Donating the "primary" regulator

[Dave Bevan]

Agreed.

 

[mdwalter]

Now I donate my primary (40 something inches ) as I carry a bungeed second. I tried a long hose but switched because it had a problem with my snorkel.

Yeah, the problem is you have a snorkel when not snorkelling (i.e. you are SCUBA diving - the U stands for underwater and a snorkel is a self contained breathing apparatus that does NOT work underwater) LOL.
The best way to avoid a problem with your snorkel is don't have a snorkel (unless of course you are snorekelling instead of diving).

 

[mdwalter]

That seems a little unreasonable.

First, let me re-state my question. Why does SSI advocate donating the primary regulator and then switching regulators rather than advocate donating the octopus immediately during air sharing with a standard 3' primary, 4' octo reg configuration?

IDK why they would teach the complicated "start by doing the right thing and then switch to the wrong thing" method, but what I would suggest is if you are renting regulators and they give you the typical "tropical OW" setup and you still want to be able to donate the right way, consider that intermediate length yellow hose with the yellow second stage your primary and the short black hose with the "high performance" second stage that 100 people have breathed off of since it was last serviced your backup. In other words, breathe the longest hose you have, just like you do at home, and donate that as needed then switch to the short hose for yourself just like you practiced at home. No retraining for you. The guy who yanked the working reg out of your mouth gets to keep it. You get to stay as far away from that guy as your longest available reg hose allows. You don't have to negotiate or fight that guy to get your reg back and get him on a longer hose. You both get to focus immediately and solely on the ascent. Everyone goes home alive and happy(ish).

 

[mdwalter]

Well if the OOG diver is some distance away on your long hose and decides to head for the surface in panic, you have absolutely no control of the situation any more. There is a calming effect on a diver close to panic being eye to eye with a calm in control diver, seen it work. The problem is that you assume it is your buddy that is OOA and well trained, when it is not your buddy, it can get way more exciting.


Bob

When the OOA diver panics, you WANT him as far away as possible so he cannot take the other reg out of your mouth, punch, slap, choke or otherwise cause you to drown. If he bolts to the surface, it's BETTER if he is 5 or 6 feet away so when the reg gets ripped out of his mouth (I guarantee the threaded connection to your first stage is stronger than his teeth) he's not close enough to grab you by the BC and drag you to the surface with him anyway.

Even if he does somehow manage to retain the reg on his out of control rocket to the surface, you can at least get yourself as negative as possible to slow the ascent and when he does breach the surface you are at least still at like 5 feet deep or whatever (1.15 ATA is better than 1.00 ATA). At this point take a deep breath, shut down your tank valve, and when he goes OOA (again) he'll likely toss your reg and you can go back down to 20' and do your safety stop or deco or whatever.

 

[NDonahue]

One argument for learning primary donate is a situation of a distressed diver grabbing the reg from your mouth. The more you are comfortable transitioning to your second (necklaced or otherwise) the safe you will be.

I’ve never experienced a real OOA situation, but I can imagine someone fearing death might think of themselves over you.

 

[Silverback9]

When did divers become so oblivious to their surroundings that another diver, could swim up and yank their regulator out of their mouth?
Maybe I am just too old school, but the idea that a diver, in a panicked condition could suddenly appear out of nowhere and grab my regulator out of my mouth is comical. I am paying attention to my dive buddy, and what is around me. I keep my buddy about five feet off to my side. My Octopus rig is on a 7' hose and held in bands on my tank, with the regulator on my right shoulder.
During the pre-dive briefing I show my buddy where my octopus is and how it operates. I make sure they know because not everyone is familiar with Poseidon XStream regulators. when I hand the octo with my right hand I am controlling him/her with my left, until they have a couple breaths. Then I control them with my right as we thumb the dive.
Anyone outside of my dive buddy that chargers into my diving area unexpectedly will be controlled with a rather large arm to their BCD. Once under control, if they need air, I will share my octo. No one is taking my primary.

Any of you who dive and allow yourself to be so unaware that a diver could rip your regulator out of your mouth, really need to reevaluate your thinking. You are underwater with your only life support on your back and in your mouth, and you are so unaware of your surroundings that someone can take your life support from you?

No. Enjoy diving, revel in the beauty that surrounds you. But don't ever forget where you are and what or whom is around you.

 

[boulderjohn]

Anyone outside of my dive buddy that chargers into my diving area unexpectedly will be controlled with a rather large arm to their BCD. Once under control, if they need air, I will share my octo. No one is taking my primary.

So you think the best way to deal with a panicked OOA diver, desperate for air, is to get in a fight with him over one of the two perfectly fine regulators you are carrying? Do you think such a fight is more likely to end up with one fatality or two?

 

[wetb4igetinthewater]

So you think the best way to deal with a panicked OOA diver, desperate for air, is to get in a fight with him over one of the two perfectly fine regulators you are carrying? Do you think such a fight is more likely to end up with one fatality or two?

Well, there is this:

 

[boulderjohn]

You are underwater with your only life support on your back and in your mouth,

Why is your only life support in your mouth? I have never had to donate in a real emergency, but I have in practice sessions donated my primary regulator countless times. Every single time I did that, my alternate, hanging from my neck and inches from my mouth, has worked fine. Why do you think your alternate would not work for you?

 

[mcohen1021]

I've only had one panicked diver in the last 22 years, as I only dive on vacation now.

That being said, why would I need a long hose set up for an occurrence that has happened once in 22 years?

I will say though that panicked diver situation opened my eyes, and I attached my traditional octopus back up, I will never use the combo inflater / secondary again