Gear config, Long primary

[Soggy]

I simply tucked the hose under my canister and accross my chest and around my neck. Movement both to the left and right was somewhat restricted. For those who will ask I was using a 7' hose.

I'd guess that somewhere, you don't have it routed correctly, unless you are extremely large in the body or really really tall. I'm 6', but quite skinny, and with a 7' hose, I have to tuck some of the extra, even after it comes out from under my cannister light, in order to not have waaay too much hose hanging out. My head movement is completely unrestricted and I don't have a big huge loop of hose just waiting to grab some monofilament.

 

[Soggy]

In an OOA situation the dive is essentially over nyway. Share the secondary and surface, diver over man! :10:
So if we are going straight up, why is it better? The fact is that if the other diver is panicing, i don't want him/her on either a short or long hose of mine. At least until I get to complete the rescue level with lots of practice.

No, you plan your gas usage so that, in an OOA situation, you have enough gas to return to the entry point and do a safe, controlled ascent, with all your minimum deco stops. Why make a bad situation worse by adding the potential of being lost at sea or bent...or both? This is also why you won't see a DIR diver doing a 100fsw dive on a single Al80...there just ain't enough gas to do the dive safely.

 

[JimC]

- I don't experince any discomfort useing the long hose. No turning restriction or anything. Infact I find the oposite, I find the long hose way way WAY more comfortable than the standard octo config. No one I know has this issue ether and all of the ones I have helped convert say that they are more comfortable with the long hose and are more confident in there abbilities to handle an emergency.

- The long hose is applicable to any type of diveing you want to do. You may not want to start diving inside wrecks today, but tomorrow if you do its one less thing you have to re-learn.

- You have more options. Handing off a 26 or 34 inch hose leaves you with fewer options. You may be in a position where a straight accent works fine. In all of the OOA's I have been involved in, all in open water, never once has a straight accent to the surface been the correct course of action. In every case the long hose was worth its weight in gold.


I don't know of any agency that teaches the long hose to brand new OW students today. GUE will when there OW course is finished.

 

[Potapko]

I'd guess that somewhere, you don't have it routed correctly, unless you are extremely large in the body or really really tall. I'm 6', but quite skinny, and with a 7' hose, I have to tuck some of the extra, even after it comes out from under my cannister light, in order to not have waaay too much hose hanging out. My head movement is completely unrestricted and I don't have a big huge loop of hose just waiting to grab some monofilament.

I understand it is quite possible, perhaps probable that I am not doing something correctly and that is why I am asking.
I appreciate the experience from those who have "done it".

 

[FreeFloat]

when I used to dive "standard" length hoses, my reg's hose was actually too long ... the loop stuck way out sideways - what a snag hazard! As well, when turning my head to the right, the reg would push against this large loop and made for uncomfortable pulling on my teeth.

I went with a long hose when I changed to a backplate and wing. The GUE shop where I was buying the hoses, suggested, for an open-water diver of fairly short staure such as myself, that a 5' primary hose would do just fine. They also stocked 6' hoses in case I wasnted that. I gave it some thought, decided that I didn't want to restrict myself from perhaps moving toward more technical training in the future, and went with a 7'.

Here's where is comes it handy.

Scenario: earlier this year, water had just started warming up in the Lake, and a buddy and I were about to dive a wreck at about 85'. I've dived with this buddy before and he's a pretty good diver, but hasn't done much boat or deep diving (can't afford it). We went over the dive plan in detail, and agreed that first person to 1200 psi would turn the dive.

We were both clad in wetsuits - I was in my 2pc 7mm as normal, and buddy had a 2pc 5mm that he'd dived lots before. We did our dive, and at one point buddy signalled me he was down to 1200 - okay, that's our signal. We headed back to the anchor line maybe 30' away and began our nice slow ascent. Partway up to our first stop (we break up the safety stop across a few depths instead of hanging out for the full three minutes at one depth) buddy shows me his SPG - it looked like it was down to 500psi! (Later we found it was actually closer to 750)

Calmly, I passed him my reg and deployed my long hose - at that point I still had around 1400 psi. He didn't want to take it at first - after all, he wasn't out of air, just getting low, and we were on the ascent, after all. I insisted, and he took it. We completed the rest of our ascent uneventfully.

