Why donate my Primary?

[costi]

Please understand this is an honest question but :why should a diver donate their primary air in an OOA situation rather than their "octopus".
It seems to me as a relatively new diver that if I need to give up my already established air source, donate it to the person in trouble, and reestablish my own air supply,(which I understand only takes minimal time), while I am trying to keep control of the situation, there is a moment there during the switch that potentially both divers could be at risk?
As I said, this is an honest question and am just curious about the answers both pro and con as I'm certain that without a doubt this has been thought through by many of you. Thanks for the input
Bob

 

[Knight1989]

Because most of the time the other diver, who is most likely starting to panick, is going to probably pull it out of your mouth anyways. Ideally, you'd want to keep your primary and give them the octo. But, again, knowing what most panicked divers reactions are, I just help things out and shove the primary at them and use my own octo. Only had to do this once though.

 

[costi]

Because most of the time the other diver, who is most likely starting to panick, is going to probably pull it out of your mouth anyways. Ideally, you'd want to keep your primary and give them the octo. But, again, knowing what most panicked divers reactions are, I just help things out and shove the primary at them and use my own octo. Only had to do this once though.

Thanks, I haven't been involved in an ooa situation but I do realize that the mind is a dangerous thing....especially a panicked one. I do like the idea of the long hose, once over the "how to manage" stage.

 

[Packhorse]

And because you know the reg you are breathing off works. No point handing the victim a reg that may or may not work.

 

[H2Andy]

donating the primary started with cave divers who used a long hose (5 or 7 foot hose)
on the primary.

it made sense to get some room in a cave for the two divers to exit while sharing air, so the longer hose (i.e. the primary) was donated.

also, when there are multiple gases involved, getting a reg from your mouth
means that the diver is getting gas that is ok for that depth. if they grab
your secondary they could be getting gas that is too hot for the depth if you have
independent tanks, or they may end up grabbing a regulator for a deco bottle you have slung.

 

[justleesa]

If you dive with an air2 set up it is the only way to go...

 

[costi]

And because you know the reg you are breathing off works. No point handing the victim a reg that may or may not work.

So I am going to get the one that doesn't work?!

 

[H2Andy]

So I am going to get the one that doesn't work?!

you're in less need of air than your buddy, who just swam to you to get air.

once he gets air, signal to him to share the primary if you found the secondary
to be out of comission

but if he had grabed the secondary desperate for air, and found out it wasn't working,
it could send him into panic or perhaps just inhale water, which could complicate
things a great deal

remember -- he needs air NOW, so grabbing your primary ensures that he gest it

 

[Knight1989]

If they continue to panic, deffinitly if your octo didnt work, they could end up fighting you to pull your primary out, which could result in 2 paniced divers now.

 

[Jay Roy]

First of all, the combination of the long hose primary reg and bungied around the neck backup reg is the far superior setup.....If you have the "octo" stuffed in a pocket, under a waist strap, or god knows where...Its going to take 10-20-30 seconds to find it and deploy it..With your backup around your neck, you can deploy the long hose and stuff your backup into your mouth within seconds...You know this gas is ok to breathe at the depth you are at, and you know your backup is working (well I always know) because I switch over to it and breathe off of it for 30-40 seconds here and there during the dive...IMO there are no cons to this setup