What does DIR mean?

[Diver0001]

When diving isn't FUN and people are anxious before each and every dive...diving sucks -- people are always on edge, then someone runs out of air and has their life flash before their eyes and gives up on diving. Only when diving is practically effortless does it become enjoyable.

Astute an oh-so-true observation.

Maybe DIR more than anything else it has to offer, does give some people a handle on how to get to that relaxed feeling (faster). I can't speak for anyone else but I know my diving became a lot more focused and lot more under control for having been exposed to DIR. That's not to say that I "am DIR" by any stretch but like many divers I saw it as our best description of our collective "best practices" and I've taken what I can from it, most importantly to me, a way of thinking about analysing/minimizing risks.

I've been told that by not going all the way that I'm really the worst (most dangerous) kind of stroke. In fact I think I've been called every name in the book over the years for going the 80% route .... I think if I had learned how to dive after about 2002-2003 and saw what DIR is today and saw how it's being discussed on the internet that I would have ended up with a better attitude about it. Sadly, I spent a lot of time defending myself in the face of considerable verbal abuse and all I can really say today is that my gear is Hogarthian.

So that's just to fill in some blanks for some of you who might be thinking that my attitude sucks. It does suck. "Going DIR" requires a leap of faith but I'm way too headstrong and need to see the practical application of everything I do so I never got wrapped up in the mind-set or the culture.... I couldn't. My personality won't allow it. But at the same time I'm a firm believer that DIR has a lot to offer so please don't let me put you off of learning about it. I can almost guarantee you that your diving will improve by getting your mind around it.

R..

 

[Thalassamania]

That sounds way close to what we get in here all the time from folks like Walter and Thalassamania ...

... like I said, it's not unique to DIR.

Don't confuse someone's ego with their style of diving ... they're two very different things.

And FWIW - George Irvine is a classic sociopath ... and AFAIK, doesn't even dive anymore ... most of the loudmouths I've ever known who crashed and burned through DIR don't dive anymore ... they're off being "the best" at something else now.

... Bob (Grateful Diver)

With all due respect, I agree with George's first sentence, "It is my opinion that the horrifying strokery that we see out there is the fault of the instructors... and most of them suck, just plain suck." Given what I have seen of the WKPP divers and those, I saw who were trained at various universities, and what I saw of much (not all by any means) of the product of the sports diving world no doubt about it.

Where George and I part company is in his second sentence: "Any methods other than what I use are bull****." I've seen lots of competent, proficient, even expert divewrs who trained up in different systems under different instructors, so I know that there's more than one way to skin a cat ... in fact what I do, I stole a piece at a time from those instructors, people like Lloyd Austin, Walt Hendricks Sr., Lee Somers, Jim Stewart, Glen Egstrom, Ronnie Demico, etc.

Correct identification of the disease, but way wrong on the cure.

 

[Monkey_Gland]

I was wondering if this quasi-religious schism had any parallels in any other activity (apart from the deity business). I'm a keen cyclist and there's a bit of it in the fixie/single speed crowd - more accusations of being afflicted for than anything. Does it happen in other "life-critical" like activities, say skydiving, rock climbing, hell, does it happen in skateboarding, snowboarding or tabletop fantasy gaming ("No, sorry, you can't roll that d4, it's not black").

What's the deal with diving? Are we especially argumentative and tribal?

 

[Reg Braithwaite]

I was wondering if this quasi-religious schism had any parallels in any other activity (apart from the deity business). I'm a keen cyclist and there's a bit of it in the fixie/single speed crowd - more accusations of being afflicted for than anything. Does it happen in other "life-critical" like activities, say skydiving, rock climbing, hell, does it happen in skateboarding, snowboarding or tabletop fantasy gaming ("No, sorry, you can't roll that d4, it's not black").

What's the deal with diving? Are we especially argumentative and tribal?

If you had been around in the eighties, you would have seen rock climbers wearing tee shirts that said "Sport Climbing is Neither" or famously "The Devil is a Hang Dog." Actual fist fights have broken out over the ethics of bolting and chipping routes.

I can't speak for sky diving, but my guess is that people are people wherever you go.

 

[matts1w]

If you had been around in the eighties, you would have seen rock climbers wearing tee shirts that said "Sport Climbing is Neither" or famously "The Devil is a Hang Dog." Actual fist fights have broken out over the ethics of bolting and chipping routes.

