Perception of the DIR community?

[Rob Holman]

I think all you strokes out there are missing the real value of DIR. It is more than a diving technique, it is a lifestyle as demonstrated in this very old but entirely true life scenario below.

The whole thing is true. It came to me via the Internet so I know it's true...

I converted to DIR about 6 months ago and I have found that the philosophy extends way beyond diving. I think most people tend to view DIR as a gear configuration or diving objective type of thing but it really is a philosophy that you can use in other parts of your life. For instance, below are just some of the ways I've extended the DIR way of doing things into other areas of my life.

Last week some of my buddies came over to my house. Now, not all of them are divers but they do understand the DIR philosophy. So, first off, we all drink the same beer. This avoids any situations where you might be enjoying a lager and accidentally pick up an ale (or the other way around). That can be very uncool. That could quickly lead to a panic situation so we avoid it all together.

We also drink only from cans, no bottles. And we never put the beer in the refrigerator. It always goes in the ice chest in my living room. 47% of Drinking Related Incidents (DRI) occur when someone is going to the fridge for another beer so better to be safe than sorry. Of course, this is all rigged up while we're still 100% sober so there's no impaired judgment once things get cooking.

All of us wear a bungee necklace with a full beer on it just in case someone experiences an Out Of Beer (OOB) emergency. I can offer my already opened beer to my buddy and simply reach down and grab the backup off my beer necklace. And, without exception, we always use the 7 foot hose on the beer bong.

Of course, we don't stay in every night so when we do decide to go out we make sure we're still DIR. All of us wear exactly the same clothing:

Levi's 501 Jeans (button hole, straight leg)
Gap Black T-Shirt
Haynes boxer shorts, black
Gold Toe socks, black
Kenneth Cole shoes, Brad Bitt style
G-Shock watch, black band
Nylon belt, black, with military buckle
Black Leather Jacket (optional, depending on weather conditions)

This may sound a bit silly or overdone but believe me, when you're penetrating a night club, knowing exactly what you buddies are dressed like can make all the difference in the world if you're hoping to snag some hottie. Let's say I see some cutie and just before I get up to go talk to her a waitress spills a drink in my lap? No problem, because I can always swap pants with my buddy. I don't have to worry if they match, because I know he's wearing Levi's 501's. Bam, swap pants and I can still complete my objective.

One thing to keep in mind about night clubs is that you seldom want to penetrate a club on beer. I know, some of the macho jerks do this and brag to all of their buddies but believe me, it's not DIR. You have to do it on mixed drinks. Obviously the mix will be different on different nights but a good vodka tonic mix is pretty standard. Again, there's a right way and a wrong way to do this. You can't just order any old vodka or depend on some bartender to get the mix right. That's what the strokes do. No, you order Stoli vodka which has an excellent reputation in the DIR partying community. The correct blend is 2oz Stoli with tonic water poured over ice in a highball glass (lemon or lime optional). I always bring a testing kit with me and if the blend is off, I send it back. It's just not worth the risk and it's not DIR.

So you penetrate the night club and you've got a good mix, now it's time to meet the ladies. I should have said this earlier but watch your drink consumption. It's a well known fact that women look 25% - 30% better in a night club and if you get all narc'd up on vodka tonic, it increases your chances of a coyote ugly blackout. You have to keep your wits about you.

If it's early, you probably have pretty good viz. Later in the evening when the smoke silts up the room it'll be harder to make out the women on the other side of the club so get your headings early. On a few occasions I've had to bust out the wreck reel just to get to the bathroom and back.

If you are lucky enough to hook up with a nice hottie, this is when doing it right really can pay off. Now, let's face it, there's a certain degree of danger involved here that I don't want to downplay. You need to minimize your risks by using the proper equipment. I carry 2 condoms. One I put on . . . well you know, and the second I put on a bungee that goes around my waist. If there's a malfunction on my primary, I can quickly go to my backup without hardly skipping a beat.

So, as you can see from these pretty basic examples, DIR is not just for diving. It's something you can use in all areas of your life.

[Marc]

This is painful for me to admit..... Richard and are in complete agreement regarding philosophy. I can't think of a better thought out answer than that.

[lamont]

Being able to function as a team makes diving unbelievably easier. I cant stress this enough. Rob's example of cave diving (with failures thrown at us) with someone we never met before basically sums up why we like GUE so much.

