mweitz
Contributor
This term is thrown around a lot, and Jonnythan loosely defined it in another thread and asked that it be "kept in the history books". Well, I think it is a term that has some merit. It is funny that all the discussions here about what is or isn't DIR go back to "What does George say", but for some reason this term is considered "bad". The term clearly goes along with rule #1 (well, it IS rule #1), and mostly describes divers in advanced diving situations (soft or hard overhead) or technically trained divers IMO. It is a useful word for some situations. The word "Stroke" doesn't have anything to do with recreational divers in my opinion. I don't think he is talking about going out on a 2 tank boat dive and poking fun at all the folks on the boat.
In any case here is the actual definition of the word from the Man himself.
http://www.pina3.net/dive/stroke.htm
Now, I certainly don't think we should be calling each other strokes on the boards, but I think that it is an important word and its spirit should be embraced. It is really one of the tenets of Technical diving (well, Rule #1 is) Most folks will dive with anyone on a reef dive, but as soon as you start talking about overheads, people get pretty picky as to their dive buddies, and rightly so.
Thoughts?
Mark
In any case here is the actual definition of the word from the Man himself.
http://www.pina3.net/dive/stroke.htm
Now, I certainly don't think we should be calling each other strokes on the boards, but I think that it is an important word and its spirit should be embraced. It is really one of the tenets of Technical diving (well, Rule #1 is) Most folks will dive with anyone on a reef dive, but as soon as you start talking about overheads, people get pretty picky as to their dive buddies, and rightly so.
Thoughts?
Mark