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# Standardised or personalised?
- URL: https://www.techdiving.com.au/standardised-or-personalised/
- Published: 2026-09-30T05:41:39.000Z
- Updated: 2026-09-30T05:41:39.000Z
- Description: Should every diver on a team use exactly the same configuration, or should each diver adapt their kit to themselves and the site? One of the longest-running arguments in technical diving.
- Author: Tech Diving AU
- Tags: Gear, Cave, #Import 2026-09-30 15:24

In the 1990s, divers working on long cave explorations in Florida's Woodville Karst developed a standardised approach to equipment and procedures. It became known as Doing It Right, or DIR, and later formed the basis of training at organisations such as Global Underwater Explorers and Unified Team Diving.

Other divers took a different path, emphasising principles over prescriptions and letting each diver adapt. The disagreement has sometimes been bitter. It's more useful to understand what each side is trying to achieve.

Philosophy

### One configuration for the whole team, or one for each diver?

Both sides are trying to prevent the same accidents.

#### Standardised

Every diver uses the same configuration: a long-hose primary donate, a necklaced backup regulator, stages on the left, and a standard set of gases for given depths.

Why divers choose itAny team member can find and use anyone else's kit in the dark or under stress. Less to think about when things go wrong, and procedures are shared.

Watch out forCan be applied without understanding the reasons. Not every environment or body fits the template, and the culture can become dogmatic.

#### Personalised

Divers follow shared principles, such as streamlining and redundancy, but adapt their configuration to their body, their site and their task.

Why divers choose itEncourages divers to understand every choice. Adapts well to unusual sites, disabilities and exploration needs.

Watch out forTeam members may not know each other's kit. Individual quirks can hide bad habits, and procedures vary between divers.

**Common ground**Nothing dangling, nothing out of reach, nothing you haven't practised with, and a team briefing that covers how everyone's kit works.

## Where the standardised approach came from

The Woodville Karst Plain Project's dives were long, deep and far from the entrance. When something went wrong, the team had to solve it together, sometimes in zero visibility. Standardising gases and configurations meant that any diver could help any other without explanation. The same thinking extended to fitness, training and even diet.

Supporters point out that many accidents involve team members who didn't understand each other's equipment, or divers with configurations nobody else had seen.

## The case for personalisation

Critics of strict standardisation argue that divers should understand why each piece of equipment is where it is, and that an unthinking copy of someone else's rig can be as dangerous as a messy one. The Hogarthian approach, named after cave diver Bill Main, predates DIR and shares many of its ideas but was always more of a set of principles than a fixed specification.

Personalisation also matters for divers whose bodies don't fit a standard rig, or who dive in environments very different from Florida caves.

## What most divers actually do

In practice, many technical divers land somewhere in between. They adopt standardised elements that have clear benefits, such as long-hose donation and consistent gas labelling, while adapting other things. Teams that dive together often standardise among themselves, whatever their training background.

The most important thing may simply be that the team agrees before the dive. Surprises at depth are the real hazard.