Donating to an OOA

[timegan]

Something ive pondered about. I dive 7' with bungi backup. When an OOA happens to buddy or just "bang" another diver, comes to get air. The primary comes out of mouth in a flash......no prob....Now OOA diver has NO air to blow the water out, right? They may be too stressed to purge it as well. Should I purge it for them just as I approach their mouth...or wait till its in then blast it. I don't think an OOA diver needs to get a lung full of water for sure! So what would be the best/safest way to deliver the air they so desperately need. And keep it as non stressfull as possiable.....thanks

 

[nimoh]

Just my opinion, but I think it is moot.

If the OOA diver is calm, they will likely be perfectly capable of purging the reg themselves.

If the OOA diver is in panic mode, they will likely rip the reg out of your hand (or mouth) and stick it in theirs before you know what happened.

If the OOA diver is passed out, don't bother with the reg, get them to the surface.

 

[g1138]

I would not purge the reg for the OOA diver. If they're panicked, having a plume of bubbles filling their vision won't help. If they're calm, purging for them will only slow down the process, because once again they can't see where the reg is.

If the OOA diver is trained enough to purge the reg then having your hand over the purge button will hamper the speed of the OOA reg exchange.
If the OOA diver is not trained enough to remember this then I would assume they'd be holding their breath, so purging wouldn't be necessary.
Just keep your hand on the hose during handoff.

I've had plenty of experiences where a Basic student will stick a purging reg in my mouth during drills. Somehow it just really annoys me. We both can't see anything and I end up getting prodded in the face repeatedly before I can grab the reg and stick it in my own mouth.
I've also had students rip my reg out of my mouth before they donate. There's no need for that either, especially during a drill.

Your job as the donor is to make air accessible. The OOA diver's job is to take that air. That's all the coordination required, anymore and things can get fumbled.

 

[boulderjohn]

If the OOA diver is trained enough to purge the reg then having your hand over the purge button will hamper the speed of the OOA reg exchange.
...
Your job as the donor is to make air accessible. The OOA diver's job is to take that air. That's all the coordination required, anymore and things can get fumbled.

I agree. If the donor is trying to do anything at the same time the receiver is doing it, you can have problems as they get in each other's way.

I have seen this sort of thing in instructional situations with conventional setups. It has only happened a few times, but during OW dives with divers who did not train together, I have seen donors reaching to donate their alternates at the same time the receiver is trying to take it from the octo holder. On every occasion the result has been a dropped alternate, followed by both hands bumping into each other and interfering with each other as they try to retrieve it. I teach students, whether in conventional gear or with a bungied alternate, to act as you are trained, but let the OOA diver take as much control of the immediate situation as s/he wants so that the two of you are not fighting each other.

 

[Peter_C]

Also a good reason to teach and PRACTICE for muscle memory purging the reg EVERY time before putting it in your mouth. Also blows crap out so you don't try to suck in the spider.

 

[nimoh]

kidding aside (my earlier post). I agree that you should let the the OOA diver do as much as they want to, extend the reg holding the hose and stay out of their way.

By trying to do too much for them, you can, as other have suggested, cause more harm than good.

 

[DivemasterDennis]

The out of air scenario is one in which I truly believe that the best scenario is nothing like the real thing. The best that can be done is to train and practice the skill as both donor and receiver. In nearly 1000 dives, I have had a "real" out of air event as donor exactly one time. I have never run out of air myself. If the out of air diver is moving, can approach me and access my alternate air source, which my one real event was, then I stayed still, let him get settled and breathing, then I grabbed his bc strap. We just sat there a minute or two as the OOA calmed down and got their breathing under control. The we slowly ascended. At the surface I inflated by bc and continued to hold onto the other diver as they orally inflated their bc. We then surface swam back to the boat. My buddy (the OOA person was not my buddy) accompanied us. It was, fortunately, no big thing. But the OOA was conscious and fairly calm. That is not always going to be the case.
DivemasterDennis

 

[timegan]

thanks everyone, that's the kind of info I was wondering about. Real is not the same as practice. So just get the reg. to them and stay attentive.....cool, N thanks

 

[Maples]

The one time I have had to donate my alternate I simply made myself vertical, made eye contact and let the recipient take the occy from it's holder. No problem. The recipient was an instructor, and the reason he needed my air? Another instructor was goofing around and turned my buddies air off. They thought it was a great joke. I thought they were a pair of @&$#heads. I turned his air back on and watched the pair of them closely for the remainder of the dive.
Minor hijack but I don't understand this kind of horseplay underwater, though I have seen it a lot - and
it has always been younger (<40yrs) men. If someone did that to me I'd flip my shiz bigtime.

 

[Jim Lapenta]

As would I. Turning off air during a scheduled or planned drill is one thing. Doing it as horseplay is juvenile and the mark of two idiots who have no business teaching. I had an instructor turn my air off during a demo of a doff and don skill. Same guy who thought it was ok to practically shove one of my students in the pool because he thought we were not going fast enough. After the incident I calmly told him if he ever did that again I'd report him for unprofessional behavior and make sure he never taught again. And if he ever put his hands on one of my students in that way I'd encourage them to report him. Some stuff is just not funny.

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