Regulator recovery

[Zef]

While browsing the following thread: regulator with a necklace, I started thinking about how PADI and NAUI train regulator recovery and basically what is taught is to blow bubbles while you lean to the side or turn so your side is down to let the 2nd stage pendulum, then swipe the side of the leg with the right hand and sweep in an arc to catch the regulator hose in the crook of the arm, then place the 2nd stage in the mouth breath out forcefully or hit the purge button and start breathing off the reg again.

That's all good...but why is it not taught to grab the octo that is hanging off the BCD/harness and stick that in the mouth before recovering the primary 2nd stage?

If one has difficulty recovering the 2nd stage one always has the octo as an option, but why is this more of an after-thought than the primary means to begin recovering a displaced 2nd stage?

-Z

 

[The Chairman]

I teach that they get one try, and then they must go to their second. BTW, with a long hose the sweep is stupid. Horizontal, the sweep is also stupid.

 

[rhwestfall]

doesn't work with a double hose either....

 

[JackD342]

While browsing the following thread: regulator with a necklace, I started thinking about how PADI and NAUI train regulator recovery and basically what is taught is to blow bubbles while you lean to the side or turn so your side is down to let the 2nd stage pendulum, then swipe the side of the leg with the right hand and sweep in an arc to catch the regulator hose in the crook of the arm, then place the 2nd stage in the mouth breath out forcefully or hit the purge button and start breathing off the reg again.

That's all good...but why is it not taught to grab the octo that is hanging off the BCD/harness and stick that in the mouth before recovering the primary 2nd stage?

If one has difficulty recovering the 2nd stage one always has the octo as an option, but why is this more of an after-thought than the primary means to begin recovering a displaced 2nd stage?

-Z

I preface that skill with an explanation that in a real emergency you should take the easiest available source of air and stick it in your mouth ASAP. But if for some reason your octo isn’t there, and you don’t/can’t see your primary floating around, we are going to learn how to find it anyway. I also have them keep their eyes straight ahead on me so they are learning it by touch preparing for a time when they can’t see. And of course, they also practice reaching straight back over their shoulder to find the hose at the 1st stage.

 

[Zef]

I teach that they get one try, and then they must go to their second. BTW, with a long hose the sweep is stupid. Horizontal, the sweep is also stupid.

Why not begin the recovery by securing an available air source vis-a-vis the octo. Then there is no issue, and there is no need to for continuous bubble blowing either...just pull the octo from its stored position and pop it in the mouth, and then breath as normal as the rest of the situation is tended to/mitigated.

Why switch after any number of tries?

-Z

 

[Zef]

I preface that skill with an explanation that in a real emergency you should take the easiest available source of air and stick it in your mouth ASAP. But if for some reason your octo isn’t there, and you don’t/can’t see your primary floating around, we are going to learn how to find it anyway. I also have them keep their eyes straight ahead on me so they are learning it by touch preparing for a time when they can’t see. And of course, they also practice reaching straight back over their shoulder to find the hose at the 1st stage.

Yes, I know about reaching back to find the hose at the 1st stage as well and see that taught too....but I have never seen either method taught beginning with pulling out the octo to provide oneself with an air source.

What I do so often is instructors not ingraining better equipment etiquette/management into their students and letting them have their octo swinging freely...the idea that an octo is not where the diver has stored when they need it is kind of a problem that should not exist.

Using the octo seems like something that some instructors make a statement about because it is reasonable, but why isn't using the octo as the very first step not part of agency standards (PADI, NAUI, SSI, etc) in the first place?

It makes no sense to me to teach a pertinent skill that one caveats with a statement of "in a real emergency..." or "in the real world...". I get why you do this, I am just wondering why agency standards are not modified to teach a student to pull and breath off the octo directly.

-Z

 

[The Chairman]

Why not begin the recovery by securing an available air source vis-a-vis the octo.

Always an option, but finding the reg on the end of a long hose is just as easy. Reach to the back of your neck and there she is. With a short hose and horizontal, the reg is usually hanging to your right and you can easily see it. There's no need to freak out. If you don't feel or see it, just pop your octo in.

 

[decompression]

This “skill” is both about comfort without a reg and the ability to locate a reg. It doesn’t really translate well to real world experience. There is no harm and actually benefit to teaching go for the octo first (especially if its necklaced, +1 for DIR). Get a reg in the mouth and then you’ve got all the time in the world. The leg sweep with the arm doesn’t make a lot of sense when neutrally buoyant as the reg is usually directly below the diver. But it works very well when firmly planted on the bottom........

 

[Reelman1]

Reg recovery is a skill that goes back to the days before octopus (octopi?). While they're considered standard equipment now, I learned to dive without one, as I'm sure others here did as well...the only folks I see without one these days are the "vintage" divers... (how did we survive without octopus, computer, BCD or SPG?) In any case, it's a handy skill to know...

 

[AJ]

I feel one of the reasons is to make the student comfortable with not having a reg in their mouth. Even experienced divers I know hate being without under water. An easy solution is a necklaced backup, but you still have to manage being air without for a litle while.