Posted by Maddiver on September 03, 2001 at 14:22:06:
Just as there are different varieties of ‘runners’ – those that run marathons and those that run around the block and different divers (those who dive everyday and those that slap the bumper sticker on their car and hollar away) There are now distinctions of DIR divers….Its pretty funny since almost everyone of these guys wants to be associated with WKPP and the happenings at WAKULLA. How many of you guys have had your little toe in the water at Wakulla or even know where it is? DIR used to be GI 3 and his ‘horses’. It no longer embodies this and many walks of life now embrace DIR. So my girlfriend who just got certified is ‘DIR’ she does not belong to some big shot club, just dives in a certain fashion. Does this mean she is any worse or better than her classmates…..no way. I see horrible DIR divers all the time and even some that dive the coveted ‘Wakulla’ have made huge elementary mistakes.
And I don’t need to go into the delivery and how it puts everyone off. At one time this had a slightly positive impact. Historically the ‘smacked in the face’ delivery was the style of George on the cavers list (I think the first time I know of him using stroke or FAS was 1996 or 1997). As a new and impressionable cave diver I was entertained by the flaming words he wrote in the face of the ‘majority’ of hose stuffers and butt mounters. But the flaming and wars caused me to truly consider my alternatives much longer and more intensely than if I had not had the exposure to G I ‘s rantings. This delivery should have evolved as DIR became more mainstream and actually moved toward recreational diving. The problem is that many individuals that do not have GI’s experience and knowledge start spewing at the mouth because they think it makes them some bigshot. So in a way DIR has evolved to feed starving egos. Look, truth is those that go out buy all Halcyon gear and GUE courses are not DIR divers…..you can’t throw money at diving and expect to be granted with superior diving skills. GUE does not ready you to do 300 foot deep 18K penetrations at Wakulla…you must develop outside the classroom and excel on your own.
My fear is that one day DIR divers will become so loathed that they will have no one to dive with (even among other DIR divers).