a spin off to the dying a hero thread...

[Blackwood]

Sure. But that does not mean you shouldn't do both.

I value realism in dive training. While I don't have nearly as much experience as some of these guys, in mine, maskless no buddy OOG is a lightning bolt scenario. Stressful? Yes. I've done the no mask 50 ft OOA swims. It sucks. Valuable for anything other than showing your instructor you can do it? I'm not sure.

Would I mind? No. I'm just not sure it would be functionally valuable.

 

[Blackwood]

Have you ever actually been put under physical discomfort during training such as having to swim a while to get gas after your air has been taken unexpectedly? And if so, please provide details.

I have. My team (i.e. we) ****ed up in training and my instructor took advantage. I was busy diddling with line and they kept going. My attention was on the reel. He tapped my throat and pulled the reg (which really is like a fraction of a second notice... not exactly "take 5 breaths and go").

 

[Wormil]

I value realism in dive training. While I don't have nearly as much experience as some of these guys, in mine, maskless no buddy OOG is a lightning bolt scenario. Stressful? Yes. I've done the no mask 50 ft OOA swims. It sucks. Valuable for anything other than showing your instructor you can do it? I'm not sure.

Would I mind? No. I'm just not sure it would be functionally valuable.

Cause stress so you don't panic and learn to deal with it before going off on your own....pretty valuable imo.

 

[Wormil]

I have. My team ****ed (i.e. we) up in training and my instructor took advantage. I was busy diddling with line and they kept going. My attention was on the reel. He tapped my throat and pulled the reg (which really is like a fraction of a second notice... not exactly "take 5 breaths and go).

How did you feel and what did you learn?

 

[Sas]

Valuable for anything other than showing your instructor you can do it? I'm not sure.

It shows if you can handle stress or not. Some people cannot handle it at all and shut down or panic.

If you have not found anything super stressful during your training (and I am not talking about stuff like a lost buddy or line as whilst that is a tad stressful, if you can breathe stress levels should be pretty low) then you haven't been pushed hard enough.

 

[Blackwood]

How did you feel and what did you learn?

Felt: pissed at the team for leaving, pissed at myself for my own poor situational awareness that allowed them to leave. And yes, stressed.

I learned, at least in theory, not to focus on any one task at the expense of everything else. I learned that things like running (or reeling in, in this case) line need practice so that I don't need to expend as many my mental resources doing it.

It shows if you can handle stress or not. Some people cannot handle it at all and shut down or panic.

If you have not found anything super stressful during your training (and I am not talking about stuff like a lost buddy or line as whilst that is a tad stressful, if you can breathe stress levels should be pretty low) then you haven't been pushed hard enough.

I agree. Personally, I've certainly been extremely stressed in training.

If it's still stressful after training, you aren't ready.

BTW, while we're on the "have you ever" path, have you ever run out of gas? Was it stressful?

Cause stress so you don't panic and learn to deal with it before going off on your own....pretty valuable imo.

Agreed, I just believe there are better ways to do it without invoking the magic bullet. Disclaimer: I am not an instructor, and only speak for how I personally learn.

 

[Sas]

I agree. Personally, I've certainly been extremely stressed in training.

If it's still stressful after training, you aren't ready.

Yes I agree. A normal OOA should not be particularly stressful as you should not be leaving yourself open to problems if something should malfunction. Me and other buddies pull OOAs on each other as practice too, so things go smoothly in a real situation (and one of them I did have to donate air to at one point in a real situation, and it went off exactly as we had planned).

BTW, while we're on the "have you ever" path, have you ever run out of gas? Was it stressful?

For real? No, only during training. In training it has not been particularly stressful from a mental point of view (as in worrying about my safety and so on), as I know I am in controlled conditions, however it can become physically stressful if the exercise requires me to swim a long way to get air and things like that, which has been uncomfortable.

 

[peterbj7]

One drill that I did as part of a tech instructor course was to lay a 50ft line down at 170ft, then take off all my gear except suit and weightbelt and leave it on the bottom (so no mask either), swim to the other end of the line to where someone else was waiting, locate a suitable regulator (no mask remember), make sure the gas was on or turn it on, and take no more than five complete breaths, then swim back up the line to my own gear, which had been rearranged and separated whilst I was away and regs turned off. Identify the reg I wanted to breathe from and turn on that reg first. Then don the gear (twinset plus two stages).

In case this sounds like lunacy there were two people at each end and my instructor trainer was closely shadowing me the entire time. At any point I could have asked for breathing gas and would have been given it, but I would have failed the exercise. At each end the sole role of one of the two people was to make sure I didn't pick a regulator supplying gas that would be unbreathable at that depth. So it was actually perfectly safe, but none the less stressful.

Several times since then I have found myself with no gear on at depth, such as to pass through a narrow crevice, and it doesn't worry me. That training was invaluable.

 

[Blackwood]

For real? No, only during training.

I have, and as to be expected, it was entirely my fault and entirely preventable. My buddy's comments included something like the following: "it was eerie how calm you were." It wasn't stressful in the slightest, unless you consider embarrassment stressful.

One drill that I did as part of a tech instructor course was to lay a 50ft line down at 170ft, then take off all my gear except suit and weightbelt and leave it on the bottom (so no mask either), swim to the other end of the line to where someone else was waiting, locate a suitable regulator (no mask remember), make sure the gas was on or turn it on, and take no more than five complete breaths, then swim back up the line to my own gear, which had been rearranged and separated whilst I was away and regs turned off. Identify the reg I wanted to breathe from and turn on that reg first. Then don the gear (twinset plus two stages).

In case this sounds like lunacy there were two people at each end and my instructor trainer was closely shadowing me the entire time. At any point I could have asked for breathing gas and would have been given it, but I would have failed the exercise. At each end the sole role of one of the two people was to make sure I didn't pick a regulator supplying gas that would be unbreathable at that depth. So it was actually perfectly safe, but none the less stressful.

Sounds like the divemaster drill on steroids. Not sure I see what the advantage of doing it a 170 feet is, but I won't second guess your IT.

 

[peterbj7]

A normal OOA should not be particularly stressful as you should not be leaving yourself open to problems if something should malfunction. Me and other buddies pull OOAs on each other as practice too, so things go smoothly in a real situation

I have never run out of air/gas, and I would regard it as a very serious matter if I ever did. I had an occasion a while back when on a recreational dive one of the group did run out of air. I put him on my octopus, called the dive, and sent up my DSMB. While I was starting to reel in the line (we were at around 50ft) one of the other divers also ran out of air and grabbed my reg from my mouth. This second diver was moderately panicked so I left him on my primary second stage, ensuring he had a good grip on my harness, and started to buddy breathe with the other guy who was on my octopus. Doing that whilst reeling in the line was quite tricky, plus controlling the buoyancy of the slightly panicked diver who was all for bolting to the surface. That was an interesting dive, moderately stressful, mainly in hoping that I wouldn't run out of air (with two people hanging off me I couldn't see or reach my SPG).