I don't think GUE/DIR has the market on diving as a team. I dive with 2 guys pretty regularly and we are a great team. We have some of our own ways of communicating with each other that maybe others wouldn't know. We made some things up as we found the need and didn't have a reference.. But we don't even need to signal most of the time because we just know...spooky... And it is just a lot of fun. However, being a team with someone is no substitute for going over the dive plan and communication before the dive. We always try to review our signals and game plan before every dive. And when we dive with other people, we are then in the habit of reviewing their system of communication so that everyone gets on the same page.

Again, I am just trying to understand and I don't know enough about it..

Team diving goes a lot beyond just familiarity with each other, predive briefings and standardized signals.

It is the most difficult thing to learn in diving. When Casey McKinley was asked what needs to be done to take a GUE tech2/cave2 diver and incorporate them into the WKPP the top thing on his list was teaching them teamwork -- and this is after being taught teamwork skills in a minimum of 5 different GUE courses and having all the really obvious stuff down cold before you ever start with tech1 or cave1.

The kind of team failures that I'm working on fixing now are mostly dealing with not having teammembers become task focused, having teammembers communicate effectively underwater to the point of not being shy of whipping out wetnotes to make certain that the communication happened, and being able to diagnose stress in teammates and deal with that appropriately. I'm way beyond predive briefings now, but I expect there's still areas of teamwork that I don't even realize that I need to improve on...

[dsteding]

This is painful for me to admit..... Richard and are in complete agreement regarding philosophy. I can't think of a better thought out answer than that.

And the wolf lays down with the lamb . . .

[CaptnJack]

And the wolf lays down with the lamb . . .

http://www.muttonbone.com/index.html

[dsteding]

And the wolf lays down with the lamb . . .

http://www.muttonbone.com/index.html

OMG, I am so disturbed.

[CaptnJack]

What was that about lambs and wolves...

[dsteding]

What was that about lambs and wolves...

I said "lays down" not err, well, this is a family site.

[CaptnJack]

I said "lays down" not err, well, this is a family site.

Not after you brought up this whole DIR connundrum

[Marc]

I thought that said dawn..... hmmm

[Tangfish]

Hilarious, Rob!

[cardiver]

I LIVE IN ENUMCLAW...... THEY DON'T PLAY WITH BLOW UP DOLLS OUT HERE....ONLY THE REAL THING!

[Sounder]

I carry 2 condoms. One I put on . . . well you know, and the second I put on a bungee that goes around my waist. If there's a malfunction on my primary, I can quickly go to my backup without hardly skipping a beat.

So, as you can see from these pretty basic examples, DIR is not just for diving. It's something you can use in all areas of your life.

If you become too narc'd to complete your objective WITH said hottie (due to over consumption of the wrong mix), you can always depend on another member of your team to complete your objective for you. It'll save you face too because seeing as everyone is exactly the same, she won't know the difference between you and your buddy... and if it was a training objective, you can learn from re-watching the video!!

Nice work Rob!

[sparky]

I had not been following this thread for a while i take it we got side tracked WAY OFF TOPIC?

Sparky

[Rob Holman]

I had not been following this thread for a while i take it we got side tracked WAY OFF TOPIC?

I think just about everything that can be said has been said...

Nice work Rob!

Thanks Doug, but I cannot claim credit. That is an old story from several years back... I have always found if hysterical!

[peo]

Being able to function as a team makes diving unbelievably easier. I cant stress this enough. Rob's example of cave diving (with failures thrown at us) with someone we never met before basically sums up why we like GUE so much.

I don't think GUE/DIR has the market on diving as a team. I dive with 2 guys pretty regularly and we are a great team. We have some of our own ways of communicating with each other that maybe others wouldn't know. We made some things up as we found the need and didn't have a reference.. But we don't even need to signal most of the time because we just know...spooky... And it is just a lot of fun. However, being a team with someone is no substitute for going over the dive plan and communication before the dive. We always try to review our signals and game plan before every dive. And when we dive with other people, we are then in the habit of reviewing their system of communication so that everyone gets on the same page.

Again, I am just trying to understand and I don't know enough about it..

Team diving goes a lot beyond just familiarity with each other, predive briefings and standardized signals.

