ooa situation advice/and weight

[buleetu]

hi everyone

when i was doing the skills in my sucba diver course i had to follow a guideline of what the instructor was telling me to do, when he told me to demonstrate what i do when i have no air he said i must singnal and wait for the octopus to be handed to me

dont know if im right or wrong here but isint it okay to signal and then just take the octopus instead of waiting like a goon to have it handed to me in a real out of air situation

he also wasnt very helpfull in teaching me how to weight up properly and im still kinda wondering how to get my proper weight requirements,i understand that having enough weight to float at eye level with no air in my bc and having a normal breath in my lung is the way to do it, but when i dive in the red sea i never really get the time to do this its usually just hop off the boat give the okay signal and then decend when we are all ready, is there a way to add weight going on how much i weigh or something like that???
thanks everyone

 

[hutterw]

In the real world, if you are in an actual out of air and not just a low on air situation the correct procedure will be very evident. You’re just grabbing the darn octo!!!

I think the best way to judge if you are properly weighted is at the safety stop. You should be neutrally buoyant at the end of your dive and be able to effortlessly hover at 3 M without using a rope. You do not want to be positive buoyancy. The beauty about using the safety stop is you have three unrushed minutes to judge you weight.

 

[Chernish]

About the OOA:
1) I don't fancy being assaulted by a guy who has given me a vague handsign and then groped everywhere but where my octopus actually is. This could lead to confusion about your intentions, not to mention your sexual preferences.
And while I do not mind being groped by a girl, this wouldn't give her air any quicker.

2) Waiting one second or two for me to give you the octopus is quicker than you searching for it. I know where it is and can reach it instinctively in one split of a second. You don't.

3) In the unlikely event that you cannot wait this second or two, or that I cannot find my octopus quickly enough, go for the main regulator. Yes, the one that I have in my mouth. Why? Because you know where it is, and also that it works. Don't worry, I know where my octopus is, and I can breath on it too. In fact in most cases I will give you my main.

4) The key point behind the teaching is DO NOT PANIC, nor make something that could make ME panic. Two panicked divers is nothing but a recipe for disaster. Give me some time to register the situation.

About the weights:
You will find some weight calculators in this forum.
They can give a good approximation, but take their results with a grain of salt. The weight depends on a lot of factors like the salinity of the water, the weight and volume of your equipment, but also on the diver him/her-self, on his/her ease in the water, etc...

Cheers!

 

[scubadale]

Monitor your gauges and OOA won't be an issue. But, if you find yourself in that situation, hopefully you and your buddy would have discussed how to handle prior to the dive. In my case you would NOT find an octo. I have an integrated octo and would give you my primary. It is best to let the donor give you the air supply.

For weighting, ask the boat DM or captain if they will let you check your weight at the END of the dive. By doing this you have not delayed the other divers from starting their dive and you will have the benefit of having a near empty tank (around 500 PSI - you get to convert to metric). This amount of air is what you should be weighted for anyway.

 

[Lightning Fish]

About the OOA:
2) Waiting one second or two for me to give you the octopus is quicker than you searching for it. I know where it is and can reach it instinctively in one split of a second. You don't.

If you are my buddy, you do know where my octopus is. Otherwise you are not my buddy. And vice versa.

Cheers,
Bill.

 

[Garrobo]

What I usually do about another diver being OOA is that when we are going out to the reef or wreck site, after the captain and DM has done their obligated duty of telling everyone about the boat's rules and such, in that awkward moment when there is some silence, I just tell everyone who is interested that the regulator with the yellow hose and yellow cover, hanging on my first stage, is for eveyone and anyone who has an air problem and not to feel embarrassed to use IT, and NOT the regulator in my mouth, since I will be passionately attached to it myself.

 

[spectrum]

For the sake of getting though the class and drills your instructor had you requesting the alternate second and so forth. In reality you do whatever is expedient including snatching the one in your buddies mouth if you are about to bust a lung and gulp seawater. Likewise expect anything from other divers. Remember that if you are diving right only an equipment failure would bring you to this need.

As for the weighting it's something you just need to make the time for. It's probably best done at the end of a shore dive. In any case plan it with a buddy so you have someone to hand weights off to. Make sure some of your weighs are accessible in the form of clip-ons or tucked in your accessible pockets. Once you get the amount right you can work on placement for trim. If your only dive opportunities are boat dives then plan to come up early sometime soon. However the test will be difficult to interpret in any heavy seas.

As for the basic test here is my version of the drill:

Remember to set your weight so that you bob vertically at eye level at the end of your dive with an empty BC, an average breath, your feet still (crossed) and about 500 PSI in your cylinder. A deep breath should get your mask out of the water and a deep exhale should sink your mask. Do all of this while breathing from your regulator. The end of the dive is the defining moment for your weight requirement and you want just enough to let you stay down in the shallows with a light cylinder.

You can make the same test pre-dive with a full cylinder and add 5 pounds to compensate for the buoyancy gain you will experience as you breathe the tank down. Be sure to repeat at the end since you are apt to have some stowaway buoyancy (trapped air) in your gear early in the dive. You are safer being two pounds heavy than 2 pounds light.

Pete

 

[shurite7]

As you can see there are different schools of thought when it comes to OOA prodedures. Each instructor / dive operator has their own preference.

The second most important thing you need to do is communicate with your buddy before the dive as to what procedure you will use. That brings up another issue.....have you practiced with your buddy? The most important thing for you as well as your buddy is to do is monitor your air!

Weighting is some what trial an error. If you are on a trip a good DM can determine or at least come close to what you need for weight. The fine tuning must be done by you; pay close attention to your buoyancy at the end of the dive. Are you struggling to stay down during your safety stop or are you adding air to your bc?

Good luck.

Chris

 

[buleetu]

thanks everyone to everyone for the help

i think i will make it my business to know where my buddies octopus is when i do my buddie check before the dive so if the need is there i wouldnt have to grab the reg in his or her mouth and give them a shock, the last time i was on a boat the guys on there didnt really seem to care about buddy checking or anything so i can only imagine what would happen if i grabbed onto there reg underwater,

i will just be very carefull when doing my pre dive check to know where it is and then when im down i will be attentive to my air to try make sure i dont run out in a hurry

when i go back to the red sea i will be doing the rest of the open water course so i will ask for some time to suss out my weighting, i wasnt really happy with a lot of my course the last time though it seemed to me as if the instructor was just going through the motions of the skills and i didnt really get to perfect them as such, some dont really take perfecting of course but i would have liked more time on the fin pivot skill for one, he just seen me get it for a few seconds and then it was onto the next skill on that little board he had

 

[buleetu]

The second most important thing you need to do is communicate with your buddy before the dive as to what procedure you will use. That brings up another issue.....have you practiced with your buddy? The most important thing for you as well as your buddy is to do is monitor your air!

Chris

i was with my instructor the last time so he was watching me because he knew i was only starting out, but lets say the next time i go out on the boat and i have just finished my open water course and i dont have an instructor there with me,, im more than likely gonna have some german guy or god forbid russian that probably doesnt or wont speak english as a buddy

i will have to get my gf into diving and i will have a decent buddy with me at all times hahah