Alec Pierce Scuba - Long Hose Good or Bad

[The dutch guy]

Jacket style BCDs?

It does work pretty well with a jacket style bcd.
I used a 150cm (5 foot?) long hose for a couple of years with a normal bcd.
No problems at all, just ran it under my right arm, over my chest and behind my neck.

 

[wetb4igetinthewater]

It does work pretty well with a jacket style bcd.
I used a 150cm (5 foot?) long hose for a couple of years with a normal bcd.
No problems at all, just ran it under my right arm, over my chest and behind my neck.

A friend tried a 5 foot hose to be not quite long enough. BP/W, about 5'7" (170 cm?). Dry suit. I think for slimmer/shorter people, a 5 ft / 150 cm hose may work just about right. However, a 7', I'm more curious as to what they use to secure it without having a canister light/stick.

 

[BlueTrin]

A friend tried a 5 foot hose to be not quite long enough. BP/W, about 5'7" (170 cm?). Dry suit. I think for slimmer/shorter people, a 5 ft / 150 cm hose may work just about right. However, a 7', I'm more curious as to what they use to secure it without having a canister light/stick.

When you don’t have a canister or stick I think you can pass it under the belt of harness when using a BPW. So with a jacket you could try under the belt ?

 

[pauldw]

That’s a heavy looking stereotype you keep flogging.

Maybe should have put in an ellipsis. But that's neither here nor there. I see you think I was being facetious. The horror! Can you not imagine the immense respect we plebeians feel for the men in black?

I think that the only thing heavy about the subgroup among them that I got after (for rather disingenuously flogging Mr. Peirce), is the size of their egos.

 

[wetb4igetinthewater]

When you don’t have a canister or stick I think you can pass it under the belt of harness when using a BPW. So with a jacket you could try under the belt ?

Yes, but I guess it depends on which BCD as they vary so much: some with cummerbunds, typically wrap around the body. It could work, but I see it as more problematic. For tucking into the belt of a BP/W, as one is free of "clutter", there isn't the same issue as with a number of jacket style BCDs.

 

[shoredivr]

It’s perplexing to me that anything other than a jacket style BC and 30 inch hoses with yellow octo hanging in the triangle are considered too advanced for new divers. If you teach about the variety of gear configurations out there you have a beginning diver who can choose what works for them.

*edit* After all, a new diver doesn’t know that a long hose is supposed to be more advanced, or that it’s possible to start diving horizontally from confined water class number one. It’s the instructor/shop owner/training organization that sets the most expectations. Maybe the internet somewhat also.

If the instructor is able to, and brings in different gear, such as Air2s, 40 inch hoses, bungied back ups, sidemount, steel tanks, long hoses, jackets and wings, DIN fittings etc, the student is at least exposed to this gear and will have a place to start if they should wind up diving with someone not sporting a jacket style and 28 or 30 inch hoses and yellow octo in the triangle.

There’s been some posts about there being a standard gear set up for beginning recreational divers, which almost has an entrenched feel to it. Kind of like claiming that DIR or tech is entrenched in the long hose.

When I started OW/AOW diving in 1998 the long hose was still in the cave diving world. When I first saw a photo of a harness and wing in 2002 I thought, interesting, maybe it will be a better fit for me rather than my jacket which kept riding up and compressing my torso when fully inflated at the surface. And for me, that was true when I got my hands on one later that year. Thank you Walt Stark III in Bonaire for renting me a piece of equipment so I could try before buying.

I’m continually learning 18 years later. And I think a good instructor and/or store owner should generate this type of atmosphere in their classes.

 

[Brian Huff]

...considered too advanced for new diver...

It might have to do with the time in which an instructor has to conduct the OW courses, not the difficulty of the skills.

Getting a new rec diver the bare minimum needed is about all they have time for. Since there are so many other courses available for people who want to go farther and learn more than just the basics, it seems practical to teach the most common setup used in the world during that first OW class.

 

[shoredivr]

It might have to do with the time in which an instructor has to conduct the OW courses, not the difficulty of the skills.

Getting a new rec diver the bare minimum needed is about all they have time for. Since there are so many other courses available for people who want to go farther and learn more than just the basics, it seems practical to teach the most common setup used in the world during that first OW class.

I think its also a mindset.

 

[rhwestfall]

A friend tried a 5 foot hose to be not quite long enough. BP/W, about 5'7" (170 cm?). Dry suit. I think for slimmer/shorter people, a 5 ft / 150 cm hose may work just about right. However, a 7', I'm more curious as to what they use to secure it without having a canister light/stick.

I put it under a knife, or (in the case of my wife and daughter) a weight pouch. I moved them both to a BP/W, daughter thought it was the best solution, including the regulator configuration (and, just after completing OW), and the wife is a "work in progress".... change does not do her well....

YMMV

 

[Brian Huff]

I think its also a mindset.

yes, no doubt, it isn't easy to develop a certification course that tens of thousands of people use, distribute training material, certify instructors, get thousands of resorts and standards bodies to recognize and so much more... so yeah, the mindset for new rec diver OW training certainly would be "do we really need to change this?"