Dir?

[diver 85]

That chip on your shoulder cost you a potential sale, FYI. I asked about regulators, while keeping DIR standards in mind, and instead of giving me balanced advice, you chose to try and slam DIR and sell me something else.

I would expect a shop owner to put aside any personal prejudices they may have and try to serve the customer to the best of their ability. A lack of understanding of what DIR is does not in itself give a license to slam it at every opportunity.

So, exactly what is your understanding of what DIR is???.....

 

[diver 85]

You should never thump your chest, you can hurt yourself. It is far better to see how far you can direct a stream of pee.

But but but, what if you're of the female kind???.that stream I bet will be heading straight down(no lateral aspect to it, right???)......If this is the case, probably chest bumping is the better route to take, unless you're straddling 2 5 story buildings--then it could be a long stream....

 

[texdiveguy]

This damn topic gets brought up and beat up 2-4 times a day on SB!!!

Hope the OP got the basics that answered his question regarding what DIR stood for.

There are actually very few true DIR purist out diving, most of them have been brought up following this particular way of approaching diving from the get go in their dive career....some newer folks adapt part of the teaching to their own diving and a few others have no clue as to its bases but like the name so label themselves such.

DIR purist are not ness. the best divers out there.....they are like the rest of us that take this sport serious and have found what works for them best and applied those skills and methods to dive effectively and with safety.

I am not a DIR minded diver....but I am a safe and very effective diver using proven skills and gear configurations that best suit me and my fellow divers (when I am not solo diving---and I do allot of solo diving!)

It's totally up to the individual to decide what works and does not work in scuba diving.....its an on going experiment!

 

[Blackwood]

How many could you actually do the day after your course is more the question. I know, for example, that almost no one got 17 repetitions of air sharing that have been shown to be required to have 95% confidence that a diver will be able to actually perform an air share in a non-stressed situation.

Can you elaborate on that statistic a little? I'm not sure I understand. Where did it come from?

Was it polled, as in people said that it took them 18 tries to be 95% confident in their air sharing ability?

And what does 95% confidence even mean? That they would expect to fail 5 times out of 100?

Strange, convoluted stat, at least as I read it.

 

[Thalassamania]

Work by Glen Egstrom, Chairman of Kenesiology at UCLA.

Diver's were taught, given a defined number of trials and then tested.

95% confidence means that 95 times out of a hundred a diver with a defined number of repetitions would be expected to successful share air. In this case that meant making contact with the OOA buddy, initiating sharing and swimming (I believe) one length underwater without having to surface.

 

[offthewall1]

Not that anyone seems to care what my opinion is..

But the fact of the matter is that there is not one single agency out there that spends enough time on the Open Water program to turn out confident, competent, efficient and self sufficient divers. Even the longest of programs (which doesn't necessarily mean the best) can not achieve this.

Open Water certification is the beginning of a long learning curve - which requires diving in a variety of conditions over an extended period of time. I wish there was a better way to produce a quality diver - but the only way for people to get better is to go diving - and I don't mean in swimming pools taking specialties.

Repetitive learning is something needed in almost all educational settings. Diving is no different... so even if you did a skill in the pool 18 times, there is no guarantee that in a real world setting with limited vis at 100 ft you will react appropriately. The hope is that you will - the reality may be something far different - especially for someone fresh out of an OW class.

The same person however - who practices their skills routinely while on dives out in the real world has a much better percentage chance of successfully completing the skill.

The problem is that most people get certified and simply don't dive enough to keep skills fresh and keep improving them. many dive only once a year, some not that often and too many in systems such as PADI get their heads filled with the "hot air" of an advanced card after 5 dives and they think their proverbial "s---" doesn't stink.

Statistics are meaningless - keeping people activly diving is the best way to produce quality divers. Don't just teach them and spit them out like a diver mill... nourish them and bring them along with you diving - invite them - all of them -to dive with you.

I'm not a shop that tries to sell anyone anything... not classes, not gear. That is why we're successful. People come to us to buy. We simply advsie them on options and let them make informed decisions. We are the only shop I know of that actually tells people about quality lines we don't carry. We don't charge people for going diving with us... and we don't try to convince anyone of anything. We tell them to research things on diver forums - even in forums such as this one on Scubaboard...

Smart people see through all the crap and smart people always end up with quality gear from a quality shop and learn from quality Instructors... Smart people also become the best divers.

 

[Blackwood]

Work by Glen Egstrom, Chairman of Kenesiology at UCLA.

Diver's were taught, given a defined number of trials and then tested.

95% confidence means that 95 times out of a hundred a diver with a defined number of repetitions would be expected to successful share air. In this case that meant making contact with the OOA buddy, initiating sharing and swimming (I believe) one length underwater without having to surface.

Got it. I interpreted confidence as in personal expectations, not as in statistical success rates.

Frightening one, that. I got through BOW having shared air no more than 5 times (if that). But for the past few years I've done it routinely almost every dive, sometimes more than once, and generally not in a "okay, let's practice skills now" mindset, but rather at random, unexpected times.

 

[Thalassamania]

We share air on every dive ... just a few breaths.

 

[John_B]

Learning philosophy aside, a DIR person has never taught or showed me anything I didn't already know. Now for new divers, I think an introduction to DIR is fair... but not the relentless telling that if they don't dive DIR - then they're not "doing it right."

DIR... "Doing it Right" in itself implies that if you're not DIR then you're wrong... which is I'm quite certain they will all say about me after this post...

And yet your shop sells "Dive Rite" dive gear?

 

[offthewall1]

Dive Rite, Rite Aid, Buy Rite and other things so rite have nothing to do with DIR.

While Dive Rite gear certainly is one of many choices that should be in use by DIR people as the plates, harnesses, wings, regulators etc... are time proven in some of the harshest caving and wreck environments, it by no means is the only gear for DIR people to consider.

As I've said 2 or 3 times now, I have nothing against the DIR philosophy... only those DIR people who I have listened to at local quarries and on dive boats telling everyone else on the boat they had no clue what they were doing.

I've also said that not all DIR people do this - as I have DIR friends and customers... none of whom go around telling everybody else they are wrong.

If you want to dive DIR dive DIR... if you want to dive TRW dive TRW...

But most importantly dive S A F E and have F U N.