usually left wondering the reason... Sometimes I think it's a person's attempts to have their fifteen minutes of fame by shouting off at the minority knowing they'll probably be supported by the majority...

If you start looking around you Lisa at just about any busy dive site these day's you'll find less and less are walking around with snorkels.. it's usually the noobs who insist on doing it although there are many who've dived for decades who still do.... but I think you'll find the trend is that snorkels are old school and not a neccessary bit of kit, infact they are a damn nusiance unless folded up out of the way and forgotten about

People have survived for years on the surface while using life jackets but strangely enough nobody has yet deemed it necessary to supply snorkels with lifejackets so there must be a pretty big chance of survival without one eh....

And if I want to swim out to a dive site I simply turn on my back and chat to my buddy on the way out..

Also as we have thigh pockets to carry things in it probably wouldn't make anyone of us non DIR if we felt more comfortable carrying a folding snorkel in there.... personally I don't feel it necessary to carry one and have never been in a position where I needed one..... Oh I lie... Snorkelling, that's when I needed one.

I hope you feel better soon..

Dave.

[Dominic]

Did you know that you can actually see perfectly clearly underwater without a mask?
Cup a hand over one eye and exhale - you'll trap a little pocket of air that enables you to see perfectly.
Obviously, you can only look DOWN with this method, but...

It's something to practice in the pool when I've had enough of blowing bubble rings

[Andy Phillips]

Sad Dominic, very sad

Andrew

[Dominic]

...
On the subject of eyes, did you know that the glowing liquid in chemical glowsticks can be safely applied to the eyes to give you that bright-eyed look when out clubbing?

(You may want to filter the broken glass out first, of course)

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