So reality doesn't matter?
Diver in travel group kept running out of air and sharing on every dive?
- Thread starter JCarr911
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mcohen1021
Contributor
Reality is if that is the way they were taught how to dive somebody needs to lose their diving instructor certification.
Reality is those two divers practicing this regularly as a way of diving are putting everybody else on the boat at risk
Reality is the dive operator should lose their ability to take customers out for not stopping this practice
Reality is after the first time I saw this, I'd be leading my own dive away from all of the incompetence
Reality is I can go through this thread and pick out every single one of you that I would never want to dive with
You seem to be confusing opinions on best practice with the reality of what was happening in this incident. I never said what she was doing is best practice. My only point here is that we don't know the pressure in that person's tank. It is obviously your opinion that people should only share air in an OOA emergency, but it is clear that not everyone agrees with your opinion. You cannot say that in this incident she must have been OOA because that is the way you think things should be.
VsubT
Contributor
I’m genuinely curious: assuming that all involved divers still have the gas required to surface safely (not OOA) and meet their operator’s minimums, what agency standards, Maritime regulations, or other laws/regulations are being violated?
On the safety side, I see an argument that a diver who is comfortable sharing air has better skills in this area than most recreational divers.
Maybe take a deep breath on this one?
Lance
mcohen1021
Contributor
I never said that the girl was out of air, the OP did in the title of this thread. Whether it was conjecture is to be determined, unknown because the OP is checked out on this thread apparently
If you want to practice sharing air that's one thing but to continue a dive sharing air is another thing. and that is not a best practice.
Weather anybody disagrees or agrees with me is there prerogative, but it also doesn't mean that I have to put up with it on a boat, or dive with an operator that allows it
Putting aside the question if the OP story was using it or not, which doesn't interest me much, could you explain the issues you see with the practice outlined in John's message (assuming same size tanks, chose a big enough equalization pressure, when the first diver reach that pressure, share until both are at it, then stop sharing) ?
mcohen1021
Contributor
dlofting
Contributor
I dive with my wife. I usually use more gas than she does, but we don't share to equalize use and wouldn't plan to do it in the future. If one of us needed to share gas because something unplanned happened then that would be the end of the dive. We would surface, at an acceptable ascent rate and with a safety stop if possible.
We don't do detailed dive plans but plan to arrive at safety stop depth with at least 500 psi or 50 bar. We have a pretty good idea of when to start our ascent depending on dive depth. If we are in a group and there is a possibility that my gas use will mean that we need to ascend before the rest of the group, we let the DM/guide know that and assure her that we are fine on our own. We always get her attention and signal that we are low on air before ascending.
That's a lot of words to come to my point. If the buddy team in question plan ahead to share gas, allow for that in the plan and dive their plan then I guess it's OK. My tendency though would be to consider other ways to increase the gas supply....larger tanks, pony, etc.
We don't do detailed dive plans but plan to arrive at safety stop depth with at least 500 psi or 50 bar. We have a pretty good idea of when to start our ascent depending on dive depth. If we are in a group and there is a possibility that my gas use will mean that we need to ascend before the rest of the group, we let the DM/guide know that and assure her that we are fine on our own. We always get her attention and signal that we are low on air before ascending.
That's a lot of words to come to my point. If the buddy team in question plan ahead to share gas, allow for that in the plan and dive their plan then I guess it's OK. My tendency though would be to consider other ways to increase the gas supply....larger tanks, pony, etc.
I'm not familiar with that particular dive operation but setting a 1 hour run time limit for recreational dives on a "cattle boat" open charter seems pretty reasonable. Most divers will run into gas or deco limits by about that time anyway. Allowing longer dives for random divers with questionable skills increases the risk that someone will get lost or bent or run out of gas. And in some places the surface conditions can deteriorate really fast: recovering divers in the middle of a squall can turn into a real CF. If you want to do longer dives then charter the whole boat with your friends and coordinate plans with the crew.
When I'm doing a recreational dive with a teammate who has high gas consumption but otherwise decent skills I'll pass them my long hose at the beginning of the dive and let them breathe off my tank(s) for a few minutes. It's really not a problem as long as everyone stays above minimum gas.
Sure, every diver can reduce their gas consumption by being more efficient in the water, staying calm, and doing more aerobic fitness training. But it takes a while to reach that level. We should make some allowance for newbies as long as it doesn't compromise safety.
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