Posted by Jarrod Jablonski on January 07, 2001 at 13:37:28:
Briefly reviewing a few of your posts I thought a few words might be helpful. I have been involved in the growth of what became DIR since its earliest times. Actually I wrote the first article on this phenomenon called Hogarthian “What is all the fuss about” more than ten years ago. This article still appears in several forms in different places on the net and elsewhere, as do many articles on the formation and logic behind DIR.
DIR philosophy has undergone several complaints well represented by many of your comments. These include concerns that DIR was not accessible enough, was too mean-spirited, and did not speak to universal diving needs. We are working hard to dispel some of these notions and to make the information more available. Some of this effort is from our website at www.gue.com and also in print form in a series of publication releases starting at the end of this month along. This will also include a complete revision of the equipment section on the free part of the GUE website located at www.gue.com/equipment. This revised section will focus more heavily on the philosophy and equipment as it pertains to recreational open water divers.
The most ironic part about DIR diving is that it is actually MORE beneficial in places outside the areas in which it was developed. For example, the foundation of DIR occurred in deep wreck diving and long range cave diving in. Yet we have repeatedly seen its benefit to actually be more notable for newly certified open water divers and other recreational divers in places around the world. This is because DIR was carefully designed for maximum simplicity and minimum effort. While exploring caves in excess of three miles at 300’ or regularly diving in wrecks beyond 300’ we noticed that logistics became complicated all by themselves and that any confusion or areas that were left open for interpretation led to increased risk and even to fatalities. In these harsh environments compromises or confusion led to the death of close friends- something that affected each of our core group in different ways.
Personally, I have always been interested in seeing the growth of DIR concepts to as many people as possible, letting the individual make the ultimate choice about what they would like to pursue. I strongly believe that the use of DIR philosophy without the use of ALL DIR equipment can be extremely beneficial. In fact, my first DIR publication focuses on the fundamentals of DIR, which apply to everyone, most notably the average diver seeking to get more out of their recreational diving. Despite the pressure to cater to leading edge divers I feel the basics are more important. Of the eleven chapters only one of these treats equipment (it is a big chapter) while the rest focus on the principles central to safe diving. Throughout the book I talk about how divers can use these concepts to have more FUN. That is, after all the point for most of us anyway.
I travel pretty extensively and every time I dive in a new area I enjoy seeing all the benefits that DIR can bring. Realistically speaking the ideas in DIR are not rocket science. When diving in California or elsewhere these basic principles can help keep you safe and enable you to have more fun. For example big knives on your leg catch in kelp, slow your kick, and create excess drag. The same can be said for bulky hanging consoles, and large poorly fitted bc’s. Of course one can dive without these changes but just as you would not ride a bike with flat tires most people come to see that small reductions in drag soon become an obvious advantage.
It is true that you can’t grasp one isolated part of DIR and then claim to dive DIR but this point misses the essential reality that it really does not matter to most what KIND of diving you are doing- only that you are having more fun. Minor changes in one’s equipment can yield dramatic returns regardless of what you call the end product. Of course, once most of you get started I imagine that you will find it hard to stop making these sort of improvements to your diving.
Simply consider that every doubling of surface area results in a resistance that is four times the original resistance, requiring an energy cost that is nearly cubed. Therefore small changes in your equipment can provide radical benefits to your diving regardless of whether you embrace or accept DIR and the rest of its ideas. Most active divers that give these ideas a try find that the benefit goes beyond political quibbles and insensitive communication. In fact, they usually become proponents of DIR ideas because sharing something fun and exciting is hard to resist. In any case, please consider the idea that so many DIR practitioners get excited about what we are doing is a reflection of the FUN to be had in these changes. Regardless of your level of interest there is a lot of benefit in to be found in the ideas and practices of DIR and I wish you the best in your search to decide what is best for you.
Thanks for your time.
Happy diving all,
Jarood Jablonski
aka
JJ