Reg recovery?

[scubadada]

I've been introducing lean/sweep, shoulder grab and pull along with visually hunt/pick to new divers. Got curious realizing I rarely see experienced divers dropping their reg and I don't know what most other divers are choosing as first choice.

Going to the alternate is the first step, reg recovery is secondary but I'm looking for a new top 3 technique to introduce. Something that's been field tested with people happy with the results.

I use lean sweep myself as it's the least motion and takes little dexterity in thick thermals or with limited mobility. (At least compared to reaching behind your shoulder)

Cameron

I dive my primary on a 40" hose under my right arm. My backup is on a necklace. As hard as I try, I can't remember the last time I lost a regulator. Occasionally, I drop my primary at the surface, a quick sweep, and I have it back.

 

[JackD342]

Given the results so far, keep doing what I'm doing. But was hoping to borrow some techniques.

I've been introducing lean/sweep, shoulder grab and pull along with visually hunt/pick to new divers. Got curious realizing I rarely see experienced divers dropping their reg and I don't know what most other divers are choosing as first choice.

Going to the alternate is the first step, reg recovery is secondary but I'm looking for a new top 3 technique to introduce. Something that's been field tested with people happy with the results.

I use lean sweep myself as it's the least motion and takes little dexterity in thick thermals or with limited mobility. (At least compared to reaching behind your shoulder)

Cameron

To be honest, if it happened to me step 1 is probably "Look to my right. Is it there?" From that point on, step 2 is all situational.

I only lost a regulator once, and recovery was not an option. I couldn't clear my wet reg after two attempts with exhalation method, so I reached up to hit the purge and discovered my 2nd stage and my mouthpiece had chosen to part ways. (Only myself to blame on that zip-tie, too. They are a LOT tighter now!) Split second of brief freak out, then stuck my breathable inflator in my mouth and got my buddy's attention to call the dive.

 

[northernone]

I dive my primary on a 40" hose under my right arm. My backup is on a necklace. As hard as I try, I can't remember the last time I lost a regulator. Occasionally, I drop my primary at the surface, a quick sweep, and I have it back.

I like the under the arm primary, short necklace secondary. (If I'm in recreational gear)

Come to think of it, the last three times I've lost a primary reg it involved ripping the mouthpiece and the other two was the zip tie letting go... Bit of a bulldog
when it comes to keeping my air source... But dive a lot of swift water back home and when the reg snags it generally is pretty violent and ends up entangled too... Not very often I get to just lean over and sweep it back up to reach.

 

[gcarter]

Some methods of securing the octopus do not lend themselves well to staying put and other methods don't lend themselves well to coming loose when you need it. Strangely, the best octopus holders I have ever found have been the bungee type hair bands made for holding a pony-tail. I happened across this discovery when teaching in a pool were I would often find them on the bottom. I picked up a few and made a paradigm changing discovery.

That's funny. I started out with a gadgety octo keeper. It was OK, but not great. It broke somewhere around dive 100, by which time I had switched to a BP/W. The only way I could see to "tuck it" was to kink the hose and push it through a d-ring as I see so many do. I am not so keen on regularly kinking my hoses. I was looking though my kit of spares and parts and saw a length of bungee. Presto bingo, simple loop, through a d-ring, just the right size for the reg mouthpiece. Secure and easy to remove the reg at the same time. I would use nothing else now. My son finally dumped his snorkel keeper for bungee as well.

 

[Ghetto Diver]

Primary is bungied with little slack. It's not going far if it falls out.

 

[rongoodman]

I've never had it happen, but if it did, it would be dangling a foot or so below me because the long hose(5' for rec diving) is laying across the back of my neck. The secondary, of course, is hanging under my chin.

