Should I wear a snorkel or not

[Pressurehead]

Stick with what you know and trained to do, discuss and agree with your buddy any out of air, low on air scenarios before you hit the water, even with people you have dived with before, their set up or yours may have changed since the last dive, happens often, long hose, bungy 2nd around neck, air 2, octo not where it was before, pony bottle [you will see that I hope] etc.
simple, but not done enough if at all.
That includes a snorkel as a new diver [if you are trained with one] , after diving for awhile you will work out what is or not required, dive what you know , learn as you go along, don't change too much too soon.

 

[David Novo]

Well, we were actually taught to simply turn our hips in their direction and offer the octo for them to grab. Reason being if someone comes up to you OOA typically they won’t be very patient as you described. Best to let them simply take it rather than being forced to wait for you to offer it.

I’m going to be honest and say that if I’m OOA I’m grabbing that octo per training and not waiting for you to figure it out. I might be that crazed diver but I’ll be that alive diver too. Cheers

This is an argument in favour of primary donate. If the "crazed" OOG diver is going to grab a second stage, odds are it will be the one in your mouth.

 

[Julius SCHMIDT]

Have you not noticed many times in many places even on Scubaboard, this mouth snatching has been refuted

 

[Edward3c]

Just for the fun. Without a snorkel, how can you monitor the bullshark lurking underseas when you are alone at sea with no more gas ? Ok. I go.

Just watch the film 'Open Water'. that will kill you much quicker than a shark.

 

[David Novo]

Have you not noticed many times in many places even on Scubaboard, this mouth snatching has been refuted

I have to admit I did not. Could you please share a link?

 

[Happyladydiver]

This is an argument in favour of primary donate. If the "crazed" OOG diver is going to grab a second stage, odds are it will be the one in your mouth.

Then hopefully we can avoid that by having a conversation ahead of time as suggested above. Luckily, I’m quite new and it’s been programmed in my head to go for the octo so God willing I won’t be “crazed” and after their reg. Good to know though and I’ll be ready in case I’m on the receiving end of a diver desperate for air.

That brings me to another point touched on in another thread I also started. Prior to my first certified dive, I was dealing with the instructor who pushed in and set up my gear much to my chagrin. As I tested the octo, he commented, “Well that’s for your buddy. That’s your buddy’s problem” to imply it wasn’t necessary to test it. I disagreed then and I disagree now even more so. We have just covered another reason why it may be needed for ourselves.

 

[ginti]

Then hopefully we can avoid that by having a conversation ahead of time as suggested above. Luckily, I’m quite new and it’s been programmed in my head to go for the octo so God willing I won’t be “crazed” and after their reg. Good to know though and I’ll be ready in case I’m on the receiving end of a diver desperate for air.

Here's the thing: you can discuss whatever you want before the dive, but if your buddy is out of gas - there are some chances that she is close to panic, or already panicked. When in this condition, she is not going to follow any discussion that you previously did, and she is going to grab the first regulator she will see - in her mind, it's a matter of survival. If she sees your secondary octopus, she will take it, otherwise she will take the regulator you are breathing. With a long hose, this problem does not exist; long hose donation has also other advantages (which I consider to be more important), but we would go OT.

Now, how many chances are there that an out of air panicked diver will take your regulator from your mouth? I have no clue.

That brings me to another point touched on in another thread I also started. Prior to my first certified dive, I was dealing with the instructor who pushed in and set up my gear much to my chagrin. As I tested the octo, he commented, “Well that’s for your buddy. That’s your buddy’s problem” to imply it wasn’t necessary to test it. I disagreed then and I disagree now even more so. We have just covered another reason why it may be needed for ourselves.

I agree with you; always test the equipment before entering the water, it doesn't take much time, it can potentially save a life.

 

[jonhall]

Here's the thing: you can discuss whatever you want before the dive, but if your buddy is out of gas - there are some chances that she is close to panic, or already panicked. When in this condition, she is not going to follow any discussion that you previously did, and she is going to grab the first regulator she will see - in her mind, it's a matter of survival.

Agree with that. Despite the "correct" procedure, if I'm OOA - tried taking a breath and nothing happened - there are two different responses I've thought about for myself: 1) If I have enough air in my lungs to get to my buddy or another diver nearby, and I'm calm, I'll give a signal and wait to receive whatever is offered. 2) If I don't have air in my lungs, I believe I would go into some type of survival mode - right after the immediate panic attack - and go for whatever I could grab. It it winds up being someones octo, great - if it winds up being their primary, I hope they remember buddy breathing, if that is still a thing. What I actually do is going to be dependent on how much air I have from that last breath and if I can keep my wits about me. One can say what they think they will do, but when reality sets in, it's a different story.

The only thing I really ever tell an insta-buddy before we go down is that if they are OOA, I will give them my primary, as my setup (travel BC) doesn't use a traditional octo, but rather a very short hose, opposite side of primary, that puts the alternate secondary where no one would notice it. My regular dive buddy has the same type of set up although his is not a travel BC, so we know that about each other. Although, they do happen, and there is a lot to be said about it, OOA is not a common occurrence (according to what I get from DAN reports) that causes death in scuba - maybe just fear thinking about it. That doesn't mean one shouldn't expect the unexpected and prepare as best as possible, such as checking gear and thinking about the what if situations, for a safe dive experience.

Realistically, for my type of diving (boat with DM leading dive), although I have a buddy, we don't generally go down together, stay together, and more times than not (lately), come up together - the opposite of the ideal buddy system. We generally stay within sight of and check on each other. My observation is this is true for many divers. With 5 of the last 7 ops we dove with, we ended up under the boat at the end of dives and could stay down as long as we had air. One of us will generally come up before the other in those cases (tired, cold, bored, low on air, hungry and snacks are onboard.) I'm more concerned about my computer beeping than I am of being OOA.

 

[Edward3c]

This is an argument in favour of primary donate. If the "crazed" OOG diver is going to grab a second stage, odds are it will be the one in your mouth.

I've been through the 2018 and 2019 BSAC Incident Reports. Out of the 596 reported incidents 11 reported an out-of-gas/air situation; none reported a primary take.

 

[ginti]

I've been through the 2018 and 2019 BSAC Incident Reports. Out of the 596 reported incidents 11 reported an out-of-gas/air situation; none reported a primary take.

11 is too low to make sense from a statistical perspective. But I agree in part with you, I am not sure of how likely is that an out of air buddy will grab the regulator I am breathing from... I dive the long hose for several other reasons (and just to avoid other flames, it's my choice, I do not judge people who dive standard octo, which is a fine choice as well).