What event made you head toward/away from DIR?

[Dive time]

Please don't misunderstand.  I do not say that DIR is bad or that is doesn't have its place, because it does.  All Im saying is that make what ever system you dive your system.  Not someone elses dive system.  The more you learn the more you know about what works and what does not.  I hope I misunderstood you, because it sounds like you are set on one style of diving configuration, and wont look for new and better ways of diving.  SCR and CCRs are the furture because they allow for dives that OC divers just cant do without massive amounts of gas.  I am not an internet dive.  I dive real waters and real depths.  I will not brag because it doesn't matter, but no one can say that my rig or the rig of my dive partners is not the best it can be.  We are not all the same and because we go through our checks I know just as much about my buddys rig as he or she knows about mine. 
I can't help but feel that you are set in your ways, and that will kill you underwater. 

[WIdiver_Paul]

Sorry to make anyone spit out their Kool-Aid this morning, just wanted to reiterate that DIR is really nothing new or revolutionary, just condensed and pulled from many sources and experiences and placed into a context where it can be applied to most divers in most situations. Even the "Holistic" approach is old news. The cavern diver manual from IANTD has several chapters of Tom Mount going on an on about Chakras, meditation, pressure points, physical fitness and mindset. The rest of the gas management, dive planning, and configuration stuff are anything you'll learn from the 'big 3' in their Trimix and Cave courses. But that I think is the real beauty of GUE's DIR course, to give you the useful skills that any diver can apply, without taking 5 courses to get to Advanced Trimix, and 3-4 courses plus a trip to Florida to get a Cave card.

As far as sidemount, I had been scouring the internet for the "How To Select a DIR Dive Buddy" I believe by Dan Volker which talked about staying away from photographers and spear fishermen, when I came across the Gospel on DIR Sidemount Diving according to none other than Irvine himself. You can read it yourself . It's mostly good except when he starts to show his true personality in the last paragraph. Even God admits that DIR needs to be changed to fit your dive.


Paul

[matt t.]

Sorry to make anyone spit out their Kool-Aid this morning, just wanted to reiterate that DIR is really nothing new or revolutionary, just condensed and pulled from many sources and experienced and placed into a context where it can be applied to most divers in most situations. Even the "Holistic" approach is old news. The cavern diver manual from IANTD has several chapters of Tom Mount going on an on about Chakras, meditation, pressure points, physical fitness and mindset. The rest of the gas management, dive planning, and configuration stuff are anything you'll learn from the 'big 3' in their Trimix and Cave courses. But that I think is the real beauty of GUE's DIR course, to give you the useful skills that any diver can apply, without taking 5 courses to get to Advanced Trimix, and 3-4 courses plus a trip to Florida to get a Cave card.

As far as sidemount, I had been scouring the internet for the "How To Select a DIR Dive Buddy" I believe by Dan Volker which talked about staying away from photographers and spear fishermen, when I came across the Gospel on DIR Sidemount Diving according to none other than Irvine himself. You can read it yourself . It's mostly good except when he starts to show his true personality in the last paragraph.


Paul

-[/quote]

Agreed 100%.

[matt t.]

Set in my ways? I hope so. Good training teaches you to be set in your ways, so that in an emergency situation you automatically do what needs to be done to get out of the s**t. I'm also hoping my dive buddies are set in "our" way......

[Chris H]

A good diver is always learning.  An open mind is how I got here in the first place.

However, like Matt just stated, I am set in the ways that my buddies and I are currently diving.  Call it whatever you want, but I don't think there is a better way at this time to safely complete the dives that we are doing.  For practicality, we'll call our system DIR.  Like I said earlier, we can nit-pick all day about whether an o-ring or cave line should be used to attach the SS clip to your long hose, but we are beyond that and focusing on the system as whole.  Your views on using what works for you seem a bit closed minded, not to mention selfish, as well.  Like I asked before, what is your opposition to having no metal to metal connections?  Because you have never been entangled in something you needed to cut, do you think that you are home free and it can't happen? 

