Losing regulator

[gypsyjim]

LOL. I keep telling my gf, when she gets angry about my kicking her, that it is actually her fault. If she did not insist on tailgating me, and stayed by my side like a good buddy, it would not happen. I do not have rear view mirrors on my gear, and I want to be able to see her at all times. Of course she pays me no attention, and continues to want to stay behind me, and complain when that results in an occasional fin kick.

I once had a reg mouthpiece separate from my reg, and thinking that the reg had failed when I suddenly drew water, I grabbed my alternate, while I checked out the situation. No big deal, that is why the alternate was clipped off to my chest.

In recent years tho I have moved to the bungied short hose back up, which makes a lot more sense, as it is right beneath my chin at all times. I much prefer this to my old set up, but even that clipped off alternate was preferably to our 1970's system of just one single reg, and no alternate (or even a SPG to monitor gas!).

 

[j2s]

It's part of the "learning curve" SEL34....You learned a valuable lesson(s) w/o any serious consequences....Let's hope you live long to learn alot and have many happy dives.......

 

[Atom]

It doesn't happen too many times before one backs away from fins, knowing what is getting ready to happen.

We have some excellent divers out there but occasionally you will run into one that appears to be intentionally bad.

1st I'd like to say that all suggestions of bungied octo and donating primaries are right on, IMHO. This is the way to go, as it covers the case of a panicking diver the same way has an normal air sharing, and it ensures you have a backup regulator very easily available too. The long hose is very useful too, makes air sharing so much easier (even if you don't have to swim that much while sharing).

About fins in the face... what I'm about to say will seem obvious to many, but I never really thought of it before I took my cavern class.... if you see any fin close to being in range of your face make sure to put your hand up and protect your mask and regulator, doing this prevents many lost mask/regulator problems before they even happen. There's always the possibility of a fin hitting you from a blind angle but a lot of times you can see it coming.

 

[vladodessit]

It's interesting how kids are different, I guess. On our first cold water dive with my son we had a moment, when I just pulled his primary out of his mouth... He was getting entangled in kelp and I meant to give a quick pull on his BCD strap, instead pulling out his reg. He didn't even give a bad look. Just swapped, recovered, put it where it belongs and went on like nothing happened.

 

[gypsyjim]

It's interesting how kids are different, I guess. On our first cold water dive with my son we had a moment, when I just pulled his primary out of his mouth... He was getting entangled in kelp and I meant to give a quick pull on his BCD strap, instead pulling out his reg. He didn't even give a bad look. Just swapped, recovered, put it where it belongs and went on like nothing happened.

Well trained. A thinking diver.

 

[Juardis]

When we were first being taught air sharing with your buddy I gave my primary reg to my buddy, reached for my secondary and took a big breath of water. Luckily, we were in 6 ft of water so I was able to surface and cough it out. I grabbed my snorkel instead of my secondary. Lesson learned - make sure you grab your secondary before breathing and don't inhale deeply. Just a little addendum to the original post.

 

[tylerinflorida]

Great Post!! I think this happens quite often. Especially in tourist areas where you have a group of divers following 1 dive master around.

2nd stage around your neck / under your chin is the way to go for all the reasons mentioned above. Also, If your arms got tangled, and you lost your

primary, you can simply tuck your chin and grab the secondary with your teeth. Takes less than 1 second.

 

[Rainer]

You can also just hit the purge button to clear the secondary of water.

When we were first being taught air sharing with your buddy I gave my primary reg to my buddy, reached for my secondary and took a big breath of water. Luckily, we were in 6 ft of water so I was able to surface and cough it out. I grabbed my snorkel instead of my secondary. Lesson learned - make sure you grab your secondary before breathing and don't inhale deeply. Just a little addendum to the original post.

 

[Juardis]

You can also just hit the purge button to clear the secondary of water.

true dat. The problem was I grabbed my snorkel thinking it was my secondary since they were side by side. So when I went to breathe from my "secondary", it was understandably full of water. :shocked2:

 

[vladodessit]

Well trained. A thinking diver.

Well, thank you. He is also 10 year old. He just didn't see it as a problem, I guess. When I asked him about it after the dive he was like "Oh, yeah, that baby tooth got much looser when you pulled my regulator out. And why did you do it, I'd just exhaled and had to hit purge to clear regulator". It just was a non-event for him. This is on his first cold water dive after recently getting OW in warmer waters (so, something like 5 dives total under his belt, counting DSD).