Hpw often do people have to use octo.

[underwater daphne]

mate, do we have to fight about this? do you want to change my opinion? how long will you try? have you tried putting yourself in the situation, imagining being in it? if you would have gone home, then great. i didn't think it was necessary, neither did anyone else who was there. i take full responsibility for my decision on that day and don't regret it!

for me, in the above situation!!, i see nothing wrong. in other cases this might be different and i would follow the book. in doubt, i would also follow the book. but don't tell me you've never made exceptions in your life when you knew no harm would/could be done? never ever? then good for you.

safety rules are optional for me you think? tell me, what was unsafe about the situation? i didn't neglect my safety for one moment!

you're making an elephant out of a mouse!

 

[DA Aquamaster]

I would agree with the sentiment that accidents often result from a snowball effect. One minor problem can, through interaction with other minor and intially unrelated problems, start a chain of events leading to tradgedy. This is the reason that the more technical and demanding the diving gets, the more rigorous the diver tends to be to continually seek out and eliminate sources of weakness or failure.

On the other hand, going under water and staying there longer than you can hold your breath is itself an unnatural act. If anyone were truly putting safety first, they would never even consider diving at all. So in reality, diving is about risk reduction and risk management, not risk elimination.

The two perspectives are at odds and the diver needs to balance one with the other. In the real world, an experienced and well trained diver should have and be able to excercise the judgement needed to make an informed decision to safely continue or abort a dive based on the specific situation.

In the situation in question, I don't see the problem with continuing that particular dive on that particular day under those particular circumstances. The risks were known and assessed and procedures were in place to deal with them in the remote possibility that the primary reg failed.

Not every one is going to agree on the subject, but unless a diver was actually there, they are doing nothing more than armchair monday morning quarterbacking. I'd suggest expressing that you may have decided to do things differently and leave it at that. Going any farther and/or repeatedly and dogmatically citing rules just promotes an argument.

 

[whitedragon13]

well...to answer the original topic, I used my Octo "for real" yesterday during a safety stop. No problems, and even though the other guy hasn't done an octo ascent for about 2 years, he did fine.

 

[nshon]

have you tried putting yourself in the situation, imagining being in it? if you would have gone home, then great. i didn't think it was necessary, neither did anyone else who was there. i take full responsibility for my decision on that day and don't regret it!

Kinda like me being 10% over the speed limit on a deserted road, in dry condition during the day, driving a car in excellent condition that's capable of doing 3 times the stated limit.

According to the law, I am guilty. I would do it everytime since the risk is quite negligible, but it's wrong isn't it?

 

[Bretagne]

I have never used my octopus yet, but I have used the one of my instructor!
After a course where we learned to bring another diver to the surface, we came back to surface, (with what should have been enough air), I had to deploy the safety saussage from underwater (again, as part of the course, as we were in sight of the mooring line). There I breath too much, so I end with very few air. I did the safety stop on my instructor octo. I still had enough air to breath from my reg in case of emergency/problem, but as we were just at the NDL limit after an active dive, she didn't want to take the risk to shorten the safety stop, so I breathed on her octo.

 

[BobRussell]

The safety stop is a great time to test your octo and how it performs. You will probably notice how much better your primary breathes in comparision. When your buddy asks you on the boat why you switched to your octo at the safety stop, you can suggest you were getting low on air. If your buddy just accepts this, get a new buddy.

 

[DareDevil]

The safety stop is a great time to test your octo and how it performs. You will probably notice how much better your primary breathes in comparision. When your buddy asks you on the boat why you switched to your octo at the safety stop, you can suggest you were getting low on air. If your buddy just accepts this, get a new buddy.

Why only during the safety stop?

I do not have an octopus but two separated sets (1st/2nd stage) and from time to time during the dive I switch from one regulator to another, just to make sure that the backup set is always easy to reach...

I test both regulators before deflating the BC and beginning the dive.

DareDevil

 

[opiniongirl]

I'll have to agree with Daredevil, for anyone who's reading this thread.

the best time to check your octopus IS NOT at the safety stop (3 minutes before you head to the surface)

The best time to check and test your octopus for function is by doing a buddy check, and just prior to your full decent.

 

[Don Burke]

I take a few breaths on each second stage before I get in the water.