It depends if you are using sidemount configuration versus sidemounting. (In sidemount configuration you are diving with tanks on your side,in sidemounting you are entering restricted, tight situations and require this advanced form of diving). If you are sidemounting, having a necklace placement of a regulator is okay,but having a regulator long hose around your neck can be problematic when entering restrictions. I like two long hoses if I am diving with a back mounter, in which case I have the two second stages attached to the corresponding chest area, which makes finding and deployment easy, and eliminates the hose around my neck.
Regulator Bungee Necklace, safe or not
- Thread starter Remy B.
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It depends if you are using sidemount configuration versus sidemounting. (In sidemount configuration you are diving with tanks on your side,in sidemounting you are entering restricted, tight situations and require this advanced form of diving). If you are sidemounting, having a necklace placement of a regulator is okay,but having a regulator long hose around your neck can be problematic when entering restrictions. I like two long hoses if I am diving with a back mounter, in which case I have the two second stages attached to the corresponding chest area, which makes finding and deployment easy, and eliminates the hose around my neck.
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and I'm the opposite of Kelly and I prefer the hoses around my neck even in restrictions because it means they aren't going to get pulled out of my mouth. I don't "hog loop" because I use Poseidon's so the right side comes and crosses over to the left.
Interesting, I have seen the opposite. I was diving with a guy at a cave with bedding plane and used the Hogarthian sidemount set up ( long hose around neck and short hose on a necklace) and he ducked his head to go under a rock projection from the ceiling, and that hose got wedge and yanked out of his mouth. Because the hose got hung on the projection and trapped toward his upper back, there was no easy resolution. I was trained before the era of commercial sidemount rigs, and in sidemount caves we use two short hoses, and the tendency to keep things off your back that you can't readily fix. On a side note I always found it interesting that the Hogarthian concept (used in backmount) followed sidemount configuration and what has been some traditional sidemount hose routings didn't follow.
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I think the hogarthian setup is actually the most logical way to dive sidemount with normal regulators. If you put the long hose on the left like Lamar started doing and have to share air you have to have the hose cross under the diver which is really bad, and if you come straight up from the bottle with a left handed reg that works fine, but has some other issues. To use "normal" regs the hogarthian style setup used now works best imho, but I prefer my poseidons where both regs can cross behind my head and go to the other side. Both regs can get removed without having to clip them off since they can hang from your neck. It also removes a lot of stress on my jaw by not having to support the weight of the hose plus the regulator.
If you have a normal reg on the left side bottle and it doesn't cross behind your neck, you have an open loop on your chest which can grab on a rock while you're squeezing through and I know some people who have had the left side reg pulled out of their mouth in restrictions. Because of that and the weight of the regs, I'm inclined to double cross behind my head so no loop is on my chest and I'll deal with the risk of them grabbing on the ceiling. Compromises everywhere....
If you have a normal reg on the left side bottle and it doesn't cross behind your neck, you have an open loop on your chest which can grab on a rock while you're squeezing through and I know some people who have had the left side reg pulled out of their mouth in restrictions. Because of that and the weight of the regs, I'm inclined to double cross behind my head so no loop is on my chest and I'll deal with the risk of them grabbing on the ceiling. Compromises everywhere....
DevonDiver
N/A
Is that really an equipment problem? Sounds like a bull in a china shop, from your description.
Stuff gets caught up all the time going through tight areas in wrecks... you learn to be sensitive. If a reg got 'ripped out of the mouth' because of a caught hose... heck... that's way too hard going. Go softly... Was there some major flow???
If it works for you, that is great. In reality if diving sidemount situations, then you plan your gas correctly and sharing air is not part of the plan,so short hoses for everyone is the best choice. Sharing air through zero viz, major restrictions makes a Rubic's cube look easy. That is why I say that the backmount Hogarthian style has followed sidemount,but may not be the optimal choice.
DevonDiver
N/A
An odd 'reality'.
Is there an agency, which you can quote, that now advocates not having a gas sharing plan, or capability?
Restrictions existed before sidemount went mainstream. The concept of air sharing wasn't mothballed then... so why now?
It's all relative. Skill should match dive.
On my Advanced (Overhead) Sidemount course, we practiced long-hose air-sharing through an 10" high, 3m long restriction, inverted, mask-off, pushing/pulling cylinders, forwards and reverse. That wasn't "easy"....but its workable...if you're at the level to accomplish it. I see no justification to surrender the long hose...
Actually... long hose offers some interesting possibilities, even for solo extreme restriction passage.
Ozwald
Contributor
The way i see it is that there are all kinds of hypothetical situations and reasons to "not do" or "to do" are plentifull no matter what the technique or dive scenario. While there are a lot more experienced divers on here than I one would think that if someone were able to "sneak attack" you for your reg then there were other problems not dealt with first that allowed that to happen. Personally I treat every single dive I do as the most dangerous dive there is maintaining my situational awareness at all times, monitoring my gas, communicating with my dive buddy and vice versa. It is a rare occasion that I want anyone closer to me than 6 feet.
Solo diving? (LOL)
As the saying goes, the hammer only sees nails. As an instructor you are seeing training standards,but lets look beyond training standards, and see what is appropriate for a particular dive, which may have the training agency police driving up in their unmarked car to arrest me.
There are sidemount dives that border into the no mount territory where conventional air sharing possibilities don't exist, and I say that trying to bring in a conventional 7 ft hose scenario will actually endanger the team. Yes, being gas independent, or the equivalent of two solo divers is what is occurring, and then the use of short hoses is appropriate. This is not mainstream, and really requires specific techniques that you won't find in training standards,but it has been done for many years in quite a few places, with tremendous success (read no accidents).
I think to some degree you and I are talking apples and oranges because we are unable to share the environments we are diving in. At the end of the day I respect what you are teaching your students.
bax737
Registered
Just on a side note - with 2x long hoses - how are you guys tucking them in to be streamlined ? An honest question as it was a PITA for me - photos would be great -
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