Doing it Ridiculous

[Kim]

......isn't it too slow reaching behind your head? especially if the hp seat totally blew or an lp hose blew.

As long as you can reach the valve (correct tank placement), and you have had a little practice, it's a lot faster to reach back and shut it down than take your whole gear off first. I wasn't taught how to do this in OW - but for me it is an undeniably useful skill even with a single tank. Of course using doubles it probably becomes even more useful (although that's my guess, as I never dove doubles).

 

[lamont]

The point system is insulting and should go away.

1,000,000 points for spotting the guy who has been diving for decades and will argue endlessly about how DIR is inherantly offensive to him.

 

[narcT]

This happened to me on a boat! It sucked, one of them came over to ask if I had heard of DIR (he saw we were using 7ft hoses). I said "yeah, back home they call them scuba nazi's...I don't know why?".

He left us alone for the rest of the day....

 

[Nemrod]

Thanks for all the laughs and actually a bit of education. However you choose to do what all ever it is you are doing hopefully you will have a little fun along the way. You know, if you dive the same stuff the same way all the time that is good but if you dive different stuff in differing ways in different places, well, that can certainly be very good as well. Can a pilot fly only one airplane, can a race car driver race only one type of car, can there be more than one right way? Take care, be good. N

 

[waynne fowler]

Is that like SA Doubles? I can see it now, a pair of them clamped together -- wonder if you can get a proper manifold set up

Dang... they must have quite making them. I just went to the website so I could link you to it to see.. but cannot find it now... It was a twin set w/manifold IIRC filed with EANx... too funny!

 

[waynne fowler]

Many people - maybe even most - do DIR-F in single tanks I thought.

Of course from how I understand it you are never really diving a single tank in DIR - the other one is on your buddies back. (I'm not DIR though so I could be wrong!)

You are right.... I bet you are more DIR then you think you are... It's not just about equipment. Mindset can be more important than equipment... You will however at some point in time need to loose the Pink HUB with all the cetacea clips hangin all over it :11:

 

[MikeFerrara]

"Having the tank secured with the valve far too low for the diver to have a prayer of reaching their valve is only good for 10 points because it's soooo common but the certifying instructor gets the same 10 points for not knowing that a diver should be able to reach their valve."

Now, explain again why a single tank diver using a K valve with a typical regulator equipped with octapus, LP inflator and SPG hose would need to access the valve during an OW dive? What are you doing, adjusting the flow rate or something?

A frozed free flowing first stage is one time. If you shut it down for a minute it'll often thaw and be functional again. If not you can even feather the valve to breath. And then of course there's all the divers who, one way or the other, end up in the water with their reg turned off. Of course that shouldn't happen in the first place but it does. I've seen divers several times get to depth and then not be able to pull air because their valve was on but not all the way. It works at the surface and shallow but not at depth. You just reach back and turn it on. I even had it hapen to me once but that was before I knew that you should be able to reach your valve and when I still believed that 1/4 turn back stuff. An instructor turned my gas off and then back on 1/4 turn rather than turning it on and then back 1/4 turn. It breathed fine until I got down a ways. I got it turned on but I had to partially undo the bc part way to get at it. Of course in typical recreational fasion my buddy was in front of me, we had no lights and I couldn't get his attention.

I would be almost willing to bet 100,000 points that I, a non DIR vintage diver, can out swim 90% of the DIR divers on this planet. I give 10,000 points to using doubles on an iso manifold on a 60 foot reef. I give 5,000 points for having more regulators that orifi to place them in. I give 5,000 points for sneaking a computer in the pocket which is anti-DIR. I give 20,000 points for heavy BP used with excess weight.

I'll skip the DIR stuff because I'm not DIR

I give another 20,000 for a dry suit in water warmer than 75 degrees.

On anything but a short dive I get pretty cold in 75 degree water especially if I'm doing more than one dive and it's a little cool outside. I love wearing a dry suit on night dives at the local puddle where it's 80 at the surface, 75 or so at the bottom, it cools off at night and the bugs are out big time. A dry suit with light sweat clothes under it keeps me perfectly comfortable during the dive and when I get out I'm dry, warm and comfortable. The shell suit itself doesn't provide any insulation so by wearing appropriate undercloths you can be comfortable in any temp. 75 degree water could get darned cold if you didn't wear something under the suit. So...if I need a suit it's almost always a dry suit.

I give 50,000 points for the "wheelbarrow" which is holding the arms out front while swimming with a plethora of instruments that could be neatly carried in a console.

there's no such thing as a neat consol or the too long of a HP hose divers put them on. I don't know what plethora of instruments you're refering to but I wear a bottom timmer on my right wriist and a compass on my left. In short it lets me use a HP hose that lays flat against my side and out of the way and lets me see my instruments while I do somthing else with my hands because I don't need to reach for a consol.

I give an obilgatory 5,000 for having a seven foot long hose in OW.

There are several things that are nice about a long hose. The first is that when not deployed it lays flat against your body getting rid of another of those unsightly drag inducing loops of hose. If you do drop it, reg recovery is a matter of picking your reg up off your right shoulder because it isn't going anywhere. When not in use like at the surface, you clip it off at your right shoulder and again it's not flopping all over. Of course the real benefit is if you nee to donate gas especially when an immediate ascent isn't the best option. It allows both divers room to move. They can swim side by side, single file or whatever is required. Having to swim anyplace other than streight up in a vertical position is a real pain on a short hose.

 

[Mike Veitch]

Why is this thread still going?

Silly...
I prefer the snorkel or mask on forehead, at least those are funny. People, if you are going to go on and on about nonsensical "merde" at least make it funny...

 

[MikeFerrara]

Why is this thread still going?

Silly...
I prefer the snorkel or mask on forehead, at least those are funny. People, if you are going to go on and on about nonsensical "merde" at least make it funny...

Funny is good. The two divers on the beach that the thread was originally about may have been insulting, the DIR haters can be insulting and my little points system that I thought was funny seems to have been insulting to some but...the I don't think the equipment and technique issues that are sneaking in underneath all that are at all nonsensical.

BTW, as set in my ways as I am equipment wise, I like Nemrods vintage gear and would love to get my hands on a double hose reg (at a decent price of course). I think I have about everything else. I have a couple old plastic back packs with harnesses, a couple steel 72's with J-valves that might test out ok with the pull rods still on them even. All I need is a reg.

 

[terrasmak]

Dam this is good stuff , well so far ive only ran into one kinda rude DIR diver very pushy about DIR or your ganna die. Most of the DIR guys ive dove with have helped me out quite a bit, I still remember running into Waterdawg for the first time , i didnt know jack about there setups and thought they were just way overboard , now im starting to pick up different gear and wanting to take classes.