DIR/GUE Attitude: I just don't see it

[Jerrod]

As I go through this forum, I constantly see remarks from non-DIR/GUE divers making some smart comments about "I am not doing it right (DIW) so I am going to die", or other comments about the people that subscribe to the DIR philosophy. While I admit that the term is off putting, I also agree that scuba education is down right dangerous the way it is currently taught and most people are probably doing it wrong (nothing to do with gear, just not thinking).

I have been diving with a former GUE instructor from Lexington, KY Ed Gabe and on a recent plane ride, I met another DIR diver. These two guys don't mind if people dive with standard jacket BCDs, or are not streamlined, as long as they are safe and dive within their limits. They will defend the need for a team to work as one and have one configuration when engaging in major dives like a cave or wreck.

The former GUE instructor told me he met JJ and that he also just wanted scuba education to get better and if GUE influenced that even a bit he would be happy.

Now the DIR: Fundamentals of diving does come across as this is the best way but so does the SSI book I did my OW with and the PADI books I did for nitrox and PPB. So that aside, I don't see an attitude with the few GUE/DIR divers I have met.

Not to start a flame war. I just wanted to post my observations. It seems like people are a bit reactionary and have never met these divers or only read something one or two a$$es have posted. (On a side note, George Irvine has a website with posts from various sites and he does come across as a total a$$).

Just my thoughts.

Thanks,

Jerrod

 

[Ragnar]

Read my signature, and this site is famous for it. I'd bet even some confrontational guys on the internet aren't even THAT bad if you met them in person, it's an online anonymity thing. Ya know, it's not the profile of back mounted doubles that keep DIR divers from using side-mount to fit into tighter places, it's the cross section of their giant heads

 

[DevonDiver]

Jerrod, Can you specifically reference to one, or more, of these 'Do It Right' comments? I've not seen such an attitude on the board for a very long time.

Certain agencies... those that advocate 'team diving', have a rationale for precise gear matching (and skills matching). That is a fundamental doctrine in their system. I haven't heard comments related to the 'wrongness' of divers not using that system for years.

Are you trawling very old threads?

 

[danvolker]

As I go through this forum, I constantly see remarks from non-DIR/GUE divers making some smart comments about "I am not doing it right (DIW) .....

Not to start a flame war. I just wanted to post my observations. It seems like people are a bit reactionary and have never met these divers or only read something one or two a$$es have posted. (On a side note, George Irvine has a website with posts from various sites and he does come across as a total a$$).

Just my thoughts.

Thanks,

Jerrod

Jerrod,
Why would you say this of George? In reality, a great number of the major issues he was hated for by some in the late nineties and into 2003 or so, have already evolved to the point that today they are favored ideas by most.
George WAS the person that made this stuff happen. GUE has taken the reigns and brought it to a much larger universe of divers, but without George there would be no DIR, and no GUE.

And what website are you referring to that "George has"...He has no such website that I am aware of, and I am pretty sure I would know

 

[TSandM]

Jerrod, you've been lucky enough to discover the reality of "DIR" divers, as opposed to the internet reputation.

My exposure to "DIR" divers has been that almost all of us really care about diving. We're enthusiastic or thrilled about how much better and more fun diving is, once you are good at it, and your buddies are good at it, too. We're enormously accepting of, and helpful to anyone who wants to be a better diver.

I read a lot of threads here from people who have had a couple of bad instabuddy experiences, and decide as a result to buy a pony bottle and solo dive.

In the DIR world, we don't choose that option. We decide to improve as divers, and to help mentor our own, quality buddies.

I just posted a report of a dive at our local mudhole, where we picked up a third diver simply because he was late. The folks with whom he would normally have dived didn't want to wait for him, so he teamed up with us. I had never been in the water with this man before, but the dive was seamless -- stress-free, and enjoyable for all -- because we were all on the same page.

Personally, I'd rather live in a world where I'm excited and happy to dive with a new buddy, than the one where I want a pony bottle and permission to dive alone.

 

[mathauck0814]

I guess I'm not understanding the critique. I have my own personal complaints about the GUE/DIR system of diving, but I cannot deny that they turn out a very high percentage of their students as highly competent divers. I truly want to believe that every instructor out there is aiming to turn out safe divers and that the end result stems from the toolset that the instructor has to work with. I believe that the GUE folks have proven that they have a lot of tools to accomplish just that. So while I (and others) might not dive strictly within the GUE method, there are enough people out there who borrow their concepts and incorporate it into their own diving that I've got to say, no one else (from an agency or aggregate perspective, at least) is "Doing it righter"...

 

[Scott L]

Anybody who thinks that GUE as a group is elitist, Etc. has obviously never spent much time on The Deco Stop forum. :shocked2:
By and large, their ranks are filled with folks with dispositions just as impressive as their diving skills. GUE's own forum is testimony to their civil and respectful manner...

 

[Jerrod]

I kind of regret posting this thread.

I had just completed reading multiple threads and noticed a bit of sarcasm toward DIR and GUE. On this board and others, some recently, most from many years ago.

I was wrong about George Wallace having a website, but if you read these posts: http://www.frogkick.nl/files/george_irvine_dir_articles.pdf I think he comes across as a bit elitist with his comments. Maybe it's just his writing style.

mathauck0814, I offer no critique of anything. All I was trying to say, and I admit I did not do a good job of, was that all of the DIR divers I have meet have been nice people (met another today) and that all that hate toward them seems unwarranted.

Thanks,

Jerrod

 

[DevonDiver]

I kind of regret posting this thread.

It's good - because it illustrates miss-assumptions about GUE/DIR, based on a very old situation.

I had just completed reading multiple threads and noticed a bit of sarcasm toward DIR and GUE. On this board and others, some recently, most from many years ago.

I sometimes see some tongue-in-cheek humor. Most people who understand DIR have a high respect for it, even if they don't agree 100% with the philosophies.

There can be no doubt that the evolution of DIR doctrine had a major impact on the technical diving community. Even where it wasn't accepted in totality, most serious divers had a very good look at the issues raised and incorporated aspects in their own approach.

I was wrong about George Wallace having a website,.... I think he comes across as a bit elitist with his comments. Maybe it's just his writing style.

Definitely elitist.... the blue face-paint and broadsword doesn't help his image either...

 

[nadwidny]

I was wrong about George Wallace having a website,

George Irvine.

but if you read these posts: http://www.frogkick.nl/files/george_irvine_dir_articles.pdf I think he comes across as a bit elitist with his comments. Maybe it's just his writing style.

You had to be there. For classic George you have to go to the Aquanaut/Techdiver archives if they are still around. I seem to recall that they were around about a year ago.