Minimum training standard to start with a rebreather

[DaleC]

I shoot video with an OC doublehose and the bubbles do scare the fish, just not as much. If I could afford it I would get a rec unit for shallow(<100') dives) for that reason and because I like to do extended trips where getting fills or packing multiple tanks can be an issue.

I just did a salmon run and met two guys on RB's. They got closer to the fish than I did. In this video you can see my closest on OC at 1:20... and how close I could get with no bubbles at 4:30...

[video=youtube;HXCM7w3-QZs]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HXCM7w3-QZs&amp;list=UU5zvhnU0XYpf_cadpYJYkhQ[/video]

Another way to look at it would be to ask: If OC didn't exist, would you dive RB or not at all. Would the learning curve/risk be too great? People look down on it because they compare it to OC but I see it as a stand alone technology - if you started out on one you probably wouldn't even know it was suppose to be hard.

I learned to drive a manual transmission (with armstrong steering) before an automatic. It was just what I had. The clutch and shifting gears did add task loading, but not so much that I could not do it.

 

[Subcooled]

What does the community consider the minimum level of training and experience before a diver should consider getting trained on a rebreather.

You need a rebreather when the OC system does not work anymore.

Besides, rebreathers have additional benefits: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=O1eOsMc2Fgg

 

[victor]

HeHeHe, love the link
I don't think a rebreather is for me at this time.
The task loading for photography and the rebreather would take the risk level over what I believe would be safe.
I might see if I can get a twin hose and a sponge though.

You need a rebreather when the OC system does not work anymore.

Besides, rebreathers have additional benefits: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=O1eOsMc2Fgg

 

[flots am]

I just did a salmon run and met two guys on RB's. They got closer to the fish than I did. In this video you can see my closest on OC at 1:20... and how close I could get with no bubbles at 4:30...

I'm not fish doctor, but I'm pretty sure that fish is dead . . . .

 

[Tigerman]

I'm not fish doctor, but I'm pretty sure that fish is dead . . . .

Most salmon die after spawning.. Sex is a one-time deal for them

 

[DaleC]

Yep, those 100's of thousands of fish are dead. I could creep up on those ones pretty good

 

[danvolker]

In this rough edit of a dive I did last night, of goliath grouper aggregated for an upcoming spawn.....
You can see..and hear, my breathing rate and the effects on the Goliaths....What I found was that divers that are breathing heavy, do bother the goliaths with the noise.....when I would breathe lightly every ten seconds, to once over 40 seconds or so, they would ignore me and allow me to be in the cloud of them, just like the other fish...
[video=youtube_share;WAMDnYo3RC0]http://youtu.be/WAMDnYo3RC0[/video]

My point is, for a finished video, you rarely use a clip longer than 10 seconds....you can move into a shot with a long slow gentle inhale, start the shot and hold your breath for 30 seconds to a minute...if you are lying still, this is easy. And you are making LESS Noise than a Rebreather diver.....along with all the oost and failure differences

 

[Akimbo]

&#8230;My point is, for a finished video, you rarely use a clip longer than 10 seconds....you can move into a shot with a long slow gentle inhale, start the shot and hold your breath for 30 seconds to a minute...if you are lying still, this is easy&#8230;

OMG, hold your breath! The Scuba Gestapo will come after you for that as surely as putting your mask of your forehead!

 

[DaleC]

So your solution to RB is to skip breath?
Holding your breath might work if you are swimming into a scene and trying to capture an image but not if you are trying to immerse yourself to capture natural behavior. I collected over 1 hour of video on my salmon dive, almost all of which was in current. I'm just not going to hold my breath for an hour on and off UW as a strategy. As it was, I didn't get any really good close ups of them swimming in the lake. If I were doing this for a living that might be important to me.

I suspect groupers are not spooked regardless. Fish are different. I can creep up on a ling cod quite close but salmon, or trout for example, react very differently.

 

[rjack321]

Another way to look at it would be to ask: If OC didn't exist, would you dive RB or not at all. Would the learning curve/risk be too great? People look down on it because they compare it to OC but I see it as a stand alone technology - if you started out on one you probably wouldn't even know it was suppose to be hard.

I learned to drive a manual transmission (with armstrong steering) before an automatic. It was just what I had. The clutch and shifting gears did add task loading, but not so much that I could not do it.

Says the guy with no rebreather experience...

When your CO2 breaks through and you're hovering like a freight train and basically bolting from the water, you'll either be on OC or you'll be dead. CCRs are in no way stand alone technologies. or the unit floods, or the cells start doing wonky things, or you run out of O2. The last one is potentially managable with lots of dil using your rebreather in semi-closed mode, and you might be able to stay on the unit as you exit, but its not an ideal situation at all and your dive is over. There's a reason OC bailout is part of the mixed gas rebreather "package".

If OC didn't exist most of us might still dive sure, on O2 rebreathers. They pre-date open circuit anyway (technology wise). You could even look at spawned out salmon on them but not much else since you'll have a 20ft depth limit.