Buddy Air Balancing?

[JessH]

My octo is for an emergancy. I don't care if I have 2500 PSI and an hour of NDL time, if my buddy is low on air, WE are going up. Period! Any instructor teaching this practice needs to be called on it.

If you only use your octo in an emergency how do you know that both it and you will work properly when you need it? I don't think an instructor should be teaching a beginning class to do this, but I also think that air shares should be routinely practiced instead of waiting for an emergency to figure it all out.

~Jess

 

[gt3073b]

If this was explained as "better thumb the dive and share before one buddy gets too low" instead of a trick to extend your dive, then it seems like a good idea.

I'd rather be on the surface with two tanks at 700 than one at 400 and one at 1000. Its the whole "your buddy is your backup" idea.

When one buddy is getting low, it is PAST time to thumb the dive. But there is no sense in finishing the dive in a MANDATORY air share with one tank at 1000+ psi. Sharing early means you still have a backup.

Bryan.

 

[Meng_Tze]

If you only use your octo in an emergency how do you know that both it and you will work properly when you need it? I don't think an instructor should be teaching a beginning class to do this, but I also think that air shares should be routinely practiced instead of waiting for an emergency to figure it all out.

~Jess

Fully agree with that. Air sharing as the OP posted, it seems intended to extend BT. This at this level can easily lead to 'near misses' (or worse). Air sharing should be practiced and done, but as part of keeping skills up.

It is a thin line from breathing down to where you ask buddy to help extend BT, to, just breathing and expecting buddy to have enough when you run low.

 

[Nemrod]

If your buddy is your redundancy instead of a pony bottle and you have switched to your buddy's air supply to extend your dive time then where did your redundancy go ?

This whole thing completely is at odds with the time honored Rule of Thirds. You cannot have it both ways. I love this stuff , it is a blast,

N

 

[MikeFerrara]

If your buddy is your redundancy instead of a pony bottle and you have switched to your buddy's air supply to extend your dive time then where did your redundancy go ?

This whole thing completely is at odds with the time honored Rule of Thirds. You cannot have it both ways. I love this stuff , it is a blast,

N

Not at all. Remember when, in another thread, we discussed how the "rule of thirds" applies to open water diving? You want twice as much gas as you need to get back to the surface in reserve.

If 10 cu ft will get both of us to the surface but one has 20 and the other has 30 we can do whatever we want with all our gas beyond the 10 we each need reserved for return/ascent. We could dive it share it or just purge our regs and dump it into the lake...no matter. We each have enough that we both can get to the surface on either tank.

Don't have too much fun with this. You're making it sound like you don't really understand gas management.

 

[Nemrod]

But Mike, again, running out of air is not what we are talking about, redundancy is, your buddy is your redundancy and therefore breathing his tank down and then switching back to yours to find--oops--a problem has occurred of some sort--no redundancy.

I won't have to much fun with it, I promise, but at the same time let's figure out what redundancy means, you seem to be saying it is OOA only, I include mechanical or even human factors. Your buddy could have a stroke, your MKV turrent could blow off because the hack service tech thinks a torque wrench is a pair of pliers from Sharper Image?

I did not read the OP to closely--I admit---did he say shallow--how shallow is shallow?

I would think that using your buddy's air supply or vice versa to extend your dive--rather than calling the dive when the first buddy hit's the agreed upon minimum pressure would be the same as using a pony to extend your bottom time or going into your reserve capacity on doubles to extend your dive beyond the planned "call" point.

Here is the part of "gas management" I do understand, N<---back on top with 1/3 in reserve or at least some agreed upon minimum amount.

Maybe I am misunderstanding the OP


N

 

[Meng_Tze]

..
I would think that using your buddy's air supply or vice versa to extend your dive--rather than calling the dive when the first buddy hit's the agreed upon minimum pressure would be the same as using a pony to extend your bottom time or going into your reserve capacity on doubles to extend your dive beyond the planned "call" point.

This is how I read it too.

 

[redacted]

I would think that using your buddy's air supply or vice versa to extend your dive--rather than calling the dive when the first buddy hit's the agreed upon minimum pressure would be the same as using a pony to extend your bottom time or going into your reserve capacity on doubles to extend your dive beyond the planned "call" point.

Yes, but the balancing is done before either diver hits minimum pressure. So reserve capacity is not touched by this.

My wife and I have used this when our fills were not even and I didn't have my equalized hose available.

 

[Cacia]

There are places where it is more dangerous to surface (current running over a wall), volcanic rocks, crashing surf. I would only do it with a regular partner. Getting it down makes for a smoother dive and more options. We always keep 600 psi at the least.

We usually do it midpoint through the dive, when a disparity becomes apparent.
We don't use redundant air. I like to stay with him, especially when there are a lot of sharks. I might choose for him to surface a bit later if the area gets suddenly sharkey.

I consider it like buddy breathing...not taught by PADI, but a valuable skill to have in the arsenal. We use it a lot on drifts. If nothing else, it's nice to know there are people out there that do it, so you don't assume there is a problem.

By the time we do this, we are less than 60 ft, usually more like 40.

 

[rakkis]

Other than practicing air sharing, I don't see any benefit from doing this.