View Full Version : Hose's regs, octo & pony....
just thinking of...
anyway, I normally dive with a 15l and a 3l (300bar) pony.
on my 15l, i have my main reg and octopus as per PADI, and my drysuit and gauges.
on my pony I have my pony reg, (around my neck), a gauge and the BCD inflator.
But, I am thinking of replacing the primiary 2nd stage hose with a long hose.
What length of hose? 1.5m or 2m? black or yellow?
Reasons, if my buddy goes OOA then they take the reg "oot ma moof" and I switch to the octo.
if I run out of air, then it's onto the pony.
The reason I thought about a yellow long hose, as it's easier for my buddy to see, as it is their OOA get out.
I would change my octo hose to black, as it now becomes of no concern for my buddy.
Andy
your so called 'buddy' will grab the reg (not take) straight out your mouth if their life depended upon it.
they know where the air is, no matter what colour your DV or hose is.
aheerm.... :o
brand new (in a sealed bag)
1.5m reg hose, tekkie black in colour.
£15 (cost a lot more than that)
When i go onto singles i'll have long hose into mouth and octopus bungied round neck, that way buddy can grab reg outta my mouth and i'll know exactly where spare reg is, just below my chin.
your so called 'buddy' will grab the reg (not take) straight out your mouth if their life depended upon it.
they know where the air is, no matter what colour your DV or hose is.
aheerm.... :o
brand new (in a sealed bag)
1.5m reg hose, tekkie black in colour.
£15 (cost a lot more than that)
SOLD, to the man surrounded by the lovely sea, but aint allowed near it :(
PM sent
there are long yellow hoses on the market.
my own opinion of that is its more confusing for someone else to look at all wrapped round your kit.
which end is the DV? i know its here somewhere!
as said, thats my opinion & in no away would i promote or demote the colour.
anyone else got views on this?
(gotcha pm)
As you said Stewart, anybody in an OOA will grab at anything, probably robbing you of your last breath if they have to. When I switched to a long hose I put yellow tape around my pony hose. This is purely for my benefit when setting up the kit, in order to avoid confusing my main reg and the pony reg. I don't have a n octopus on my main reg either as I feel it would just confuse the issue further.
As you said Stewart, anybody in an OOA will grab at anything, probably robbing you of your last breath if they have to. When I switched to a long hose I put yellow tape around my pony hose. This is purely for my benefit when setting up the kit, in order to avoid confusing my main reg and the pony reg. I don't have a n octopus on my main reg either as I feel it would just confuse the issue further.
I thought about ditching the octopus, but...
Then again if your buddy took the reg out your mouth, then your pretty much going to end the dive anyway...
I have the same second stage on all my kit: Posieden Jetstream, however colours as follows:
Main DV - Silver with black hose
Octopus - Black with black hose and yellow hose protector
Pony - Black with black, cant see it but its mine and I know where it is!!
Just experimenting with this set-up just now, I think all the hose lengths are equal, but good thing about the Jetstream is they work both ways up/down, without a wet breath.
Lizardland
16-04-07, 11:23
The way I was trained and the way I'd more than likely react is to go for the reg in the mouth. Colour or any other coding is irrelevant and has been mentioned causes confusion. An out of air buddy will not be thinking anything other than "I want to breathe" and will go for the reg he can see which is generally the one in the diver's gob. I don't colour code anything. Colour coding also has the potential to be extremely dangerous on the one occasion where the diver has set his kit up with the wrong reg on the wrong bottle.
On top of that, if you are diving with gases other than air, they don't have the worry of grabbing a reg that may be unbreathable. If the other diver is breathing it then I know it is safe for me to take. I've no idea why more agencies don't teach taking the main reg.
As for length, go for 1.5m if you're using a standard BCD setup.
Cheers,
Stuart
Intersting point Stuart. When I completed my Rescue Course (PADI) I had a standing up argument with the instructor at the beginning on this very subject.
My stance was that "I would expect the OOA Diver to grap the reg in my mouth and I was mentally prepared for this situatuation". His stance was "that you should control situation and make sure they dont and you offer the octopus". We agreed to disagree in public, however by the end of the course he had a word in private that he agreed slightly with me. We have dived together since and there are no bad feelings. My view is that in theory this is how a rescue diver should react and the old rule of if cant rescue yourself how do you rescue someone else, however theory and reality are two completely different scenarios, and a lot will depend on how long the diver has been ooa and how far away you were from them.
I would still expect and would myself grab the reg I see bubbles come out of....it works and I/they need air!!
This is of course IMHO
Lizardland
16-04-07, 15:36
His stance was "that you should control situation and make sure they dont and you offer the octopus".
I can't see that being workable. Are you supposed to wrestle your primary reg off of them? :D The situation happens too quick for any form of control, I'd doubt very much if I'd be able to calmly signal out-of-air then allow my buddy to direct me to the right reg.
