Snatching the primary... a real world poll

[Diver0001]

Preface:

Post what ever you want to say but don't answer the poll unless you have really had to share air. I would like to limit responses on this poll to actual experiences.

The question

For divers who have had real-life air sharing incidents, what did you do? I am asking the question because it has become commonplace to repeat what everyone else says and claim that an OOA diver will probably take your primary. Is that really so? Hence this poll.

I'll answer it for myself first. I have had one air sharing incident when I was the one who needed air. I took my buddy's primary.

Fire away.


EDIT/ A couple of points of clarification:

a) If someone is kitted up to donate the primary then vote as "took alternate" if you asked using proper protocol and it was donated and "took primary" if you just took it without asking.

b) "took primary" is intended to convey "took (ie. snatched) primary without asking"

R..

 

[MXGratefulDiver]

I have been involved in two real OOA situations ... both times as the donor. Both times the OOA diver swam up to me and signaled. Both times they took the secondary (octopus), because by the time they completed their signal I was literally holding it in front of their face ... they'd have had to reach around it to get to the primary.

BTW - both times were also before I adopted the long-hose configuration.

... Bob (Grateful Diver)

 

[michaelp68]

I was not involved in the OOA, but I watched it happen.
I watched the OOA diver signal that he was out and needed air. I watched the instructor donate the octo. Then they ascended.
The OOA diver definitely signalled and the instructor/donor gave the octo.

Michael

 

[WJL]

I voted "something else". In the OOG situation I witnessed, the OOG diver signalled that she was out of air, and my buddy donated his primary, on a long hose.

 

[FreeFloat]

I have had several occasions in which I shared air (as the donor) due to my buddy being low on air, as well as at least one occasion when it was necessary for my buddy to shut down his tank in order to fix a problem (thereby requiring air) - I have also had two occasions when I was severely low on air (~150 psi remaining) - as well, I myself have experienced several freeflows at depth durnig the winter.

In all but one of these cases the low on air diver went to my/his buddy and signalled the need for air, and received the donor's primary. In one case (my first freeflow) I was not able to get to my buddy to signal and chose to ascend under control breathing the freeflow. My buddy accompanied me to the surface and we discussed the possibility of me taking air from him instead of ascending, a procedure I adopted for my next freeflow. Again I as the needy diver received my buddy's donated primary.

Most of my buddise dive the long hose configuration so of course the options for donation are somewhat limited. However we practice air sharnig regularly so in a real situation it goes quite smoothly.

 

[Mako Mark]

As a long time instructor, I have witnessed many LOA and OOA situations, and never once have I witnessed the reg snatch.

 

[lamont]

I had an OOA -- actually a valve 1/4 turn on so that my reg quit breathing at 60 fsw -- before i had training in valve drills -- performed an OOA on someone that had a long hose, didn't snatch. how should i vote?

 

[Diver0001]

I've been thinking about that, Lamont. If someone is kitted up to donate the primary then it should probably be voted as took alternate if you asked and it was donated and took primary if you didn't ask and just took it.

R..

 

[Charlie99]

A problem with this poll is not differentiating between sharing air because of low-on-air vs truly totally out-of-air. So far, in 400 dives I've been involved in 2 LOA situations.

The 1st case was my 10th dive and my first night dive. A guy, not my buddy, appeared out of nowhere only 20 minutes into a 30' night dive and gave a clinched fist to chest out-of-air signal. I responded with a dumbfounded, huh? He showed me SPG with <500psi. I gave him my octo.


The 2nd case was where a buddy went right on past a turnpoint pressure until I got suspicious and asked for an SPG reading. He swam back to the upline of the 100' wreck on his own gas, then used my octo during the ascent. This left him enough air for swimming underwater from upline to ladder and for the exit in some rough seas.

I have never seen a case of really and truly unexpected OOA where the diver needs air NOW!

 

[Charlie99]

As a long time instructor, I have witnessed many LOA and OOA situations, and never once have I witnessed the reg snatch.

How many totally unexpected total OOA situations? That's a lot more likely to provoke a reg snatch than the situation where someone knows they are running low.