New standard for DM Gear Exchange

[Divin'Papaw]

How the heck do you get a wetsuit (I assume a shorty in the pool) off and (someone else's) on while buddy breathing? How would you do it on land?! As far as the semantics of buddy breathing vs. 2 sharing a single 2nd stage-- sounds like something politicians would dream up to keep busy in the legislature. Why would some instructors argue that it could mean someone breathing off your octo? Everyone knows exactly what it means.

Your exposure suit is the only thing you don't swap.

EDIT: I just read the context above. Sorry I missed it. I agree ... how can you make exchanging wetsuits a part of it? That of course requires the team to be wearing the same sized suit, which is not always the case. I have never seen an instructor require that the wetsuit also be exchanged. Seems like a lidicrous requirement to me.

 

[jridg]

I have never seen an instructor require that the wetsuit also be exchanged. Seems like a lidicrous requirement to me.

Yes, but it could be potentially extremely amusing

 

[SailNaked]

Hmm, I am about to do this requirement maybe this weekend. It seems silly to me, my wife and I are very comfortable in the water and having no gear some gear or her gear upside down in pink pajamas with one regulator and a snorkel would not make any difference or cause me to think very hard assuming we get to sit on the bottom and do it holding hands singing kumbya. I believe the requirements read that we do not trade wetsuits or weight. I would love to try this at 100ft hovering in the water column within about 10ft, as in do it in a wreck without silting it up now that might be a challenge. pointless excercise, but hey im not really complaining I just think if it is supposed to be a mastery thought provoking problem solving excercise then at least make it a real problem that needs solving.

 

[vjanelle]

The exercise only needs to be done in a pool to make sure you and the other DMC can handle task loading yourselves without issues. Just remember to breathe twice, switch the reg, and work on the next piece. Overweight yourself if need be, do bcd/tank first, then fins, then mask, then do a perfect 5 point ascent. It's easier the second time around though

 

[Thalassamania]

The exercise only needs to be done in a pool to make sure you and the other DMC can handle task loading yourselves without issues. Just remember to breathe twice, switch the reg, and work on the next piece. Overweight yourself if need be, do bcd/tank first, then fins, then mask, then do a perfect 5 point ascent. It's easier the second time around though

???

That's the kind of crappy performance that gives PADI its bad name. If you can't do it off the bottom, don't bother. If your instructor doesn't require you to do it off the bottom, find another who does, you're not gonna learn much from that one.

 

[Interceptor121]

If at the stage of being a DM you are thinking of overweighting as a solution you are doomed

 

[RU4SKUBA]

That's the kind of crappy performance that gives PADI its bad name. If you can't do it off the bottom, don't bother. If your instructor doesn't require you to do it off the bottom, find another who does, you're not gonna learn much from that one.

LOL... I come from a long line of exaggerators and this is a good example of the craft
:cool2:

 

[RJP]

???

That's the kind of crappy performance that gives PADI its bad name. If you can't do it off the bottom, don't bother. If your instructor doesn't require you to do it off the bottom, find another who does, you're not gonna learn much from that one.

"It's the instructor, not the agency."

PADI specifies it must be done "in water too deep to stand." PADI never says it must be done "on the bottom."

It's actually much easier to do mid-water anyway. The bottom simply "gets in the way."

 

[vjanelle]

Part of me really wants to see the video where you guys do this floating in a column of water.



Any day now

 

[Jim Lapenta]

It is not hard to do in midwater. If each member is correctly weighted then you actually have real skill since you will in effect be supporting each others efforts. As other have said, the bottom gets in the way and makes it look like a real CF. If you are not able to adjust or control your buoyancy to this point, the diver has no business even starting DM. Hell I might not let them take my AOW course. Neutral is neutral no matter what skill you are doing. If you look at some of my other recent posts I have a new OW student who was doing mask clear, reg recovery, and weightbelt off and on in midwater on his first night. We'll be doing a gear exchange while buddy breathing before the end of class. I don;t expect him to stay in midwater for the entire exchange but I will. And hopefully he will try to.