if the hose on your donated reg is so short as to preclude what you're doing without you being at all kinds of odd angles, then it increases rather than decreases both stress and danger.
Try it with a standard length primary hose and donate that rather than your octo. You'll see what I mean. I practiced and trained with this setup extensively (it was what I started diving with!) and immediately saw the potential problem. It was one that I was willing to deal with and its probably not any worse than the possibility of giving someone a fouled octo, but its a long way from optimal, and with some people who you may some day dive with it may be nearly impossible to get them a working reg in a position that makes a coordinated abort of the dive and resulting coordinated ascent possible.
Like I said originally, I had a buddy during my class that was definitely on the outer edge of what was possible with that configuration. He dove in a bathing suit; if he had stuck some more gear on his front, or had been an inch or two more in "depth" (being polite here), we would have had a problem with the air-share exercises in that the hose simply wouldn't have reached his mouth with him in front of me. Grabbed by the BC or not, restrained or not, if it doesn't reach his mouth he can't breathe off it!
My current "most common" dive buddy is a smaller-framed person with whom there would be no problem. However, in the interim I have gone to a configuration that is functionally identical (in that I give up my primary and use the backup myself) but configuration-wise quite different (long-hose), with the latter being for my comfort, ease of routing and preference. I also see some real advantages in that AFTER my buddy has a working air supply I MIGHT be able to fix whatever is wrong with their kit (if its fixable) with the much longer hose in their mouth - a possibility that is voided if you can't get back there. While the failure would still "call the dive", I think its pretty obvious that a "shared ascent" is probably more dangerous than individual ones, assuming that both people have working kits at that point (e.g. if you can fix a malfunction for your buddy in the water you're better off ascending NOT sharing air than doing so.)
Now may I change my mind after a couple of dozen dives set up this way? Yeah, maybe. But from my personal experience, with my gear, this solution works well for me. (I ain't a "DIR" type today and may never be - I don't do religion in my sports
)
S&R is on my agenda for training; its the next class I intend to take. Likely sometime later this fall or perhaps in the spring, depending on how long the water stays reasonable around here in terms of temperature... (I don't own a drysuit!)
Try it with a standard length primary hose and donate that rather than your octo. You'll see what I mean. I practiced and trained with this setup extensively (it was what I started diving with!) and immediately saw the potential problem. It was one that I was willing to deal with and its probably not any worse than the possibility of giving someone a fouled octo, but its a long way from optimal, and with some people who you may some day dive with it may be nearly impossible to get them a working reg in a position that makes a coordinated abort of the dive and resulting coordinated ascent possible.
Like I said originally, I had a buddy during my class that was definitely on the outer edge of what was possible with that configuration. He dove in a bathing suit; if he had stuck some more gear on his front, or had been an inch or two more in "depth" (being polite here), we would have had a problem with the air-share exercises in that the hose simply wouldn't have reached his mouth with him in front of me. Grabbed by the BC or not, restrained or not, if it doesn't reach his mouth he can't breathe off it!
My current "most common" dive buddy is a smaller-framed person with whom there would be no problem. However, in the interim I have gone to a configuration that is functionally identical (in that I give up my primary and use the backup myself) but configuration-wise quite different (long-hose), with the latter being for my comfort, ease of routing and preference. I also see some real advantages in that AFTER my buddy has a working air supply I MIGHT be able to fix whatever is wrong with their kit (if its fixable) with the much longer hose in their mouth - a possibility that is voided if you can't get back there. While the failure would still "call the dive", I think its pretty obvious that a "shared ascent" is probably more dangerous than individual ones, assuming that both people have working kits at that point (e.g. if you can fix a malfunction for your buddy in the water you're better off ascending NOT sharing air than doing so.)
Now may I change my mind after a couple of dozen dives set up this way? Yeah, maybe. But from my personal experience, with my gear, this solution works well for me. (I ain't a "DIR" type today and may never be - I don't do religion in my sports
)S&R is on my agenda for training; its the next class I intend to take. Likely sometime later this fall or perhaps in the spring, depending on how long the water stays reasonable around here in terms of temperature... (I don't own a drysuit!)
