7 foot hose Rec. Diving?

[John_B]

texarkandy, been there, done that:

Backup with a yellow faceplate. Primary with a yellow faceplate and backup with a black faceplate. Primary with a blue faceplate. Primary with a black faceplate and yellow hose. All were solutions looking for a problem, IMO. If you breathe of the reg that has a yellow faceplate or a yellow hose, various recreational divers (including instructors) are going to ask you why you are breathing of the "octo"...

Both my primary and secondary regs are now black (hey, black is the new black, right?). The hoses are also black. In fact the second stages are identical.

If someone needs air, they are going to go for the reg you are breathing off of. RedHead said it best, anyone with any brains is going to look for the bubbles. Think about how most divers treat their octos, and the fact that they are probably (99%?) crap regulators in the first place. Knowing that, I can't imagine why an OOG/OOA diver would even consider "going for the yellow"...

John

 

[texarkandy]

I'm thinking you both (Red & CRNA) missed my point a little, but first off let me say (again!) that I KNOW you don't use the cheap octo-regs & that your primary IS your intended donate reg. I pointed that out in my previous post and can only presume you skimmed over it instead of actually reading it.

Second, I know YOUR buddy knows what to do CRNA - I pointed out that I was aware of that too.


I've just seen this hypothetical of the McDiver coming out of the blue at you thrown out there so many times in these OOA discussions on ScubaBoard. It's just assumed he/she's ripping your primary reg of your mouth, & I've no doubt that does happens from what I've heard from folks with experience.

But I'm talking here about the hypothetical McDiver who is maybe not quite yet fully panicked & attempting to do what HE/SHE was trained to do - and that would be "look of the yellow octo clipped somewhere in the triangle". So if a person in that not yet fully panicked & trying to do the right thing approaches you & finds your secondary on your bungee might they just not grab for that - thinking they are supposed to? Then the fight is on I suppose & woe to them if it is with "Red"

If you're intention/plan/procedure is to hand your primary Apeks/Zeagle/WalMart/whatever reg over to the OOA diver, & you are concerned about the rec McDiver coming at you out of the blue who doesn't know your procedure, would there be an added measure of safety to put that primary reg on a yellow hose to at least help give McDiver a visual cue that's the one he/she's "supposed" to have. Instead of having them fumbling all over your harness trying to find that octo-reg that's not there cause you have a secondary bungeed around your neck.

So what's wrong with putting your primary on a yellow hose since it's your intended donate rec. Isn't there some merit in having that additional "visual cue" for these other-trained diver that people on ScubaBoard like to talk about in their hypotheticals?

Or is there a resistance because a yellow hose would just be too "Dork" and uncool, despite any merit to the idea?

 

[texarkandy]

Knowing that, I can't imagine why an OOG/OOA diver would even consider "going for the yellow"...

John

Ummm, because that's how THEY were trained? ("look for the octo-reg on the yellow hose in the triangle) If you're gonna do something different, what's wrong with a little visual cue as a helper?

(Once again, let me state, I do not pretend to speak from personal experience here, just asking a question, so spare me the flames everyone - I know how ScubaBoard can get!!!)

 

[texarkandy]

As a newly re-certified PADI OW diverdad who this year did my recert with my JOW as she did her cert, I have instilled in my JOW that not everybody she may encounter will have the same OOA procedure and not to get too "fixed" on our procedure with our current equipment to be "always" the case.

We have the cheap yellow-octo-regs clipped with mouthpiece clips up in our triangles right now. We may change to a better system/procedure in the future. Fortunately we went through our class with rental Air2 octo's, so that procedure of donating your primary is not entirely foreign to my JOW.

(Heck, we did buddy-breathing in my first Cert in 1981 - no second reg at all!!)

I wish I was diving this weekend instead of reading ScubaBoard - oh, well, it beats mowing the grass - Hmmm, maybe I'll go get the boat ready & head out tommorrow - a plan begins to formulate in my brain now!!!!

 

[Nemrod]

The only times I have needed to share air the "OOA stranger happen to be with me on the cattle boat sort" politely signaled for the octapus and I handed it to him. The other time I recall the OOA diver came at me quickly and grabbed the yellow hose. The time I went OOA so long ago prior to octapus or second or any of that I waved at my wife and she swam over and we buddy breathed up from about 100 feet to about 60 at which point I waved and leisurely swam to the surface. You guys sorta make a big deal over this, either method works.

