I haven't taken the GUE fundamentals yet... I know little to nothing about team oriented diving... but of late I tend to dive with DIR or tech diver types.
I'm a year into having DIR tech diving compliant gear. Maybe 30 dives in my singles rig? While I was certified in 1992, for intents and purposes I'm more or less as new to DIR/tech as you might be. Not only new to DIR but new to Seattle.
I went diving with an old friend in Monterey a few years back. He introduced me to the notion of DIR and unified team diving. I thought at the time he was a crackpot as he was showing me how he was going to donate his regular in case I ran out of gas. Total looneybird! Of course when we got in the water he was perfectly horizontal, relaxed and in control of everything. He kept needling me about how many things underwater I missed because I was too busy filling and dumping my BC or struggling keep still.Kalatin wrote: How did you get involved with DIR diving?
Dive charter boats made me start investigating DIR diving. When I go on vacation I am usually on a dive boat without a buddy. I was paired up with all manner of other divers. I became exhausted by the scene on these boats. It became difficult to have fun for a variety of reasons. Unsafe dive buddies, unreliable and sketchy dive gear failing, instructors and classes failing about, mis-information, hubris and collective ignorance all scaring the living crap out of me. Countless times where my fun was ruined because someone else was having a hard time. Even the "advanced" divers I was often paired up with now and then were utterly calamitous. My hope is that getting more involved with DIR diving I'll be able to go anywhere in the world and find other people with the same exact dive methodology.Kalatin wrote:What made you decide to pursue that philosophy?
What really clicked with me was learning that overarching goal of the DIR philosophy was to increase the amount of fun you had diving. Fun? No PADI course assured me that I was supposed to have fun. Man oh man, I want to dive with people who make fun a priority. (thanks to Ed Hayes for making this clear recently)
You'll probably see me in doubles sometime soon but I'm not sure I'm going to go the full-on tech route. I often just enjoy floating around within the recreational limits happy to be under the water. The other misconception I had to get over was the fact that you don't need to do extreme diving to get into DIR diving.
I also tend to gravitate to community type hobbies. I was really into the open source software scene during the dot com boom.... I used to own a particular type of motorcycle because of the support community and owners groups that allowed me to learn from others.
I can't speak as a real DIR or tech diver but I can say that when you're on a dive boat with a long hose and regulator around your neck you get asked all kinds of annoying questions. Usually you can tell the people who are actually interested vs. the hecklers. It used to make me self conscious and I would fret about being ostracized... but being hungup about not being picked for the kickball team is better left for the shrink's office than a dive boat. I got over it. However it seems that the PNW has more divers in backplates/wings and necklaces than anywhere I've run into so far.Kalatin wrote:What reaction do you get from the rest of the dive community?
I did get a toothache underwater once and bit through mouthpiece from the pain. Increased PSI is a great way to find out you need a root canal.Kalatin wrote:You don't really bite new divers, do you?
Every single DIR person I've talked to or dove with has welcomed me warmly regardless of my skill level or type of gear.
Hope this newbie point of view helps.
-Eric