So, just who is George Irvine III?????

[cerich]

oh bull you know what. The issue isn't George, it's more related to their insistence on standards that while MORE than admirable eventually ends up having many more experienced divers splitting away. Their skills levels are excellent because of their GUE training, but they start to see others diving sidemount/ccr and doing bigger dives with less skills and discipline and they drift away, wanting to do that type of diving themselves. Or they just feel like they are stuck at "practice" forever and get frustrated and just quit. Very few divers can fully embrace the holistic approach lifestyle and diving discipline it would take to be wholly DIR. They need to find a way to still allow those of us who have "strayed" along the way still be part of their community... it's a very difficult balancing act for GUE.

 

[Rhone Man]

Is it just me, or does it feel like The Walking Dead in here?

 

[elmer fudd]

I've encountered lots of divers with negative opinions of DIR.

They seem to be popularly perceived as fundamentalists and I think that GI3 and others had a lot to do with that. Even the acronym, DIR, implies that everyone else is DIW.

 

[nimoh]

I've encountered lots of divers with negative opinions of DIR.

They seem to be popularly perceived as fundamentalists and I think that GI3 and others had a lot to do with that. Even the acronym, DIR, implies that everyone else is DIW.

I don't believe it implies that at all, people infer it to build a straw man argument.

 

[Pullmyfinger]

I agree. It doesn't imply that at all. People just cling to that one, so that have something to cry on the internet about.

Do you ever hear anybody all upset over the PADI slogan, "The way the world learns to dive."?

Imagine a bunch of people whining....."They must be saying that I didn't actually learn to dive......but the rest of the world did. *sniff*"

For so many scuba divers out there to actually be upset over "DIR", as if it's some sort of personal insult to them, would show that there are just a lot of thin skinned/ultra-sensitive types out there.

I don't believe it at all. I don't believe there are that many people out there at all that really care.
I DO believe that there are a few GUE haters out there, that for whatever reason, love to keep throwing the "The name DIR is a huge insult to me" statement out there.

Combine that with some Mr. Irvine necro-posting and all of that old becomes brand new again.
Why do some people continue to keep that old stuff alive?? You have to wonder why.

Are divers, as a group, really that sensitive. From what I have seen, they are not. I don't understand all of the feigned outrage and butt-hurt out there.

Cheers,
Mitch

 

[danvolker]

I've encountered lots of divers with negative opinions of DIR.

They seem to be popularly perceived as fundamentalists and I think that GI3 and others had a lot to do with that. Even the acronym, DIR, implies that everyone else is DIW.

Just so you know, the DIR term was coined by a reporter back in the 90's---he asked George why there were so many cave deaths in North Florida, but the WKPP had a zero death record--and the reporter wanted to know why WKPP's were not dieing....George said because we are Doing it Right.....and the reporter made this DIR.

It was about Cave divers, never about recreational divers.....

 

[TSandM]

Even the acronym, DIR, implies that everyone else is DIW.

Groundhog Day.

These discussions never get anywhere at all, and endlessly tread the same ground. GI3 was rude, I met a DIR diver who was very rude, DIR means they sneer at the rest of us.

I will take issue with the idea that GUE is not growing and is losing market share. I am in FB contact with a lot of GUE instructors around the world, and judging from the number of classes they are teaching, the organization is very much alive. Our GUE-Seattle affiliate has been growing steadily. The guys in MX, despite running classes that are almost three times as expensive as the other options down there, are busy as long tailed cats in a room full of rocking chairs.

Yes, they lose advanced divers over the decision not to embrance sidemount or CCRs. But you know what? They aren't "lost", because many of them still dive the same way on dives that don't require the changes. We have a number of GUE-trained folks here in Seattle who have gone CCR . . . but they come dive with us on OC. They are still friends. They even help with projects and the like.

Diving is always in flux and people are always experimenting. But I do think a lot of people find a "home" of sorts in our system of diving, and know they can come back to it. If I have to go to sidemount for my cave diving, because my back won't tolerate the weight of doubles any more (a real possibility) I will still be able to dive with the GUE folks here in Seattle -- they won't throw me out.

 

[elmer fudd]

I don't believe it implies that at all, people infer it to build a straw man argument.

Whether you believe it or not, a whole lot of divers do and are put off by it.

 

[BDSC]

Whether you believe it or not, a whole lot of divers do and are put off by it.

I agree. I've seen that thought posted way to many times on SB. Frankly, I don't really care about who is what. I've never really been caught up in whether a person is DIR, GUE, or whatever. The best diver I have ever seen in the water is neither. Now when someone invents an artificial gill that you can pop in your mouth and off you go, that group I want to be a part of.

 

[Pullmyfinger]

I agree. I've seen that thought regurgitated way to many times on SB. Frankly,

I fixed that. ;-)

Cheers,
Mitch