Hpw often do people have to use octo.

[northcoast_diver]

How often should I expect to have to use my octo. Like slim chances or like 1 out of 20 dives or what?

I have 200 dives, and I have had to share my "octo" twice, both times to students whom I was a D/M for, when they descended with their snorkel in their mouths, and then could not find their octo underwater.

In both cases, I gave them each my primary because that was the fastest, then I fumbled around for my own yellow octo, and breathed on that myself.

Now I use JJ's recommended configuration consisting of two full service 2nd stages, with the second one on a thin bungee necklace hanging near my chin (sort of like Wendy said, above).

 

[northcoast_diver]

In 35 years with over 500 logged dives I have never had to use one in a emergency situation. You get a record like that by keeping your equipment in tip/top shape and knowing who you are diving with. But again ... there are some strange people out there and you never know who will get on the boat with you .... also read the thread "new law in Cayman ?" that deals with octos being required to dive.

Afraid I would have to respectfully disagree.

Even if you were an expert at servicing all of your own gear, metal fatigue or defective manufacturing could account for an unexpected failure. Therefore an unexpected failure is a given, and your association of expertise as an exclusion of any possible failure is fallacious.

The training agencies have decided universally that air sharing with an alternate source is more assured than buddy breathing.

The cave training agencies have added the need and requirement for a very long hose (7 feet) for air sharing while in encumbered environments.

You can pretend that you and your buddy can buddy breathe, but since you have obviously never done it yourself in an emergency, you do not even know for sure. In formal logic this way of thinking is called an arguement from ignorance or a fallacy of false authority, in that you do not actually have experience at what you are trying to vouch for. I hope no one else reads your post and believes it, since it consists of your mere speculation that you are good enough to ignor what all the training agencies say to the contrary.

 

[pasley]

If you and your dive buddies watch their air, and if everyone has well maintained equipment, then you should never have to use your octo. But, stuff does happen, even well maintained equipment can break and you may have to use the octo. Or you or a dive buddy may loose track of their air and needs to use your or their octo to get to the surface.

154 dives and, knock on wood, I have never used it other than the ocassional skills drill to make sure I still know how.

 

[Quarrior]

I use mine on every dive. I also practice OOA with my buddy every now and then.

 

[DennisW]

Like most people here, I use mine on nearly every dive. I have had to use it once. As a precaution, I have used two other people's octo's.

 

[String]

Other than doing deliberate drills and test breathing mine underwater ive never needed to use the thing (or anyone elses) in anger (yet..touch wood).

 

[Desa]

Been diving since 1976. Only used the octo in a real emergency once. (and it wasn't my buddy who needed it). Just test it each dive and use if for a few minutes on each dive (makes me appreciate how good my primary breathes)

 

[DA Aquamaster]

I have had about 1700 dives since 1985 (I logged the first 30 then stopped until I started logging again about 7 years ago with about 1000 unlogged dives in the middle.) and have had 3 occasions to use a backup second stage in a real live situation.

Two were OOA situations and one was a precautionary switch in a near OOA situation where the person had a zero reading on the spg but was still getting air. I decided it was better to switch there on the bottom than to deal with a sudden OOA situation on the way up.

I had one other situation where a dive buddy cracked a pastic reg at depth with the result that it was breathing very wet. He could have and should have switched but he would cough each time in inhaled due to the water coming in with it and then would re-inhale, cough, inhale, cough, inhale, cough, etc. With that wonderful cough/gag thing going he could not generate the presence of mind or control to just stop after a cough and switch to my second stage. So we went up to the surface with him coughing and gagging all the way.

But in my case study of one, an octo comes in handy about once every 500 dives. tats

 

[Damselfish]

But in my case study of one, an octo comes in handy about once every 500 dives. tats

Funny, I've done about 500 dives so I come up with 1 in 500 too. Once had an OOA diver come to me. (Not my buddy, and I don't know where his buddy was, or if he really even had one - had already sensed this guy as possible trouble back on the dock too :11: )

Ditto my husband/usual buddy. I used his once when I jumped in with an almost empty tank (seems someone put the cap back on an empty) got distracted and did not check on the boat that time, or until I was down a ways. (Will not make that mistake again.)

 

[jbd]

Once had an OOA diver come to me. (Not my buddy, and I don't know where his buddy was, or if he really even had one....)

This is one of the things I stress to my students about OOA situations----it may not be you or your buddy thats OOA.