Quick question on Rescue

[Bubbletrubble]

[QUOTE=Bubbletrubble" If you knew that you would be slinging a pony or stage bottle, you should have geared up that way for your rescue class.

Really... hate to burst your bubble but everyone does't bring everything they are going to dive with to a rescue course. Following that analogy I guess I should have brought my camera and both my dive lights, my scooter and my spear gun.

It sounds like you do have a fair amount of extra equipment to deal with. It's still a mystery to me why you would recommend intentionally over-weighting oneself during a rescue class. That's bad advice IMO.

Let me ask you this. As a potential rescuer after the rescue class is over, do you thing you will be more, less, or equally prepared if you already practiced responding to a rescue scenario geared up in your "normal" configuration (whatever that may be)? Obviously certain pieces of gear are ditchable, and I think in an emergency situation a camera, scooter, and spear gun could be ditched.

For the record, I'm not saying that students should be bringing along everything he/she could possibly be equipped with during a rescue class. There's a high probability that some gear will be lost during the in-water rescue scenarios, and it would truly suck if you lost an expensive piece of gear. IMHO, a slung pony bottle adds an extra air source to a rescuer's toolset and could be a physical hindrance during certain stages of the rescue. It would be important for the diver to recognize the advantages/disadvantages of having that 30 cuft. tank strapped to him during a rescue situation. I would also like to point out that you may have deprived your fellow rescue class students from considering how additional gear, such as a pony tank, might complicate rescue of a problem diver (when you were playing the victim).

Why not maximize the usefulness of rescue class scenarios by trying to replicate real-world conditions?

 

[tomboyy]

.....

It sounds like you do have a fair amount of extra equipment to deal with. It's still a mystery to me why you would recommend intentionally over-weighting oneself during a rescue class. That's bad advice IMO.

Ok ... you make it sound as if I'm recommending a ton of weight.. I said a pound or two and IMO thats not bad advice. I'll have to agree to dis-agree on this part.

As far as bringing your slung 30 to your rescue course....did you ? if you did, more power to you ! I would think the majority doesn't.
Let me ask you this. As a potential rescuer after the rescue class is over, do you thing you will be more, less, or equally prepared if you already practiced responding to a rescue scenario geared up in your "normal" configuration (whatever that may be)? Obviously certain pieces of gear are ditchable, and I think in an emergency situation a camera, scooter, and spear gun could be ditched.

For the record, I'm not saying that students should be bringing along everything he/she could possibly be equipped with during a rescue class. There's a high probability that some gear will be lost during the in-water rescue scenarios, and it would truly suck if you lost an expensive piece of gear. IMHO, a slung pony bottle adds an extra air source to a rescuer's toolset and could be a physical hindrance during certain stages of the rescue. It would be important for the diver to recognize the advantages/disadvantages of having that 30 cuft. tank strapped to him during a rescue situation. I would also like to point out that you may have deprived your fellow rescue class students from considering how additional gear, such as a pony tank, might complicate rescue of a problem diver (when you were playing the victim).

Why not maximize the usefulness of rescue class scenarios by trying to replicate real-world conditions?

 

[tomboyy]

BTW .. didn't mean to hijack the thread... sorry.

 

[Bubbletrubble]

Ok ... you make it sound as if I'm recommending a ton of weight.. I said a pound or two and IMO thats not bad advice. I'll have to agree to dis-agree on this part.

Umm. OK. You never explained why one should over-weight by that amount. You seemed to imply that this would help one descend faster. I hope this is not the reason.

As far as bringing your slung 30 to your rescue course....did you ? if you did, more power to you ! I would think the majority doesn't.

You're assuming that I use a pony bottle. I don't use one, so I didn't even consider bringing one for the in-water rescue class scenarios. My rescue class instructor asked us to equip ourselves in our "normal" gear configuration. His attitude was that we should be conducting rescue scenarios as close to real-life conditions as possible.

