Limits of DIR

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Divesherpa

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Scuba Instructor
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Girdwood, Ak
Although most of the DIR reasonings should be applauded, I am learning more of the drawbacks of the system as I redefine my own comfort level in "adverse" conditions. This is almost strictly from a cave perspective, but also from any small area, limited-no viz situation.
I finally had the opportunity this weekend to meet and learn from one of the British sump divers from the CDG. Their system of diving makes DIR impossible in their applications. (Through the limited sump diving that I've done, I agree that doubles are a miserable failure) Not only does the gear fail in this setting, but the attitude of buddy diving also falls short and actually makes the diving less safe.
At the NSS convention, I had the pleasure of speaking with several DIR only advocates. The places they are trained to dive are very limited. They were very nice people, but seemed biased not on reasoning, but on being part of something bigger. It was as though they were pushing 20,000 feet in at 300feet depths through gear configuration rather than through experience. This was very sad.
On Sunday, three of us went for a dive in a very tight section of cave close to home. We are all solo divers who like to dive with people. We were about 500 feet back in a very hairy (back on rock, belly 2-6 inches from thick clay silt) area. The lights went out by an accidental fin placement(I won't divulge who it was) It took about 25 minutes getting in this place. There was no reasonable way to come out in touch contact as one hand was on the line and one hand was "assisting with propulsion". The viz stayed less than 3 inches for about 45 minutes. When I burst out into the relatively crystal clear viz, I couldn't believe how bright the lights were. My pupil must have been the size of a pin head.
If we had to come through this area in touch contact, we would have taken a very long time. After discussion, we all laughed, had a british deco beverage, and planned Monday's diving.
There are several other points, but my hand is getting tired.
 
Interesting tale - not for me, hats off to you.....

British Deco Beverage - I'll have to remember that one!

Jonathan
 
You are right DS, there are places where DIR isn't appropriate and sidemount/sump are obviously a couple of them though I'm not sure of any others. For backmount diving though (cave or not) I still believe it's the way to go.

I don't think anyone would argue with you that you can't "DIR" in sidemount/sump.

DSAO!!
 
I've heard of sidemount DIR, but I'm not fmiliar with the specifics of it. Somewhere I heard George describing how they setup sidemounts. Personally, if I can't fit, I ain't goin' :).

Mike
 
Originally posted by Lost Yooper
I've heard of sidemount DIR, but I'm not fmiliar with the specifics of it. Somewhere I heard George describing how they setup sidemounts. Personally, if I can't fit, I ain't goin' :).

Mike

You sure about that Mike?? I've seen a quote from GI that said basically... if the cave is too small for backmount the cave doesn't need me... or something to that effect.

I'm on the quest list and have never seen any discussions on sidemount.

DSAO!!
 
I also remember George speaking about sidemounts and DIR. Can't remember if it was on Quest or Techdiver.

He was very specific about the mounting in his post. I don't dive this way and therefore didn't pay too much attention.
 
This sidemount/backmount/DIR diving is beyond my realm of diving. However I did see a documentary on a guy in Mexico that has(at the time of the shows production) mapped the longest underwater cave system on Earth(57,280 ft I think). The bottles were carried under the divers arms which allowed them to get through some very small restrictions(one of which is 500 ft long).

With the bottles in this system, is that known as sidemount?

I made the assumption that this guy(Mike) was not considered DIR in the WKPP sense as there was some inuendo about not having lost any divers in the 15 to 18 years they spent exploring this particular system while others had lost divers in other cave systems.

More in line with Divesherpa's original thinking; wouldn't be true that the are limits to all styles of diving since each dive takes us into an environment which we don't naturally belong in?
 
Originally posted by jbd
More in line with Divesherpa's original thinking; wouldn't be true that the are limits to all styles of diving since each dive takes us into an environment which we don't naturally belong in?

That's what I believe.

I think that there are certain fundemental concepts that are universal to safe diving.... Things like - appropriate redundancy in gear for the dive and the environment - diving with appropriate support structures in place for the dive and the environment (be they safety divers, buddies, shore support, whatever...) - and diving within the limits of your training, experience, and gear.

I don't feel that any specific agency or diving style is the only group that owns or developed these concepts.
 
WYDT,

Yeah, I'm sure I read it, but I don't recall where or when. I didn't pay much attention to it. I'll look around a bit.

Mike
 
For any who are interested, I have the sidemount post from GI, it just contained some of his characteristic flair that I did not think appropriate for open posting on this board. He goes into the sidemount rig quite a bit.

I don't dive these dives, but keep interesting posts for reference down the road.

There has been extensive debate between GI and the english cave divers, I do not have those but think they are on techdiver somewhere.


Tommy
 
https://www.shearwater.com/products/perdix-ai/
http://cavediveflorida.com/Rum_House.htm

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