"We don't do that here"

[billt4sf]

My (relatively new) buddy and I talked about it and decided that it would be a good idea to practice air sharing a bit together. Also fun.

So we did. It was towards the end of the dive, we were at a shallow, calm place doing our safety stop or thereabouts. While doing so, the DM signaled "OK?" to us and we responded "OK". (BTW damn those short hoses!)

Anyway, after the dive the DM asked us: "What's up with *THAT*? Why did you share air?" We said we wanted to practice, and as well, I use air faster than he does. WRONG! The DM (who we like) said "We don't do that here, except in cases of emergency". We explained that "Isn't it good to practice, it should reduce the anxiety of you ever really need to do it". He said it's not his rule, it's the owner's rule.

We didn't follow it up, we just didn't do it any more.

I still think we are right, but there's two sides to every story. I bet the owner is thinking about someone who wants to bleed their tank dry to get a few more minutes bottom time.

P.S. Those short "octo" hoses are rather poor to share air with. If it is mounted on the right side of the first stage, it's mounted to be easy for the owner (donor) to breathe from, so you have to either face the donor, breathe from it upside down, or turn the second stage hose 180 deg to get your mouth on it. Either way, you're in the donor's personal space.

P.P.S. My wife and I both have long hoses, we practice sharing air all the time. Fun !

- Bill

 

[The Chairman]

Yeah, keep on practicing. An alternate phrase to use... "We're practicing so that one day we'll look just like you in the water!" A little flatulence, er flattery might go a long way.

 

[DavidFL]

My dive buddy and I routinely practice sharing air; deploying SMB from the safety stop when it isn't really necessary; pretending to locate and drop weights. We nearly always remember to tell the DM (when there is one going in the water with us) that we are going to do that so it doesn't raise their anxiety level when they see it happening.

 

[MXGratefulDiver]

I have found that if you're planning to share air during a guided dive ... whether for practice or simply to help balance out tanks and extend the dive ... it's a good idea to mention it to the dive guide before the dive. These people are trained to work with divers whose skills are generally poor, and who tend to run OOA or LOA more often than you might think, and they don't like seeing what looks to them like an emergency when it turns out not to be.

Cheng and I used to share air routinely on vacation dives, because she goes through her air a lot faster than me, and since I use a long hose, it's a nice way to get in both practice and more bottom time. Mentioning it to the dive guide usually gets met with a "thanks for letting me know" ...

... Bob (Grateful Diver)

 

[Mustard Dave]

I'd always tell guides and others in my group if I intend on practicing skills; not doing so could cause panic or distraction. If after telling them they tell me they don't want me to, that's when they get told to shove it.

On hoses, I always dive with a long hose, whatever type of diving I'm doing. I've only once had to donate gas in anger, when a member of my club, who should have known better, racked up 15 minutes of deco on a single cylinder and didn't have enough gas to complete her stops. She was panicking, so the long hose had the extra advantage of allowing me to stay clear of her, making it safer for me if she did something silly, and making her feel much less claustrophobic.

A lot of divers I know have their octopus on the left, as you say. This is particularly common practice with BSAC divers. Quite a few also have Poseidon regs, these can be used either way up.

 

[nolatom]

In some things, it's easier to get forgiveness than permission. But not in scuba, I don't think. DMs don't like surprises, unless it's you handing them a C-note underwater. Ask first, and do it so as to not get in other divers' way, and your odds of not getting yelled at are pretty high.

I have a "conventional" rig, short octo right side. The one time I had to donate it, the donee-buddy moved to my left side, it reached him and fit his mouth better than if he'd been on my right. We joined arms, and ascended slowly. Worked out fine. But he wasn't out of air, just low on air (though he signalled the throat-cut rather than fist-chest bump at me, so I came over in a big hurry). But he was calm (since he was still breathing), didn't try to grab and rip, perfect for my virgin air-share experience. Then he switched back to his reg on the surface since he still had a little air left.

 

[redacted]

I avoid ops that try to forbid such practice.

 

[FinnMom]

I share air with friends of my daughter occasionally, as practise usually but sometimes to prolong a dive (she and a couple friends have very low gas consumption); it's a lot easier to actually dive that way with 2m hoses. BTW if you plan to share air because one of you will run low, start and and the sharing when both of you still have enough gas to get home in comfort - you want to know you can stop sharing and still be just fine.

I would make sure a DM/guide knows you will be doing it so you don't distract them. If they don't like it that's fine, we dive with a DM/guide maybe 3% of all dives so we can leave it out then.

I think practising at least sometimes with short hoses is a very good idea because they are darn short and unpleasant, in case of real need it would be nice to at least not have to think about how the routine works.

 

[gopbroek]

Yeah, keep on practicing. An alternate phrase to use... "We're practicing so that one day we'll look just like you in the water!" A little flatulence, er flattery might go a long way.

I like your new title

 

[AdivingBel]

Wife & I share regularly. We started doing it in Coz because she was concerned about cutting others dives short. It was never an issue as she does quite well, but I'm a bit of a fish and we discovered it made us one of the last ones up with the DM so we kept doing it. We enjoy the extra bottom time and it just takes the "pressure" off when diving in groups. Now we routinely share even when it's just us shore diving. I have a standard length octo and we never have a problem (then again we like to hold hands when we share ). When she hits 1000 psi she grabs my octo and we breathe mine down to 1000 then split up and finish on our own. Easy peasy. We do tell the DM/guide (if there is one in the water) before hand and haven't received any push back to date. They seem to appreciate the heads up.

BTW, beware NetDoc, I actually shot Hitler.