It is the most difficult thing to learn in diving. When Casey McKinley was asked what needs to be done to take a GUE tech2/cave2 diver and incorporate them into the WKPP the top thing on his list was teaching them teamwork -- and this is after being taught teamwork skills in a minimum of 5 different GUE courses and having all the really obvious stuff down cold before you ever start with tech1 or cave1.

The kind of team failures that I'm working on fixing now are mostly dealing with not having teammembers become task focused, having teammembers communicate effectively underwater to the point of not being shy of whipping out wetnotes to make certain that the communication happened, and being able to diagnose stress in teammates and deal with that appropriately. I'm way beyond predive briefings now, but I expect there's still areas of teamwork that I don't even realize that I need to improve on...

I was going to write something close to this, but you beat me too it, and you did a good job at it.

I find this one of the most contentious and ambiguous areas in describing what DIR diving is about. Team skills seem so easy, and often seem like you're so good at it in your own perspective, until you get really challenged one way or another. "Good team skills" is such a vague and subjective term that I think it should be banned from all use. :-)

A bit more seriously, whenever I get to the point where I feel as if my team skills are good, I begin to doubt my self-awareness, and I begin to look for ways to challenge myself on that and improve my team skills to a higher level.

Edit: Oh, and I probably come across as a DIR jerk when I post this. That's not my intent, I just wanted to say that some of these things are really on a very subjective scale, and it's very hard to compare apples and pears. I think that makes the "debate" between the DIR camp and non-DIR camp that much harder to follow, since many arguments may appear arbitrary and over the board.

[Tom Nic]

I think we are lucky to have good instructors in this area.

Yes we are! ... and to have very knowledgeable folks who are willing to share as well.

Thanks again for the positive conversation Tom, I've added you to the list of people I have to dive with.

I enjoyed the conversation as well, and look forward to diving with you someday! Sounder and I have been diving most weeks, and due to my somewhat flexible schedule and Sounder being gainfully unemployed we've been enjoying midweek diving! I know you'd be welcome to join us anytime your schedule permits.

I just want to say again "Good Job" with you "shepherding" this thread along... (although I probably shouldn't use any word connected with sheep after this last page... I almost hurt myself reading...)

[LCF]

You know, I think the bottom line of this thread (or any like it) was said tonight, as Bob and I talked about the topic in the Fishnchips place at Cove 2.

We're all divers.

Each of us is going to find a way to go diving that pleases us, and people with whom to dive who we enjoy. There's room in the ocean for everybody, and as long as everyone is diving safely and is being respectful of the underwater environment, there's no real room for intolerance or snobbery.

Except I'm a silt snob. I can't help myself :-)

[dsteding]

A bit more seriously, whenever I get to the point where I feel as if my team skills are good, I begin to doubt my self-awareness, and I begin to look for ways to challenge myself on that and improve my team skills to a higher level.

Peo, that is a great point. I've already experienced this a few times, be it team skills or dive skills generally. The moment I think I have something wired I realize I have so much more to go. For me, it is a cycle of "I got it, wait, no that was humbling, errr, time to work on things more." I imagine that is the same cycle you go through, but in your case--given your experience--you recognize that and then look for ways to stay out of a rut, so to speak.

Thanks for pitching in here.

Edit: Oh, and I probably come across as a DIR jerk when I post this. That's not my intent, I just wanted to say that some of these things are really on a very subjective scale, and it's very hard to compare apples and pears. I think that makes the "debate" between the DIR camp and non-DIR camp that much harder to follow, since many arguments may appear arbitrary and over the board.

I wouldn't say you came across as a jerk, to the contrary, I think this last statement is helpful in further illuminating the friction between the DIR and non-DIR camps. Much is lost in translation given the forums in which these debates often occur.

[dsteding]

I just want to say again "Good Job" with you "shepherding" this thread along... (although I probably shouldn't use any word connected with sheep after this last page... I almost hurt myself reading...)

Thanks again Tom, although I think the civil tone of this thread is mostly the result of the participants, not any "sheparding" I've done . . .

Speaking of sheep, where did I put that tire pump anyways?

[dsteding]

We're all divers.

Each of us is going to find a way to go diving that pleases us, and people with whom to dive who we enjoy. There's room in the ocean for everybody, and as long as everyone is diving safely and is being respectful of the underwater environment, there's no real room for intolerance or snobbery.

A nice way to wrap things up.