Along this same line of thinking, I would advise the OP to not change a thing with his gear configuration for the rescue class. If he uses a pony bottle, take it with him. If he uses a canister light, he should use it during the class. If he wears a drysuit normally, then dive dry. If he uses a BP/W with long hose primary, he should use that configuration in class. These gear configurations are a departure from the wetsuit + standard jacket BCD + reg/octo setup, and it's helpful to consider what rescue challenges this different gear presents.

 

[RJP]

Really... hate to burst your bubble but everyone does't bring everything they are going to dive with to a rescue course. Following that analogy I guess I should have brought my camera and both my dive lights, my scooter and my spear gun.

I took the class - and DM it - in doubles, hog harness, with can light, both backup lights, etc...

"Train the way you dive, dive the way you train."

 

[tomboyy]

Good luck on your course tommorrow ! One thing on the panick diver rescue that might help you is to overweight yourself just a tad... you'll want to sink as quick as you can. Have fun ! This was my favorite course and the most demanding.

Umm. OK. You never explained why one should over-weight by that amount. You seemed to imply that this would help one descend faster. I hope this is not the reason.

You're assuming that I use a pony bottle. I don't use one, so I didn't even consider bringing one for the in-water rescue class scenarios. My rescue class instructor asked us to equip ourselves in our "normal" gear configuration. His attitude was that we should be conducting rescue scenarios as close to real-life conditions as possible.

Along this same line of thinking, I would advise the OP to not change a thing with his gear configuration for the rescue class. If he uses a pony bottle, take it with him. If he uses a canister light, he should use it during the class. If he wears a drysuit normally, then dive dry. If he uses a BP/W with long hose primary, he should use that configuration in class. These gear configurations are a departure from the wetsuit + standard jacket BCD + reg/octo setup, and it's helpful to consider what rescue challenges this different gear presents.

I guess you like watching yourself type so much you don't actually read peoples response

 

[tomboyy]

I took the class - and DM it - in doubles, hog harness, with can light, both backup lights, etc...

"Train the way you dive, dive the way you train."

Thats great ! Having took the course at 45 an out of shape I can appreciate what it took to do that course with that equipment. What I was trying to say to the OP was that it helped me to add an extra pound or two to do the "the duck-and-dive " as you put it, when having to do the panicked diver rescue.

 

[Bubbletrubble]

Good luck on your course tommorrow ! One thing on the panick diver rescue that might help you is to overweight yourself just a tad... you'll want to sink as quick as you can. Have fun ! This was my favorite course and the most demanding.

Umm. OK. You never explained why one should over-weight by that amount. You seemed to imply that this would help one descend faster. I hope this is not the reason.

I guess you like watching yourself type so much you don't actually read peoples response

@tomboyy: To clarify, I did read what you wrote. It just made very little sense to me.

Perhaps I'm the only one who found your statement a little strange. Feel free to ignore my comments if you like. I did not mean to make a personal attack, and I'm sorry if you interpreted my posts that way.

Rather than hijacking the thread, I do think our back-and-forth dialogue has given the OP some things to think about in terms of how to approach his rescue class. I guess what I'm trying to say here is that even though we appear to be in disagreement on one or more points, your participation is valuable and I appreciate it.

 

[InTheDrink]

As it happens I'm actually going to go back to my jacket BC for the class. I've only had the opportunity to take my new BP/W on one pool session and whilst it feels great I'm not yet familiar enough with it so I'm going to stick with what I'm familiar with. I think the skills will be transferable from one config to the other. I won't add additional weight as I never ever like to be heavy no matter what and I can get down pretty quick anyhow. Hopefully this is not pride before tomorrow morning's fall

Thanks everyone for the input. I'm looking forward to this class.

J

 

[RJP]

Thats great ! Having took the course at 45 an out of shape I can appreciate what it took to do that course with that equipment. What I was trying to say to the OP was that it helped me to add an extra pound or two to do the "the duck-and-dive " as you put it, when having to do the panicked diver rescue.

With double steel 119's in fresh water... I had plenty of ballast.