If you think that efficient gear configuration, lots of diving and good team skills are going to kill us, I guess you are entitled to that opinion but I sincerely hope you are wrong. 

There is a rebreather forum on the Mnscuba site.  I can appreciate the technology, but I have no desire to dive one at this point in time.  I'm not meticulous enough with my equipment, and I don't have $15,000 lying around right now.  Case in point.  Last weekend my buddy and I made a staged deco dive with a 75 or so minute run time in OC.  A practice dive for dives we will be doing next week.    At the time we were entering the water, 4 of the Inspiration guys were putting their bailout bottles at the water's edge.  When we completed our dive, the four of them were completing their pre-dive check for their dive.  That is a huge amount of preparation that I am not ready to commit to.    I know the dive they were doing was a monster in preparation for the Carl Bradley that they are diving this week, but my point is that I don't have the time, money or patience to be diving a rebreather right now.  I'm not going to go into all of the Yellow box of Death crap or anything like that.  There is no question that someday rebreathers will have their place, but for right now, that place is on somebody else's back.   

As far as being set in your ways, let me get back to recommending the DIR-F class.  I think EVERY diver can take something positive from that course.  Your opinion of GUE may vary depending on the instructor, but I guarantee you will take something valuable from the class.  Unless, of course you go in with a bunch of questions about rebreathers and don't have an open mind  .

[Omicron]

That is definitely the beauty for the DIR-F course.  It takes all of the great skills/practices that you learn in advanced courses (cave/mix/etc) and puts them into a class that a basic OW certified diver can take.  It is a phenomenal idea to teach that and make that knowledge available to anyone that comes asking for it.

[Dive time]

Set in my ways? I hope so. Good training teaches you to be set in your ways, so that in an emergency situation you automatically do what needs to be done to get out of the s**t. I'm also hoping my dive buddies are set in \"our\" way......

I also hope you have all your emergency drills set.  What I mean is that you dives are different when your at 100' compared to when your at 250'.  Bail out, redundancy, and buddy teams are all modified when diving deep, or in overhead enviornments.  Being able to change and adapt is at the heat of the question, and my comments.  Whatever dive gear you dive, you mind is the best and most important tool you use.  If you can't change to meet different enviornments, changing conditions, and just plain crap hitting the fan, you are in serious trouble.  My point is that systems are just a tool your mind uses to cope with being underwater at 250' with 70 min of deco before you can surface again.  I believe that being open minded and able to adapt will win everytime in deep diving.  CCR diving is the future and soon anyone who wants to go deep and dive safely will go that route.  Not to say that diving Doubles isn't fun or safe, just not for deep diving given the time and amount of gear required. 

[Chris H]

Why are they different?  We planned our dive, we have the proper gasses with us, we dive together on a regular basis why would our buddy teams be modified?  That is the beauty of the DIR system is that our dives are the same every time.  I don't dissagree that I would rather, given the choice, have to deal with a problem in 100' than 250', I hope that I've gone down the correct path with my team and we are all on the same page when it comes to handling an emergency.  100' with a deco obligation isn't any different than 250'.  It is an overhead environment and you need to be prepared.  I'm sure as hell not going on a 250' dive with someone I've never been in the water with.     

I disagree that "anyone who wants to go deep and dive safely" will be on a rebreather.  Part of the problem with today is that money can't buy experience.  Anyone who can buy the tech equipment, OC or rebreather, can not necessarily pull off these dives.

[Chris H]

Like Jason and Paul stated, DIR is nothing new, and GUE doesn't claim that it is.


That is definitely the beauty for the DIR-F course.  It takes all of the great skills/practices that you learn in advanced courses (cave/mix/etc) and puts them into a class that a basic OW certified diver can take.  It is a phenomenal idea to teach that and make that knowledge available to anyone that comes asking for it.
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[matt t.]

I think the "F" in DIR-F stands for "Fo-Shizzle" ;D. There is diving to be done tonight. Later.