Octopus second-stage: over shoulder or under arm?

[Chris Richardson]

I was doing a pool dive last night and when setting-up the kit I was wondering if it's okay for the octo to go over your shoulder as oppose to under your arm? My reasoning is that if your first-stage is at about shoulder height to me it makes sense to go straight over your shoulder then this way if it gets grabbed and pulled in an emergency your arm doesn't impede the pulling action or tensioning from the hose-straightening that will happen when pulled? Just a thought really. Cheers.

 

[Griffo]

It depends on your gear setup and hose length. Many of us run the octo on a 22-24" short-hose that's then attached via a necklace, so its just under your chin. That routes over your shoulder. You then donate your primary which is on a 5ft or longer hose.

For rental style BCD and octo setups with a 36" (or was it 40" ?) octo it's normally run under your arm to keep the hose routing as nice as possible. The reality is that in an OOA scenario if the diver is calm enough to grab your yellow octo and not rip the reg out of your mouth, then the issue you are talking about is the least of your problems.

If you want to see what an OOA situation really looks like for most divers, watch the below video. To me it's the perfect demonstration of why long-hoses are such a better solution and why Air-2's suck.

 

[MoistNeoprene]

I have mine setup as griffo. I think it's pretty standard among serious safety conscious divers to use primary donate with secondary on a necklace. The only question is how long to make your primary hose. For cave or wreck diving an 8 ft hose is preferred to allow air sharing when you can't both fit through an opening while for open water or more recreational circumstances you may be fine with a bit shorter long hose

 

[CuzzA]

It depends on your gear setup and hose length. Many of us run the octo on a 22-24" short-hose that's then attached via a necklace, so its just under your chin. That routes over your shoulder. You then donate your primary which is on a 5ft or longer hose.

For rental style BCD and octo setups with a 36" (or was it 40" ?) octo it's normally run under your arm to keep the hose routing as nice as possible. The reality is that in an OOA scenario if the diver is calm enough to grab your yellow octo and not rip the reg out of your mouth, then the issue you are talking about is the least of your problems.

If you want to see what an OOA situation really looks like for most divers, watch the below video. To me it's the perfect demonstration of why long-hoses are such a better solution and why Air-2's suck.

What does that video illustrate about an Air2? You do realize an Air2 would also be on a short hose, right? Same length as a necklaced octo. Where you see bad equipment choice based on old myths, I see bad divers with poor training. The funny thing is it was a traditional octo that started free flowing at one point.

Anyway, @Chris Richardson, over the shoulder is fine. 18-22 inches on a necklace is how you would set it up with your primary on a 40" hose under your arm. This is called the Streamlined Open Water setup and is a fantastic, clean and tidy setup. Alternatively an Air2 also works especially well with this setup.

A 5 ft. primary hose is a really bad hose length, IME. It's unwieldy as it's too short to secure under most average size guy's bodies. A 7 ft. hose doesn't make much sense in open water as its purpose is for single file cave exiting. 40" under the arms works great. Short enough to be streamlined, yet long enough to do a comfortable air share.

 

[Manatee Diver]

What does that video illustrate about an Air2? You do realize an Air2 would also be on a short hose, right? Same length as a necklaced octo. Where you see bad equipment choice based on old myths, I see bad divers with poor training. The funny thing is it was a traditional octo that started free flowing at one point.

Agreed, Air 2s aren't a horrible option when paired with a 40" or longer primary hose. It becomes a problem when they simply slap an Air 2 on while keeping the primary hose the short 28" that it comes with from the factory.

A 5 ft. primary hose is a really bad hose length, IME. It's unwieldy as it's too short to secure under most avgerage size guys bodies. A 7 ft. hose doesn't make much sense in open water as its purpose is for single file cave exiting. 40" under the arms works great. Short enough to be streamlined, yet long enough to do a comfortable air share.

I found that 7ft hose slightly more comfortable than the 40" hose. But I typically have a bottle slung on that side (both as spare air, and as ballast to deal with a trim issue). So it really is something personal, unfortunately most dive shops don't have enough hoses to just let people switch them out to figure out the perfect length.

 

[KenGordon]

I was doing a pool dive last night and when setting-up the kit I was wondering if it's okay for the octo to go over your shoulder as oppose to under your arm? My reasoning is that if your first-stage is at about shoulder height to me it makes sense to go straight over your shoulder then this way if it gets grabbed and pulled in an emergency your arm doesn't impede the pulling action or tensioning from the hose-straightening that will happen when pulled? Just a thought really. Cheers.

Being in the UK you should ignore all the advice above or people will laugh at you, accuse you of being an internet diver, and possibly refuse to dive with you unless they have redundant gas.

You are fine with the octopus going over the shoulder so long as you find a good way to secure it, as always.

 

[Neilwood]

Being in the UK you should ignore all the advice above or people will laugh at you, accuse you of being an internet diver, and possibly refuse to dive with you unless they have redundant gas.

You are fine with the octopus going over the shoulder so long as you find a good way to secure it, as always.

Agreed.

Over or under is fine - the main thing I want from a buddy is that it is in a consistent place. If we brief that it is clipped somewhere, I expect it to be there if needed. I will be disappointed if I go there and it is dragging in the silt.

Personally mine goes under my arm and the hose gets folded into the chest D-ring (I use a BP&W). It is secure but will deploy easily with a tug on the reg.

 

[The Chairman]

I always donate the reg in my mouth, leaving the octo for me. Consequently, I bungee my octo around my neck and the hose I use for it is too short to comfortably go under my arm (or donate). So, it's always over the shoulder. Always.

 

[Diver-Drex]

If you want to see what an OOA situation really looks like for most divers, watch the below video. To me it's the perfect demonstration of why long-hoses are such a better solution and why Air-2's suck.

What exactly does this video show? A bad exchange of the donated reg? A diver who should have alerted his buddy but kept breathing his gas down before going to an air share? Or divers using Air2s without properly sized primary hoses?

None of these point at the Air2 as being an issue.

 

[DBPacific]

What does that video illustrate about an Air2? You do realize an Air2 would also be on a short hose, right? Same length as a necklaced octo. Where you see bad equipment choice based on old myths, I see bad divers with poor training. The funny thing is it was a traditional octo that started free flowing at one point.

Anyway, @Chris Richardson
A 5 ft. primary hose is a really bad hose length, IME. It's unwieldy as it's too short to secure under most average size guy's bodies. A 7 ft. hose doesn't make much sense in open water as its purpose is for single file cave exiting. 40" under the arms works great. Short enough to be streamlined, yet long enough to do a comfortable air share.

Note: if you're short like me, 40" can be too long for the under arm primary to be completely streamlined and it'll find its way past and over your elbow. I imagine the opposite problem applies if you're larger/taller than average. If you're interested in that set-up, try to measure with a piece of string or something under your arm for the best hose length, or see if you can try it on someplace