Can Light - Why not on the left?

[OldNSalty]

My experience is limited in the tech side. I only recently took Fundies and got a provisional pass so there were no lights needed for the course. Last week I went on a night dive with some GUE folks and they loaned me some gear including a can-light (which I loved but found the handle to be a little uncomfortable). I understand that I can neatly loop the extra hose behind the canister but then I have this cable coming across my chest and I wasn't real sure how this would effect long hose deployment. So aside from the fact that I can use the can to hold the slack in the hose why wouldn't I just put it on the right and tuck the extra hose in the belt like I did for the rec course? I would think this would be cleaner routing of hoses and cables.

Thanks

 

[tstormdiver]

I use my canister light to keep the extra of my long hose. I am also right handed, so wear the light on the right hand, cord wrapped around my arm. If I am scootering, then I will wear the light head on the left hand, but run the cord under the long hose to allow for free hand- off of the hose, if needed.

 

[fmerkel]

Photographer here: camera right, light left.

 

[KevinNM]

The reason the canister goes on the right is because the left is for deco bottles and stages. The light is in your left hand because the right is left free to run a scooter. If you are not doing any of that and never intend to do any of that and the people you dive with don't care than you can run stuff however you want.

 

[PfcAJ]

Furthermore, stages go on left because long hose is on right. Long hose is on right because that post 'rolls on' in event of contact with the overhead.

Lots of DIR stuff distilled down to "because long hose needs to roll on" if you ask why enough times.

 

[OldNSalty]

The reason the canister goes on the right is because the left is for deco bottles and stages. The light is in your left hand because the right is left free to run a scooter. If you are not doing any of that and never intend to do any of that and the people you dive with don't care than you can run stuff however you want.

That's the part of the puzzle I was missing. Thanks. Now I understand.

 

[Jack Hammer]

If you used a can light during Fundies the hose/cord routing issue would've been addressed. Real world donations are not frequent so the inconvenience of having to move the light cord around the long hose when donating the full length of the hose and is a trade off and not that difficult to do.

 

[kensuf]

History time!

Back when these decisions were being made, the rolling off the long hose issue wasn't as big of a deal because everyone was diving yoke manifolds (OMG you're gonna die!!!) and there was no "left post" to roll off -- just a right and center post. But the long hose routing up from the right hip to the left shoulder had a lot to do with the second stage, the cleanest route for the second stage was behind your neck around your right side, and the bulky canister made a great place holder for the long hose. Additionally, putting the long hose on the right post gave you the most length of hose in the event of an air share, and as people switched to DIN it became quickly apparent about the roll-off issue.

Stage bottles being on the left side had a lot to do with the canister being on the right, as well as stage bottles being in the slipstream while scootering with your right hand.

People also used to try butt-mounting lights in doubles. Problems there included dropping a set of doubles down on your expensive light, and line entanglements in the d-rings attached to the bottom of your tanks.

One of the dumbest things people used to do was breathe the short hose and stuff the long hose. Because Odin's and Jetstreams were popular regulators at the time, and a lot of people took the approach of having that Odin/Jetstream on their short hose and some cheap regulator on the 7' hose. Their excuse was that a regulator didn't breathe well on a 7' hose (which I think we all agree is BS), but in reality it was because the 7' hose for an Odin/Jetstream was expensive and they were cheap. The cheap regulator for the 7' hose (backup) didn't matter in their mind because they'd never be breathing from it. I swear I saw some crap unbalanced piston's with 7' hoses on them during this time. To resolve this, some people took up the habit of giving their dive buddy a good performing regulator with a 7' hose for a dive -- "this regulator is for me in an emergency, so I want it to be a great breathing reg" and for awhile it was regular SOP for many people to make a 7' hose regulator trade before a dive.

FWIW -- the geniuses that would buy Sherwood brutes for their 7' regs stopped doing that pretty quickly when they realized that was the reg they were going to get in an out of air emergency because their buddy insisted on swapping 7' regs with them before the dive.

 

[OldNSalty]

If you used a can light during Fundies the hose/cord routing issue would've been addressed...

True but like I said, I only got a provisional pass on the rec level so I kinda knew going in I wasn't ready for the tech pass plus if I had to lay out another grand+ for a can-light/backups the course wasn't going to happen.

 

[CptTightPants21]

Ken has a good summary.

The stage bottles were on the left because the old dive lights were the equivalent of strapping a small child to your hip and the bottles were a convenient counter balance.

In terms of Long hose deployment with 7ft reg and canister light running from right to left hand, there are two options--

1. light cord in front of 7ft hose with 7ft hose directly against your body
2. Light cord against your body underneath the 7ft hose.

Both are acceptable and both have pros and cons.
Method #1

Pro--eassier to stow primary light, won't wrap around your 7ft hose prior to donation.

Con--When you donate the 7ft hose in an out of air, the light cord is in front of the 7ft hose and can hinder a complete deployment. You need to hand off the primary reg and then put the light in your right hand and swap it under the hose with the left. There was a time when light cord in front of 7ft hose was the standard GUE method, but I a not sure if they care which method is used today. There are a bunch of threads, especially in the GUE section that discuss this in greater detail. It sounds more complicated typing it out than it really is. It requires an extra step and can be done efficiently with a little practice. I find the biggest issue is diving/drilling with non-GUE divers or divers that don't know how the light cord is routed will grab the reg and start to swim/get in position before you have had a chance to effectively swap the light head under the reg hose.

Method#2
Disclaimer I use method #2

Pro-light cord is against the body, less chance of snagging something, and easier to deploy long hose

Con--It requires consideration when clipping/stowing the primary light, especially during lift bag deployment and primary light failure. If you just take the light head and clip it off on your right chest D-ring you will have encircled and trapped your 7ft hose stopping it from being deployed. Any time you need to shoot a bag or stow it on the right d ring, you need to pull the light head under your 7ft hose to stow it properly. It is a little more work, but I enjoy the fact that I won't need to worry about the light cord in an actual OOA emergency.