ScoobyPat once bubbled...
Does DIR make sense for the average Joe that just wants to dive on a recreational basis or for the ultra serious tec diver and why?
Welcome to the board.
I am an average Joe, that just wants to dive on a recreational basis. I went DIR.
It was the destination, not the journey. I read hundreds and hundreds of posts here for about 4 months, got the Fundy's book and read it a few times, got a BP/W rig, took the DIR/F and never looked back.
For me, it just made sense. You'll hear a hundred people tell you DIR isn't about gear config, and it amazes me how many people get hung up on the that one. Just amazes me. The whole "you can't tell me what to wear" thing. Uh, OK. That argument is just so lame its pointless. Its not about gear.
DIR isn't just for techies and wreckies. Its not just for skinny, pasty vegans. Its not agency specific. I have my OW thru PADI, my AOW thru SSI and I dive DIR.
DIR is about a commitment to safe diving. Its about team diving. Its about being alert, aware, and involved in the dive. Its about developing precision watermanship. Its about respect for the environment and respect for yourself. It changed my diving.
I'm not an a-hole (can I say that Dee in reference to myself?) who puts down other divers who are not in the camp, who didn't drink the kool-aid or whatever sophomoric cliché you want to attach to it. Like everything, there are people who take it way over the edge - but for their style of diving (generally the cavers and wreckers) the stakes are much higher with a much narrower margin of error.
For my recreational diving, its driven me to better skills, better dive awareness, better buddy awareness and has delivered greater confidence on each dive. I simply enjoy it more.
On a trip this weekend, someone asked me about my rig - as its simply the most noticeable out-of-water differentiator. We talked a little about the rig, and then we talked about DIR. When I rolled through the things above, he asked me "well, isn't that the goal of every agency - safer divers, better buddy skills, etc.....?" So I asked him to join us on a dive.
We did a thorough pre-dive plan. We did an equipment review, we used the SADDD. We descended horizontally, we stayed in trim, we took long, slow, controlled, planned ascents. There was communication throughout the dive, etc, etc. When we got back on the boat, I asked him if there was anything different about this dive. Apart from the control (high praise, because I still need a lot of work
) he said he saw a plan, he saw confidence and he felt more comfortable with our group.
This wasn't a set up. He saw it, and he felt it because we (my buddy Arnaud and I) are committed to it. For me, its a no brainer.
Don't get hung up in the gear. Don't get hung up in the "you can have my splitfins when you can pry them from my cold dead feet...." thing. Hook up with some DIR guys. PM us. Talk to us. I'm still new at this (only since Feb this year) but you gotta see if its for you. I wear a computer. Usually in gauge mode, sometimes (on multi-day trips) its in AI mode as a computer...no biggie. They don't strip you of your DIR badge for that. I never use it to the exclusion of thorough planning or as a way to turn off my mind and let the little wrist box do the thinking.
There's a lot of hot air from within and from without the DIR circle. But make your decisions on a level playing field. Read up, ask questions, and most importantly, dive with some of us and see if its for you.
I have no immediate plans to move beyond recreational diving. I'm a lummox for triox. I don't crave the cave. I see no need to creep deep - I'm fine at reasonable rec depths. I dont want to teach. I just want to be a confident, competent rec diver with mad skills. I got the former, still working on the latter.
K