Yellow hose when donating primary?

[Kharon]

My entire pony rig is bright yellow. If I am diving with other divers (very seldom) I make sure they know that the reg in my mouth is on a very short hose and will not reach to their mouth. I assure them that if they grab it from my mouth I will punch them in the balls or throat. I demonstrate that all they have to do is pull the yellow reg from my shoulder and breathe (air is always on). I get them to do it a couple times and I will then unclip the bottle and hand it to them. I explain that this is so we are not tied together on ascent and they have an independant air supply.

When diving solo, I also have a different rig - same size bottle and EAS2 valve/1st stage but with a bag that has a tear away strip to release the bottle. Instead of a hose the 2nd stage it right on the valve/1st stage. It's a lot more compact with less drag and no hose as a tangle point. I don't dive a site that has other divers already in the water if I'm going solo I and avoid any divers that might enter after me.

I'm very situationaly aware (continually checking every direction) and have exceptional peripheral vision. Should someone approach me I'll pull which ever independant air rig I've got and hold it out to them while purging the octo slightly. If they take me from behind and above all bets are off. The only thing I know for sure is that I will certainly have air - whether the bozo that ran out of air does is not my first concern. I don't mind helping a muppet but I'm not going to die in their place.

 

[Lorenzoid]

Divers who pay attention to the colors of hoses or to your briefing on what to do if they need you to donate air are generally not the type of diver who runs out of air in the first place.

 

[boulderjohn]

Unlike what some people have said, in the only cases I know of true OOA emergencies, the OOA diver reached for and took the donor's alternate. If the OOA diver is indeed going to go for an alternate, it makes sense to have it yellow. In another thread we had on pretty much the same topic, it was clearly shown that yellow shows up very well in contrast to black even at the deepest recreational depths.

In the case of long hose donation, on the other hand, the donor will be actively providing the regulator, and that will be a clear preference to having the diver reach for it on his or her own. In that case, there is no benefit to having the high visibility color, and there may even be an advantage to not having it and thus tempting the OOA diver even more to just grab at it.

 

[g1138]

Color can help, but in the end it doesn't really matter.
You'll donate what you'll donate or the OOA diver will grab what they grab.

If they're calm you'll donate. If they're not they'll probably grab the primary either way.
For octo users it color can definitely help guide a calm diver to help themselves.
Air 2's I don't think majority of people would think to grab that.
For bungee backup users it would depend.

My shiny 109's made me paranoid that a "calm" OOA diver would grab my backup.
So I made my primary green because it's my favorite color.

 

[Doby45]

My 10yr old daughter loves yellow, so her primary regulator and hose are yellow, just so happens that she dives a streamlined OW setup so her primary is her donate reg.

 

[Akimbo]

What is the problem? Just swap regulators once they catch their breath if a diver grabs the wrong second stage.

Personally, I think a 7' hose is dumb. It is way too long for an inexperienced diver who is more likely to be in panic mode. I want to keep a panicky diver close, eyeball to eyeball. Seven foot is also too short for difficult single-file exits, like from a submarine. The diver's mask in back is within fin-tip range of the leading diver. I also don't want to be they guy with my head in fin tip range while a panicked diver is dragging me to sunshine.

 

[Kharon]

... I also don't want to be they guy with my head in fin tip range while a panicked diver is dragging me to sunshine.

Exactly why I want to hand off the pony. Don't want to be attached at all to someone who ran out of air.

 

[Diesel Dan]

Back in the days when there was no octopus rig and yellow hoses I ran out of air luckily for me I was navy trained and was able to do a free accent ! However if a yellow hose helps identify a regular and helps save a diver then it should be used !