What's your take on DIR?

[Vie]

do you all hold your own hands for warmth? or is it for comfort?

The left hand gets lonely when one forgets to bring the canister light.

 

[PerroneFord]

what is with the hand positioning? breaking the sound barrier? or something like that?

It's a center of gravity issue mostly, but also one of convenience. In order to be head's up, and legs up, a diver has to be horizontal in the water. So you must balance yourself otherwise you will point up or down. Over the course of the dive I find my hands in different positions to achieve that balance. If I am going head heavy, my legs extend more and my hands come closer to my face. If my feet are slightly heavy, I extend my arms a bit and my legs tuck in more.

As a diver new to this position underwater, I also find it useful to keep my hands in front of my chin as a reminder to keep my back arched. It FORCES me to. As I get more proficient at it, I suspect I'll be able to put my hands where I want. It's a crutch that I am allowing myself right now.

 

[piikki]

Hey Perrone - ltns!

Does JJ impose longer-than-usual gag order after his Fundies?

Talking about pics... someone is in possession of more compromising pics of you and your Fundies mates. If you wish to take a peek, drop me a PM and with some bribery I might share. (Just kidding they are all topside water shots if you don't happen to have any memorabilia from BG in Jan)

 

[MXGratefulDiver]

Hi, all- I'm very new, and trying to understand some stuff here. I just recently completed PADI OW and the first half of AOW, when I realized that I knew next to nothing, and that my texts had not-so-much usefull info in them. I put up a post in the "Basic Scuba" discussion thread asking for info on gas management, and was pleasantly suprised by how many helpfull responses I got. (Especially Gratefull Diver's doc he sent me- Thanks again, Bob!) I also noticed a fair bit of criticism towards PADI, most of which I think was fair. It seems ridiculous to me that they teach you next to nothing about gas management in the first two classes they offer. "Advanced", yeah, right. Anyway, That post caused me to notice the DIR discipline (discipline? School? Cult?) for the first time. I have done a bit of reading up on it, both in the sticky at the top of this section and elsewhere, but I'm confused about a few things. One item I gleaned is that there's apparently some reason the Suunto Cobra dive comp I just bought is not "DIR approved." Why, exactly, is that? What Comp do DIR divers favor? Do you guys really all wear identical gear configs? I scored a deal on a OMS BCD that seemed pretty cool to me, although I haven't dived with it yet...It seems to have a rigid backplate and "wings".....DIR approved or no?

And......sorry if this post is rambling on a little, but what is your take on DIR? What does it mean to you? I really like diving a lot, and want to be serious about it, but I feel almost as if I've wandered into a religious battleground here, or something....Northern Ireland in the 1980's, say.

First off, sorry you didn't get what you wanted out of your AOW ... one of the things I emphasize in that class is the gas management information I provided you.

You're coming out next Wednesday, yes? I'll make sure to pair you up with an experienced DIR-trained diver who can discuss your questions with you. Please keep in mind that these are not instructors ... and the purpose of this dive isn't instructional, but rather to provide the newly-trained diver with a perspective on what a good diver looks and acts like underwater ... and, of course, to give you a chance to ask the sort of questions you're asking here.

We'll be doing these dives on the first Wednesday of every month from now through October. Avail yourself of the opportunity ... you'll learn a lot simply by participating.

... Bob (Grateful Diver)

 

[PerroneFord]

I've just been busy. Good to see you.

I'd love some pics. Grab my email address from my profile.

-P

Hey Perrone - ltns!

Does JJ impose longer-than-usual gag order after his Fundies?

Talking about pics... someone is in possession of more compromising pics of you and your Fundies mates. If you wish to take a peek, drop me a PM and with some bribery I might share. (Just kidding they are all topside water shots if you don't happen to have any memorabilia from BG in Jan)

 

[TSandM]

BTW, NEITHER of the GUE instructors I've dived with keeps his hands together at all. Both do keep their hands out in front of them. It lengthens the CG platform, and in a dry suit, you can use a little air in your arms to help trim out if you need it.

 

[Nailer99]

Take a look at the following photo. I am the diver at the back. I am wearing double tanks, and all the gear I'd take on a 100ft dive. My gear is configured in the standard DIR configuration.

The diver to my left is configured in a standard recreational configuration. The diver leading the group is also a recreational diver, but a very good one who's spent some time streamlining his gear.

Take a look at our diving posture in the water, where our hoses are, and how streamlined you think we might be in the water. Share your thoughts. By the way, both of these divers have far more dives than me.

This picture says a lot to me. I defenitely resemble the guy on the left, but I'm not as organized as him!

Thanks for all the info, everybody, I appreciate the input.

Bob- Yes, I'll defenitely be there on Wednesday; looking forward to meeting you and Lynne!

At this point, all I really know is that I don't know much. I'm looking forward to a summer of diving and getting my gear set up so that I don't have to keep renting sketchy stuff from the LDS. A big part of my interest in DIR is wanting to make sure I was buying gear that is compatible with my future diving goals, this stuff is expensive, as I'm sure you all know allready. I'm also just plain curious about everything. DIR may or may not be for me, but I'm pretty sure I like some aspects of it a lot, so far. Thanks again, there's a lot of great info in this thread.

-Josh