PeterNBiddle
Contributor
with the really expert expert divers concluding the same as me I might add
I was so ready to drop this as well, but you've cited this claim multiple times. I recall multiple "really expert expert divers" who started out against voluntary non-emergency air-sharing who significantly shifted their positions during the thread.
If experts (or anyone else) on the board support you, they will speak up. Don't cite them like they are lost nameless mystics.
---------- Post added August 28th, 2013 at 10:27 PM ----------
Here a few really really expert divers:
when I was down to 1000psi, I would take his octopus rig and breath off of him until he was down to 1000psi. At which point I'd switch back to my own gas supply and we'd finish the dive.
For us, this worked pretty good. And, I felt that it help me with 3 scuba skills. 1) It help me learn how to stay close to my buddy. 2) It gave me a lot of "sharing air" practice. 3) It gave me a lot of practice in dealing with equipment issues underwater.
Was diving this evening with my son and I got a little carried away filming some goliath grouper (they are as big as a person; or larger). He wanted to ascend, but we had to swim back to the wreck to retrieve my speargun which I had laid down. He was down to around 800 lbs or so and I had more in my larger tank... so I offered him my regulator for the swim back, so he could conserve enough air to make him "comfortable".
Thought of this thread and figured I would film our swim back using my new GoPro extension pole
It just doesn't seem like a big deal to me.
Video Link: http://youtu.be/vDrF1AOnabc
Funny -- my GUE brain says that practicing air-sharing until it's an extremely comfortable activity and doesn't impact one's buoyancy at all is a good thing
Hahahahahahaha
As for the last poster, David, I can't decide which way to go on this issue. You have established some very good points.
@ Lynne, I guess I shouldn't have been so shocked to learn you air share.
I guess I am so undecided because my GUE brain says "NO YOU CANNOT DO THIS!¡!¡" & my head says "In situations where it is pre-planned & plenty of air will be reserved for potential disaster it is OK."
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Bottom line: A basic emergency skill designed to get a diver through an OOA situation is too dangerous for most divers to attempt for such a non-emergency purpose. Just think of the havoc that might ensue if all divers were able to accomplish such a skill with confidence.
The HORROR! How can you?!?!
My girlfriend says that the only reason I bring her along on dive trips is for the extra air. (Her SAC=0.3 is half of my SAC=0.6)
I don't wait until I'm down to 700 psi, I will wander over to her when I get down to about 1,500 - 1,200 psi and I see that our remaining gas is quite different. Ten or 15 minutes on her octo evens-out our gas supplies quite nicely.
This leaves us both well above rock-bottom gas, too.
The dive master usually gets really interested in us when he sees that I'm on her octo.
The only time we do this is on drift dives in Cozumel where you can stay down for as long as you have gas on your back - and, like Teamcasa says, I can' my hands on doubles.
YI am looking at all of these posts, and it seems strange that I seem to be the only one who cannot get past the OP's divemaster's behaviour. Anyone with a head on their shoulders can see that if done properly, air sharing could be a safe part of a gas management plan. What I don't like is that fact that the DM pushed this manouver onto his/her client without any pre-consultation. When we hire a dive master/dive guide, we are offloading some of the planning work onto that person. However, as certified divers, we are responsible for our own safety, and, therefore, syupposed to be in on the entire plan. We are trusting our guide to assist with making our dive safe and comfortable, not confusing and upredictable.
Please name the specific liveabroad so I can avoid it in the future. It's not that I need to share air to extend bottom time every time I dive (I think I have ever done this once with my buddy) but I really dislike dive professionals parenting their paying customers because of personal belives regarding dive preferences. I agree with Peter, it is a totally insignificant event with no real world risk attached for any competent diver. If this "technique" really imposes a problem for a certified diver with some diving experience, those divers shouldn't be in the water at all.
Note, I don't recommend this procedure to be performed regularly but I don't see the any issue with it either in order to prolong bottom time for a couple of minutes on a shallow reef dive during vacation to better match gas.
Well, I've seen it done plenty of times. No flailing, no hysteria. Divers seem to be able to understand gas management in this context.
But, OK, don't do it on your dive, Cool with me.
I have a short hose and I do it with my son. I breath from the Air 2 and he uses my short primary. We can't swim side by side, but he swims above me, keeps one hand on my tank valve a can ride above me. This gives him a good degree of control although I can not see what he is doing, but I can hear his breathing well, so I have some feedback. Plus we are very close, so we can talk and scream to (at) eachother.
So not only can "regular" people do it, but they can use "regular" gear to share air. I honestly think it makes us safer in that the air sharing and the use of the AIR 2 is good practice..
A lot of the places where we travel only offer one size of tank, and often, that is the ubiquitous Al80. For very shallow diving, it's fine, and we don't share gas. If the dives are deeper, a few minutes of gas sharing early in the dive will allow us to get a good, full hour's dive.
I prefer other options, where they are available. At home, Peter dives 130s and I dive 100s. Where we CAN, we dive doubles (one of the reasons I love the Tala in the Red Sea is those lovely, long, leisurely dives on double 80s!).
The gas sharing approach is purely for low-intensity, open water dives in areas where there are no bigger tanks available.