Resort's " New Normal " Rule - No AIR 2 or diving your long hose

[loosenit2]

 

[D_Fresh]

ETA: Just to quote you:

Why would they recommend "not test breathing your Octo pre-dive, just purging it"?

So that, in the time of Covid, :insert-any-association-here: can feel good about telling you not to (potentially) contaminate your Octo mouthpiece with your covid-laden slobber....

Based on their current Covid recommendations, they feel that "test purging" a few times is sufficient enough to ensure that the flow is not restricted and it closes each time after purging, as opposed to actually test breathing it as per the old recommendation.

 

[yle]

The operator, who is not named, never acknowledged the question. I don't think it has been addressed by posters on this thread either. Our group of divers over the last 40 years have had none ( 0% ) to almost none ( .0001% ).

What percentage of OOA divers do you have in your group of divers?

You do realize that .0001% is one dive in one million, right? So you're saying at most your group of divers has had one OOA in the million dives they have done. Because if they had fewer than a million dives, with one OOA occurrence, that would be greater than .0001%

Just wondering how big of a group you have that they've done one million dives. Trying to wrap my mind around that.

I'm not questioning your claim, just want to point out that when zeros start stacking up (e.g. .0001) it's easy to lose track of what they mean. But if your one incident in over a million dives is accurate, your group is very likely the most exceptional group of divers on the planet. Especially because it's a group, since the success of the group to have zero OOA incidents relies on every individual to have a perfect record.

 

[yle]

But it is. 100%. So I guess you are OK with the policy?

I don't have a problem with the policy regardless of why it was created. Even if I ever happen to wander into the shop and want to dive with them, I'll just roll with it. Besides, I'm the kind of person that plans everything down to the last detail. So if I was to ever book with them, it would likely happen 4 to 6 months in advance and I would be fully aware of the policy at that time.

So yeah. Shops can make all the policies they want. I'll roll with it.

 

[yle]

I've been there 12+ times, what stories?

Oh, they weren't about you! It was other people. People that just got certified because they were about to go to Belize and they wanted to see the Blue Hole. So their BH dive was their first OW dive after certing, and they were very excited about it.

Those kind of stories. But like all stories, who knows whether or not that kind of thing actually happens.

 

[yle]

I always dive with a pony or redundant independent air source. I believe everyone should. Perhaps one of the positives derived from this crisis, would be that a " New Normal Higher Standard " is achieved. Every diver must have a redundant independent air source.

Makes about as much sense as requiring people driving cars to wear helmets. And steel toed boots. You know, just in case.

 

[ScubaWithTurk]

They're also recommending not test breathing your Octo pre-dive, just purging it a few times. So if you're doing an Octo donate underwater in real OOG conditions, again, on the slightest off chance covid happens to be passed along, you can fix covid, but you can't fix dead....

Based on their current Covid recommendations, they feel that "test purging" a few times is sufficient enough to ensure that the flow is not restricted and it closes each time after purging, as opposed to actually test breathing it as per the old recommendation.

These statements are not accurate. What is recommended by at least the two organizations I teach for is to 1. Test breathe your secondary regulator with your buddy watching. Then sterilize that regulator. 2. Once you are on the boat and doing buddy checks or at the shoreline, you then purge the reg a few times to check it is still in working order.

They have not recommended to only purge the reg. Now clearly you will need to make sure you have the time time to sterilize the reg prior to the final buddy checks before you splash but that is not that big of deal. We just plan for that time in advance and consider this the "new normal"

 

[ScubaWithTurk]

Makes about as much sense as requiring people driving cars to wear helmets. And steel toed boots. You know, just in case.

At one time seatbelts were not mandatory. My first car did not even come equipped with them. Now all cars have them and it is mandatory. We must be prepared for change going forward. That change might be a redundant air source. That change may only last for a year...at this time none of us know but what doesn't make sense is doing things the way we did before and not giving any thought as to how we can all be safer.

 

[D_Fresh]

These statements are not accurate. What is recommended by at least the two organizations I teach for is to 1. Test breathe your secondary regulator with your buddy watching. Then sterilize that regulator. 2. Once you are on the boat and doing buddy checks or at the shoreline, you then purge the reg a few times to check it is still in working order.

They have not recommended to only purge the reg. Now clearly you will need to make sure you have the time time to sterilize the reg prior to the final buddy checks before you splash but that is not that big of deal. We just plan for that time in advance and consider this the "new normal"

Source: https://blog.padi.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/06/8steps-copy.pdf

 

[Joneill]

Source: https://blog.padi.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/06/8steps-copy.pdf

Does Test purging really mean it wil breathe fine if needed? I look at the primary reason for the octo as a backup 2nd stage for myself and always test breath before I splash - a backup for an OOA diver is secondary. So does purging it really tell me it's good to go?