Retrieving Regulator Underwater(OW skill).

[Mike_4635]

My NAUI training(my original OW). was somewhat similar. We did the exercise like you mentioned but were taught to “blow bubbles” while retrieving it. My instructors were always insistent on never holding your breath. Blowing bubbles didnt mean fully exhaling but simply tried to get into our mind to not hold your breath. We also learned what rx7diver said. Retrieve your regulator by finding where it connects to the first stage and sliding down the hose till the second stage is retrievable.

My PADI refresher just taught the arm sweep method.

 

[boulderjohn]

My PADI refresher just taught the arm sweep method.

I think I know why. The instructor had learned that students preferred the sweep method--but that doesn't have to be true.

In PADI (and all WRSTC) instruction, both the sweep and the reach methods must be done well in the pool sessions, but the student can choose one of them to use during the OW dive. For the first few years I was an instructor, all the students chose the sweep method. For the last few years, they all chose the reach method. There was a good reason for the difference.

I first taught my students as I had been taught--kneeling on the floor of the pool. In that posture, students are mostly vertical, but they are typically leaning backward a bit. Gravity pulls the tank down and away from them, and most cannot reach the regulator hoses unless they reach back with the left hand and lift the tank. Done that way, the reach method is much harder than the sweep, so given the choice, the sweep is what they used. In fact, when I was training to be an instructor, the Course Director teaching us took a lot of time teaching the reach method because it is so difficult to do easily.

For the last years of my instruction, I taught students while they were neutrally buoyant and in horizontal trim, as they would be when diving. Both skills are completely different when in that posture. Leaning to the right for the sweep method when horizontal is different from leaning to right when vertical, and the results are different. When doing the reach method this way, the skill is absurdly easy. Gravity puts the regulator hose right behind the ear. The first time students try it, they often reach back past it.

One of the most interesting things I discovered when teaching them horizontally is that it is actually hard to lose the regulator. It wants to fall right in front of you, almost no matter what you do to get rid of it.

 

[OMyMyOHellYes]

When even very experienced divers get task loaded, they can be ascending or descending rapidly and not realize it.

I found that doing solo diver and deploying DSMB which I had never done before. I usually got it inflated and released as I hit the surface from 35 ft. That cost me an extra day of training.

 

[boulderjohn]

I found that doing solo diver and deploying DSMB which I had never done before. I usually got it inflated and released as I hit the surface from 35 ft. That cost me an extra day of training.

That sort of thing is very common. I assumed something like that could happen when instructing, and I was ready to grab and hold to prevent it.

 

[Jim Lapenta]

I always taught my students that whatever worked was the right way. Miss the primary on the first go? Grab the octo.
I taught the reach and sweep. However, as John said, if you are horizontal to begin with, the sweep is to let your arm drop, swing it back maybe 15 degrees, and sweep towards the front. The reg will be right there. You can also look down and see it most of the time.
That said, in one possible scenario, it may not be. Reg gets kicked out, swimming into a current, it gets hung up behind you on maybe a piece of your own gear. Just get into the habit/mindset that your octo is always for you.
I've had students who decided to practice switching between them during a dive to build muscle memory.
Or, as I have, adopt the long hose/necklace setup. This way, you always know where a breathing gas source is.
The reach method is actually problematic for me sometimes. A right shoulder rotator cuff injury that was not treated right by the worker's comp doc left me with about 80% mobility in that shoulder for certain movements. Add a drysuit and forget it. It's another reason I usually dived sidemount, even on basic open water checkouts.

 

[halocline]

It’s been many years since I worked with OW students as a DM, and I haven’t even thought about the need to recover a regulator in this way. Why? Because I use a long hose primary, alternate on a bungee necklace. I am usually not at all in the camp of ‘gear solution to a technique problem’ but in this case, there is an obvious, simple solution that makes diving easier. When will the OW agencies figure this one out…apparently not yet.

 

[TMHeimer]

I agree with what John, Tursiops and others have said. When I was assisting on OW courses I asked an instructor or two why using one's octo (before or after trying to retrieve one's primary) is never mentioned. Basically they said they were not sure why but sounds like a good idea....