S Drill Etiquette

[knowone]

Dive only with your, prospective or someone else's spouse. However as with spare air, possible limited lifespan.

 

[LeadTurn_SD]

Sorry, but if you are that germaphobic maybe you shouldn't be finning around in an unnatural environment on life support. If you need air, take it. If you don't trust your buddy's hygiene, find a new buddy. Don't mean to be disrespectful, but I think it's a silly question. You practice like it's real, so when it IS real, you can stay alive. JMHO

Actually, I don't suspect that spectrum is "germaphobic", and I think it is actually a good question, and I'm a little sorry if I sounded like I was bashing him in my first post....

Some viruses are happy as clams for a period of time outside the human body; others not so much (very, very fragile).

My feeling after reflecting a bit is that for practice, maybe "honesty is the best policy": If you think you might have something infectious (oral cold sore, cold symptoms, whatever) just tell your buddy before the dive, and maybe do a modified drill (deploy the primary or secondary, whichever you use to share air, but only simulate the share).

But I still think the risk is incredibly low for two healthy divers, along the lines of a kiss ....and I suddenly had a vision of Bob and his donkey.... oh, never mind.

Best wishes.

 

[MXGratefulDiver]

FYI, it's well known that sick people are "infectious" prior to the onset of symptoms. That being said, I don't think that a scientific study has investigated how readily a viral or bacterial respiratory infection can be transmitted to a diver via saliva on a regulator mouthpiece. My thought is that the mouthpiece will get a little ocean water rinse in-between diver use. That should decrease the chances of transmission somewhat (lowers infectious dose of the bug). Assuming that the "healthy" diver is not immunocompromised, I'd think that the risk of transmission would be very low.

Considering what gets dumped in the ocean these days, I'm not gonna worry about it ... I figure my dive buddy's saliva is probably less hazardous than some of the water we're immersed in ...

... Bob (Grateful Diver)

 

[vladimir]

I also think it's a legitimate question. Having--by the grace of god only--dodged the various bullets a promiscuous youth will shoot at you, I would like to spend the balance of my life herpes-free, for example. But I suspect that the chance of transmission is remote, given the rinse in between and the brevity of the contact. Weigh that against the chance that doing only modified s-drills compromises your readiness to the point of risking your life. I'd say you're agonizing over two infinitesimal risks.

As to the etiquette question, I'm not aware of any established etiquette (and I probably wouldn't be if there were any), but I would not be insulted if somebody didn't want to mouth my primary regulator during a drill. Purge it an inch from your mouth and consider yourself drilled.

 

[Anti-Hero]

If it's that big of an issue, don't dive with people who donate the primary. Problem solved.

 

[hudson]

Purge it an inch from your mouth and consider yourself drilled.

Now that I think about it, if you simply grab the reg and fall into position and swim along, it's mission accomplished. Actually breathing from the reg adds nothing to the drill.

 

[TSandM]

I wouldn't dive with somebody if I weren't comfortable accepting a regulator from them. There are probably more pathogens in the water I'm diving in than there are in their regulator, by the time it gets in my mouth.

 

[highdesert]

So to those of you doing frequent S drills how do you handle a situation where you simply don't want the primary that just came out of someone's mouth?
1) never mind it getting rinsed between their mouth and yours
2) never mind the open water contaminants that any alternate is exposed to

We could all carry a little ziploc bag full of antiseptic wipes to sterilize the second stage between mouths ...

 

[DaleC]

I was wondering how doing a modified S drill could endanger ones life but
I dive with a mixed bag of divers so doing a full S drill doesn't happen. I do a modified S to reenforce the mechanics of donation and ensure the hose isn't trapped but how someone else breathes it is up to them.

What I really find fascinating is how many times I've posted into a new vs used gear purchasing thread only to have the stock come back be that people don't want to buy anything someone has had in their mouth or pee'd in. From now on I will just link to this thread as reference. FWIW I don't pee in my reg.

 

[highdesert]

On an off day, I have been known to spit in my wetsuit and pee in my mask ...

Man, I just crack myself up ...