red_infinity
Contributor
I'm doing my research diving training right now at UCSB so i can dive for a lab (and hopefully get paid for it). I'm the only one there with a hog setup, everyone else just having standard setups.
Today we did some air sharing drills - both buddy breathing and octo breathing. I've only been able to dive this rig a few times in the ocean after 3 months of not diving due to the cold and me going back home in LA for winter break. I've practiced the motion of donating my primary and switching to the bungeed octo in those dives, but I never practiced with someone until today.
I told my buddy how my setup works so he knew I was going to donate my primary. We got in the pool after a short briefing and we got started. I was the 'victim' first, signaling out of air to my buddy and sharing air with him. It's been a while since I practiced any kind of air sharing, and right away I remembered how uncomfortable it was. His reg felt so 'short', and I felt like I had no choice but to keep close to keep breathing on the reg. I'm sure it'll probably be effective if I ended up panicking in a real life OOA and my buddy can calm me down easy just by keeping hold of me...but at the time it still felt so uncomfortable.
Then it was my turn to donate. The first thing I noticed was how much faster it is. No fiddling with trying to find your octo, because you know exactly where it is (in your mouth). Also, once he had it in his mouth, it felt so comfy! No tugging....plenty of hose length (although I know that's obvious). My instructor still made me hold on to the regulator though, which I guess I can understand if my buddy was in real trouble and didn't have his wits together to hold his reg in place. But then again, I can't imagine an OOA diver letting go of a donated reg. Whatever.
We did the same drills too, but we had to swim across the pool and back, switching off who was donating each way. This was even more uncomfortable, because the reg felt like it was twisting so much, I had to bite hard on it to keep it in my mouth. When it was my turn, it was much more comfortable.
After those drills though, I couldn't help to think that maybe it was because I knew exactly when my friend was gonna be out of air that I was able to deploy quickly. Would I be prepared for it if I was doing my own thing, say, counting nudibranchs in one spot, and then my buddy who went OOA went up to me and signaled OOA?
My question was answered with the next drill. Another air sharing drill, but this time, one buddy is facing the pool wall at the bottom, and the other sprints two laps at the bottom (to get tired and out of breath), then, without exhaling, has to swim to the adjacent wall where they could swim to anyone who was open. I had to do the swimming first, and MAN, being OOA and out of breath sucks
! LOL I have never been so thirsty for air in my life. Anyway, we then switched off so I was facing the wall. They were taking a while so my mind wandered off a bit...and then all of a sudden I get a tap on my shoulder. It was my same dive buddy who went to me for air, and sure enough I was able to quickly deploy my primary and switch to my bungeed reg.
I gotta say, I'm loving this. I appreciate this hose setup even more.
Anyway that's all, just thought I'd post my experience with it.
Today we did some air sharing drills - both buddy breathing and octo breathing. I've only been able to dive this rig a few times in the ocean after 3 months of not diving due to the cold and me going back home in LA for winter break. I've practiced the motion of donating my primary and switching to the bungeed octo in those dives, but I never practiced with someone until today.
I told my buddy how my setup works so he knew I was going to donate my primary. We got in the pool after a short briefing and we got started. I was the 'victim' first, signaling out of air to my buddy and sharing air with him. It's been a while since I practiced any kind of air sharing, and right away I remembered how uncomfortable it was. His reg felt so 'short', and I felt like I had no choice but to keep close to keep breathing on the reg. I'm sure it'll probably be effective if I ended up panicking in a real life OOA and my buddy can calm me down easy just by keeping hold of me...but at the time it still felt so uncomfortable.
Then it was my turn to donate. The first thing I noticed was how much faster it is. No fiddling with trying to find your octo, because you know exactly where it is (in your mouth). Also, once he had it in his mouth, it felt so comfy! No tugging....plenty of hose length (although I know that's obvious). My instructor still made me hold on to the regulator though, which I guess I can understand if my buddy was in real trouble and didn't have his wits together to hold his reg in place. But then again, I can't imagine an OOA diver letting go of a donated reg. Whatever.
We did the same drills too, but we had to swim across the pool and back, switching off who was donating each way. This was even more uncomfortable, because the reg felt like it was twisting so much, I had to bite hard on it to keep it in my mouth. When it was my turn, it was much more comfortable.
After those drills though, I couldn't help to think that maybe it was because I knew exactly when my friend was gonna be out of air that I was able to deploy quickly. Would I be prepared for it if I was doing my own thing, say, counting nudibranchs in one spot, and then my buddy who went OOA went up to me and signaled OOA?
My question was answered with the next drill. Another air sharing drill, but this time, one buddy is facing the pool wall at the bottom, and the other sprints two laps at the bottom (to get tired and out of breath), then, without exhaling, has to swim to the adjacent wall where they could swim to anyone who was open. I had to do the swimming first, and MAN, being OOA and out of breath sucks
! LOL I have never been so thirsty for air in my life. Anyway, we then switched off so I was facing the wall. They were taking a while so my mind wandered off a bit...and then all of a sudden I get a tap on my shoulder. It was my same dive buddy who went to me for air, and sure enough I was able to quickly deploy my primary and switch to my bungeed reg.I gotta say, I'm loving this. I appreciate this hose setup even more.
Anyway that's all, just thought I'd post my experience with it.
