Spotting for a valve drill

[limeyx]

You can't purge it with the purge button and your thumb??

Actually an interesting thought. The drill is not really taught that way, but maybe it could be (or maybe GUE just want people to get used to the feeling of breathing from a reg wit h no gas so that if it happens for real it wont be such a shock)

 

[rjack321]

Phew, thank god I mark all my second stages with different colors of masking tape -- that could never fail, right?

I have little colored nylon baggies I put over non-breathable regs. Pink is hot, blue is cold. I haven't decided what to use on the travel mix yet. Any ideas?

 

[limeyx]

I have little colored nylon baggies I put over non-breathable regs. Pink is hot, blue is cold. I haven't decided what to use on the travel mix yet. Any ideas?

My grandmother has a pretty-colored "Tea cosy" she might be willing to part with

 

[lamont]

Well, actually, what I was taught about OOA drills is to make the donating gesture and make sure the OOA diver has taken the reg and put it in his mouth before seeing to my own backup. After all, one should be able to hold one's breath for at least 45 to 60 seconds, and it doesn't take that long to ensure everything has gone smoothly. On the other hand, if you drop your eyes to see to your own reg, you may miss something not going well for your buddy.

I had one OOA that bones threw on me where I donated and then went for my backup and the sweep that I did with my hand didn't come up with a reg, bungee or hose -- it was just sitting off on the side funny. I gave him a tug on my primary reg (in his mouth) and got the pleasure of seeing him get a little bit startled that I didn't have my backup ready yet (so, i signalled and communicated first). Then I realized I didn't need to breathe right away, recalled that I had gone on my backup on the surface and I knew it was there on the necklace somewhere and did a more thorough search which turned it up -- problem solved.

Not sure how it managed to get in a weird position like that and I haven't been able to replicate it.

 

[do it easy]

Actually an interesting thought. The drill is not really taught that way, but maybe it could be (or maybe GUE just want people to get used to the feeling of breathing from a reg wit h no gas so that if it happens for real it wont be such a shock)

An instructor asked me to do a valve drill while on a deco stop. I was breathing the deco gas, so I just went through the valve drill and used the purge to drain the line.

I think in an actual failure, the reg would drain itself, so breathing it down or purging it would just be to confirm that it the pressure was released. I had a second stage failure on a gas switch and I did not have to breathe the reg down. It stopped bubbling as soon as I shut down the valve.

 

[limeyx]

An instructor asked me to do a valve drill while on a deco stop. I was breathing the deco gas, so I just went through the valve drill and used the purge to drain the line.

I think in an actual failure, the reg would drain itself, so breathing it down or purging it would just be to confirm that it the pressure was released. I had a second stage failure on a gas switch and I did not have to breathe the reg down. It stopped bubbling as soon as I shut down the valve.

Good point -- except in the case of a pinhole leak (which you probably wouldn't hear anyway), there probably isn't much gas in the hose for it to stay pressurized for long.

 

[Soggy]

Absolutely. From the sounds of this situation, there was absolutely nothing that happened that required buddy intervention here. She messed up a valve drill, but still had gas. If she didn't, she would've signaled and gotten gas from their buddy.

 

[Soggy]

I had one OOA that bones threw on me where I donated and then went for my backup and the sweep that I did with my hand didn't come up with a reg, bungee or hose -- it was just sitting off on the side funny. I gave him a tug on my primary reg (in his mouth) and got the pleasure of seeing him get a little bit startled that I didn't have my backup ready yet (so, i signalled and communicated first). Then I realized I didn't need to breathe right away, recalled that I had gone on my backup on the surface and I knew it was there on the necklace somewhere and did a more thorough search which turned it up -- problem solved.

I have had a similar experience where I donated, made sure the OOG diver was all situated, then realized that I didn't have a reg in my own mouth. It was a really funny thought process and totally devoid of panic. Very reassuring, actually. It was more like, "hmm...something doesn't seem quite right. *little breath* That's water...I guess I didn't put my reg in. Ho hum, *finds reg* there it is."

Being comfortable without a reg in your mouth is a pretty important skill, IMO. On a recent dive I messed up my hose routing a bit when doing a gas switch to a deco bottle. I knew I had made it so that my deco hose was trapped by the long hose and wouldn't be deployable. So I had both regs out of my mouth with the hoses out in front of me, sorting the whole thing out. Yes, I screwed up, but it also was not a big deal that I didn't have my reg in my mouth for a few seconds. I knew I had one around my neck, two in my hand, and my buddy was right in front of me.

 

[Meng_Tze]

Absolutely. From the sounds of this situation, there was absolutely nothing that happened that required buddy intervention here. She messed up a valve drill, but still had gas. If she didn't, she would've signaled and gotten gas from their buddy.

My thoughts exactly.

 

[grazie42]

A slight hi-jack...do you ever practice buddy-breathing? Was it a required skill in your "technical" training?

I´m just asking as I got the impression in another thread that GUE, at least, doesen´t teach it(?)
I had to do it in my wreck-class and during cave (different agencies and instructors) we were expected to "look pretty" and move fairly quickly while doing it...also in sim siltout...did I just get lucky with my instructors or is it commonly taught in OE-courses?