 

[time2sail]

Just sharing a thought:

My diving partner, at 20 dives under her belt, was a bit apprehensive when I told her that I’d like to change my configuration to a backup on a necklace and plan on donating my primary. Her concern (rightfully justified) was that in an OOA situation she had been trained (as most of us have) to go for the backup, almost always found at the end of a bright yellow hose. So as an intermediate step, I bought a bright yellow 40” Miflex hose and secured it to my primary (as noted above, an angled adapter makes this pretty comfortable). After practicing OOA drills almost every time we go out, I think we’re almost ready to use a long hose….note, if only they came in yellow I would have started with that route!

 

[Colliam7]

My diving partner, at 20 dives under her belt, was a bit apprehensive when I told her that I’d like to change my configuration to a backup on a necklace and plan on donating my primary. Her concern (rightfully justified) was that in an OOA situation she had been trained (as most of us have) to go for the backup, almost always found at the end of a bright yellow hose. So as an intermediate step, I bought a bright yellow 40” Miflex hose and secured it to my primary (as noted above, an angled adapter makes this pretty comfortable). After practicing OOA drills almost every time we go out, I think we’re almost ready to use a long hose….note, if only they came in yellow I would have started with that route!

Interesting situation. Good food for thought:

1. When I show divers how to take their 'standard', or at least already available, hoses and configure them for primary donate, very often the 40" hose that becomes the primary is a yellow hose. While that 40" works in an OOA situation, some divers want a longer primary for air-sharing - 5ft, 7ft., etc. AND, you can actually order a custom yellow hose in a variety of lengths (Low Pressure Rubber Regulator Hose - Regulator Hoses - Scuba Equipment Dive Gear Best Prices) - including 5ft and 7ft - to use as the primary, and which also serve as that yellow 'beacon' to OOA divers.

2. A number of divers (myself, included) who dive in a 'primary donate' configuration use either a yellow purge cover on their primary, or get a yellow case for it, to address the very issue that you raise - many divers are trained to look for yellow. Purge covers are easy to swap, at least on identical second stages.

3. In reality, if divers are in good horizontal trim to begin with, and an OOA / LOA diver approaches their buddy, chances are all they can really see is the second stage in their buddy's mouth - i.e. the second stage that they are going to get when air is shared. While it is great for us to tell divers to look for the buddy's alternate second stage in 'the triangle' (I sometimes tell students that it may as well be called the 'Bermuda Triangle'), in many cases that is not readily visible. What IS immediately visible is that second stage in the diver's mouth.

4. I do not know from your post if your dive buddy has experienced diving as the OOA / recipient diver, breathing from a second stage on a long hose (7ft), that you are supplying. If not, once she tries it, I suspect she will love it. It is SO-O-O easy. My wife and I both dive a long primary hose. And, her SAC is lower than mine. So, when we dive on Bonaire, we usually spend time a) practicing air share drills, and b) using an air share - from her to me - to balance the gas supply in our AL80s. With a long hose we can swim comfortably, near each other but still with a bit of separation, along the reef and see the cool stuff, and end up surfacing with the same amount of residual gas.

 

[АлександрД]

Over shoulder, visual, and following the hose. and others methods

When I used backmount - I was teached by padi to lean and make arm swing. But never used this method.
Best way was to touch regulator behind you, catch main hose and just follow it to the 2nd stage.

Now I use sidemount and in most cases hose going around my neck, and 2nd stage in my mouth or in front of my shoulder
In the storing position it is on the tank side, attached by rubber loops. I need just to put my hand on the tank.

Very seldom my 2nd stage can fly off my shoulder and hose normally going strait down, and I can see it.
If not - just touch regulator, take a hose, and just follow it to the 2nd stage

 

[Colliam7]

Over shoulder, visual, and following the hose. and others methods. . . . Now I use sidemount and in most cases hose going around my neck, and 2nd stage in my mouth or in front of my shoulder. In the storing position it is on the tank side, attached by rubber loops. I need just to put my hand on the tank.

Interesting post. Thank you for sharing your approach.

Most of us think of the reg recovery in the context of a single cylinder backmount configuration, and you have now opened up the discussion to include something that is becoming more common.