Buddy Breathing

[Nylorac]

It is mostly an unnecessary skill but.... It is another good indicator of comfort in our UW environment. I'd put it in the same category as doffing and donning your gear UW. I don't object to dropping it from required OW skills.

Mostly unnecessary - unless your life depends on it. It is a simple skill to learn (just takes practice, like most diving skills) and one that should be practiced and become second nature if and when you might need it. The idea that learning basic skills causes undue stress is B.S. If you can't handle learning basic stuff you should not be diving. The most stressful skill I did for my open water cert was sharing air and overcoming the discomfort and stress was a valuable lesson.

Take it from me that "mostly unnecessary" = if and when you need it your life will
depend on it. As a double breast cancer survivor (gone through the whole gambit and then some - twice) who is now alive because of basic measures that are now being considered "unnecessary" (self exam the first time and mamogramy the second time) I say err on the side of caution because you have absolutely nothing to lose by being cautious and a lot to lose if you are not. I don't usually get on the soap box - but really why discourage learning such a basic skill ?

 

[Karel26]

Think it is a matter of life and death in some casses. . Why
want to make the industry unnessacarry dangerous when we
all knew when we started diving that there is a risk involved. .
I don't see why make the sport more riskier and get more close
calls, incedants and even deaths. .

Live to dive and dive to live. . . . :burnout:

 

[Tortuga68]

A lot of comments about why it needn't be taught

But what's the advantage of NOT teaching it?

Nil imho

 

[Karel26]

Maybe they look at time Tortuga. . Time is money, if they
can get more people through quicker then they will make more
money. .

They will take people's live's if they think that way. . So in
the future people are going to pay to die younger or
just to die if it is the attitude of the organisations. .

Live to dive and dive to live. .

 

[Saudi-Diver]

When I started diving my instructor taught me buddy breathing and had us students swimming around practicing it, it wasn't a required skill it was something he liked to teach because its another skill in your armory. At that time Padi had dropped the requirement for Buddy breathing and the requirement was donate your Alternate Air source. I felt it was a useful skill to learn and I am glad I did it.

 

[Interceptor121]

I haven't been much on the board but this seems a follow up on my old post.
My take is that many agencies follow the RSTC guidelines, if you read those you see that an open water course has to contain at least one self managed OOA skill and one with your buddy. The only one self managed is the CESA because we don't ask people to drop weights in an OW class, and actually in no recreational class. Previously you had two OOA buddy assisted procedures AAS and BB.
The argument is that as in most places now they don't let you dive without an octopus and lots of people don't know BB anyway this is now redundant.
However I do feel that is important to teach the skills in continuing education courses and the natural place seems to be the rescue diver course because at DM level you should already know the skill when you attempt equipment swap.
I would also think that at rescue level you should actually practice weight belt loss, though maybe only in confined water to have a complete overview of self rescue techniques.
I would not think that BB has to be mandatory in an OW class nor an advanced class because the likely-hood you will actually need BB is very low and there is no reason to put in the main stream diving courses syllabus.
Note that I would still try personally to teach the skill when I have two good students that I feel can master the skill in the OW class but of course it would not be a base for pass/fail

 

[TSandM]

Personally, I think if you take the time that used to be spent on BB and spent it on more work on buoyancy control, you'd prevent more accidents and injuries. Poor buoyancy control is implicated in a substantial portion of the accidents that DAN reports each year -- I have yet to read a report of an accident that occurred because two divers had one only regulator between them and didn't know how to manage that situation.

 

[DCBC]

Personally, I think if you take the time that used to be spent on BB and spent it on more work on buoyancy control, you'd prevent more accidents and injuries. Poor buoyancy control is implicated in a substantial portion of the accidents that DAN reports each year.

I don't see this as an either or. Instructors should spend the time on buoyancy control and if this is not being done, why not?

 

[Tortuga68]

I don't see this as an either or

+1

It can easily be combined with other skills

 

[rstofer]

Think it is a matter of life and death in some casses. . Why
want to make the industry unnessacarry dangerous when we
all knew when we started diving that there is a risk involved. .
I don't see why make the sport more riskier and get more close
calls, incedants and even deaths. .

Live to dive and dive to live. . . . :burnout:

Probably because the process of BB brings more risks than rewards. Considering modern equipment layout, BB is redundant. Except for you vintage guys - you know who you are...

Air sharing is the commonly accepted approach to OOA situations.

Richard