Regulator Colors

[RobbieTheHun]

Reading "Dress for success", (page 39) I noticed that the regulator colors are almost identical. In an emergency situation a diver is going to grab at the first thing he or she can identify or perceive as a regulator and in low viz, because of the close proximity of the two reg's this could perhaps cause confusion and even more panic (your skills as a diver notwithstanding). My question is this; does it not make sense to make identification of the primary reg more visible and therefore give a panicked diver who is grabbing for an air source a better chance of grabbing the right one ?

Robbie

 

[MXGratefulDiver]

Reading "Dress for success", (page 39) I noticed that the regulator colors are almost identical. In an emergency situation a diver is going to grab at the first thing he or she can identify or perceive as a regulator and in low viz, because of the close proximity of the two reg's this could perhaps cause confusion and even more panic (your skills as a diver notwithstanding). My question is this; does it not make sense to make identification of the primary reg more visible and therefore give a panicked diver who is grabbing for an air source a better chance of grabbing the right one ?

Robbie

Not really ... since you're asking in the DIR forum, I'll explain the DIR logic ...

First off, why is this diver panicked? If they have taken even just the Fundamentals class, they have been trained in basic gas management ... reducing the risk of an OOA in the first place. Given that sometimes stuff happens despite our best intentions, they have also been given the tools to go out and practice OOA exchanges to the point where it's second nature ... further reducing the potential for panic (because they've trained to handle this emergency without panicking).

Second off, the donating dive buddy has also been trained to be paying attention to his dive buddy ... so rather than getting "surprised" by someone ripping a regulator out of his mouth, he's swimming toward that OOA diver, donating reg in hand and extended so that the OOA diver only has to receive it.

To that end, even a non-DIR diver on a traditional regulator should not be waiting for a panicked diver to rip a regulator out of his or her mouth ... it should be extended toward the OOA diver such that it's the first reg that diver can get to. In that manner, you are taking control of the situation, rather than allowing the panicked diver to determine the course of events (something you REALLY don't want to do).

The "visibility" issue is really a red herring, to my concern ... and more than compensated for with proper technique and a bit of practice ...

... Bob (Grateful Diver)

 

[amascuba]

Are you referring to the regulators on your docompression stages? If so then, no. The DIR logic in that instance is that your bottle should properly be labeled on the side with the MOD. If you notice or your buddy notices you breathing off a bottle and you are past the MOD label then you or your buddy would take the steps needed to get you onto a proper mix for the depth.

Also colors are to distracting when your needed to focus on something else.

I need to get the Dress for Success book though, I finished reading "DIR: The Fundamentals of Better Diving" a couple weeks ago and loved it.

 

[PerroneFord]

And to be pragmatic, it really doesn't matter which one they grab. If the were to grab the one in my mouth, that's the one I would have handed off anyway. If they go for the backup, it will break free and I don't have to remove a reg from my mouth.

 

[MXGratefulDiver]

And to be pragmatic, it really doesn't matter which one they grab. If the were to grab the one in my mouth, that's the one I would have handed off anyway. If they go for the backup, it will break free and I don't have to remove a reg from my mouth.

Pragmatic? I don't think so.

Personally, I wouldn't want to be making a free ascent with an OOA diver breathing off of my 24" hose ... you'd be practically kissing them.

... Bob (Grateful Diver)

 

[lamont]

Reading "Dress for success", (page 39) I noticed that the regulator colors are almost identical. In an emergency situation a diver is going to grab at the first thing he or she can identify or perceive as a regulator and in low viz, because of the close proximity of the two reg's this could perhaps cause confusion and even more panic (your skills as a diver notwithstanding). My question is this; does it not make sense to make identification of the primary reg more visible and therefore give a panicked diver who is grabbing for an air source a better chance of grabbing the right one ?

Robbie

Someone trained on a long hose config is going to go for the one in the mouth (assuming singalling has broken down -- low viz or whatever). Someone not trained on a long hose will be confused for a microsecond and then go for the one in the mouth. Either way they're going to come up with the right answer either by accident or design. Its very unlikely that a distressed OOA diver who has no idea about your hose config would actually notice and try to go after the backup on the necklace...

 

[PerroneFord]

Pragmatic? I don't think so.

Personally, I wouldn't want to be making a free ascent with an OOA diver breathing off of my 24" hose ... you'd be practically kissing them.

... Bob (Grateful Diver)

Who said anything about ascendnig that way?

 

[MXGratefulDiver]

Who said anything about ascendnig that way?

Ah ... well, in that case you would have to remove a reg from your mouth ... only later instead of sooner. You've also increased the complexity of the situation now ... because unless you want to ascend that way, you now have to coax that regulator away from the OOA diver and make a second exchange. You have also increased the possibility that in the process of breaking away the necklace, that panicked diver has compromised the mouthpiece of the backup reg ... which, upon ascent, will be the one you have to breathe from.

So although stuff happens, and we don't live in an ideal world, and all that rot ... the pragmatist in me says that it really does matter which reg the OOA diver initially receives ... in the DIR world, the solution that produces the lowest possibility for additional failures is usually (always?) the best solution.

... Bob (Grateful Diver)

 

[PerroneFord]

All true Bob.. all true.

 

[Reinoud]

Reading "Dress for success", (page 39) I noticed that the regulator colors are almost identical. In an emergency situation a diver is going to grab at the first thing he or she can identify or perceive as a regulator and in low viz, because of the close proximity of the two reg's this could perhaps cause confusion and even more panic (your skills as a diver notwithstanding). My question is this; does it not make sense to make identification of the primary reg more visible and therefore give a panicked diver who is grabbing for an air source a better chance of grabbing the right one ?

In the DIR system you always donate the regulator that is in your mouth at the time. This does not neccessarily have to be "the" primary regulator. During decompression it is a stage regulator.
If you would color-code the primary regulator on your back gas, this would confuse an OOA diver even more.

So the conclusion is: color coding does not work because the function of the regulator might change during the dive.

And since you are in a horizontal position on the same height as your team members, the regulator in your mouth is always the closest (and most visible) to your buddy.