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Scott, The issue with TDI has nothing to do with DIR or not DIR. And I do not doubt that there are some excellent instructors that teach for TDI. The problem I have is with the policies of the organization and the activities of the president of TDI, Brett Gilliam. This is a man that recently published an article in a national dive magazine advocating drinking and diving. His argument is that a little beer does not contribute to dehydration or DCS. He seems completely oblivious to the fact that alcohol impairs one's judgement (I assume you agree that diving while even a little inebriated is not safe, even for a shallow, open water, recreational dive). Perhaps his attitude is understandable when one considers that he has also published articles referring to pot smoking on dive trips and is the leading advocate in the "dive industry" for deep air narcosis, the best drug of all. Now I am the last one to criticize anyone's personal preference in consciousness altering pursuits, legal or otherwise. But for the president of one the largest technical diving organizations in the world to advocate this type of activity within the context of diving is at best irresponsible and at worst deadly. Then there is the issue of deep air diving. Even IANTD has finally set max depth for air to 130' while TDI still teaches air to 180'. This issue has been beat to death for years on the net so I won't waste bandwidth trying to list all the reasons why not to dive air deep. The issue is so obvious that no one has even written a baker's dozen reason for not doing it. But then perhaps for the learning impaired it might be a good idea to do so. I welcome your comments or any defense you care to offer. Regards Skip At 05:07 PM 7/24/01 -0400, you wrote: > >Wendell, > >I don't care who you are or how much you think you know about diving, please >knock off the snide comments about TDI. Even though most of us on this list >support the DIR rules for diving, this is still the Techdiver list and not >Quest. And whether you choose to believe it or not, the entire scuba world >does not revolve around DIR techniques. Simply because I use and teach them >(because I think they represent the wisest and safest information available) >and because you use them, does not imply that they are the only possible >guidelines for diving safely. > >There are a whole bunch of TDI instructors out there and the vast majority >are competent and conscientious scuba instructors. I get real tired of many >of the people on this list taking cheap shots at TDI. If you have a specific >complaint about a specific item, then make it known to TDI headquarters and >they'll look into it. Or let me know about it (on or off the list) and I'll >be glad to pass it along. > >Perhaps you've heard about some TDI instructor that didn't teach some course >the way you thought it should have been taught. It's certainly possible in >that I don't necessarily agree with some of the things that are taught. But >I can do without the constant childish snide comments about the entire >organization. The TDI instructors with whom I've dealt, teach safe and >competent diving techniques. > >GUE seems to be a solid organization that has a reasonable control over what >the GUE instructor's teach. But there are how many GUE instructors to >oversee, perhaps a few dozen worldwide? Try comparing that to over 7,000 TDI >instructors and the control problem becomes significantly greater. > >Why don't you try simply pointing out the valid differences between DIR and >some of the other methods being taught and leave out the derogatory comments >about other dive certification agencies? You do not build yourself up by >tearing others down. I have come to expect this behavior from all of the DIR >zealot lemmings on this list but I would not have expected this from you. > >Take care and dive safe, Scott > >Some weeks it's just not worth the effort to gnaw through the restraints and >scramble up out of the pit. > > > > >In a message dated 7/23/01 6:42:33 PM, wgrogan@dc*.ne* writes: > ><< References: One guy that has met him says he almost washed out of a TDI > >course (This really sounds too impossible to believe but I pass it on >anyway). > >How do you wash out of a TDI course? Write a bad check, insult the parentage >of the instructors wife? Maybe we could come up with a dirty dozen.... > >Wendell >> >-- >Send mail for the `techdiver' mailing list to `techdiver@aquanaut.com'. >Send subscribe/unsubscribe requests to `techdiver-request@aquanaut.com'. -- Send mail for the `techdiver' mailing list to `techdiver@aquanaut.com'. Send subscribe/unsubscribe requests to `techdiver-request@aquanaut.com'.
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