Reaching valves

[Rob Meddes]

What??!! Err no & if i ever do then i need a slap. That has got to be one of the most dangerous things i think i could do. Imagine if i did that with no air in my BCD & couldn't reach, glug..glug...glug. See ya. An open water diver possibly or advanced OW whos got a bit cocky. If you do then you've done absolutely no buddy or personal check what so ever. Basics

 

[metridium]

Rob Meddes wrote...
Just wonering why you need to reach your valve on your single??

As others have posted, but also for drills when using an H-valve.

 

[Uncle Pug]

Rob Meddes once bubbled...
Imagine if i did that with no air in my BCD & couldn't reach, glug..glug...glug.

Yeah... that's the point. Stuff happens. You should be able to reach your valve dude.

But maybe it is just the spectacle of, "Hey mate, I forgot to turn my air on... a little help here?"

Better to just reach back and crank it on yourself.

Course some folk can't even put their fins on by themselves.

I didn't bother to mention the reason for turning your valve off as that would probably give ya'll diarrhea of the keyboard.

 

[Rob Meddes]

No, that isn't the point. The point is, if you actually practice reaching your tanks incase you forget to turn them on, then you seriously need a retraining. Surely instead of practicing reaching you should concentrate on making sure you were trained to turn your air on & check all your kit works before you even get near the water let alone in it. Your talking about jumping head long into a killer environment without making sure your only means of surviving in that environment is working. Now call me old fashioned but that seems just a little stupid to me. I have never needed to reach my valves & never intend to. My twinset is different & if you can't reach these then you shouldn't be using them (manifolded). Prevention's better than cure, especially when your life may depend on it.
Good (safe) diving
Rob

 

[Uncle Pug]

...I see that I was right.

 

[Rob Meddes]

.

 

[Uncle Pug]

Congratulations Rob... it takes some folks a bit longer to see that I'm right... but at this point there are a lot more than two of us. Welcome to the club.

 

[Rob Meddes]

And diving like you talk about being wrong will probably hurt.
Remember don't argue when you know your wrong.

 

[DiverBuoy]

No one can plan for everything. It is one thing with beginning students to teach them to buddy check and stress putting in your regulator to test before jumping into the water. But over time skilled divers learn self rescue and problem solving, especially when task loading becomes greater - humans forget and problems can occur.

The ability to turn your air on or off by yourself (with gear on), can be likened to practicing removing and replacing your mask, regulator, BCD or weightbelt underwater - no one would deny these are essential skills for open water certification.

Diving with a buddy helps one deal with contingencies but self rescue is a major component of "saving one's own life". I hope you never forget to turn your air on and go glub glub because you've never practiced the skill of turning on your air one of two things will happen - you'll be shopping for weights or you will drown (and that would be really sad). .;-0

The Big Uncle is completely right here. And you're just wrong

 

[wetman]

Heres a good reason:

I was on a boat in NC and had prepared all my goodies including turning my air on for the dive. Half way into it my computer bounced from 1400ish to 700ish. The DM on the boat was kind enough to turn it all the way off plus half a twist on. My buddy saw him do this on the next dive as well. My buddy assisted with my knobs underwater but the fact is i wish i could have gotten to them much more easily so it would have been second nature to just do it myself.

steve