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Hi Adriaan, I'm sure I've done the right thing to be considered as the ultimate stroke by many on this list, but on the other hand, you would be surprised to read all the support I have received privately from other guys who can't stand the DIR way of abusing people, who also dive deep air or don't, solo or not, independant doubles or manifolds, and all the rest. One thing I have learnt from this experience is to stay away from this kind of Billyw guy. If they can't discuss properly without immediately losing their temper, they can't analyse properly either. And if they just can repeat what others have written, I prefer to read by myself and rely on my judgement and experience. I have been deeply involved in other dangerous sports, like sailing (lots of solo, what a sin!) and (fast) motorcycle riding, road and dirt, and I had already noticed that too often those who claim righteously to have the ultimate and unvariable truth are often very short-sighted and stubborn. And wrong. But diving offers the best illustration I ever came across (after politics, of course!). I can see the DIR system is an excellent one, but it's not the only one as some hammer with words I wouldn't use in a discussion. And it's far too complicated, cumbersome, expensive and irrealistic for me to use at this point. As I already said I'll probably use it when the conditions require and/or allow , but for the moment a simpler and more versatile one seems more apropriate to me, and to many others. We're not diving in cold dirty dark obstucted waters here, as you know. Just the opposite and tricky as such. And virtually bottomless. We offer nitrox and trimix. I'm getting manifolds and steel tanks for those who want to use them. I still think that independant doubles are perfectly viable, though, specially if you deal with narcosis some could forget to check their SPG (it can happen even during shallow dives), and in this case you're happy to have another tank to do a safe ascent. Plus they're so much easier to carry! We also have here a German dive school (did you hear about the PDA training agency?) who regularly bends its customers doing (very!) deep single-tank air dives. When on one occasion (before we opened the nx blending station) we called them for O2 to save one of their instructors and one of their customers, as they shot to the surface from 108M(!), hit the top of the arch on the way up and were then seriously injured and of course bent, they replied they only had one 4-liter O2 tank and they would not give it, as they might need it later. Lots of dive centers in the area have air so dirty you get headaches from doing a confined session. I reckon many (most?) accidents in the area are actually caused by air poisoning more than narcosis or O2 tox. Asking for help from the government is unfortunately the last thing you want to do in this kind of country, as although probably well-intentioned it would come-up with ridiculous and unenforceable police laws. The so-called Egyptian Diving Federation doesn't check the compressed air the filling stations deliver, so we have ours regularly tested and approved by the Israeli Diving Federation. All the dive centers in Dahab recently received a letter stating we will loose our licence if we continue to do so. This is something short-sighted wealthy westerners can't imagine. This is the situation we start from. My goal is to improve it. As a retired highly qualified (and paid) mainframe (computers) consultant for banks and other large companies, my primary goal is obviously not the money. When I say short-sighted wealthy westerners I know what I'm talking about. I just want to improve the safety records the simplest and most affordable way, and offer a more challenging and rewarding kind of diving than just going as far as you can survive with a single tank, which unfortunately is the standard in the area at the moment. As an experienced deep air diver I know very well what the risks are, but I believe they can be seriously reduced with safer diving practices, which includes, but is not limited to, using the right gas when needed. Adriaan, it's a pleasure to discuss with people who think further than the number of BT a proper diver should wear. I'll listen carefully to any kind of advice coming from them. The others can stick their dirty words... wherever they get them from. Sincerement Hugo. -- Send mail for the `techdiver' mailing list to `techdiver@aquanaut.com'. Send subscribe/unsubscribe requests to `techdiver-request@aquanaut.com'.
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