JCKCSYCMD
Contributor
Over 30 yrs of diving and various situtations, work projects, etc., have me diving with several differerent gear arrangements or configurations. If I am just diving to clean the bottom of the boat, service the prop or check the cutlass bearing, or checking the anchor set, etc., I am fairly simple in rigging. If at the other extreme, it's a Great Lakes deep cold water wreck "penetration", etc., then I support the DIR configurations. Last weekend was surface hooka, with 19 cu ft pony rig clipped on as backup as we chained and positioned/retreived steel for 2 days from only 15 feet with cranes as the welders worked above.
I started diving rear pack inflation in the 70s and for some assignments and dry suits, it is the only way to go in my opinion. But for warm water recreational dives, modern BC configurations are more comfortable and portable. Extreme cold water and contaminated environments, then non-DIR fullface or helmets is a better choice. This variability of conditions has been (in my opinion) ignored or not understood by some of the DIR single solution for every thing mentality that usually has included 'attitudes'.
Although I have never gotten into cave diving, the long hose and 'necklace' 2nd stage routings have made great sence to me for if a tandem air sharing exit is required, and I have adopted for wreck diving also. I support the concept of redundancy and dive either with real doubles, or independant doubles, or asymetrical doubles (read that as detachable pony rig) as the various conditions warrant. For pony rigs with quick detachable, I have tanks fitted from 19 cu ft to 80 cu ft, and at what point is a stage bottle differtent than a pony? I also have changed my opinion, that I no longer dive double manifolds with isolators. I prefer independant valving and redundant primaries isolated.
Not every diving situation is the same, and one DIR or recrational rig is not always appropriate. An analogy is if a single tool or configuration worked for all situations, then my tool box would only include a single crescent wrench. For true safety, rig for the specific dive, with redundancy. Dive for safety with the appropriate rig ranging from warm recreational > cold wreck penetration or DIR cave > rescue & recovery > commercial. But in my 'opinion' DIR is routinely not the correct configuration.
I started diving rear pack inflation in the 70s and for some assignments and dry suits, it is the only way to go in my opinion. But for warm water recreational dives, modern BC configurations are more comfortable and portable. Extreme cold water and contaminated environments, then non-DIR fullface or helmets is a better choice. This variability of conditions has been (in my opinion) ignored or not understood by some of the DIR single solution for every thing mentality that usually has included 'attitudes'.
Although I have never gotten into cave diving, the long hose and 'necklace' 2nd stage routings have made great sence to me for if a tandem air sharing exit is required, and I have adopted for wreck diving also. I support the concept of redundancy and dive either with real doubles, or independant doubles, or asymetrical doubles (read that as detachable pony rig) as the various conditions warrant. For pony rigs with quick detachable, I have tanks fitted from 19 cu ft to 80 cu ft, and at what point is a stage bottle differtent than a pony? I also have changed my opinion, that I no longer dive double manifolds with isolators. I prefer independant valving and redundant primaries isolated.
Not every diving situation is the same, and one DIR or recrational rig is not always appropriate. An analogy is if a single tool or configuration worked for all situations, then my tool box would only include a single crescent wrench. For true safety, rig for the specific dive, with redundancy. Dive for safety with the appropriate rig ranging from warm recreational > cold wreck penetration or DIR cave > rescue & recovery > commercial. But in my 'opinion' DIR is routinely not the correct configuration.