Basically the first words out of his mouth were "I'm sold". He instantly saw the benefits to sharing air off a hose longer than 36" - even though there was no emergency (yet) and neither of us were panicked, there was no reason for us to spend 4-6 minutes literally hugging each other. By having him on the long hose, we were able to stay horizontal and do our ascent in comfort.

GUE also recommends that an appropriate length for a long hose in open water (recreational) need not be longer than 5'.

BTW We figure the reason that buddy ran low on air was that he chilled when we reached the wreck (inexperience with going deeper than 50 - 60') and began really sucking back his tank. There's no other way for us to explain him turning at 1200 and only a couple minutes later being down to 750. Especially since I still had 1500 psi when we began the ascent........

 

[Potapko]

sorry!

 

[jagfish]

As a recent convertee to the long hose...

I was quite pleasantly surprised by how comfortable and unencumbered the 7 footer feels as well.

 

[Soggy]

I understand it is quite possible, perhaps probable that I am not doing something correctly and that is why I am asking.
I appreciate the experience from those who have "done it".

perhaps you could post a picture or 3 of how you have the hose routed and we could assist?

 

[Doc Intrepid]

...I also understand that DIR means also only diving with DIR.... In many cases however that is not possible. His argument, which I didn't read on the thread about disadvantages to DIR, is that in an ooa situation he wouldn't want a nervous or panicing diver on the end of a 7' hose but rather right up close where he could have a firm hold on his jacket. I can see where this is also not ideal but between the two it "seems" better than far off.

DP,

You've asked about the logic behind using a long hose, commonly useful in overhead diving, for standard recreational diving. Most of the responses have focused on the effectiveness of the hose. Your buddy whom you quote above also noted that he wouldn't want a nervous or panicked diver on the end of a long hose, but would prefer a short hose to bring the diver in closer.

I think we're missing something important, that you alluded to in the first sentence of your partial quote above.

The fact is that you don't want a panicked diver with you underwater, regardless of the length of your hose.

The "DIR only dive with DIR" issue you alluded to above is more important than - and certainly significant to a discussion of - the length of your hose. If you prefer not to dwell on "DIR", then rephrase your statement something like "...experienced, competent, safe divers ought to make it their policy to only dive with partners who are equally experienced, competent, and safe".

The point is simple: if the diver on the other end of your hose is experienced, competent and safe, then having a 7' hose allows the two of you many other options in a sudden emergency than only ascending immediately, face to face. As Soggy notes, it might be wise to traverse to the upline, even with one buddy OOA, rather than ascending immediately. You may have currents to deal with. Many issues might need to be dealt with. With a long hose swimming side by side or one ahead of the other is possible, with a short hose it is not. But the determining factor is not the hose length - its the calm, collected buddy swimming along beside you while you both are responding to the emergency.

So, a 7' hose allows two highly-trained and experienced divers to have many different response options to choose from in the event of an emergency, even in a recreational environment. A standard length hose reduces the number of options, or your ability to perform them, significantly. But even in "recreational" diving, its the caliber of your buddy who makes it possible to use the 7' hose to its greatest advantage.

If you dive with divers who panic, it does you no good at all. Recreational or technical.

The point is, you don't dive with divers who are prone to panic. That is the most important thing. Faced with a situation where its either "dive with someone who is prone to panic or don't dive", you don't dive.

Assuming your buddy is calm and collected in a stress-filled situation, then the advantages of the 7' hose in a recreational environment are numerous - as described by the other responders.

FWIW. YMMV.

 

[FreeFloat]

Doc Intrepid -

Thanks for that insight. What a great way to focus on the root answer, cutting through all the icing. Nice subject line too.