I had heard of DIR - Doing it Right, but what was DIS - Doing it Simple? From my perspective DIS popped up from multiple directions at the same time. First one then another friend mentioned they had joined a new email list called DIS, a sort of self-help discussion group about technical diving with leanings to DIR.
Then Izzy Imset invited me to come to Portland and find out about DIS. I arrived to one of the brightest and calmest days of the summer so far. Despite the temptation to just go diving, Izzy and I settled down at the Underwater Explorers shop to talk through the philosophy of DIS and DIR and to rig me with a set of equipment.
Izzy was enthusiastic about the rapid growth of the group “We have 180 plus online members since the list was set up in November 2000. The local diving group is very active.”
“I think our non-aggressive approach suits the questioning European mentality. We established www.dis-uk.org as a European, civilised and positive approach. Many of us are fully DIR in our diving, others are progressing towards DIR. Moving to DIR takes time and DIS-UK serves to fill the gap. The very name DIR conveys a sense of all or nothing, a very negative message to non-DIR divers. DIS is progressive.”
“I run DIS workshops in my own time. I also like to introduce the concepts and elements of the equipment in even the most basic diving courses. Getting divers to think more about equipment early on will avoid expensive mistakes.”
“DIS aims to eliminate Internet imitation culture. There are relative beginners who read DIR from web pages, buy all the kit, look the business, talk the talk, but don't really know what they are doing. They can be the most dogmatic and a poor advertisement for the system.”
Andrew Georgitsis is Training Director of GUE, the American technical diving agency which sits at the top of DIR. “I see DIS as a local effort to inform divers about DIR techniques” says Andrew.
DIS includes divers who, for various reasons, are not fully DIR. Andrew comments: “Divers that dive with only some parts of DIR will undoubtedly experience improvements in their diving. However, these divers will not get the most out of their diving and in some cases pervert DIR concepts, making their diving more complicated. We encourage divers to experience DIR completely to get the absolute most out of their diving.”
I get a similar message from Andy Kerslake, one of the first GUE instructors in the UK “I see DIS as an enabling group. Sometimes DIR has a fairly in your face attitude with no compromises. DIS enables those interested to move towards DIR.”
“DIR is about reaching team consensus, but always questioning. As far as possible it is about simplification and an uncompromising attitude towards safety. There is no other complete system that is readily available. All others are based on personal preference, and there are always differences between divers. Most other teams are simply a collection of individuals with different agenda's - DIR is totally about the team.”
Another long term DIR diver is John Grogan. “I think recreational diving in the UK can learn a lot from DIR methods and procedures” says John. “There are many occasions when I read incident reports, where I think that if that person had a better buddy, wasn't using such convoluted equipment, was breathing proper gases etc, then an incident, injury or death might not have occurred.”
“DIS is largely for those people who want a gentle route into DIR; the club diver who wants to apply DIR in their club environment, wanting to learn more about nitrox diving, equipment configuration, up-to-date decompression theory.”
Without doubt, serious DIR divers see DIS as a route to DIR, but there are also DIS divers with different views.
The term Doing it Simple is originally credited to cave divers Stuart Morrison and Fred Pinna. I asked Stuart for the story “We were involved in a project in France. There was a large true zealot DIR presence and we found their 'holier-than-thou' arrogance a little off-putting. Their credibility was undermined by the fact that they were not getting the results to justify their attitude.”
“One evening over quite a lot of red wine DIS was born. Fred and I declared ourselves first presidents, then princes and ultimately popes of DIS because there were better tax breaks for religions.”
“DIS did have a serious side and its message was simplify, simplify, simplify. As long as you keep it within certain hard limits of safety then you can strip away as much as you can and achieve far more. DIR was founded on much the same principle.”
“I set up a web site (www.lizardland.co.uk) and the message went out. People started taking it as a serious diving philosophy. There are a lot of French and Swiss divers who now call themselves DIS.”
“Some see DIS as a stepping stone to full DIR, but for me this was never the purpose. One of the reasons I am on the DIS-UK list is to try to balance the DIR view. There are times where I use DIR equipment and techniques but there are other times where I feel this is wholly inappropriate. Good judgement is knowing when to use it or when to use something else.”
