dressing for tech diving? (was in What the Heck is DIR?)

[Freedive WI]

Dean,

As I go back over the posts, there's so much information in there, I realized I might have missed a point- or two, or three.

I don't feel that you're picking on me and there is a lot of misinformation out there about DIR, mostly because George himself doesn't do it a lot of good with his rants. If you ever slum though some of the posts on Rec.scuba you'd think we're all a bunch of a$$es- only some of us are. Slowly the good ideas from DIR are getting out into the main stream and many of them will be adopted, eventually- just like nitrox, spg's, BC"s, and the octopus were.

I've learned way more about diving equipment that works, or doesn't, and practices that work, or don't, by working on the lake than by teaching in any dive shop. By working in a single dive shop you get blinded by what goes on eslewhere. By working in many different dive shops you get to pick up many ideas that work, and a while bunch that don't. By working on a charter boat, especially one with a very wide client base, you get to see lots of things, good or bad, that you wouldn't see otherwise, in action.

Over the years I have had to swim for more divers than I can count. I've had to swim to other boats because they had a diver bent, and then there have been some more extreme situations that I won't comment on here. All of this exposure to other divers, and gear, have helped me formulate my opinion of DIR. It didn't happen overnight, and I was just as turned off by George as are others, but the ideas work and I overlook that fact. Just because he spouts about it, doesn't mean he invented it. It was formulated over the years by various divers. Most of the ideas came through accident analysis and prevention of future ones. As long as the sytem is safe I'll go with it, even if the leader is a jerk. I'm not the only one to follow along with a certain idea even if the leader is a jerk, my Republican friends are doing it right now. OK, save that for another thread. ;D

One example, for me at least, is the Willy. It has claimed 4 divers over the years. The one thing all of those divers had in common was that they started, or ended up, solo. Some where kids while others were certified trimix divers, and one was even an instructor. There have been a number of near misses over the years and much of it could have been avoided, or at least given the diver a fighting chance, if they would have a buddy. DIR is heavy on the buddy system.

There are other examples I could site, like the guy wearing a recreational BC trying to get back out of the engine room, but the BC was so sloppy that he kept on banging his tank valve, and boot, against the doorway in his panic to get out. I slipped up behind him and moved his tank over on one of his lunges and he was able to slip out. He never knew that I was there, since he was diving solo, but what would have happend to him when he busted off that first stage and I hadn't swam by? First, he should have had a buddy, and second, he could have used a back plate and wing that was adjusted properly so that his tank wasn't floating all over the place.

I can go on with other war stories and examples of why I switched, as there are a lot of them over the years, but I'll leave it there for now.

BTW: Before someone slams on me for being a liberal, my most trusted dive buddy, who also dives DIR, is a huge Republican and we kid eachother all the time about how we disagree on the contriversial stuff, like politics, but are in complete agreement and the simple stuff- like DIR. You don't have to hammer on me because he already does.

Jon