I can't speak for sky diving, but my guess is that people are people wherever you go.

In every "subcluture" this exists. Addmittingly, when I was a teenager I used to look at anyone who used live bait and didnt use a fly rod a the lowest form of fishernman... akin to those who fish with dynamite and cynaide.

I know bass players who think bassists who use picks instead of fingers should burn in hell.

Thankfully, my parents raised me right so even as a teenager I never challenged (in person or online) people's sexuality or and asked for oral from those who disagreed with me. Gotta love those old D2D message boards, but

I will never able to be able to seperate the message from the messenger. Extremist/black and white thinking have little place in my world- be it in religion, politics, or underwater.



It goes on and on.....

 

[MXGratefulDiver]

I did a bunch of reading before my wife and I got certified. My LDS wouldn't sell me a back plate and wing. I happened to mention DIR while in the shop and there were audible groans. When I started looking into it (DIR) on the forums DIR had a "closed off" feeling to it, not inclusive at all. The thing that never (and still) doesn't make any sense is this: I have not met a recreational or DIR diver that was mean, condescending, smug or sarcastic in person. Divers seem to be some of the most polite and genuinely nice people that I have met. If everyone drove their car the way they dive it would be a lot more fun to be on the road. I mean, it takes a real effort to go diving and it isn't the thing that you stop and do on the way home, just because the mood strikes. So, for me the big question is why the disconnect between real life experience and the internet?

I still believe that the training that you can get from a DIR/Hogarthian agency would be what most recreational divers would consider "over-trained". I think most recreational divers would say "do you really need to know how to calculate your dcr so you can know what your spg should be reading before you look at it?" I think most divers would just like to look at the computer and have it tell them what is going on and all that other stuff is overkill, sucking the fun out of being underwater. A lot of it seems esoteric and hard to grasp if you just read about it. Rock bottom? you should have seen all of the angst in our class when we were trying to learn how to calculate it. Once we got through all of that it was like a whole different way of diving opened up to us (in our class). It bonded us together and gave a new dimension to the FUN. And maybe that is where the disconnect starts. I immediately feel a certain bond with another DIR diver since I know EXACTLY what he was taught and vice versa. There is also this "confidence" in the water that you can see. It is really hard to describe but once you see it you won't forget it. It has a kind of beauty all of its own. I think the whole DIR system (personal and team skills), when you see it executed in the water is almost like a ballet. If you get the chance to dive with someone DIR, watch an S-drill, or one minute ascent drill, a normal ascent, listen to the pre-dive check, watch the team positioning, etc. I think it is just cool to WATCH, and really fun to be a part of.

I know this probably sounds hokey to some of you, but I really love diving and I really like that the DIR system seems to show a LOT of respect for the sport. You won't find a DIR diver that dives twice a year while on vacation. At least I don't think so. They seem REALLY dedicated and maybe that is also where the snotty aspect comes from-they rarely find someone as dedicated as they are to it (or so they think. I am sure there are some recreational divers out there that are really dedicated too), but then if you are as dedicated as you think you are why wouldn't you want the most top-notch training possible? I asked our instructor why they were teaching us so intensely in one class. His answer was "I am training a future team member". Do you see what I mean? Does this make sense?

Yes, it makes a lot of sense. And I think you're right that you won't see any casual divers in a DIR class. The intensity of the training tends to attract people who are into diving as more than just a once-in-a-while activity. I think that's where the stereotype comes from ... the personalities of people who would be attracted to that type of training, as opposed to the nature of the training itself.

But I do need to correct one thing you said ... there are some of us for whom diving is a thing you stop and do on your way home. I happen to be fortunate enough to live quite close to a great dive site, and at least once or twice a week I'll get the notion when I leave my "day job" to go diving ... and about 30 minutes later I'll be down at the dive site gearing up. Most people aren't that fortunate ... and most who are don't really take advantage of it. But some do ...

... Bob (Grateful Diver)

 

[MXGratefulDiver]

Astute an oh-so-true observation.

