Solo Kit setup: the required, redundant, optional, and hell-no items

[Wallowa]

The first move should be to hand the victim a back up second stage (if possible) not grab and try to control the victim. The victim needs air ASAP, anything that delays that process should not be a priority.

Once the diver has taken the regulator, then it makes sense to grab them and take control physically. Man-handling an out of air diver, without first giving them air seems like a non-optimal protocol, since it could easily further their (impending) panic.

I am not sure I understand what the importance of positioning the victim to one side or the other, and I definitely fail to see how this could be predicted or controlled in an emergency.

I've been presented with an emergency air sharing situation (at considerable depth) at least four different times and it can be somewhat chaotic and scary because you don't know how the victim will react.

Good questions...the transfer of air and grasping the out of air diver occurs simultaneously...you grab their BCD/strap with left hand and present air source with right [or vise versa] all in one movement...why not have the out of air diver on the same side as the rescuer's reg hose? Because that is your air and if they panic and rip it out of your mouth the 'fat is in the fire' ...how you control which side the out of air diver is on depends on the rescuer as they grasp them and present air.. you don't predict it you control it after the fact as presented. Could you give up your air and then go to the alternate air supply for yourself? Sure but you still need to control the out of air diver and still stay fully functional yourself.

Tough to consider but the rescuer must control rescue and in my book the rescuer must survive as well as stay operational..

Did not mention another protocol in out of air training...anytime reg comes out of your mouth, you need to blow bubbles, small if needed but exhaling in case of unexpected ascents...whether buoyant or clawing to the surface exhaling, bubbles, must occur. No good to survive out of air only to embolize.

You have encountered 4 emergency out of air divers? Training divers? Wow....great reason to dive solo or only dive with competent divers. My old mantra was: "The ocean only respects competent divers".

 

[Boarderguy]

I was just about to post a question, then saw this post.
My question was how many folks carrying a redundant tank still bring an "octo" when solo diving?
or
Maybe a better question. Have any of you ever experienced or personally witnessed 1st hand a case where a second stage failed in some way so that the diver switched to their own "octo" as a back-up?

The only regulator problems I can remember were more to do with free-flowing 2nds.... and in those cases, switching to another wouldn't have helped.

So i agree with Nemrod. When I was recreational diving long before I got into tech, I used to treat every dive as a solo dive. This was in a time before solo certification was a thing. I started diving with a pony then. Later, when I started tech diving, it was various forms of redundant complete regulators....and no "safe-second" attached to any one of the first stages. With any of those, there was always the potential for sharing with another diver
and that always seemed like a better strategy for a "solo" mentality. Better redundancy for me while always maintaining one or more options for rescuing someone else.

The "octo" makes sense as a compromise solution for a basic OW set-up sure.... but it just seems like an unnecessary failure point in a solo or tech set-up.

Single tank with pony = no octo, air 2 on a longer (24"?) corrugated so I can actually use it comfortably. I use this setup solo and with buddies. No change means my drills are the same.

BM doubles i have a necklaced 2nd and regular inflator with slung 40 most dives.

 

[Wibble]

Interesting; to have or to not have an "octopus" when solo...

When diving sidemount, you don't have an octopus (a second reg off of one first stage). The reason being that you've got a backup should something happen (a freeflow?) and you simply shut down the offending side and switch to the other independent source.

You don't really have an octopus on a twinset/doubles as the secondary regulator's bungeed to your neck on a short hose and it comes off of a second regulator with an isolating valve to shutdown the gas flow between the cylinders.

However, if diving a single backmount cylinder solo then the rig would be the standard single rig with longhose and a short bungeed hose for the backup PLUS a stage/pony/bailout cylinder as a fully independent redundant breathing gas source.

When diving solo with the rebreather (that's virtually all dives), then there's a necklaced longhose reg around my neck from the deep bailout which is for me and is tested before the dive and monitored during the dive. There's always sufficient bailout and bailout deco gas for the dive. That necklaced longhose can be donated, highly unlikely on a solo dive though.

Solo == self reliance.

 

[MB NZ]

Post in thread 'Solo Kit setup: the required, redundant, optional, and hell-no items'

Mar 10, 2025

i use not carry an extra one but did change my mind lately.

The question that i am still asking is if i should remove that octo from my primary...yes i do carry a pony bottle (not to call a stoney bottle from another tread...)

Per the SDI manual, The Solo Diver, used for the Solo Diver course, see paragraph 3 below:



I am not going to carry a spare mask and a spare kitchen sink for a simple solo dive. If I have a mask...

• Nemrod

• 

 

[Wallowa]

While diving with a loose buddy group in Jupiter, Fl my DH regulator flooded out and the powerful Venturi forced more than enough water into my lungs to cause laryngeal spasm and resulting double pneumonia.

Yikes....first time I have heard of such an event [flooded DH reg]....have been diving DH for many decades...what caused the flooding? I am guessing the diaphragm collapsed; but what cause that failure? Thanks...

 

[johndiver999]

However, if diving a single backmount cylinder solo then the rig would be the standard single rig with longhose and a short bungeed hose for the backup PLUS a stage/pony/bailout cylinder as a fully independent redundant breathing gas source.



Solo == self reliance.

