Why donate my Primary?

[costi]

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.

H2 Andy,
The long hose makes sense, and the fact that they may grab the wrong reg such as from your deco bottle but....what i don't understand is..if the secondary is too hot for them to be breathing, and you have given away your primary, what are You breathing?
Sorry....my lack of experience may be showing through...please bare with me!
Bob

 

[costi]

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

Thanks guys, the light just came on! Bob

 

[TSandM]

Secondary won't be too hot. Secondary is backgas, which will never be the hottest mix you are carrying.

The reg you are breathing is always appropriate for the depth. The reg you are breathing is the most visible and accessible target for an OOA diver. The long hose gives you the flexibility to donate without ending up crammed eye to eye with a panic-stricken diver. On the other hand, if you're on a deco reg, you donate what you are breathing and switch to backgas. The worst thing that happens is that the deco lengthens. (This is not entirely true, but a discussion of the other issues belongs in a technical diving training class.)

And, if you are of the mindset that dives a long hose and bungied secondary, you have probably practiced OOA drills to the point where the OOA air diver (and how did he end up that way and panicked, anyway?) settles down, and you can do a controlled ascent or exit which is vastly facilitated by the length of the long hose.

If you have ever, as I have, practiced OOA drills with standard equipment (or heaven forbid, an Air2) and with a long hose, it doesn't take much to make the decision as to which is the more manageable and more adaptible equipment configuration.

 

[grazie42]

Also...since the secondary is now the reg YOU breath in an emergency, selfpreservation should make you motivated to keep it in good shape...

 

[costi]

Thanks,
What makes the most sense to me other than I don't want a panic-sticken diver in my face with a short hose is the statement by H2 Andy that the ooa diver needs air immediately, and if he/she grads the secondary and doesn't find it working, he is most likely to come after my primary anyways. It may be better for me to give it to him initially and if my secondary isn't working for some reason since I had just checked it on the surface, the ooa diver had better be of the state of mind to Share! Thanks, Bob

 

[costi]

Also...since the secondary is now the reg YOU breath in an emergency, selfpreservation should make you motivated to keep it in good shape...

I maintain and check my equipment equally, but it certainly makes me think that when I start diving deeper, I may want to upgrade my secondary to at least the same quality as my primary.
BC

 

[SteveAD]

H2 Andy,
The long hose makes sense, and the fact that they may grab the wrong reg such as from your deco bottle but....what i don't understand is..if the secondary is too hot for them to be breathing, and you have given away your primary, what are You breathing?
Sorry....my lack of experience may be showing through...please bare with me!
Bob

Comment about a certtain reg being to hot is in reference to a tech configuration where the donor is carrying multiple tanks with multiple mixes. The OOA diver might not (although he defintely should) know which is which. The reg in the donors mouth is known to be the right one at this depth, and the donor had damned well better know which of his other regs he can safely switch to.

 

[divingjd]

The main reason we teach donating the primary is that it works with any gear configuration. As is apparent from the discussion above, donating the secondary will not work with some gear configurations.

 

[spectrum]

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

It's a grat motivator to pull it out and work it for a bit frequently. Since due to tune if nothing else it won't breathe quite like your proimary it's good to know what to expect. You get a free regulator R&R drill out of it too. Re-stowing it while swimming is a good task load exercise.

Pete

 

[DennisW]

Several years ago, while on a float dive off West Palm, I was very rudely liberated from my primary reg. The guy that took it was OOA and wasn't even from our boat, much less from our group. I use an Air 2 set up, so I grabbed my Air 2, then grabbed the other diver's BC to control the situation. This guy's eyes were the size of the lenses in his mask. It took a little while before, I could get him calmed down and able to recognize that I was a human asking for an OK sign. When he finally gave me an OK, we made a controlled ascent and surfaced next to the flag. I put him on our boat and told them to go find his boat. Then I finished my dive.

If someone is OOA, they will take your primary before you know they are even there. Test your secondary on every dive to make sure it works and you can easily reach it when you have to.