Why breathe from a long hose?

[Brewski]

Could standards violation come into play during the teaching of regulator recovery?

I don't think so.
the equipment standards are this:

EQUIPMENT REQUIREMENTS
1. During all open water training dives, each student diver, certified assistant
and instructor must have:
a. fins, mask and snorkel (Although recommended, Ice Diver, Wreck Diver
and Cavern Diver Specialty course students are not required to have
snorkels.)
b. compressed gas cylinder and valve
c. buoyancy control device (BCD) (with tank mount or separate backpack)
and low pressure inflator
d. regulator and alternate air source
e. submersible pressure gauge (monitoring device)
f. depth gauge (monitoring device)
g. weight system and weights (if necessary for neutral buoyancy)
h. adequate exposure protection appropriate for local diving conditions
2. During all open water training dives, instructors and certified assistants
must also have a timing device, compass, knife/diver’s tool (except where
prohibited by law or local regulations) and an emergency signalling device
(i.e., whistle, flare, etc.).

as for reg recovery.
9. Regulator recovery — Demonstrate
and have students
practice both the arm-sweep
and reach methods. Stress
proper body positioning to
find the second stage. You
may combine this exercise
with regulator clearing.


If a long hose had unwrapped from your neck, wouldn't it pretty much dangle off your right hip? I don't really think a sweep would work.
But the method could be taught by removing the bungied reg and using that shorter hose for the demonstration.

The point is to teach both methods so the student is better prepared.

 

[mikemill]

The fact is, though, your description of OW dives is BS.

There are PLENTY of dives I do in OW where swimming to some spot BEFORE ascending is a really, really good idea. If I had to do direct ascents in certain areas due to an OOG situation, I'd be in a world of hurt.

We dive shipping lanes and sites with potential floating gill nets, all of which make ascending on an anchor / mooring line SERIOUSLY better than free ascending.

That doesn't sound like a recreational (aka non overhead) dive.

 

[Gombessa]

as for reg recovery.
9. Regulator recovery — Demonstrate
and have students
practice both the arm-sweep
and reach methods. Stress
proper body positioning to
find the second stage. You
may combine this exercise
with regulator clearing.

Both the reach and sweep techniques were/are taught with long-hose configs. The reach is putting your right hand to your neck to find where the hose comes around from behind your neck, and following the hose to the reg. The sweep is pretty much the same as in OW - roll to the right, windmill the right hand down and around the right side of your body. The major difference from the way I was taught OW was that the long hose procedure starts with you going to your backup reg before starting to search for the lost primary reg. Maybe it was just my OW training, but I was taught to perform the drill without going to an octo first, meaning you're without gas as you search for your reg. That strikes me as a particularly odd prioritization.

 

[Rainer]

Then any dive in the North East (gill nets galore), any dive in current or bad surface visibility, any dive where there is surface boat traffic, any dive in heavy kelp, any scooter dive, or any long shore dive is not a recreational dive. Hmmm. If you can do a dive where swimming (be it back to shore or the boat) UW is safer than directly ascending, choosing a gear configuration that makes swimming together EASIER *is* safer.

That doesn't sound like a recreational (aka non overhead) dive.

 

[Brewski]

Both the reach and sweep techniques were/are taught with long-hose configs. The reach is putting your right hand to your neck to find where the hose comes around from behind your neck, and following the hose to the reg. The sweep is pretty much the same as in OW - roll to the right, windmill the right hand down and around the right side of your body. The major difference from the way I was taught OW was that the long hose procedure starts with you going to your backup reg before starting to search for the lost primary reg. Maybe it was just my OW training, but I was taught to perform the drill without going to an octo first, meaning you're without gas as you search for your reg. That strikes me as a particularly odd prioritization.

excellent point.

 

[Web Monkey]

LOL, maybe your OW curriculum taught you that. I know my wife's recent OW course was a bit more...realistic.

Your wife's class is irrelevant to the definition of "Open Water"

If you can't ascend directly to the surface at any time, it's not an "Open Water" dive.

Terry

 

[Rainer]

Um, no.

There are times where you CAN ascend to the surface, but where first swimming might be a BETTER idea. A long hose helps in these cases (I've enumerated many such examples).

Your wife's class is irrelevant to the definition of "Open Water"

If you can't ascend directly to the surface at any time, it's not an "Open Water" dive.

Terry

 

[fisheater]

Much of my "open water" diving really has virtual overheads, either because of kelp or boating or surface currents. I suspect that most California divers' experiences are similar.

After donating my primary with a short hose in a real OOA situation and having to directly surface and face a long kelp crawl back to the boat, I switched to the 7' hose.


Posted via Mobile Device

 

[Geoff_H]

Your sarcasm just displays that you have missed the point and I never have made any such comparison. I simply stated that air sharing with standard length hoses and octos is not unsafe nor very hard to manage, but thanks for playing.

I don't think anyone who has tried a long hose thinks that sharing air on a short hose is fun, optimal or even particularly effective. It might get you out of trouble, but they are plenty of open water situations where you could be in real trouble on a short hose.

I used to use a short hose, and using a long hose is far easier and more effective.

I'm going to go with the easy and effective solution easy time rather than dogmatically sticking to my beliefs without trying better ideas.

 

[Geoff_H]

Your wife's class is irrelevant to the definition of "Open Water"

If you can't ascend directly to the surface at any time, it's not an "Open Water" dive.

You're just playing with semantics, and it's wrong to boot.

Some very good examples of where I can ascend to the surface but prefer not to:

* diving underneath boat traffic or potential boat traffic
* diving along the coast with limited exit points and surge/swell on the surface
* diving on a open ocean dive with an anchor line to the boat

I can directly ascend in any one of these, but I would prefer not to as I could be a victim of an idiot jetskier slalom'ing around my SMB, struggle to swim back without being washed out/slammed against rocks or risk drifting and not being picked up by the boat.

Having a long hose and being able to swim back to my desired exit point while sharing air is critically useful in these dives, and I would classify them all as open water dives. So would any reasonable person I think.