Octo on Right or Left?

[400Man]

I read somewhere that you should route your octo under your left arm so that the mouthpiece will be facing out when you try to hand it to someone. However, every picture in my books and magazines show the octo routed under the diver's right arm. Also, every reg on Ebay had the octo and primary on the same side as well. I just bought my first set of gear and now I'm confused about where I should put the octo.
Any input would be appreciated. Thanks.

 

[DA Aquamaster]

Routing it on the left so that the mouthpiece faces out theoretically makes it easier for an out of air buddy to use it but there are a couple problems with that logic.

The first is that one of the primary uses of your octo is in the event your primary second stage fails closed. It does not happen often but it does happen and when it does, breathing off a "backwards" second stage is a lot more difficult.

The second problem is an extension of the first. In most real life OOA situations the OOA buddy does not give you a nice OOA sign and then wait for you to hand him/her a second stage. What normally happens is the OOA buddy mugs you for your primary second stage. Murphy's law dictates that this will occur just at the end of your exhalation. This is again a situation where you do not want to mess with your own backwards mounted octo.

There is some debate on the issue, but it is more common now to plan to just donate the primary regulator as it is known to be functioning and for the donating diver to plan on using their own octo. You as the diver owning the equipment will know exactly where to find your octo so there is no time lost with the buddy looking for the octo and accessing it. There is also the advantage that you will normally be in a better situation air wise if you have to shake rocks or sand out of the octo if you've been dragging it on the bottom or have not checked or rinsed it in several months. And of course there is again the reality of the situation where the buddy will not waste time looking for the octo and will grab your primary anyway.

Ideally, your primary should be on a 5 to 7 ft hose (5 to 6 ft works well for recreational divers) so that when you donate or are mugged for your primary, you both have some room to move during the ascent. The long hose also provides plenty of lenght for the reg to be turned to face the buddy so how it is mounted is a moot issue.

In short, left side mounting of the octo is an idea that sounds good, but only until you think it through.

 

[limeyx]

Routing it on the left so that the mouthpiece faces out theoretically makes it easier for an out of air buddy to use it but there are a couple problems with that logic.


Ideally, your primary should be on a 5 to 7 ft hose (5 to 6 ft works well for recreational divers) so that when you donate or are mugged for your primary, you both have some room to move during the ascent. The long hose also provides plenty of lenght for the reg to be turned to face the buddy so how it is mounted is a moot issue.

In short, left side mounting of the octo is an idea that sounds good, but only until you think it through.

If you donate what you're breathing, the secondary can go around your neck on bungee cord. Even easier to find.

 

[H2Andy]

in my experience, the far more effective gear configuration is to have both your
primary and secondary (i.e. the "octopus") regs routed to your right.

then you have to decide whether you want to donate your primary (in your mouth)
or your secondary (secured to you somehow) to an out-of-air-diver.

be aware than in an emergency, an out of air diver will just grab the reg out of your
mouth, so it makes sense to simply plan for that to happen.

this is what I do now:

1. my primary is my "donor" reg. i do overhead diving, so it's on a long hose.

2. my secondary is my "emergency" reg. it comes around to the right, and I keep it bungeed around my neck so that i always know exactly where it is and can reach it in about a second. even when i am using two separate first stages (for cave diving), my back-up comes around the right.

open water divers often opt to keep their secondary reg somewhere in the triangle
between their chin and their hips. regular size hoses are ok for open water, though
a longer hose WILL make it easier if the brown stuff hits the fan and you have to donate.

 

[dive]

Read this http://www.gue.com/equipment/jj-hogarth.shtml might help

 

[FatCat]

Seeing as an octo is mainly a backup for yourself, it makes sense to mount it on the right.

Other consideration: only badly trained divers go into panic mode in an OOA. Training AGAINST the "gotta-have-air-so-I'll-grab-the-first-reg-in-sight"-reflex is a better way of spending your time than training to reinforce the bad reflex. (let the shooting match begin...) The "self service" technique works fine. Grab the octo and breathe, don't waste time giving signals, don't panic, just take the thing and start to breathe from it. It might help to do a buddy check so you know where to find the thing if you need it. Even better: once you and your buddy are under way and neutral, locate your buddy's octo once more.

'Nother consideration: an octo makes no sense with only one first stage. You can have a gazillion octos if you want, but if the first stage goes they'll just as much air as the primary second stage, which is to say: absolutely no air. Dive two separate first stages from day one.

Still 'nother consideration : don't train alternate air source use in a face-to-face position. Even with a standard length octo hose two divers can comfortably swim side by side with the receiver on the left side of the donor.

Last consideration: practice octo use for yourself and practice air sharing. Whatever configuration you use, it won't work if you and your buddy haven't practiced since your open water course.

 

[derwoodwithasherwood]

I read somewhere that you should route your octo under your left arm so that the mouthpiece will be facing out when you try to hand it to someone.

That depends on whether you have a left hand octo or a right hand octo. A few companies make a model with the hose routed in from the opposite side. If worn on your right it would face your buddy.

One argument for wearing your octo and secondary on the same side is that in the event you lose your reg (eg: kicked out of your mouth or something) you double the odds of finding one while searching only one side.

 

[mdsd]

both on right, bright yellow alt reg in a quik release clip high on right side of triangle

 

[DA Aquamaster]

Other consideration: only badly trained divers go into panic mode in an OOA. Training AGAINST the "gotta-have-air-so-I'll-grab-the-first-reg-in-sight"-reflex is a better way of spending your time than training to reinforce the bad reflex. (let the shooting match begin...) The "self service" technique works fine. Grab the octo and breathe, don't waste time giving signals, don't panic, just take the thing and start to breathe from it. It might help to do a buddy check so you know where to find the thing if you need it. Even better: once you and your buddy are under way and neutral, locate your buddy's octo once more.

Great advice all the way around. The problem is you don't always have the option of picking your buddy. In 2 of the 3 OOA situations in which I was involved, a diver who was not my buddy needed to share my air as they could not locate their buddy. These were also the 2 out of 3 situations where I was basically mugged for my primary.

'Nother consideration: an octo makes no sense with only one first stage. You can have a gazillion octos if you want, but if the first stage goes they'll just as much air as the primary second stage, which is to say: absolutely no air. Dive two separate first stages from day one.

I agree with you on that assuming you are doing any type of hard or soft overhead diving or are diving below 60 ft.

But for most recreational situations, the "backup" first stage is normally mounted on your buddy's tank. The majority of recreational divers are not going to consider buying or renting a second reg, a pony bottle, or a tank with an H or Y valve.

 

[scubatoys]

The other thing, is simply get an octo that does not have an up sidedown... like a dacor viper, or a poseidon, or aeris gyro. Then it gets much easier in OOA situations since you don't have to worry about orientation and hose position. Anyone can grab it from an side and breathe.