Maybe DIR more than anything else it has to offer, does give some people a handle on how to get to that relaxed feeling (faster). I can't speak for anyone else but I know my diving became a lot more focused and lot more under control for having been exposed to DIR. That's not to say that I "am DIR" by any stretch but like many divers I saw it as our best description of our collective "best practices" and I've taken what I can from it, most importantly to me, a way of thinking about analysing/minimizing risks.

I've been told that by not going all the way that I'm really the worst (most dangerous) kind of stroke. In fact I think I've been called every name in the book over the years for going the 80% route .... I think if I had learned how to dive after about 2002-2003 and saw what DIR is today and saw how it's being discussed on the internet that I would have ended up with a better attitude about it. Sadly, I spent a lot of time defending myself in the face of considerable verbal abuse and all I can really say today is that my gear is Hogarthian.

So that's just to fill in some blanks for some of you who might be thinking that my attitude sucks. It does suck. "Going DIR" requires a leap of faith but I'm way too headstrong and need to see the practical application of everything I do so I never got wrapped up in the mind-set or the culture.... I couldn't. My personality won't allow it. But at the same time I'm a firm believer that DIR has a lot to offer so please don't let me put you off of learning about it. I can almost guarantee you that your diving will improve by getting your mind around it.

R..

That's about where I'm at too ... but I think the difference between your perception and mine amounts to the exposure we have had to different personalities. While there are a few ... um ... DIR "fascists" around here, mostly even the DIR community ignores them. Almost all of the DIR people I've known and dived with are really nice, helpful, and pretty non-judgmental. There are some exceptions, of course ... but they don't represent the whole community. In fact, they're a tiny, but vocal, minority (like the extremists in any activity). I think of them as the DIRliban.

I've heard that the Netherlands DIR community is pretty hard-core ... but most DIR folks I've been exposed to (primarily west coast USA folks) are pretty laid-back and friendly ...

... Bob (Grateful Diver)

 

[MXGratefulDiver]

I was wondering if this quasi-religious schism had any parallels in any other activity (apart from the deity business). I'm a keen cyclist and there's a bit of it in the fixie/single speed crowd - more accusations of being afflicted for than anything. Does it happen in other "life-critical" like activities, say skydiving, rock climbing, hell, does it happen in skateboarding, snowboarding or tabletop fantasy gaming ("No, sorry, you can't roll that d4, it's not black").

What's the deal with diving? Are we especially argumentative and tribal?

There's folks in every conceivable recreational activity like that. I used to do a great deal of skiing (was an instructor and racer for a few years) and sailboat racing (jointly owned a J/36 for a decade or so) ... and some of those folks would make the most hard-core DIR folks look positively laid back.

... Bob (Grateful Diver)

 

[boulderjohn]

Yes it is true that some DIR people give the whole concept a bad name by taking it to attitudinal extremes. Here is an example of one that went so far that The Deco Stop actually closed the thread, something rarely done there. In this case, the DIR devotee expresses relief to be posting in the DIR forum, away from the non-DIR divers, whom he categorizes as "tards."

The Deco Stop

Yes, GI3 contributes much to it, and yes he gave stroke definitions in other places that go well beyond the one Bob quoted. For example, I read one in which he said that any diver who used 80% O₂ for decompression was automatically a stroke. (He said it with his customary great emphasis and vigor.)

I have personally had someone use the quote Bob supplied as a reason why non-DIR divers are all strokes. Irvine's list of characteristics of strokes includes anyone whose gear is not "optimal." As this person pointed out to me, if my gear was not precisely as prescribed, then it is not optimal, and therefore I am a stroke.

As for me, all my techncial training has been strictly DIR. My instructor is technically TDI, but he is openly DIR in his approach, based on his own GUE-training. (Why he is a TDI instructor is a complicated story.) I was the only one of his students with background knowledge in this issue, so I did not need the warning, but he implored his students not to be like that, not to be among the ones contributing to that image.

I have dived with a number of DIR-trained divers, every one of who was very skilled, and every one of whom was a pleasant and gracious dive buddy. It is sad that extremists (perhaps on both sides) have created this image.

 

[HenrikBP]

What's the deal with diving? Are we especially argumentative and tribal?

Try to get a bunch of motorcyclists to agree on what protective gear to wear - if any; which engine configuration is "best"; which style of motorcycle and riding makes you a "Rider", "Biker", "Motorcyclist" etc. etc.

Henrik