Using Long Hose for DSD?

[SanDiegoSidemount]

I'm interested in opinions about using a long hose setup to provide a Discover Scuba Diving experience. Basically, the instructor carries the air for both divers. Instructor breathes off the necklace, and the student uses the long hose, so the entire dive would be an air sharing dive.

This would have the following limitations/requirements.

- Student receives standard DSD skills training: signals, equalization, regulator clear/recover, mask clear, etc.
- Student wears mask, fins, wetsuit, weight belt
- One instructor, one student
- Instructor breathes from necklace, student uses the long hose
- "Confined" OW conditions: no current, no swell, etc.
- Depth limit of 20 feet
- Time limit ~30 min

The idea is to provide a one-on-one DSD experience without burdening the student with an entire SCUBA rig.

Thoughts about this? Issues / concerns?

 

[Dirty-Dog]

I'm interested in opinions about using a long hose setup to provide a Discover Scuba Diving experience. Basically, the instructor carries the air for both divers. Instructor breathes off the necklace, and the student uses the long hose, so the entire dive would be an air sharing dive.

This would have the following limitations/requirements.

- Student receives standard DSD skills training: signals, equalization, regulator clear/recover, mask clear, etc.
- Student wears mask, fins, wetsuit, weight belt
- One instructor, one student
- Instructor breathes from necklace, student uses the long hose
- "Confined" OW conditions: no current, no swell, etc.
- Depth limit of 20 feet
- Time limit ~30 min

The idea is to provide a one-on-one DSD experience without burdening the student with an entire SCUBA rig.

Thoughts about this? Issues / concerns?

I think it's a terrible idea.
You'd be taking down the person with the least training (and therefore the most chance of doing something wrong), with the least redundancy.
Regulator recovery won't work when it's not your regulator.
The DSD diver would have no buoyancy device, no way to adjust buoyancy at depth, nor any way to make themselves positively buoyant other than orally inflating their (nonexistent) BCD at the surface.
There are other problems, but these ought to get you started. And I'm sure someone else will be along to point out more.

 

[muzikbiz22]

I think it's a terrible idea.
You'd be taking down the person with the least training (and therefore the most chance of doing something wrong), with the least redundancy.
Regulator recovery won't work when it's not your regulator.
The DSD diver would have no buoyancy device, no way to adjust buoyancy at depth, nor any way to make themselves positively buoyant other than orally inflating their (nonexistent) BCD at the surface.
There are other problems, but these ought to get you started. And I'm sure someone else will be along to point out more.

+ 1 Bad idea for lots of reasons.

 

[DevonDiver]

I'd image that no agency would endorse this - and that factor, coupled with the inherent 'un-orthodoxy' nature of the approach would carry significant liability risk should anything ever go wrong. It's also not really a 'discover scuba' experience - as the participant isn't wearing and in control of their own scuba kit.

You might be better off running this as some form of 'snuba' experience:

UTD adopted a program whereby participants dive from a surface-floated cylinder: ZUBA Diving

 

[SanDiegoSidemount]

You might be better off running this as some form of 'snuba' experience:

UTD adopted a program whereby participants dive from a surface-floated cylinder: ZUBA Diving

I've worked with Zuba and like it, as do my kids. The biggest problem is entanglement of the hoses with each other and with the kelp that's everywhere in SoCal. I guess what I'm reaching for is a similarly "free" experience for the student without some of Zuba's drawbacks.

 

[nolatom]

i did DSD 15 years ago. 1 to 1, with me in my "own" gear. Why would I want to be tethered to the teach? Boring. I wanted to experiment on my own, even though constantly watched over.

 

[SanDiegoSidemount]

I think it's a terrible idea.
You'd be taking down the person with the least training (and therefore the most chance of doing something wrong), with the least redundancy.
Regulator recovery won't work when it's not your regulator.

I certainly understand these issues. That's why a shallow depth limit (perhaps >20 feet?) so the safety/redundancy is the proximity of the surface.

With Zuba, the regulator is clipped to the student, and also has a necklace. Perhaps a useful addition.

The DSD diver would have no buoyancy device, no way to adjust buoyancy at depth, nor any way to make themselves positively buoyant other than orally inflating their (nonexistent) BCD at the surface.

A snorkel BC would help with this, but what I found doing this with Zuba is that it's more junk to get in the way. Proper weighting for 15-20 feet works well: slightly positive at the surface, neutral at depth. Buoyancy control using breath.

Just kicking this idea around and trying to think through all the issues. Thanks for the feedback.

 

[DevonDiver]

The biggest problem is entanglement of the hoses with each other and with the kelp that's everywhere in SoCal.

That sounds like equal justification to dismiss the 'long-hose air-sharing' concept also...

 

[Drin]

I personally think it's a really bad idea. What you're describing isn't "SCUBA" at all, since it's not SELF contained. The goal of DSD is to give the student the SCUBA experience, which means BC, weights, exposure protection where appropriate. That's not what you're proposing.

I think that a non-trained individual given someone else's regulator to breathe and someone else's BC to rely on for buoyancy is in a far more precarious situation than a student given their own gear, surface proximity notwithstanding. And having a student bolt for the surface having dropped your long-hose reg with a lungful of air rather than relying on their own skills to deal with having dropped their own reg? Nightmarish...

-Adrian

 

[Phil_C]

Putting the 'student/DSD' onto the long hose also has the negative that there is then no redundancy or backup in the event of a regulator or air supply failure of any sort. Both regulators are already in use, and there is no other available air.

I would also be very reluctant to have a student who did not have their own BCD - they have a weight belt to help them get under during ordinary diving, or drag them down if things have gone wrong ! yet they have no means to get positive on the surface if they need to in any sort of emergency.

I couldn't ever see this being accepted as safe or accepted by any agency regardless of the depths involved, I just don't think it is a safe "plan" to start off with.

Phil.