What is, and what isn't DIR?

[eelpout]

As somebody already mentioned, any course you take, the result will reflect on the instructor not the agency. I agree with that 100%. What makes GUE different is the training program that their instructors have to go through.
Their training is top notch and Quality Control is the highest in the US (my opinion). That is the reason why there are very few GUE instructors out there.

I am considered an "Old School" Instctructor. I went through the NAUI program all the way to Instructor. I crossovered to PADI for the access to better training materials (back in the 85), and have continued through the years picking up TDI and HSA.

I have been actively teaching since 1980. I looked into becoming a GUE instructor and realized the my age and time would not allow to go through their program. If somebody came to me and asked what instructor program he should look at, I would tell him to go GUE.

There is a alot of politics in this sport. I would say look at the instructor, the content of the course, ask for personal references, and dive with the people that he or she has trained.

I did not know anything about GUE/DIR till a buddy of mine came back from a trip with his family to Grand Cayman. He dove with Ocean Adventures, which happens to be a GUE/DIR compliant facility. He was impressed and being the Scientist that he is (Chemical Engineer) he evaluated and questioned them about the GUE/DIR program. He came home enthusiastic and told me that I should look into it.

Being the skeptic that I am, I started looking into it. I started asking around and I got a lot of information from a lot of sources. A lot of it was personal opionions on the people who ran GUE, rather than the program itself. From my esteemed "old school" instructors, the comment was "they do it like we used to". So I did more research. I finally came up with a way to find out if it really was what they (GUE) was spouting about.

I am married to a Scuba Instructor who has been actively teaching since 1985. I gave her the DIR Fundamentals course for a Christmas present. She flew to Georgia and took the class. She came back with the answers to my skeptical questions. She was a convert. We implemented what she learned from her class in our teaching (better buddy system, better buoyancy control, access to BP/wing for our students, acces to long hose, etc).

I was too busy doing playing Tournament Paintball all over the country. I quit doing that and took my DIR F class. We try to instill how we dive with all our classes. We are hoping to get a GUE instrcutor in our area soon. For right now we have to fly somebody in to teach any of the GUE courses.

I hope my story gives a little enlightening on this subject.

Still blowing bubbles after 36 years,
Jim

[Papa Bear]

I have three different certs for cave diving and it still boils down to know your equipment and your buddies! The equipment list of DIR conflicts #2 with # 4 and # 5. I disagree with having your long hose on your primary reg "Because you know it works" that is my air and I get the one that works! My buddy will get the spare or back up reg! We are forgetting who's air it is! It is mine and one dead cave diver is better than two. I never take my reg out of my mouth in an emergency! This is fatally flawed thinking and goes against everything basic I have learned and investigated after the fact. Your trouble "Here take this and follow me" "You set the pace" from behind me, but it is my air to manage and it is my responsibility to see that "I" get back. If you can be in control of yourself and play nice we will probably both get out! If you dive with me you know all of this and there is no surprise! You can learn more about me at twotankedproductions.com

[Tigerbeach]

Welcome aboard, Papa Bear!

[acelockco]

I have three different certs for cave diving and it still boils down to know your equipment and your buddies! The equipment list of DIR conflicts #2 with # 4 and # 5. I disagree with having your long hose on your primary reg "Because you know it works" that is my air and I get the one that works! My buddy will get the spare or back up reg! We are forgetting who's air it is! It is mine and one dead cave diver is better than two. I never take my reg out of my mouth in an emergency! This is fatally flawed thinking and goes against everything basic I have learned and investigated after the fact. Your trouble "Here take this and follow me" "You set the pace" from behind me, but it is my air to manage and it is my responsibility to see that "I" get back. If you can be in control of yourself and play nice we will probably both get out! If you dive with me you know all of this and there is no surprise! You can learn more about me at twotankedproductions.com

Your method is fine, but it is NOT DIR, that is all. And I am not saying that DIR is the best method or not. I personally like a lot of what DIR says, but there are some things I don't agree with. The biggest thing I disagree with is the name itself, DIR. It sould rather be called DIU, for Do It Uniformly.

[Papa Bear]

Your method is fine, but it is NOT DIR, that is all. And I am not saying that DIR is the best method or not. I personally like a lot of what DIR says, but there are some things I don't agree with. The biggest thing I disagree with is the name itself, DIR. It sould rather be called DIU, for Do It Uniformly.

Can't disagree with that!:p

[eelpout]

I have personally experienced being on the donor end of out of air emergencies twice. Both OOA divers were not my buddies. In both situations they grabbed my primary reg and I had to put my back up reg (octopus) in my mouth.

The first incident was on a wreck in 70' of water. The diver just yanked my regulator from my mouth, and started giving me a frantic thumbs up signal. I tried to calm him down and was able to get him to the surface at a decent ascent rate.

The second incident was a little calmer. I was on a dive with a camera and the OOA diver came to me and gave me the signal, before I could deploy my octpus, he yanked my primary.

