Octo vs AirII
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Buddy breathing was standard fare through the mid to late 1980's for most agencies as octos were not always universally encountered.
Yea, it was kind of odd not having to teach buddy breathing. I've seen buddy breathing fail twice. Both times in the 90-100' depth range. Both OOA divers were so stressed they could not perform buddy breathing. One over-breathed the reg donated and the donor then had the other 2nd stage ripped out of his mouth. The other was given the only 2nd stage the DM had and would not give it back. I was close enough to see, but could not get there in time. I agree with making everyone have some form of alternate air source. I agree with taking buddy-breathing out of scuba class.
To answer the question there was only buddy breathing when I learned to dive.
Last edited:
rstofer
Contributor
And yet, buddy breathing is discussed in the PADI Open Water Diver Manual (page 213) and is the 4th of 5 approaches to (emergency) ascent.
1) Normal ascent
2) Alternate air source ascent
3) CSEA
4) Buddy breathing ascent
5) Buoyant ascent
Or, "Not All Children Burn Books" as was pointed out in a recent class.
Neither buddy breathing nor buoyant ascent are demonstrated or tested.
FWIW, the donor always controls the shared regulator. Never take your hand off the regulator! The recipient is never allowed control - they won't give it back!
Richard
1) Normal ascent
2) Alternate air source ascent
3) CSEA
4) Buddy breathing ascent
5) Buoyant ascent
Or, "Not All Children Burn Books" as was pointed out in a recent class.
Neither buddy breathing nor buoyant ascent are demonstrated or tested.
FWIW, the donor always controls the shared regulator. Never take your hand off the regulator! The recipient is never allowed control - they won't give it back!
Richard
I like "No Air Can Be Bad". Keeps in the theme and there's a nice emphasis on BAD for Buoyant ascent.
Not teaching buddy breathing makes sense to me for two reasons:
1) A much better alternative exists - alternate airsources
2) It is a skill that requires practice to do effectively and safely. From what I've seen in the general dive population, the majority of people would either not practice buddy breathing after open water or practice it a bit, become complacent and never do it again. The end results could be disastrous. Grabbing an alternate air source is way easier and if at least one hemisphere of your brain is functioning you can get away without practicing (not that I'm advocating not practicing).
I'm all for CESA before buddy breathing as I'd much rather have a (former) student go for the surface making that lovely "aaahhh" sound than mucking around with a skill they haven't practiced until its too late.
As for buoyant ascents - I don't think they need much demonstrating.
Why are both mentioned? Well, they're still options, although I'm not sure buddy breathing should be included if its not going to be covered in a pool session. What do you guys think? Should buddy breathing be re-introduced as a core skill in the pool part of the open water course? Should it be stricken from the list?
For the poll: Learned on an octo, teach octo, dive octo.
Again, we learned buddy breathing back in the early 80s because most divers (those that I was around) didn't have octos.
Just to get Basic Scuba cert, you needed 16 classroom hours (with tons of homework) and 16 pool hours. All that was before we did any actual diving! We practiced and practiced buddy-breathing. You get pretty good at it after a time because you don't panic.
I really feel that they have stream-lined the instruction too much. While this may work for most dives, there is always going to exist circumstances that get out of the novice diver's control and PANIC is the result. Often, by God's grace, the diver is able to barely scrape through and extricate himself/herself. Later, we all read about it in the I Almost Died: Don't Let This Happen to You thread.
That all said, I know many will think, "Hey, equipment has progressed to the point that buddy breathing is pointless. Everyone has an octo or alternate source these days." While that is true the extra skill builds confidence which combats one of a diver's worst enemies - PANIC!!
... and yet... one of the PADI Divemaster training requirements (check the manual)... is a COMPLETE equipment exchange (except wetsuit and weightbelt)... WHILE BUDDY BREATHING... (... and "buddy breathing" is item #20 on the demonstratable skills list... as separate from "air depletion and alternate air source use stationary... item #9)...
... now... In PADI OW "buddy breathing" is listed as an "optional skill"...
So, it seems that somewhere between OW and Divemaster the skill should be being taught... unless it is expected that the diver will "learn about it on the playground"...
... now... In PADI OW "buddy breathing" is listed as an "optional skill"...
So, it seems that somewhere between OW and Divemaster the skill should be being taught... unless it is expected that the diver will "learn about it on the playground"...
MasterFritts
Contributor
Trained with NAUI and the rental gear we used had a mixture of AIR2 and Octo setups. So we trained with both.
I prefer my AIR2 at this time in my diving.
I prefer my AIR2 at this time in my diving.
Even snorkels??!!!
Well... as PADI requires a snerkel as a part of yer' gear (in that *training environment*) the answer would be, "Yup... even snerkels..." Of course, if my training buddy is wearing a PINK one... I may have to think twice about completing the course...
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