What is D.I.R. in scuba diving? Have you even come across that term?
D.I.R. or Doing it Right is a holistic approach to SCUBA diving. D.I.R. has been developed over the 90’s in the US, during Florida’s cave exploration done by Woodville Karst Plain Project (WKPP), but bases of D.I.R. can be found in the Hogarthian equipment configuration, named after cave explorer William Hogarth.
WKPP cave explorers were seeking ways of reducing fatalities during explorations of complicated cave systems in Florida. What they come up with was a very simple rig, minimalistic and standardized equipment configuration, which works in all kinds of situations, from recreational open water diving, to wreck and cave technical diving.
This configuration is designed to take you from the entry level of diving all the way to the highest levels of diving. Equipment configuration remains the same and principle is always the same.
The idea behind it is very simple; by practicing with same equipment, in different situations, you are creating so called muscle memory which leads to automated reaction in case of emergency, while having standardized set of solution for problems that you might encounter underwater.
Uniformity of response is very important for safety in SCUBA diving.
But the equipment configuration only is not enough. D.I.R. requires correct mind set too. The best piece of equipment we have is us ourselves, and with that piece of equipment we take care of the rest. As George Irvine (director of WKPP and one of the main creators of D.I.R. approach) once said:
‘Slappy mind set and slappy behaviour leads to accidents and problems underwater”.
Having a correct mind set and right attitude for diving you are planning on undertaking is extremely important.
D.I.R. today is mostly associated with technical diving. But D.I.R. is not only about technical diving, cave diving or deep decompression diving. D.I.R. is about having fun no matter how deep you go and who you dive with. There is no such thing as higher order in diving and we don’t dive to achieve that.
Objective of diving should be to have fun and have good time while being comfortable and safe underwater.
Since creation of D.I.R. in early 90’s, equipment configuration did not change much. It has been proven comfortable, it has been proven safe, and it has been proven working. And not just working for one type of diving, it is actually working in all kinds of situations and all kinds of diving.
On the market today we have too many high profit SCUBA equipment manufacturers that most of the time offer solution to problems that never even existed. They sell their products based on colours and design, selling all kinds of accessories to divers, but not necessarily what divers actually need underwater. That kind of unnecessary equipment just makes distraction underwater, and moves diver’s focus in completely wrong direction, most of the time away from safety.
D.I.R. configuration is complete opposite of that.
We see that manufacturers of D.I.R. equipment are adapting to the current market too, and today we can find D.I.R. equipment in many colours, modern design, and all the rest of it, but original configuration and the set-up remains the same.
D.I.R. equipment configuration
Back plate (either aluminium or stainless-steel) with single webbing harness and a crotch strap. No plastic buckles or quick releases.
- Two chest D-rings – (one on the left, one on the right)
- One D-ring on the left hip
- Two D-rings on the crotch strap – (one fwd. and one aft)
There is no D-ring on the right hip, as there should be no restrictions and entrapments for long hose (more about that later), and also because primary canister light battery slides on the right hip harness.
Left hip D-ring is for SPG attachment, and also for attaching stage or deco tanks, together with left chest D-ring. Chest D-rings are also used for carrying back-up lights.
Front crotch strap D-ring is there as scooter attachment point, and aft D-ring is for carrying extra safety spools and reels during cave or wreck diving, or perhaps a lift bag or DSNB during open water diving.
Wing – a buoyancy compensator
- Single bladder wing
- Wing size will depend if single tank or twinset is used
- Wing should have no restrictions such as bungees or anything similar. Bungeed wings cause more drag, and bungees are likely to get caught on something while wreck diving or cave diving. They also bring many other problems.
Wing as buoyancy compensators keeps a diver in perfect horizontal position, which reduces drag and provides efficiency.
Regulators
Two DIN first stage regulators (for twinset or cold-water single tank diving)
- Right post 1st stage regulator will have a primary second stage regulator and a wing inflator hose.
- Left post 1st stage regulator will have a Back-up regulator and a pressure gauge.
For single tank wet suit diving in worm and tropical waters, only one first stage regulator can be used.
- Simple pressure gauge is to be used, without console or any other accessories. Pressure gauge should have a bolt snap attached to it and will be clipped off to the left hip D-ring as mentioned earlier.
- Back-up regulator (not an octopus or a safe second as some would call it) hangs around the neck on a short neckless made out of a simple bungee cord.
Neckless should be short to minimize drag and for regulator to be easily accessible, even with no hands if needed. Back-up regulator should be either low performance or have venturi valve closing option, so it doesn’t free flow when not in use. - Primary regulator, will be on the long hose, 2.10 meters hose, especially for diving in overhead environments (caves, wreck, or decompression diving). For open water diving hose can be shorter, but that is not needed.
Boltsnap should be attached on the long hose close to the second stage regulator, so the regulator can be clipped off on the right chest D-ring when not in use.
This regulator will be donated to a buddy in case of emergency. You know it’s safe because you are breathing from it.
In case you are breathing from a stage or deco regulator you will donate stage or deco regulator. In emergency you always donate regulator you are breathing from.
Weighting system
- Should be separated from the rig, especially while diving with wet suit
- Weight belt is preferred weighting system and during wet suit diving should be secured on top of the harness as in case of emergency and loss of buoyancy weight belt will have to be dumped quickly and for that reason there should be no restrictions
- For dry suit diving weight belt can be placed under the harness. Dry suit also has additional buoyancy so there should be no emergency in weights dumping. Also, in case weigh belt is not secured properly and falls off, it will get stuck on the harness and you might have a second chance securing it back in place. Losing weight belt with dry suit can lead to real emergency.
Diving tanks marking
Breathing wrong gas for depth can have very serious consequences. So, analysing gas and marking cylinders is extremely important.
- All tanks carried must be analysed and properly marked
- MOD (maximum operating depth for gas used) should be visible to you and your buddy too
- MOD in meters or feet depending on what is being used in your region
- Oxygen should also be marked as “oxygen” and not just with MOD number, especially in regions where feet are used, where MOD 20 and 70 may look the same underwater and could easily be mistaken which could be fatal
These are only some of the most important features of D.I.R. equipment configuration, but there is a lot left unmentioned, and more on that maybe some other time, or maybe during your technical diving training where you will be introduced to all aspects of D.I.R. diving.
The most famous agency teaching “D.I.R. way” is probably GUE (Global Underwater Explorers), whose founders were creators of D.I.R. approach.
Apart from GUE, there are other agencies teaching D.I.R. way such as UTD (Unified Team Diving), ISE (Inner Space Explorers), TDI (Technical Diving International) etc. Those agencies teach scuba diving using D.I.R. approach from entry level certification all the way to full cave qualification.
But agency alone cannot make a good diver. Finding a good, experienced and knowledgeable instructor is the key, and should be priority never mind what agency he is teaching for.
Article author: Andrija Lukenda