Based on my personal experience, I always warn my students that there is a 50/50 chance that the person who OOA will yank your primary.

In technical/overhead enrironment I dive with the long hose on my primary because I will not take the chance that the person who is OOA will not hae the long hose and cause a very difficult exit if we are in a cramped space.

I took my DIR F before my Cave classes. I took my cave class from a NSS/CDs instructor because there were no GUE instructors availabel during the time. I finished my full cave with a NSS/CDS-NACD Instrucor. They both strongly advocated and taught the primary was on the long hose.

The breathing a long hose on the primary is not and never will be an exclusive of GUE. It is well thought of skill thatis taught because of personal experiences like mine.

Jim

[acelockco]

I will not take the chance that the person who is OOA will not hae the long hose and cause a very difficult exit if we are in a cramped space.

Did it ever occour to anyone that after a few seconds when the other diver catches his breath, you can swap regulators to give him/her whatever hose is longer. You don't have to stay in any awkward position.

[eelpout]

{Did it ever occour to anyone that after a few seconds when the other diver catches his breath, you can swap regulators to give him/her whatever hose is longer. You don't have to stay in any awkward position}

Based on my experience , the person our of air is not going to do anything but ascend /or get out of the are he or she is in.

If the OOA diver came to me and he would not have to be an akward position to begin with.

Strangely, this is a DIR forum, as I mentioned before this practice (diving the long hose as a primary) is not exclusive to the GUE/DIR program. Somebody seemed to question the sanity behind the equipment configuration, I gave the my point of view.

Jim

[BamaCaveDiver]

I have three different certs for cave diving and it still boils down to know your equipment and your buddies! The equipment list of DIR conflicts #2 with # 4 and # 5. I disagree with having your long hose on your primary reg "Because you know it works" that is my air and I get the one that works! My buddy will get the spare or back up reg! We are forgetting who's air it is! It is mine and one dead cave diver is better than two. I never take my reg out of my mouth in an emergency! This is fatally flawed thinking and goes against everything basic I have learned and investigated after the fact. Your trouble "Here take this and follow me" "You set the pace" from behind me, but it is my air to manage and it is my responsibility to see that "I" get back. If you can be in control of yourself and play nice we will probably both get out! If you dive with me you know all of this and there is no surprise! You can learn more about me at twotankedproductions.com

The purpose of using the long hose as your primary is that in a true emergency the OOA diver is likely to panic and grab the reg from your mouth (as opposed to asking nicely for your octo as was practiced in OW class.) Once panic has set in you want to limit additional stressors such as swapping regs again. You should be checking your backup to ensure that it is functioning, and the smart diver will use a reg equal in quality to their primary for the backup. Carrying a cheap octo as your backup is like skydiving using a bedsheet for your reserve canopy; it just does not make sense to try to save a few dollars on life support equipment.

[amtrosie]

I have three different certs for cave diving and it still boils down to know your equipment and your buddies! The equipment list of DIR conflicts #2 with # 4 and # 5. I disagree with having your long hose on your primary reg "Because you know it works" that is my air and I get the one that works! My buddy will get the spare or back up reg! We are forgetting who's air it is! It is mine and one dead cave diver is better than two. I never take my reg out of my mouth in an emergency! This is fatally flawed thinking and goes against everything basic I have learned and investigated after the fact. Your trouble "Here take this and follow me" "You set the pace" from behind me, but it is my air to manage and it is my responsibility to see that "I" get back. If you can be in control of yourself and play nice we will probably both get out! If you dive with me you know all of this and there is no surprise! You can learn more about me at twotankedproductions.com

You contradict yourself. First you say that it all boils down to "equipment and buddies", then further down you mention that an OOA (gas) situation, you mention "my air to manage" and your "responsibility to get back" What is it ? Buddies or you? Is it not better to have NO dead cave divers, rather than the one or two in your scenario?

First dispense with the "DIR" is only doing it right. Too many people have latched on to that phrase without looking in to what it really is. The philosophy that has been adopted by GUE as the vehicle to maintain uniformity and consistency in their students is called the "Hogarthian set-up". The originators of the GUE took that and said "to do this as safe as possible, we WILL do it this way!

NOW, the issue: GUE at its very core is about the team. Let me repeat this.....THE TEAM. So if there is an individual diving with me who insist that his resources are his alone, well, they will not be diving with me! The team dives together, it's resources, are shared through out the team and utilized by the team. The drilling and practicing that ensues is to insure the safety of the team. So why the primary on the long hose? Because that is the quickest way to start to ease a panicked situation. BamaCaveDiver is 100% right in having two equally high performing regulators as primary and secondary.

I was fully certified as a cave diver before GUE came into being. My gear and equipment reflected the conventional wisdom of that time. Since I have adopted the GUE training as my own practice, my gear clutter has disappeared, my awareness increased, my technical ability improved significantly. Each of my dives starts with me and my partner doing an "S drill" (safety drill), which in part, has us submerged, fully deploying the long hose, sharing our gas supply. Our reactions are such, that the primary is the "go-to" reg.