Buddys in the DIR system

[Deep Blue]

Hey everyone, I am back!!

Between running the store, having my full time job,and taking time with the family, posting has got to take a backseat sometimes

At Deep Blue, we teach traditional donation from the retaining device in our open water classes, simply because most open water students will never dive outside of a few times a year and will run into this equipment configuration in rental equipment all over the world.

We do expose them to the system, through classroom discussion as well as in the open water dives, since I personally wear a long hose setup during checkouts. If I am not wearing a light, my snorkel makes a great holder to route the long hose under and hold it in place.

There is nothing in either the PADI or NAUI standards to prevent a store from implementing a DIR approach in their training, however, we do not make it a focus in the open water course. We do however, take many of the principals such as team based diving, personal fitness and streamlined equipment configurations and incorporate them into our discussions.

One goal of our training is to have all of our open water divers understand the basics of the DIR system so that they can make good equipment choices that will hopefully not limit their options down the road. Some pursue this direction, others do not, but at least they have the information.

Starting with advanced open water, we focus much more on the DIR system, that is when we really start to serve the koolaid

I disagree with the idea of a "tech AOW" this implies that training in a backplate adn long hose is automatically tech. I also believe that this system can and does dramatically benefit the recreational diver.