Why, can you explain the reason why you need three second stages? What situation would require that?

If you have a catastrophic failure of the primary tank, the bail out has more than enough to safely get you to the surface, so what benefit does the alternate second stage on the neck provide? Certainly you recognize that it represents a significant potential source of failure (hose, oring, free flow)?

 

[johndiver999]

Good questions...the transfer of air and grasping the out of air diver occurs simultaneously...you grab their BCD/strap with left hand and present air source with right [or vise versa] all in one movement...why not have the out of air diver on the same side as the rescuer's reg hose? Because that is your air and if they panic and rip it out of your mouth the 'fat is in the fire' ...how you control which side the out of air diver is on depends on the rescuer as they grasp them and present air.. you don't predict it you control it after the fact as presented. Could you give up your air and then go to the alternate air supply for yourself? Sure but you still need to control the out of air diver and still stay fully functional yourself.

Tough to consider but the rescuer must control rescue and in my book the rescuer must survive as well as stay operational..

Did not mention another protocol in out of air training...anytime reg comes out of your mouth, you need to blow bubbles, small if needed but exhaling in case of unexpected ascents...whether buoyant or clawing to the surface exhaling, bubbles, must occur. No good to survive out of air only to embolize.

You have encountered 4 emergency out of air divers? Training divers? Wow....great reason to dive solo or only dive with competent divers. My old mantra was: "The ocean only respects competent divers".

So you just immediately drop everything you have in your hands in order to assist the diver? Your (revised) description requires the simultaneous use of both hands.

3 of the 4 emergencies I was involved in, occurred when my hand(s) were full and I was damn sure I did not want to lose/ditch expensive stuff just because somebody screwed up. I never had to ditch gear, but I admit that some of those ascents were far, far from textbook. None of the incidents happened during training dives BTW.

I appreciate your attempt to explain your plan to drop everything and carefully position the panicked diver, but it just doesn't make sense to me, nor seem practical in an emergency.

For me, I have an air 2, so my "plan" is to immediately stick my primary second stage in their face, attempt to establish some kind of control and then secure a second stage for myself - which would most likely be the Air 2.

If a victim rips the second stage from my mouth, I don't expect that to be a problem, in fact in a pre-dive briefing I tell them to take the regulator from my mouth if they need it, and I promise I will notice their action right away. I also tell them that, "I have no octopus for you". It is what I have mentally prepared for, however it has never actually happened so far.

I always remind people who are diving with an air 2, that I too will rip the regulator from their mouth if I need air, "so be ready for that". More often than not, they laugh nervously; I really doubt many of them understand I am dead serious and that using an air2 (without a pony bottle) necessitates that kind of air sharing.

 

[Wallowa]

So you just immediately drop everything you have in your hands in order to assist the diver? Your (revised) description requires the simultaneous use of both hands.

3 of the 4 emergencies I was involved in, occurred when my hand(s) were full and I was damn sure I did not want to lose/ditch expensive stuff just because somebody screwed up. I never had to ditch gear, but I admit that some of those ascents were far, far from textbook. None of the incidents happened during training dives BTW.

I appreciate your attempt to explain your plan to drop everything and carefully position the panicked diver, but it just doesn't make sense to me, nor seem practical in an emergency.

For me, I have an air 2, so my "plan" is to immediately stick my primary second stage in their face, attempt to establish some kind of control and then secure a second stage for myself - which would most likely be the Air 2.

If a victim rips the second stage from my mouth, I don't expect that to be a problem, in fact in a pre-dive briefing I tell them to take the regulator from my mouth if they need it, and I promise I will notice their action right away. I also tell them that, "I have no octopus for you". It is what I have mentally prepared for, however it has never actually happened so far.

I always remind people who are diving with an air 2, that I too will rip the regulator from their mouth if I need air, "so be ready for that". More often than not, they laugh nervously; I really doubt many of them understand I am dead serious and that using an air2 (without a pony bottle) necessitates that kind of air sharing.

Interesting perspective for sure...whatever works for you...just for me, if there is an out of air emergency I would indeed drop my camera, strobe, whatever, and address the emergency...yes, for a person not to manage their gas supple is incompetence but if I assume the role of rescuer then is will always be for me 'diver over gear lost'...did not 'revise' my method, I simple said that in differing circumstances you would lock onto the out of air diver with either right or left hand and provide air to that diver with the other hand...for me when I used an octo and it was on left, I would prefer to grasp their harness/BCD with my right hand and present octo with left; keeping them on my left side...this is not difficult and if trained becomes second nature....if situation dictates that I initially must control the out of air diver with my left hand it is very easy to switch to a right hand control.. very practical and in my world very essential skill set...pulling a reg out of another divers mouth in my world is a signal of panic and would indicate a loss of control on the part of both divers...

Like I keep saying, each diver needs to decide their own actions and gear....in the end they are solely responsible for the outcome...

 

[grantmac]

If you ever provide gas in a situation where you must travel any distance underwater you will understand the 7' hose.

 

[Nemrod]

If you ever provide gas in a situation where you must travel any distance underwater you will understand the 7' hose.

This is the solo forum so the only person around for me to share air with would be me . For buddy diving I have other regulator sets designated for that.