Long-Hose users

[aktun buzo]

First, why the long hose? The earliest reference I have found to a long (five ft) hose is its proposal by Sheck Exley in his 1979 "Basic Cave Diving." The rationale was to allow tandem swimming by an air sharing team - necessary through restrictions in caves, and convenient in low vis so both team members can maintain contact with the guide line easier. The length was later revised to seven feet. The recent "reasons" for using a long hose in open water are "reverse engineering" ("excuses" in my opinion) to come up with a rationale for a piece of equipment that really has no place there. I have used a long hose in caves and wrecks for years; I do not use it in open water (unless I happen to be doing an open water dive immediately before or after diving an overhead environment and find it inconvenient to switch hoses out). Air sharing in a technical environment is nowhere near as likely to involve a panicked diver than in open water, where "anyone" is likely to swim up and yank your regulator out of your mouth. The idea that you'd want such a diver to have room to maneuver I find to be preposterous - I want to grab 'em and maintain close control while getting 'em safely to the surface. So for me, in open water, I consider the long hose a liability.
Second - there is no reason you can't shorten your second hose and wear that reg on a bungee (a breakaway bungee, by the way). All this would do for an out-of-air diver wanting your air is make it as though you used an integrated second. No problem.
Third - It is not uncomfortable with the hose around your neck, and it doesn't restrict your head movement at all.
Fourth - The bolt snap is there to clip the long hose out of the way when you're breathing off your stage bottle or deco bottle.
Rick

I have to disagree. Adapting some Hogarthian values to open water can be a good thing. It does not have to take the form of pretending to be technical i.e. so called "wannabees" . I'm not DIR by the way...just Hogartian and ..I hope.. a little less arrogant even though I guess I agree with those guys on most stuff short of the name calling. Uncle Ricky says he wants to keep his OOA open water diver on a short leash. I've had occasion to render aid more than once and prefer to not have the stressed diver in my face. Uncle ricky doesn't think there is as much possibility of a panicked diver in a cave....hummm...maybe Uncle Ricky hasn't seen that happen yet. Probably the best thing about learning to use the long hose is that it affords the opportunity for divers both technical and open water to PRACTISE an air sharing drill on virtually every dive with little fuss. There's nothing wrong with practise that I can see.

 

[hvulin]

if a diver is in such stress that you don't want him/her "in your face" then you better stay away from him/her regardless of your hoose length or you'll be in trouble!

 

[MXGratefulDiver]

if a diver is in such stress that you don't want him/her "in your face" then you better stay away from him/her regardless of your hoose length or you'll be in trouble!

My thoughts exactly. Any attempted rescue will be purely situational, and will depend as much on the demeanor of the diver being rescued as it will the circumstances that led to the necessity for rescue.

The use of the long hose does not preclude keeping an OOA diver on a short leash if that's what you judge to be the correct thing to do under the circumstances. It only gives you options to do things you would not be able to do using a standard recreational rig.

... Bob (Grateful Diver)

 

[Boogie711]

I wondered why on earth we were still debating this. Then I saw the original thread dates.

 

[Spectre]

Uncle ricky doesn't think there is as much possibility of a panicked diver in a cave....hummm...maybe Uncle Ricky hasn't seen that happen yet. Probably the best thing about learning to use the long hose is that it affords the opportunity for divers both technical and open water to PRACTISE an air sharing drill on virtually every dive with little fuss.

Perhaps Rick has seen and adapted some in the -last 4 years- since his post.

 

[Firefyter]

I wondered why on earth we were still debating this. Then I saw the original thread dates.

This smells like a big fat troll. This guy's first post, he just joined this month, and he already knows that people call Rick "Uncle Ricky"? Add to that the fact that this HAS been debated to death, and the original posts are so old, and it really stinks.....

 

[Spectre]

This guy's first post, he just joined this month, and he already knows that people call Rick "Uncle Ricky"?

Nice catch.

 

[voop]

BE VERY CAREFUL when dealing with dive operations where the divemasters handle your gear! They are not accustomed to a long hose and often hold the regulator by the first stage high enough so that the second stages don't drag. Of course with a long hose it will be dragging in the sand (I've watched this happen) or banging into something.

I know many will insist they never let anyone touch their gear, but with many operations this is impossible to avoid. For example, on my last trip to Socorro the crew had to load the rigged tanks into bouncing pangas prior to many dives. Particularly under rough conditions, no sane diver will want to do this on his own.

Ralph

I'd say "AVOID" rather than "BE VERY CAREFUL" to the "having other people handle my gear. In the end, my life depends on it, and I do NOT trust other people with my life. It's the bottom line.

I make it clear whenever I book anything that I am buying a taxi-ride and (perhaps) some local know-how, and that's all. I repeat that when boarding. I do not pay for someone to risk my life (I can do that all by myself ) If they do not accept those conditions, then I take my money elsewhere, or do not go diving at all. There's nothing down there worth the risk.