As the day progresses various DIS divers turn up ready for the evening dive.
Teadch Galloway had been climbing the PADI ladder under Izzy's instruction: “Izzy introduced aspects of the kit configuration and philosophy on the way. It made sense and naturally progressed into technical training. The legacy of my existing kit made the transition slow as I had to get some use from it, but my transition to DIR is now complete.”
I am impressed by the attitude of Chris White. He has done a considerable number of dives without going through the depth fixation that hits many up and coming divers. “I have done lots of 30 to 35m diving, but don't see the point of going deeper without being properly prepared. My aim is to get mix qualified, then enjoy deeper dives. My equipment is not yet fully DIR. The nice thing about DIS is it tolerates transition, progressing at a pace to match diving progress.”
Mark Ninnim wears a full DIR rig, but explains “I got interested in DIR because of the emphasis on teamwork. Kit configuration was not my primary motivation, though it does make sense.”
One of the DIR rules is about only diving with other DIR divers, something that DIS by its nature cannot conform to. Mark comments “I like safe buddies rather than buddies with a kit fixation. I won't go round refusing to dive with people just because they are not DIR. My wife Trudi doesn't dive a strict DIR rig.”
I ask Trudi about this “My back is too small for twin 12’s. I have twin 10’s and a smaller wing. It actually balances better in the water than my previous rig - single 12, pony and conventional BC jacket.”
On the way out to the dive I have a chat with Andy Lawrence, skipper of Top Gun: “Watching DIS and DIR groups on the boat I concluded that in general they were much more together than most divers, none of the usual Christmas tree problems. I have moved my own kit to a Hogarthian configuration. Many of my ’fun’ dives are solo and it works well for solo diving.”
As this would be my first time on the equipment, we had opted for a fairly easy dive on the St Dunstan, a bucket dredger in about 30 metres. In the water I pretty much got on with the dive and forgot about the rig, it was very comfortable.
Although I was diving the equipment, I wasn’t fully DIR. Whilst Izzy was decompressing on a schedule with relatively deep decompression stops, the nitrox computer I was diving on was still busy accumulating. We weren’t shallow enough for my computer to begin clocking down until Izzy had almost finished his stops.
Having dived with the rig, what did I think of it? It was certainly very comfortable in the water and I had no trouble diving with it.
Personally I am nervous about isolation manifolds. Prior to moving to a rebreather I had always dived with independent cylinders and balanced my gas by switching regulators. This is partly because I like modular equipment that breaks down and reconfigures easily, but also because I am not very flexible and even with a remote knob for the isolator I find it difficult to do an isolate and shutdown quickly.
I was surprised I liked the continuous harness without adjusters. Although I don’t think shoulder adjusters are a weakness really worth worrying about, it was nice not to have the loose ends dangling, and it was easier to get on than it looked.
Earlier this year I gave up on crotch straps for my own kit when I realised that I was getting accelerated wear with it rubbing against my drysuit. I don’t know how well the continuous harness would work without the crotch strap to hold it down.
I held the light head on my left hand because with it on my right hand I was dazzled by the reflection from my sketch board. I don’t like anything such as the cable crossing my body, so location of the light canister and routing of the cable is something I would have to think about.
I clip my camera to my right shoulder D ring and had some concern over this. It wasn’t a problem during the dive, but may have obstructed the long hose regulator if I had to donate it. I asked a few DIR divers and apparently the placement of a camera is a question that has never been fully resolved in DIR circles.
One tip I did pick up was to hammer a bend into D-rings so they wouldn’t lie flat, that’s something I will definitely be incorporating into my own kit, and maybe the harness and backplate.
I am certainly interested in the state of the art decompression schedules DIR divers are using, but quite honestly I am too much of an individualist to go fully DIR. I like to dive on a computer with tables purely for bailout. I like my cylinder boots and hose protectors, they aren’t a hazard in the diving I do. On the other hand, by the original definition I may already be Doing It Simple.