Are you an EXPERIENCED recreational diver?

[Julius SCHMIDT]

Here's a question... let's say your second stage freeflows... I know you can sip on it to get air. Has anyone ever sipped on it to the surface?

I would call it blasting, give your purge a push and see, be ready and use your tongue to counter that blast

Yeah I've read sipping in the books too

 

[Dody]

There are two ideologies: prepare well enough to never experience a problem OR experience enough slight problems to build confidence (but not too much!) to be able to operate correctly in difficult situations. Two opposite goals, I know. You will need confidence and calmness, and a good buddy is very usefull too!

Why should they be mutually exclusive. You can do both. Be prepared and purposely get into predicaments to gain experiences.
Let me give you an exemple. Most of the people say that if you get OOA, you made a mistake. But let’s say that your regulators free flows because a manufacturing defect and that your insta-buddy is too far. It will help to have experienced a CESA before.
Or it would be better to be with good people you know and trust to experience your fist washing machine than by surprise in a place you don’t know with an insta buddy, right?

 

[johndiver999]

You learn by experience and by getting into (and out of) situations where you walk away and say: "I won't do THAT again". In other words, you aren't really planning for it.

If you are smarter than me, you can witness or read about situations that serve as surrogates for "experience".

 

[David Novo]

Why should they be mutually exclusive. You can do both. Be prepared and purposely get into predicaments to gain experiences.
Let me give you an exemple. Most of the people say that if you get OOA, you made a mistake. But let’s say that your regulators free flows because a manufacturing defect and that your insta-buddy is too far. It will help to have experienced a CESA before.
Or it would be better to be with good people you know and trust to experience your fist washing machine than by surprise in a place you don’t know with an insta buddy, right?

In that scenario, you should practice situational awareness to stay with your buddy, not a CESA.

 

[Dody]

In that scenario, you should practice situational awareness to stay with your buddy, not a CESA.

I have read so many bad tales about insta-buddies that relying on them can be a gamble. I believe that last resort is self rescuing. Even though I will never try to dive alone, I even plan to do a solo course to learn self rescuing best practices.

 

[David Novo]

I have read so many bad tales about insta-buddies that relying on them can be a gamble. I believe that last resort is self rescuing. Even though I will never try to dive alone, I even plan to do a solo course to learn self rescuing best practices.

I don't disagree with you on this.
However, I believe that redundancies are a better solution for the majority (I would say all but always better to leave some margin for something I am currently not remembering) of the problems than a CESA.

P.S.: Having your buddy (insta or not) nearby is a two-way road. It is not only him/her that has the responsibility of being near you.

 

[KenGordon]

I have read so many bad tales about insta-buddies that relying on them can be a gamble. I believe that last resort is self rescuing. Even though I will never try to dive alone, I even plan to do a solo course to learn self rescuing best practices.

The idea of the solo course is to not need to rescue yourself by avoiding issues. And to not panic.

 

[Storker]

I have read so many bad tales about insta-buddies

And here we go again...

 

[Dody]

I don't disagree with you on this.
However, I believe that redundancies are a better solution for the majority (I would say all but always better to leave some margin for something I am currently not remembering) of the problems than a CESA.

P.S.: Having your buddy (insta or not) nearby is a two-way road. It is not only him/her that has the responsibility of being near you.

Yeah! When I dive with m

And here we go again...

So, it is not real ?

 

[Dody]

You either need a buddy and need to rely on him/ her or don’t. I think you need but... If there is a risk that your buddy is not trustworthy and that you have not identified that before the dive, you need to know what to do if you are left alone. For me, this is simple common sense.
Making sure that you won’t have a problem by preparing everything (equipment, training, experience, ...) is good but not bullet proof. Kind of wishful thinking. Can you anticipate all possible manufacturing failures?