1) standard configuration taught by 99% of the world---breath the short hose and the octapus goes on a 36/40 inch hose (often yellow) clipped in the chest area or it could be bungeed at the neck with a breakaway loop. The octapus on the long hose is donated, the doner diver does not have to interrupt their air supply to provide air to the already OOA diver. Usually a singles rig intended for non over head diving environments.

2) DIR/cave configuration--breath the long hose primary which is 5 to 7 feet long and the secondary is necklaced. The long hose is donated and the doner diver switches to the necklaced short hose second stage. Usually a doubles rig for overhead environments and penetration diving recently adapted to OW. Both hoses are usually black.

3) Buddy breathing with a single regulator--works just fine--both divers share a single regulator and switch off.

octapus- a second stage regulator on a second usually longer hose sharing the same first stage with another second stage--a shared first stage.

secondary regulator--a complete first and second stage usually rigged independent of a primary regulator (first and second stages), usually on isolated doubles and occasionally Y/H valves on singles

My wording may not be the best but this is pretty much it.

My wife and I prefer option 1 and we do bungee/necklace on a breakaway loop our octapus. I use a superior double hose regulator so my octapus is under my right arm and bungeed at my neck and that is the one I donate, her AL Legend was factory delievered with a 40 inch yellow long hose, I gave it a bungee necklace and she breaths the short hose and donates the octapus.

If solo on a single, don't need an octapus but I might carry a slung buddy bottle on more challenging solo dives.

N

 

[Meng_Tze]

if you are OOG and come grab a reg from me, you will get what I have in my mouth. The colour is irrelevant, the fact that it works IS. I do have one yellow reg, it is a TX40 and sits as one of my primaries on a rig. If I have that one in my mouth at the time, you will get that, if I am on a different bottle, you will get that reg. At least we both know that the reg/gas you get is applicable for that depth and is 'colour blind'.

While it is indeed taught, and rightfully separated here by one of the recent posters, in rec diving to go for the 'yellow reg in the triangle', the premise was to use a 7ft hose and take it from there. How did we end up with colours now?

 

[texarkandy]

secondary regulator--a complete first and second stage usually rigged independent of a primary regulator (first and second stages), usually on isolated doubles and occasionally Y/H valves on singles

N

Thanks Nemrod,

My bad? - I've never heard this particular definition of "secondary reg" before - seems I may have been throwing the term around a little to loosely to indicate "backup reg" coming off the same first stage - (be it a regular reg or one of those octo-regs).

In the sense you are defining it here, it is a complete 1st & 2nd stage alternate. I knew people did such things, but never really thought about using confusing terminology.

I wonder if everyone uses the term "secondary reg" in the sense Nemrod defines it here. (I know I'll be more careful to clarify in the future)

 

[texarkandy]

if you are OOG and come grab a reg from me, you will get what I have in my mouth.

Pardon, but seems to me i someone "grabs" a reg from you, they will get what they "grab" whichever one it happens to be

& if you don't want them to have that particular one, you will have to work it out "after the grab" I suppose

 

[TheRedHead]

So if a person in that not yet fully panicked & trying to do the right thing approaches you & finds your secondary on your bungee might they just not grab for that - thinking they are supposed to? Then the fight is on I suppose & woe to them if it is with "Red"

If McDiver swam over to me and made the OOA "slash" I would hand over my reg very quickly. They probably wouldn't notice my bungied reg as it is black against black. I feel certain they would go the reg in my mouth. I don't see it being a problem.

 

[Adobo]

But I'm talking here about the hypothetical McDiver who is maybe not quite yet fully panicked & attempting to do what HE/SHE was trained to do - and that would be "look of the yellow octo clipped somewhere in the triangle". So if a person in that not yet fully panicked & trying to do the right thing approaches you & finds your secondary on your bungee might they just not grab for that - thinking they are supposed to? Then the fight is on I suppose & woe to them if it is with "Red"

My training (SSI) was to talk about emergency procedures before the dive. If I happen to run out of gas, I am supposed to go to my buddy (and not some random stranger) and signal that I am out of gas. My buddy is then supposed to donate whatever it is that they are to donate, be it their primary regulator or their backup regulator. This is precisely how things played out in the one situation I had an out of gas incident when I first started diving. The color of his regs never played a role.

Are the majority of new divers really being trained to look for some yellow regulator from some random stranger if they run out of gas? What do they do if that other diver doesn't even have a yellow octo and instead has an air2 (which by the way is usually either black or grey)?