Things Scuba Instructors teach that are either bad or just wrong.
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Back on subject, I took my first class in ‘79, so couldn’t tell you if I was taught anything bad or wrong. The AOW that I took 6 years ago was a bit (lot) of a cluster, but just lacking, no bad info.
I’m not sure if this qualifies, but it’s a bit of a peeve of mine. A friend took her OW last year from some folks that I know personally, and are great instructors. The only issue I had was when I took her on her first post class dive and I was explaining my primary donate setup. She was confused when I said it would be just like getting a reg from the folks who taught the class since they use AIR2s when not teaching classes. She had no idea what I was talking about. Now, I don’t expect students to be trained on every variation out there, I don’t think that’s practical, but given the number of AIR2 type BCD inflators there are, combined with long/longer hose setups, you would think primary donate would at least be mentioned is classes when discussing OOA situations.
I’m not sure if this qualifies, but it’s a bit of a peeve of mine. A friend took her OW last year from some folks that I know personally, and are great instructors. The only issue I had was when I took her on her first post class dive and I was explaining my primary donate setup. She was confused when I said it would be just like getting a reg from the folks who taught the class since they use AIR2s when not teaching classes. She had no idea what I was talking about. Now, I don’t expect students to be trained on every variation out there, I don’t think that’s practical, but given the number of AIR2 type BCD inflators there are, combined with long/longer hose setups, you would think primary donate would at least be mentioned is classes when discussing OOA situations.
That's a terrible imitation of pizza, a big no for me. I avoid going to any pizza parlor with "Pizza House" name.
Most people I have seen using an Air2 also use a separate yellow crap second stage which is what they plan to donate.
In some places you NEED to have a standard alternative second stage, the AIR2 can be used, but does not count as an alternate air source (and I agree with this concept, an Air2 is something which can help the diver if his primary fails, but is of no help for buddy breathing).
The idea is that in an air sharing situation the diver with the Air2 breathes off of that and the OOA diver takes the Air2 diver's primary. It's a bit awkward breathing off of the Air2 but it will get both divers to the surface.
I've practiced breathing off it while diving and while not ideal, it beats carrying an extra hose and regulator for the possibly once in a life time of diving experience when you actually have to share your gas with another diver.
Boarderguy
Chief Narctopus Wrangler
Get a longer corrugated and LP hose for your air2. I just put a 22 inch hose on my wing and it's very comfortable to breathe off if needed. With a jacket you can get away with a shorter hose dive the shoulder valve is closer to the front. I'm down to 2 hoses on my reg, primary and air2 + Shearwater transmitter.
I prefer to keep things as short and streamlined as possible. I should add that most of my dives are solo (unless diving with my new girlfriend or a sibling), and I usually carry a 30 cf pony bottle with regulator on a necklace. So the Air2 is redundant for all practical purposes.
Boarderguy
Chief Narctopus Wrangler
Buddy breathing with a panicked buddy is already quite troublesome... Adding the BCD control in your mouth is definitely NOT for me, sorry.
I want to give a standard reg to my buddy with a reasonably long hose, so we can stay at proper distance. And I want to breath from a top-notch reg. So I always carry two identical high performances second stages, fully interchangeable (and usually fed by two independent first stages). I do like an Air-2 as an additional backup, but it will never make me happy enough to renounce to one of my two standard full-performances regs.
I happened to need to give air to other divers a number of times, and sometimes I needed it from my wife (actually just two times, but they were stressfull enough).
When I was working as instructor and divemaster, I did employ two first stages and THREE second stages, one of them with a long hose and mounted "wrong", on my left shoulder, so it was correctly oriented for the buddy to which it was planned to be donated. I was also using a larger tank (15 liters steel) so that I always had enough air to help some client (they had just a 10 liters steel, so it was easy for them to run out of air)...
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