Andy's original question (and Huw's response) resonated strongly. I
have just acquired a Halcyon, and so has my SO.  I made the mistake of
borrowing a Halcyon rig from an instructor friend  for a couple of
dives over Easter at Puerto Galera.  I loved it.  24 hours later I
owned one, even got in one more dive with it before it was time to head
back to Manila and fly home.

Trusting my enthusiasm, Sandy bought one as well - and she REALLY
needed a new BC - before flying off to the US on family matters.

Leaving me to finish setting up our new rigs for tropical diving before
we head off to PNG at the end of June. NB:
(1) We never dive in caves and never will;,
(2) We don't have canister lights;
(3) We don't have drysuits (I've never even SEEN one except in
pictures), nor do we have pockets on the thigh of our 3 mm wetsuits.

How DIR do we go?  I'm still wrestling with this other similar
questions, and Andy's query suggests to me that I'm not alone.  Here's
where I've come out so far:

(1)  Our whistles lived very happily attached to the inflator hoses of
our old BCs with a plastic tie, and that's where they're going on the
new ones too.  About half way up the hose, and turned around towards
the back a bit.  It's out of the way (and out of the FLOW!) underwater,
but I can still reach it on the surface to summon an unresponsive (or
sleeping) boatdriver.  And if that doesn't work, we've still got our
...

(2)  Dive-Alerts.  Are Dive Alerts DIR?  I don't know, but having one
has saved me and a buddy  at least once from what would have been - in
the best case - hours floating around in a nasty and threatening ocean
when our boat was looking for us miles the other way.  No question -
the Dive-Alerts go back on the hose as well, DIR or not.

(3)  Knife.  Our perfectly good Wenoka SQUEEZE knives are small, blunt
tipped, rust free after years of use - all of which you would think
should satisfy the most rigid DIR critic.  They also come in a
perfectly good plastic sheath that they lock into nicely.  They used to
live on the inflator hose too.  That clearly won't work on the shorter
Halcyon hose.  Am I going to throw away our nice locking sheaths and
use the ballistic nylon sheaths that came with the Halcyons and goes on
the waistband?  No.  Am I going to put this rigid plastic sheath on my
waist strap like the DIR folks say I should.  Nope.

It turns out that the two bits of bicycle inner tube helpfully supplied
with the Halcyon harness will hold the Wenoka sheath just right on one
of the harness strap with the top of my handle just about at my armpit.
It's perfect.  I'm not worried about explaining this non-standard
location of my knife to other divers who are really DIR - I know they
won't dive with me anyway.

(4)  LED light.  This goes on the other harness strap, with a nice DIR
brass bolt snap (attached to the light with a breakable O-ring) hooked
on to the adjustable D-ring,  just like in the Halcyon catalog and all
the DIR CAD-diagrams.  Much better than the way I used to carry a
back-up light.  This DIR stuff isn't all bad.

(5)  Alt 2nd and the Long Hose:  We're OK with the necklace for the 2nd
2nd, but I don't plan to replace the hose on either of our primaries
until they start to wear out.  As far as I can see, the logic of the
long hose is purely related to sharing air in caves and other confined
spaces.  We don't do caves and we don't do wreck penetrations.  If you
want to breathe some of my air, you'll just have to come closer.

(6)  SMB.  Folded nicely, the big OMS Fits still fits into the Halcyon
storage-pouch behind my back.  Spool clipped onto to D-ring at left
side, just like in the book.  Trop de DIR indeed!

(7)  Lift bag.  Easier to handle and replace than the big OMS SMB if
the boat isn't likely to be that far away.  Rolled up, it tucks nicely
into two rings of bungie cord tied through the holes at the corners of
the backplate.  Satisfies DIR Rule #6 too.

(4)  Reef hook.  Essential for the kind of diving we do, but I've got
no idea where to put it.

I really like our reef-hooks.  They're made from an "S" shaped pieces
of stainless steel at one end (blunt, not sharp - made from a sailboat
mainsail reefing hook) and a plastic snap-shackle (made for light air
small boat spinnaker handling) on the other. But the pockets I've seen
at the dive shop and catalogs that fit on the harness waist belt are
WAY too big just for this little reef-hook.

Advice, DIR or not, would be gratefully appreciated.

Robert Delfs

On Thu, 23 May 2002 07:53:31 -0400, Huw Porter wrote:

[snip]. ;-)
>
>Without claiming to be 'DIR', for storing 'stuff' (slate, sausage &c) on my
>tropical wing'n'harness, I've got a dive-rite thigh pocket with the elastic
>bit and the long tail of webbing removed,
>http://www.dive-rite.com/products/mbs/thigh.htm
>threaded directly on the right hand side of the waist strap (where the
>battery pack of a canister torch would go).
>
>Cheers,
>Huw
>--
>http://www.huwporter.com


Robert Delfs
Reply to:  <[log in to unmask]>
Tel:    +852 2812-6290
Fax:   +852 2812-6970