NAUI and Dir

[imadiver]

Hi,
I'm just studiing my NAUI Trimix instructor manual and at the section "gear ing up " they mention "Doing it right".
My question:
Does Naui Tek has conections with DIR?
Or is Dir a eveluation of NAUI Tek?
Perhaps it is just referring to the DIR methode?

I'm a bit puzzled. Please help me.

Imadiver

 

[Lost Yooper]

NAUI almost went in the right general direction. Had they stuck with their morals, and not stooped to the level of offering deep air courses, then they may have really done a great service to the industry. Unfortunately, they don't have what it takes. In this article by Tim O'Leary, he almost talks like a DIR advocate.

http://www.naui.org/pdffiles/EvolutionToRevolution.pdf

It's a prime example of how agencies recognize the foolishness of deep air, but aren't willing to condemn it ($$).

Anyway, Bruce Wienke and George Irvine are pretty good buddies and have done a fair amount of research together. I don't know how much of an impact that relationship has had on NAUI as a whole, but clearly not enough. At least their equipment philosophy is on the right general track (according to O'Leary anyway). I don't know if this philosophy is actually followed in NAUI's "tec" classes, but I have my doubts.

Take care,

Mike

 

[The Chairman]

are definitely connected... and NAUI recognises them more than the other major players in our field. It will be interesting to see if the NAUI membership will continue to embrace this ideology in the future. NAUI is a membership driven orginisation... Those who are voting members really get to decide which direction we are going in. I really like that!

 

[Waterlover]

The DIR philosophy is followed in my NAUI Tech classes
Ken

 

[ericfine50]

I heard the other day that NAUI Tech has been spun off to be independant of NAUI. I have heard that they teach the DIR style, but will allow students to use their "own" style. This may not be true with all instructors.

Eric

 

[carlislere]

Eric,
If you are referring to an article that appeared in a quarterly dive magazine this month, that information is incorrect. NAUI TEC has NOT been spun off independently of NAUI. They are still a division of NAUI.
When I saw the article I emailed Tim O'Leary and asked about it. He said there was not any spinoff nor was he aware of the article in the magazine.

 

[jbd]

Lost Yooper--I'm not totally following your disagreement with NAUI. I checked their website after reading the article that you provided a link to(thanks). NAUI does have deep air courses but does not advocate deep air diving. My opinion is NAUI conducts these classes due to the fact that some folks in the world don't have access to the various gases and will therefore be diving deep air--better to have training then to just go dive it without understanding all that is involved.

Can you clarify your position on this?

jbd

 

[Lost Yooper]

My position is simple. Agencies know that deep air is physiologically unsafe and that you CAN'T learn to deal with it. Whether they'll admit this is another thing. So, if they know it's unsafe, then why would they allow it/teach it? The only answer is so they can make more money. You can't admit that it's unsafe and still offer the class while keeping a straight face.

There should be a blanket "no deep air" climate within this industry. It should be taboo to dive deep air regardless of where you live. It should frowned upon, not encourage. Instead, it's being marketed to recreational divers now by PADI and NAUI. It's bad enough with TDI and ANDI. At least IANTD has eliminated deep air from their US curriculum. They should eliminate it from their over seas classes too. Students of these "respectable" agencies are getting nothing but a false sense of security. Period.

It's utter foolishness like this that eats me up.

Mike

 

[Scubaroo]

IANTD still have a Deep Air course in the US that is a pre-requisite to Advanced Nitrox - it's on both their website, and a Monterey dive shop I was in over the weekend was offering it.

 

[MikeFerrara]

LY,
I keep reading in your posts that IANTD has stoped offering deep air in the US. IANTD still offers the Technical diver course which has a max allowable training dive depth of 170 ft. The use of He is not covered in this course unless it is combined with Normoxic Trimix. The DSAT/PADI max is 165ft.

What do you think about the operation at Bikini Atol? They take divers with AOW to 170-180 on guided dives. Not only are they on air but many of the divers have no training in deep diving or staged decompression. They follow the DM. It sounds scary but from what I hear they have a very good if not perfect safety record. Maybe this would make a good thread.