Posted by Jim Hoffmann on January 18, 2001 at 13:57:17:
I think that the DIR discussion we have been having has been a good thing. Although I find some of the DIR beliefs dogmatic, I agree with what it stands for (that is safer diving practices). I don’t think that in the 30 years I have been diving I have seen a
movement like DIR . It has caught the imagination of many . Here is a system that is telling us that “this is the right way to equip ourselves,” and “this is the right way to think about diving”. I think that sheer arrogance of this has turned many divers off to the
DIR massage (specially to divers who have been diving for a long time).
This is to bad because the DIR message is a good one . It tells us that we should think of our gear, not as sporting goods, but as life support equipment. It tells us that we should only take what we need, it tells us that you and your buddy should be self-sufficient and
that you should not dive with someone who is not, it tells us that we should dive as a team, it tells us that we should plan our dives as if we are going into a hazardous environment, because we are! I think that some of DIR message has been lost with the
flame wars about gauge placement or the use of computers or not. But I hope that this discussions has made the divers who read these post take a more critical look at their life support equipment and a more critical look at the way they are diving(because that is a
big part of the DIR message).
If we look at diving today we will find that we have no leadership, Cousteau has been dead for many years, the training agency’s seem only to want more money from us, the manufactures only want our dollars, and the dive stores are just trying to make a living.
Can DIR fill this void of leadership? If it does, I think that would be a good thing.
Jim Hoffmann
Scuba Toys
Naui 5888
Padi 6301