New to DIR questions

[hayden]

QUESTION 1:


The DIR recommendations for webbing state that there should be no fail points on your webbing "rigged from one piece of webbing and should have no quick-release buckles or other failure points".
However in an open water incident where removing your gear is required would it not be more beneficial to be able to unclip and float to the surface. Or are people really set in their mind that a failure point
on your harness is just a f**k-up waiting to happen?/thread


QUESTION 2:


What do you guys believe are the most beneficial physical skills to learn in preparation for cave/tec diving
and what agencies should i look to train through, is padi fine? I just want basic fundamentals to practice, the rest i can learn from experienced divers


I have been told my buoyancy/trim and ability is advanced beyond what most new divers can achieve but at the moment it has been my main focus point.
i.e. Control of trim and buoyancy, also been trying to get my breathing rate reaaally slow.


QUESTION 3:
Just want some opinions on my gear is the wing going to be fine for now for OW rec use. and what wings do you recommend i consider in the future for cave and tec diving.
Are there any really good equipment recommendations you guys have.


I got some really good prices on a brand new s/s halcyon bp it came with a dive rite rec wing for double and single tanks also new. No webbing so first question will help me decide "Halcyon webbing >/< Hollis Elite 2 webbing"
I also got a mk25/s600 which i will have detuned and use as the backup reg on a dual setup in the future and ill buy a new mk25/s600 if i like it enough.
Also i know comps are non-dir but i bought a shearwater predator, ill still be plan all my dives myself etc and record my own logs

 

[PfcAJ]

Hi Hayden,
#1 Keep it one piece. A properly adjusted harness is easy to take off in the water. If you need to get an unconscious diver out of their harness in a hurry, use the knife we all have on the left of our waist. He won't object.

#2 The most important physical skill is the 'stable platform'. That means neutral, flat, and still. All the rest of the things build off that foundation. You *can* learn it anywhere, but if you want to learn it efficiently sign up for a GUE Fundamentals class. You'll also learn a LOT about DIR and team diving, and its really the de-facto standard for the DIR world.

#3 For OW diving, a 30lb single tanks wing is the bee's knees. I'm partial to Halcyon, but I hear that Deep Sea Supply and Oxycheq make good wings, as well. The main point is that you want a corrugated hose that's not super long (needs to come a bit past your collar bone) and a single pull dump on the bottom left. For a technical diving wing, a 40lb wing is great for al80s, lp85s, and other 7inch diameter tanks, while a 55-60lb wing is a good fit for lp104s, hp119s, and other 8inch diameter tanks. There is no such thing as a wing that works with singles and doubles.

#3.5 mk25/s600 is a great reg. I'd shy away from the A700 for DIR as it requires special tools to field strip.

Good luck!

 

[hayden]

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[PfcAJ]

Marketing nonsense. You'll end up with a wing that doesn't work well for single tanks and doesn't work well for double tanks, and that's not DIR. Bungees of any sort on a wing have the potential to cause real issues on a dive.

 

[hayden]

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[DaleC]

I would echo pfcAJ's second point, the stable platform. From how it was presented during the course and from personally experiencing not having one, it is the platform that everything else is built on. If it falls apart under stress everything you do will be effected. If you can stay in the orientation you want, at the depth you want, and can move where you want using kicks, you can free your mind to work on the task before you, whatever that is.

I would not worry about breathing rates. That will settle down once comfort and learning to move efficiently sets in. It just is what it is.

 

[TSandM]

Hayden, you're asking these questions in the DIR forum, so you're getting DIR answers. There are a lot of different ways to configure gear, and a lot of different training pathways . . . DIR diving is just one of them, although those of us who chose that path tend to think it's one of the best.

This approach has some underlying ideas. One is to keep things simple, and to minimize the opportunities for problems. Another is to build the strongest possible personal skills, so that you can be the most valuable asset to a strong team of divers, operating AS a team. Another is not to take shortcuts or go cheap on anything if that means compromising optimal functionality and quality.

So those principles give us some of the answers to your questions. The one-piece harness is simple, easily replaceable, and pretty much failure-proof. When combined with very strong personal diving skills, the likelihood of a problem related to not having a quick release is very low. Each diver carries a knife on the harness that can cut that harness, if the diver needs to be removed from his gear for a medical or traumatic problem, and those knives work very well. Unfortunately, I know this from personal experience.

AJ and Dale are spot-on with the stable platform, and hopefully without sounding the least bit patronizing, I will say that someone who has 0 to 24 dives is very unlikely to have a stable platform of the quality those two are describing, no matter what his dive staff is telling him. The number of students I've seen who have that degree of stability that early on is easily numbered on the fingers of one hand.

And your final equipment question is answered by saying the DIR approach is to buy the right wing for the job at hand. Don't try to buy one wing that will do everything, because it won't do anything well. Buy a good single tank wing for your single tank setup, and when the time comes to change to doubles, buy an appropriate double tank wing. A wing that will accommodate doubles has too wide a center panel for a single tank, and will taco up around the tank and be hard to vent.

The DIR approach (honestly, whether it's UTD or GUE) is very simple, but that doesn't mean it's easy. It can be quite hard to have the discipline to do the right thing.

 

[hayden]

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[g1138]

Just an add-on to what has been said above. DIR takes high standards in preventing emergencies from happening, which is why is looks highly at any possible failure point and eliminating it. DIR supplements this with a high standard of diver training technique and form.
The 2 play hand in hand to create a long string of "check-valves" to prevent emergencies from occurring. That's the ideology behind it when you dumb it down.

In a SURFACE rescue scenario, you will get someone out of a BC faster with a quick release. With a single piece harness (like that in DIR), your options are
1) cut it
2) lift victims arms over their head and slide them out of the BC

Realistically I myself only add an extra second doing #2 VS using a quick release shoulder strap. It doesn't add that much extra time provided you work on the technique. For that reason, I don't see an advantage in having a quick release on my Bp/W.

 

[hayden]

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