Which regulator should you donate?

[Northeastwrecks]

Dear Sea Nmf

It's not as bad as it sounds.

A necklaced backup is setup using a thin (about 3/16") elastic rope/cord attached through the cable ties on the mouthpiece of the backup regulator.

My backup regulator hangs at approximately the point where my collarbones meet. The mouthpiece faces up and is readily available. It is not tight and does not interfere with my movement.

My primary is on a long hose that I donate. I've not considered what I would do if someone attempted to grab my backup, but I suspect that we would both be surprised. I hope to prevent this by showing my buddy how my configuration works. I have gone so far as to demonstrate the donation technique.

I started out with a Zeagle Octo+ as my alternate (similar to an Air2). I tried a few ascents using the Octo+. It is possible, but not pleasant.

I changed to the necklace and love it. It's easy to find and readily available. In addition, the long hose allows my buddy and I to ascend comfortably when we practice OOA drills.

 

[jamespitt]

who is this monster!!
i didnt know The Rock dived (dove/divened??).
http://www.wkpp.org/images/pina_equip/hood_back_cut_r.jpeg

slight lighty
Jim

 

[JustAddWater]

In an OOA situation I give my primary and use my Scubapro Air II.
Though the only times I've had to use it have been in training situations, I feel comfortable with it. My usual buddies either have the same configuration, or have dove with me enough so that we know each other's config.. This is also reviewed during our pre-dive planning session.

 

[Phil]

Great question Wendy.....

As a newbie...my instructor spent hours with us (wife an me) working on panic situations... like your buddy is OOA and before he/she can draw his hands across his throat he/she has yanked your primary out of your mouth and started for the surface.

My Octy is built right into my inflator hose.... so my buddy would have to take my primary. We practiced at least 30 times what a panic situation might be like....good thing I don't have false teeth, cause my wife would yank that sucker out of my mouth.

OUr teacher will not let us dive without an OUT OF AIR bottle hanging from the front of our BC.... just some extra help if needed.

This is one new diver who hopes he never has to find out what an OOA situation is like, but I feel as prepared as a newbie can be for it!!!

For those who have a dangling Octy, the necklace thing sounds very right!
Again great question!

 

[sheck33]

Originally posted by devilfish
It’s really beyond me where all this stuff comes from. An OOA diver ( a leach) who used up all their own air and now wants mine ruches up to me for a reg. Two eye balls like two hard boiled eggs inside a mask, the last thing I want at this moment is to give up a reg which is in my mouth and I am 100% sure it is working. The last thing I want as a rescuer is to be out of air even for a moment.
Let’s think about this. An OOA situation is not exactly what happens in training in the pool. “Oh yoo-hoo, can I borrow some of your air please”, are you ready, are you ready, ok, lets exchange the regulators. That's not the real wold. In real life the leach is gona hit you like a ton of bricks.
Now I am going to take my prime reg out with my right hand, give it to the leach, at this moment the prime is also flooded in the leach’s mouth who does not have enough air to blast clear it while holding on to the reg covering the purge, and at the same time start reaching for my octopus which is most likely also on the right side like most divers erroneously have with my left hand. All while I am also out of air at the moment and the leach wants to go home to mama at warp seven dragging me up holding on to my prime. Common people, who thinks of these procedures?
Never, ever give up your prime. This only complicates matters. For a few precious moments both divers are out of air. And if you think for one moment that the leach will rip the prime out of your mouth like many think it will happen anyway, then they have been doing it wrong all along. It will never happen, not if it’s done right, no ifs and but about it, it has been proven.

Dear devil,

your post scared me a bit.
One: if you cant handle not having a reg in your mouth you shouldnt be diving to begin with.
Two: your calling the OOA buddy a leach implies that the OOA buddy is a complete idiot for running out of air. In some cases that might be true but there is a possibility of a catastrophic equipment failure you can hardly blame your buddy for! jeez.
Three: If i would even suspect my buddy is going to go to the surface at warp 7 even with a working reg in his/her mouth i'd find another buddy.
You state that for a precious few moment both divers are out of air and that is simply not true, if my tanks are full and i give my primary to the OOA buddy and then switch to my backup that is under my chin only the OOA diver was ever out of air. Not having a reg in your mouth doesnt imply you are out of air.

