NSS-CDS removes air sharing...

[_Ralph]

I've been *that* diver, on a donated long hose, on a DPV, on a tech dive ....

The part that sucked the most, was realizing my SPG was broke, and I didn't have the gas left that I though I did (SPG stuck at 35bar ... we were on the way back to our deco switch with about 4 minutes before reaching our switch, and yes, we left the bottom "at" MG .... SPG was probably lagging behind by that point) and about 1/3 mile from our beach entry point (Open water, not in a cave).

The DPV part was the easy part... as mentioned by rjack above, doner slightly behind, just like any other exiting gas share ... Other teammate on the other side, me in the middle and front....


_R

 

[Subcooled]

Surprised this hasn't come up here, NSS-CDS's training committee removes air shares from their training programs.

Just stop. Do it now. - NSS-CDS Training Program

They go over the alternate procedure which involves the donor reg being clipped on the left D ring of their harness.

I'm not sure how I feel about this. Clipping the reg off means you no longer feel it pulling in your mouth as you move the hose around. But in a post-COVID world I can understand the reason.

This post is about training, not S-drills.

Removing realistic air sharing from courses might be over reacting. The virus is effectively killed by SOAP. Everyone knows the corona virus is more efficiently killed by soap than by alcohol based disinfectants and that transmission is mostly airborne. There are also procedures that minimize the risk of infection: a backmount cave diver could use the backup reg all the time and offer a clean longhose and a sidemount diver could breathe from one cylinder only and share the other reg during excercise. Wash with soap on the surface.

I am very interested in reading the actual motivation for this policy. Given it's in the U.S. the motivation must be liability. If that is the reason, I might understand the policy (not really). Elsewhere people are responsible for themselves.

[edited: shortened and reorganised the text]

 

[Manatee Diver]

@Subcooled
If you want to know the motivation send them an email:
Contact - NSS-CDS Training Program

Though the answer might change since there is a new training director coming in June IIRC. But they all know each other so I would imagine that they are on the page. And Harry and Lamar wouldn't do something to just get it overridden in a couple of months.

 

[sea_ledford]

NAUI and RAID have also proposed alterations to air sharing. If you feel particularly strongly about actual air sharing, just dedicate the dive to it, and have the donor start on the backup, so the longhose is unused until donation.

Or only married couples can take training. What could go wrong with that?

I am very interested in reading the actual motivation for this policy. Given it's in the U.S. the motivation must be liability. If that is the reason, I might understand the policy (not really). Elsewhere people are responsible for themselves.

It is certainly a liability reducing as well as comfort increasing effort. If your instructor required you to swap spit with a mostly unknown person in order to earn a certification, that would certainly open up liability if either diver got sick, or would turn off potential students. My act of being responsible for myself is I wouldn't air share. Without the change in standards, I couldn't get certified.

The virus may not survive in water (unknown at this point), but how long is a reg out of one divers mouth before it is in another divers mouth in an air sharing drill? Certainly not long enough to remove and "sanitize" all the spit. Even with soap (not the recommended way to clean gear) it takes 20 seconds of scrubbing.

-Chris

 

[kelemvor]

I think that's a shame. I learned a lot during the air share drills in cave class. Most importantly, I learned that miflex long hoses are NFG. I'm a huge fan of miflex hoses, but they are so easy to kink during single file air sharing. I would have never really known that if not for the drill. Most of my hoses are still miflex, but the 7' long hose is now rubber.

If someone's cave diving and they can't be bothered to properly sanitize their regulator right now, maybe they don't have the proper mindset for cave diving in the first place.

 

[The Chairman]

Maybe we should just start clipping the long hose and breathing on the short all the time? The point for breathing on the long hose was that an OOA person wants a "proven" reg. Now it seems they would want a more virgin reg.

 

[formernuke]

Maybe we should just start clipping the long hose and breathing on the short all the time? The point for breathing on the long hose was that an OOA person wants a "proven" reg. Now it seems they would want a more virgin reg.

The only potential issue is the clip is a little slower to unclip.

We could train with the long hose clipped off bit in a real OOA scenario stay with they way we do it now. OOA is after all pretty rare.

 

[Umuntu]

Maybe we should just start clipping the long hose and breathing on the short all the time? The point for breathing on the long hose was that an OOA person wants a "proven" reg. Now it seems they would want a more virgin reg.

There's a tiny snowball in support of secondary donate beginning to roll ...

 

[JahJahwarrior]

I guess it's better than teaching to disinfect the long hose reg prior to the dive, and diving with a stuffed long hose.

 

[MichaelMc]

The only potential issue is the clip is a little slower to unclip.

We could train with the long hose clipped off bit in a real OOA scenario stay with they way we do it now. OOA is after all pretty rare.

Sidemount deals with donate of clipped off long hose all the time with pop free clips. Setting aside that ‘right this instant’ donate to another diver with redundant gas would be rare.

Obviously sidemount also uses both regs for most any dive. If everyone has redundant gas that is less likely to be an issue.