How do you rig your BC?

[Buoyant1]

You can practice at home. Put on your gear and walk around and mess with different pieces. Rearrange until you get it working like you want. Do it with your mask on so your vision is restricted like when you are under water. Do it with gloves on if you dive with gloves. Be prepared to be made fun of for looking so silly but take heart, at least you haven't resorted to diving doubles in the bathtub yet.

Only you can set your gear up the way you like it.

And do it standing in your room with the lights out so you know exactly where it is without having to think about it. I got that tip from a drum instructor who told me once I felt comfortable with the way my drums were set up, you should be able to play with your eyes shut, or in the dark. Become ONE with your instrument..it works for dive gear as well!

I have the same BC and I have my console routed around my left side and clipped with a retractor to a D ring on my right mid chest...it sits comfortably in the center of my body. I have it that way so I can glance down and see it or move it slightly to see it. It also keeps the hose tucked closer to my body.

My octo is clipped lower on my right side.

Buddy checks are for getting familiar with your insta-buddies gear, and for them to get familiar with YOUR gear. Just point out the weird stuff...simple as that.

 

[bubba105]

Um, why would you panic? All you did was hand off a regulator. You haven't been OOA for more than one or two breathing cycles.

Did you panic in BOW when you did the regulator retrieval drill?

If you read the way the scenario was playing out, you hand your primary to the panicked, OOA diver. Now, you go to breathe from your octo but your octo fails. It doesn't matter if that octo is bungied around your neck or on your side, it doesn't work. Oh yeah, and you just handed your only good reg to that OOA, panicking diver who at this very moment is attempting to get topside, with your reg that you so generously handed off to him. Uh oh, where is your next breathe coming from??? I'm not panicking because I still have my primary, which I'm more than willing to share with the OOA diver but I control the situation. Not that my octo has ever failed. I check all my gear, including my octo, before every dive, as everyone should.