 

[annabelle]

Backup!!!

 

[devilfish]

Originally posted by sheck33



your post scared me a bit.

Dear sheck33
I am sorry to have scared you, that was not my intention, although I am puzzled how a writing can be scary. Also please exuse me if I was not politically correct and you got insulted. Contrary to common belief diving is not for everybody. There are other writings and hands on teaching that bare much more concern and if taken as gospel as they often are can be outright dangerous to some unsuspecting divers. Dilution and lack of understanding of the basics is the most dangerous aspect of technique development and progression.

 

[Lance Gothic]

Brothers & Sisters of Shared Air,
roakey et alia,

Good question, good answers! For those of you whom remember the "old days" of diving with double hose regulators there was never a question as to the choice. You dove with good equipment and by reputation among your peers. Buddy training was paramount. And you gauged your tanks before every dive.
It comes as little surprise that there are divers whose attitude is one of "Oh yeah, I can dive", when in actuallity they apply little grey matter to safety and procedure once outside the class environment.

Rules of the road are always:
1. If it works, don't fix it,
2. If it fails to work, whatever you changed last was wrong,
3. When the job is done, write it down (because if you've seen it before you'll see it again),
4. Teach what you've learned, and
5. Practice, practice, practice.

Regards,
Lance Gothic
Shibumi

 

[sheck33]

Originally posted by devilfish

Dear sheck33
I am sorry to have scared you, that was not my intention, although I am puzzled how a writing can be scary. Also please exuse me if I was not politically correct and you got insulted. Contrary to common belief diving is not for everybody. There are other writings and hands on teaching that bare much more concern and if taken as gospel as they often are can be outright dangerous to some unsuspecting divers. Dilution and lack of understanding of the basics is the most dangerous aspect of technique development and progression.

true, diving is not for everybody, and i guess that is also a reason why a lot of divers that get certified end up not diving again. But please dont think i was insulted in any way, i was not i assure you What i find when i help out with OW, AOW rescue classes and the like is the fact that a lot of divers need to turn on their brains wheb it comes to diving, please note, i'm not saying these divers are stupid, what i am saying is they should be more critical of what instructors tell them.

 

[art.chick]

Maxim: Whatever you think can't happen to you, just has not happened to you YET (YET= You're Eligible Too!)

This morning at 8:30 am, my buddy ran out of air in the ocean on a deep dive (hey, to ME, 85' is pretty deep.) I gave up my Octo because he was already reaching for it anyway, & why should I school-marm around in an emergency? We made it to the very surgy surface just fine, but here's a note fer ya:

HOLD ON to the buddy by the BC good & tight on these emergencies! The surge can rip one diver up & the other down simultaneously!!! The OOA person did not think of this (as he was probably thinking of 1000 other things at the moment) so I had to remember to cling like Saran Wrap till we could safely separate & snorkel on the surface.

I knew he was already embarrassed & ashamed, so I was not blaming, but I insisted that we discuss what went wrong before the next dive. Here is what we concluded:

1) We had never dove together before; we were just paired up on the boat. Although I initiated a thorough buddy check & dive plan, I made a dangerous presumption - that what he said was true, ie: that 500psi was plenty for him to surface with. (He actually ran out while we were surfacing.) In our discusson after the dive, he admitted that he was basing this figure on his usual dives which are to 40'. Big difference!

2) Guage-checking was not his focus; he was treasure-hunting.

3) He entered the water with a tank not filled to the 3000psi capacity.

What I will do next time: I will insist on surfacing when we hit 1000psi when diving deep even it the other person thinks 500 is plenty. I will be more emphatic before entering about the tank not being 100% full, & remind them that they will now have even less bottom time. I will interupt treasure-hunters, shell-gatherers, & photgraphers who I buddy with to check the guage that they should check themselves (but don't because they are distracted.)

If u have been practicing, the solution will be automatic. I was lucky in that my buddy was not snatching & flailing. I don't consider him an idiot, just someone who was a little beyond his normal range of experience. We will all dive with someone like that from time to time or be that person ourselves. Thanks to my OW instructor who bored us silly with OOA practice!