Weird gear

[iguana751]

I was diving with one of the local SSI shops this weekend when they took some students to a lake for their open water dives. I was paired up with another experienced diver who just moved to the area (I will call him "Bill"). "Bill" had only dove with the shop once before (the previous weekend).

The shop owner took me aside and told me to check over "Bills" gear before diving with him because he had "weird gear'. He said that the previous weekend another diver tried to share air with "Bill" and could not because "Bill" had his hose wrapped around his head!

It sounded like a long hose setup to me so I introduced myself to "Bill" and checked out his gear.

He had a Hog single tank reg package and a Hog backplate and wing setup. Same setup I am switching to as I can afford it. We had a good dive and are planning more dives soon.

This is why I prefer the PADI shops in my area over the SSI shops. The PADI shops dive this kind of gear and the SSI shops just call it "weird".

 

[The Chairman]

It wasn't that long ago when most the shops thought the long hose was weird. It really doesn't matter what agency they are affiliated with. They just didn't know any better.

 

[Tom Winters]

Gee, I still kinda think that the long hose is weird. I used to dive the regular old rig - reg plus an octo, and I probably deployed that setup real-world maybe 50 or 60 times under real world, honest-to-God oh s#!t conditions. I never wanted someone out of my arm's reach when they were on my rig, especially under arduous conditions. I used to ditch my gear in tight places to squeeze through, but I stopped that after a while. If I couldn't get through on my own, then it wasn't worth seeing. Getting out of something was another story, but crawling into some miserable little pooka, nope.
I tried the 5' and 7' hoses, and I felt that it gave the OOA diver too much latitude. If you're on my air, then I'm keeping my lunch hook wrapped around your dive harness, and we're both staying nice and close. Nice and close. Your dive is over, and I'm saving your life and mine.
Plus I like eyeballing the other diver in case they panic. They wiggle too much - they lose their mask. That always calmed them down. I'd try to keep the mask on my arm so they could get it back, but if it went, well, it went.
So yeah, keep using that long hose if that's your thing. Since I dive solo now for the most part, I don't even have an octo on my rig anymore. But, I probably buddy-breathed at least people to the surface before that new-fangled octopus configuration came along.

 

[rambaldi]

Gee, I still kinda think that the long hose is weird. I used to dive the regular old rig - reg plus an octo, and I probably deployed that setup real-world maybe 50 or 60 times under real world, honest-to-God oh s#!t conditions. I never wanted someone out of my arm's reach when they were on my rig, especially under arduous conditions. I used to ditch my gear in tight places to squeeze through, but I stopped that after a while. If I couldn't get through on my own, then it wasn't worth seeing. Getting out of something was another story, but crawling into some miserable little pooka, nope.
I tried the 5' and 7' hoses, and I felt that it gave the OOA diver too much latitude. If you're on my air, then I'm keeping my lunch hook wrapped around your dive harness, and we're both staying nice and close. Nice and close. Your dive is over, and I'm saving your life and mine.
Plus I like eyeballing the other diver in case they panic. They wiggle too much - they lose their mask. That always calmed them down. I'd try to keep the mask on my arm so they could get it back, but if it went, well, it went.
So yeah, keep using that long hose if that's your thing. Since I dive solo now for the most part, I don't even have an octo on my rig anymore. But, I probably buddy-breathed at least people to the surface before that new-fangled octopus configuration came along.

There is nothing about a long hose that stops you giving the receiving diver a friendly calm down hug.

 

[tphelps]

UTD really embraces the long hoses too (from my understanding). I use the "weird" setup when I dive tec or in sidemount. Do I think its a safer way to share air? Maybe. As long as your team mate knows your configuration and can identify it easily, that's the best!

 

[The Chairman]

I tried the 5' and 7' hoses, and I felt that it gave the OOA diver too much latitude.

The best rescue is the one you never have to make! I simply can't remember the last time any of my buddies, students or clients ran out of air. It's not because I run out first either. I just think it's important for me to be their redundant air checker.

However, I remember a wreck class I was helping to co-teach. We were on the upline doing a safety stop and the lead instructor pointed to his brother and indicated "low air". I dangled the second stage off of my long hose past at least four other divers. At the end of the safety stop, he gave my reg back and we ascended without incident.

 

[Tom Winters]

The long hose is great for people who like it. I did all my rescues with military and tropical tourist divers in the Pacific a long time ago, and the only long hose I ever saw was a guy who had an 8' yellow job all bungied up to his bc. I think that he used it mainly to crawl into lava tubes without his rig on. I saw too many large eels in the back of lava tubes to ever want to do that bit of foolishness.
Since I never let go of the person with whom I was either buddy-breathing or octo-sharing, I never saw the need to have a hose longer than 40". People just have to use whatever their agency likes and/or whatever they like. I'm ok with that.

 

[kelemvor]

It sounds to me like Bill failed to properly communicate with his buddy about air sharing procedures before the dive.

I wonder how the shop owner made it to another dive site with this same diver and didn't have a conversation about the air sharing failure incident himself.

 

[tracydr]

Gee, I still kinda think that the long hose is weird. I used to dive the regular old rig - reg plus an octo, and I probably deployed that setup real-world maybe 50 or 60 times under real world, honest-to-God oh s#!t conditions. I never wanted someone out of my arm's reach when they were on my rig, especially under arduous conditions. I used to ditch my gear in tight places to squeeze through, but I stopped that after a while. If I couldn't get through on my own, then it wasn't worth seeing. Getting out of something was another story, but crawling into some miserable little pooka, nope.
I tried the 5' and 7' hoses, and I felt that it gave the OOA diver too much latitude. If you're on my air, then I'm keeping my lunch hook wrapped around your dive harness, and we're both staying nice and close. Nice and close. Your dive is over, and I'm saving your life and mine.
Plus I like eyeballing the other diver in case they panic. They wiggle too much - they lose their mask. That always calmed them down. I'd try to keep the mask on my arm so they could get it back, but if it went, well, it went.
So yeah, keep using that long hose if that's your thing. Since I dive solo now for the most part, I don't even have an octo on my rig anymore. But, I probably buddy-breathed at least people to the surface before that new-fangled octopus configuration came along.

Hmm. What happens if your primary has a problem, like say the mouthpiece breaks or it gets separated from you? I find it very nice having my second reg tucked under my chin with a necklace, just in case. But having no second reg, I mean, sure, that's the way everybody used to dive but it seems like redundancy is always nice, even if you are only diving one tank and one first stage.

 

[phoenix31tt]

The first person i dived with after switching my primary to the 40" octo hose didnt think it was weird.. he said if you're going that route get the 7' and done lol...

so soon i may have some weird gear (but i'm always lucky enough to be diving with my wife so there is no extra explanation on air sharing with my buddy)