Mouthpiece detached - video clip

[ahpoolman]

Well yea. But "my moutpiece fell off" isn't an OOA situation. It's just a stupid mouthpiece. Go to your octo.

-Charles

It's pretty easy to be a sideline quarterback when talking about other peoples situations and how you would handle them. When breathing compressed air underwater then sucking in water from what you "Think" is your "Air Source" then that is a OOA situtaion and how you handle it is alot easier to say what you would do while clacking away on a keyboard. There is plenty of time for you to stop and think, backspace, change spelling, add a smiley face, ect. But Out of Air is "Out Of Air" Just because you have 2000 PSI in your tank with a secondary regulator starring you in the face doesn't mean that in this situation she wasn't out of air, even you could handle yourself any differently under panic or diress. Fortunately this situation worked itself out OK. Maybe we should change "OOA" to "OOCA" Out of Compressed Air.

 

[Web Monkey]

It's pretty easy to be a sideline quarterback when talking about other peoples situations and how you would handle them. When breathing compressed air underwater then sucking in water from what you "Think" is your "Air Source" then that is a OOA situtaion and how you handle it is alot easier to say what you would do while clacking away on a keyboard. There is plenty of time for you to stop and think, backspace, change spelling, add a smiley face, ect. But Out of Air is "Out Of Air" Just because you have 2000 PSI in your tank with a secondary regulator starring you in the face doesn't mean that in this situation she wasn't out of air, even you could handle yourself any differently under panic or diress. Fortunately this situation worked itself out OK. Maybe we should change "OOA" to "OOCA" Out of Compressed Air.

OOA shouldn't require anything more exciting than poking your buddy in the side to get his attention and signaling OOA. This should immediately produce a working regulator right in front of your face.

If this isn't the case, one or both divers need more training and practice.

Terry

 

[bkotheimer]

That's right, the "duh, just go for your octo" folks are, indeed, sideline quarterbacks. Having experienced this exact situation using rental gear on a dive in Puerto Vallarta, I can tell you...

When my mouthpiece popped off and I took that first breath of saltwater and breathed it in nice and deep, my brain told me that (a) there was something wrong with my equipment in general and it was delivering water, not air; and (b) there was a working octo on the diver next to me (we were diving as a group).

The other diver was sharp and efficient, grabbed his octo and put it right into my mouth. Another diver actually saw my mouthpiece floating around, pushed it tightly back onto my reg and gave it back to me. Problem solved, albeit without the ziptie.

The point is, though, that I didn't really have time or the wherewithal to troubleshoot my rig until I'd gotten a breath of air.