The Chairman
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Once in 49 years. I went where I shouldn't have gone. Lesson learned.
Have you ever had to doff and don your rig while diving?
- Thread starter CuzzA
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Many times many situations.
A Ditch and Recovery aka "D &R" as it was originally identified in the LA Co UW instructor course in 1954 was required in the basic and instructors course, in the basic it was performed in a swimming pool under controlled conditions , in the instructors course it was performed in 33 or more feet of water.
Swim down to 33 feet remove unit, turn of the air ,give it to buddy to secure ,free assent to surface, breathe up dive down and recover unit, surface I did mine with Bill Barada as my buddy.
@drbills basic LA Co instructor the late Ron Merker, was an out standing breath hold spear fisherman ( who held the BFT record for 18 years) became an LA Co UW instructor about 1966. His D&R - especially his recovery was long slow and very precise - one that is still remembered among the LA Co instructors .
In California especially after the introduction of the singe hose regulator it was very common to remove the unit and breath breathe from the regulator while in a hole searching for lobsters.
Around the mid 1960 (???) we began custom making long hoses so we could leave the unit out side and crawl back into lobster holes...
OH the horror of it all !
SDM
A Ditch and Recovery aka "D &R" as it was originally identified in the LA Co UW instructor course in 1954 was required in the basic and instructors course, in the basic it was performed in a swimming pool under controlled conditions , in the instructors course it was performed in 33 or more feet of water.
Swim down to 33 feet remove unit, turn of the air ,give it to buddy to secure ,free assent to surface, breathe up dive down and recover unit, surface I did mine with Bill Barada as my buddy.
@drbills basic LA Co instructor the late Ron Merker, was an out standing breath hold spear fisherman ( who held the BFT record for 18 years) became an LA Co UW instructor about 1966. His D&R - especially his recovery was long slow and very precise - one that is still remembered among the LA Co instructors .
In California especially after the introduction of the singe hose regulator it was very common to remove the unit and breath breathe from the regulator while in a hole searching for lobsters.
Around the mid 1960 (???) we began custom making long hoses so we could leave the unit out side and crawl back into lobster holes...
OH the horror of it all !
SDM
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АлександрД
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heh.. In soviet time we had just one diving education society - ДОСААФ (Volunteer Society for Cooperation with the Army, Aviation, and Navy)
Scuba at that time - AVM-1m (twin tank doublehose) or Ukraina (first scuba edition, same as AVM but single stage))
It has one of standart exercises:
When you have dive at 5m, you should take off from you ALL equipment, (just speedos you will stay) and swim up.
Than you should descent again, wear ALL equipment back, and continue diving.
In real situations I had not any needs to take off my equipment.
But in the pool we did it time to time just for exersise or just kidding like
or another good excersise to control bouyancy and trim/roll
When I goes to SideMount it became nothing to take off, and we had dives with nomount
like here my instructor (I`m operator)
Scuba at that time - AVM-1m (twin tank doublehose) or Ukraina (first scuba edition, same as AVM but single stage))
It has one of standart exercises:
When you have dive at 5m, you should take off from you ALL equipment, (just speedos you will stay) and swim up.
Than you should descent again, wear ALL equipment back, and continue diving.
In real situations I had not any needs to take off my equipment.
But in the pool we did it time to time just for exersise or just kidding like
or another good excersise to control bouyancy and trim/roll
When I goes to SideMount it became nothing to take off, and we had dives with nomount
like here my instructor (I`m operator)
OP
CuzzA
Wetwork for Hire
Story please?
OP
CuzzA
Wetwork for Hire
I'm happy to see so many replies. So far our poll shows about 50 percent of respondents have had to remove and recover. While not scientific, I think it's safe to say it's an important skill that should be taught in basic scuba training.
Last edited:
A couple of times when I was on OC.
The worst was at 40m when my ****head of a buddy followed me into a part of the wreck when he explicitly stated he would wait outside. Because he was supposed to be outside, I didn't run a line (my fault). The ****head followed me in a few minutes later but kicked up the bottom. I couldn't find my way out and ended up exiting through a hole I found, pushing the twinset out first and following it out (it was a little tight). Once I had put the set back on, I ran a line back in from the entry point, found him and we exited . It added quite a lot of unplanned deco' time. I didn't dive with him after that.
The worst was at 40m when my ****head of a buddy followed me into a part of the wreck when he explicitly stated he would wait outside. Because he was supposed to be outside, I didn't run a line (my fault). The ****head followed me in a few minutes later but kicked up the bottom. I couldn't find my way out and ended up exiting through a hole I found, pushing the twinset out first and following it out (it was a little tight). Once I had put the set back on, I ran a line back in from the entry point, found him and we exited . It added quite a lot of unplanned deco' time. I didn't dive with him after that.
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Once my regulator kept hitting me in he back of the head as a DM had adjusted my BC on the boat. This was just a simple comfort adjustment.
Once, while drift diving in Boynton Beach, the flag line got wrapped around my 1st stage and I could not release it short of doff and don.
Once, while drift diving in Boynton Beach, the flag line got wrapped around my 1st stage and I could not release it short of doff and don.
First, I would like to exclude the answers talking about doff/don on surface which is completely different issue (and very convenient in many situations).
Then I would like to remark, that most common reasons for this maneuver (which is not risk free) seem to be loose tank bands and other adjustments to equipment. These issues should be taken care of before diving.
There are many answers from very experienced divers who have encountered actual need for this only once in thousands of dives, and that is in an emergency, in circumstances far beyond basic OW rec diving.
Thus I still don't believe it is actually very useful skill to teach during the basic open water training.
Adjusting tank bands and equipment should really be done (and taught) before diving and in confined circumstances.
Original discussion was about weightbelts, and should they be used because underwater don/doff is usually easier if all ballast is not on rig. Both rec and tech divers are moving away from weightbelts and the real need for easier underwater doff/don seems to be quite rare.
Big
to everybody who contrbuted and 
for Dork divers! I am not serious!
Then I would like to remark, that most common reasons for this maneuver (which is not risk free) seem to be loose tank bands and other adjustments to equipment. These issues should be taken care of before diving.
There are many answers from very experienced divers who have encountered actual need for this only once in thousands of dives, and that is in an emergency, in circumstances far beyond basic OW rec diving.
Thus I still don't believe it is actually very useful skill to teach during the basic open water training.
Adjusting tank bands and equipment should really be done (and taught) before diving and in confined circumstances.
Original discussion was about weightbelts, and should they be used because underwater don/doff is usually easier if all ballast is not on rig. Both rec and tech divers are moving away from weightbelts and the real need for easier underwater doff/don seems to be quite rare.
Big
to everybody who contrbuted and for Dork divers! I am not serious!
Johnoly
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Like others,,Had to do it several times.
Each time was chasing a fish or grabbing a bug and the flag line got hooked on >>>> Take your pick, 1st stage, pony bottle, cam strap, suicide dbl enders, fin strap, and on and on, and on.
Mostly solved the problem by just diving naked the last few years and carry a radio instead.
Each time was chasing a fish or grabbing a bug and the flag line got hooked on >>>> Take your pick, 1st stage, pony bottle, cam strap, suicide dbl enders, fin strap, and on and on, and on.
Mostly solved the problem by just diving naked the last few years and carry a radio instead.
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