Out of gas - what happens next?

[stuartv]

Good point. I have been know to get distracted from ladder to seat and lose track of it. Depending on the circumstances I keep it in my mouth until ready to clip off. If needed you can clip and temporarily switch to the bungee backup. I've done that too.

I have been thinking about doing something like that. I.e. when I hit the surface, switch to backup and clip off primary. When I climb the ladder and get back on the boat, I can spit out the backup as I make my way to my bench.

Good idea!

 

[Kevrumbo]

Thanks.

Totally OT: Why don't people run the can light cord across the chest and maybe even under the left shoulder strap or through some kind of keeper, so that it is never tangled with the long hose?? Or use the light on the right hand? Or even up and across behind the neck to run down the left arm? I do not understand adopting a system where you KNOW you will end up with tangled hoses during an emergency.

OT: With longer burn-time cordless smaller lithium battery pack LED Primary Lights, this may soon be an issue of the past. (Still like the idea of a light head "safety tethered" by a conventional power cord in case you fumble it though). Light Head is normally with the left hand, otherwise you would inadvertently blind the OOG diver when donating long hose with right hand. But you just gotta KNOW by habit the normal configuration of your light can power cord (either under or over the long-hose), and then understand the relative orientation to prevent a tangle during a long hose donation.

It gets better even better when you have to juggle a primary reel and a light head during an OOG long hose donation. . .

 

[stuartv]

OT: With longer burn-time cordless smaller lithium battery pack LED Primary Lights, this may soon be an issue of the past. (Still like the idea of a light head "safety tethered" by a conventional power cord in case you fumble it though). Light Head is normally with the left hand, otherwise you would inadvertently blind the OOG diver when donating long hose with right hand. But you just gotta KNOW by habit the normal configuration of your light can power cord (either under or over the long-hose), and then understand the relative orientation to prevent a tangle during a long hose donation.

It gets better even better when you have to juggle a primary reel and a light head during an OOG long hose donation. . .

Ah ha. Light on right hand would blind the recipient. That makes sense.

I think it will be a while before cordless lights have enough burn time for long cave dives. So, can lights will still be around for a while.

But, if the cord were routed so that it never would get tangled with the long hose, and given this new-to-me one-handed reg switch/donate technique, it seems like having a light on your left hand and a reel in your left hand would be a non-issue.

So I still don't understand why people don't route the cord (getting a longer cord, if needed) so it doesn't get tangled with the long hose. Either, across the chest and through/under something, or up and over behind the neck. A couple of tri-slides and some bungee loops on the shoulder straps a couple of inches from the top of the BP seems like they would be plenty adequate to contain the cord and position it to run down the left arm or to a light head clipped to the left chest D-ring. Or even run the cord between the webbing and the tri-slide to hold it with no bungee and definitely no way it could move.

 

[boulderjohn]

I do not understand adopting a system where you KNOW you will end up with tangled hoses during an emergency.

There is no getting around it. No matter how you route it, under some circumstances in a dive it can become an entanglement in an emergency.

I generally route the canister wire under the long hose for that reason. If things stay that way throughout the dive, all is good. However, I do need to switch hands sometimes. I do need to clip the light off to leave my hands free sometimes. When I do that, I have to either remember to go back under the hose each time or just run the risk of an entanglement from the other direction. In a real OOA situation, once you have donated, you should have time to sort out the rest.

 

[stuartv]

There is no getting around it. No matter how you route it, under some circumstances in a dive it can become an entanglement in an emergency.

If you do it like I described above (up, behind the right shoulder, across the tops of the shoulder straps, then down the left arm or clipped to left chest D-ring), what scenario could result in tangled hoses/cords?

 

[Kevrumbo]

If you do it like I described above (up, behind the right shoulder, across the tops of the shoulder straps, then down the left arm or clipped to left chest D-ring), what scenario could result in tangled hoses/cords?

No. You've got a back-up light clipped & stowed and deco/stage cylinders clipped or swapping out from a leash to clip onto that left chest D-ring as well. You don't want a Primary Light & cord to jam up that D-ring or to be blinded by a swinging light while verifying a deco gas switch.

When I need both hands free, I stow the Light Head clipped-off on the right chest D-ring, with the can cord tucked under the BP waist belt out-of-the-way, making sure it won't trap a long hose donation to an Out-of-Gas diver.

 

[halocline]

If you do it like I described above (up, behind the right shoulder, across the tops of the shoulder straps, then down the left arm or clipped to left chest D-ring), what scenario could result in tangled hoses/cords?

It's convenient to be able to switch hands for the light head, routing under the shoulder strap would make that pretty tight. I also like to drape the light head around my neck if I need both hands for something like a tie off or to write on my slate. It's nice to have the light head pointing down in that situation. As long as you remember to keep it underneath the long hose it works fine.

 

[boulderjohn]

If you do it like I described above (up, behind the right shoulder, across the tops of the shoulder straps, then down the left arm or clipped to left chest D-ring), what scenario could result in tangled hoses/cords?

It seems like a lot of cord and a lot of routing to solve a fairly minor problem. The light cord will not prevent you from sharing air. Once that happens, you have plenty of time to reroute your light cord to prepare for whatever formation you will be in for exit. Having to share air in a real situation is such a rare occurrence (never seen it), and the consequences so minor, that I don't worry much about it.

When I dive in sidemount, which is not often, my canister is on my back, and the hose routes through the left side to my hand.

 

[Stoo]

... as a former instructor of mine once famously put it on the topic of OOG, "I'd suck a fart out of a donkey's arse if it'd get me to the surface alive" ...

This topic came up on the boat this weekend. I was one of 3 OC guys on a boat with 7 RB divers. Everyone was slinging a bottle of some sort and since we were kinda doing the "gang-buddy" thing, (i.e. a bunch of solo guys flopping around on the same wreck) I asked the question of what exactly everyone had in their slung bottles.

The RB guys all had air, in case of bail out. The OC guys were slinging an assortment of deco-gasses... I had O2, someone else had 70 and the third had 50 or something...

None the less, we kinda figured sipping some O2 at 100' whilst beating a hasty retreat upwards was perhaps more desirable than breathing the St. Lawrence River. Personally, I'd resist the urge until I was well on my way...

Also, regarding the "warning" one gets... When I ran out of air, I was on my brand-spanking new Apeks DS4/XTX50. Believe me, until I looked at my slack-hosed SPG I had no idea I was out of air...

 

[Steve_C]

W I'm a simple OW diver, and even I prefer to keep my gear config as consistent as possible. Which has given me grief more than once when I've been on vacation and used a gear config as close to what I'm using at home as practically possible

So you dive 85 degree water in a dry suit and lots of weight?