If you need air then you want:
- a reg you can find instantly. You can find the reg in another diver's mouth even in the dark by touch very easily.
- a reg that is working. The last thing you want to do is give an out of air diver a reg that's full of sand, has the tuning knob turned down or might not work at all. The donor is calm, he should be dealing with switching to a reg that might not breathe like it should.
- a reg that's safe. It's not unusual these days for divers to be carrying deco bottles or a pony with EAN50 or something. If the donor has a reg in his mouth then that gas is safe to breathe.
Cheers,
Stuart
His stance was "that you should control situation and make sure they dont and you offer the octopus".
During your RD course, you should have practiced getting a paniced diver off and away from you.
I can't see that being workable. Are you supposed to wrestle your primary reg off of them?
sorry guys, there aint going to be anyone taking my reg out my mouth without my say so. Plus your meant to keep an eye on your buddy too. That is why you are meant to practice these drills regularly, (1 once a month I would think).
there is a difference between sport/recreational diving, and that deep/techie witchcraft diving, where differenct circumstance require different actions. But for this topic we are talking about namby pamby girlie above 40m diving....
But for this topic we are talking about namby pamby girlie above 40m diving....
I was talking about even girlier depths of not deeper than 30m.
I usually run through the drill with Buddy as part of my buddy check at the surface. If they are not happy with my system, then I switch to what they are happy with. I have only had one complain yet, once I explain the situation as detailed by Stuart
During your RD course, you should have practiced getting a paniced diver off and away from you.
Isn't that what your knifes for?
sorry guys, there aint going to be anyone taking my reg out my mouth without my say so. Plus your meant to keep an eye on your buddy too. That is why you are meant to practice these drills regularly, (1 once a month I would think).
you may not have the option to give anyone your say-so.
no amount of practice will prepare you fully for an ooa situation if you know & can see your doing a drill.
in a real life situation (or witchcraft training session;) ) you will take a sharp breath at the very nano second you know its happening as your reg leaves your mouth.
why are you buying a 1.5m reg hose if not for using the length to donate air.
in most of my experiences, i have found the worse ones seem to happen in <10m of water.
deep dives are generally better planned than the ones we sometimes take for granted.
I did my open water with SDI and was taught to give my main reg and switch onto my octoplus, however i was also taught to give an ooa signal before just yanking reg outta buddies mouth. As already mentioned just make it part of your buddy check, for me take my main and i'll use my octo.
But for this topic we are talking about namby pamby girlie above 40m diving....
Oi!
There's namby pamby and there's following guidelnes/qualifications.
I'm PADI OW, PADI Boat Diver and nothing more, you will have noticed that I gave a non-nambypamby "this is my depth and no deeper" signal at about (!) 18m then refused to dip into the mid twenties.
There's hee-haw namby pamby about being honest and assertive about one's qualifications and personal limits!
Al (currently OW, will go AOW in autumn)
We are slightly going off topic!
So far we have asserted that:
- I'm buying Stewarts 1.5m black hose
- Hose & reg colour dont make any difference
- what most recreational training agencies teach is completely different to what actually happens, (in most circumstances)
- theres nothing wrong with sticking to what your qualified to do
- knifes are for helping lobsters in your goody bag, and not for fending off an OOA buddy.....
Lizardland
17-04-07, 10:18
At the risk of maintaining the tangent off topic... :D
Once you are more than a couple of metres from the surface, your first option should be to share air with your buddy if you are out of air. An emergency free ascent is a bad idea on any dive deeper than a few metres. If more divers took the attitude of sorting problems out on the bottom rather than bolting for the surface then maybe we'd see less incidents. It isn't for deep diving, it's for any type. If anything, it becomes less relevant on deeper dives because there are generally better options than air sharing.
A diver might not be willing to donate his reg but if I'm faced with the usual single + pony array of regs I'm going for the one in the diver's gob. Standard practice is to give a signal and if I've got the luxury of time then I will but I'm not going to wait around. All you have to do is yank a 2nd stage sideways, not many people can keep hold of it.
Any regular diver should be comfortable at losing a reg.
Cheers,
Stuart
Hmm what if your buddies on a rebreather, you dont want to be pulling the loop outta his or hers mouth (as we are off tangent) cant even remember what original post was.........................
Lizardland
17-04-07, 12:23
Hmm what if your buddies on a rebreather, you dont want to be pulling the loop outta his or hers mouth (as we are off tangent) cant even remember what original post was.........................
Obviously it falls down with a rebreather, and with most loop hose lengths you couldn't breathe off it anyway.
There was a variant of the Mk16 which the US Navy used that had a spare loop which could be donated.
I don't like to dive CCR with OC buddies for that reason above but when I do then I have a long hose on my bailout which is always on (deco stages stay off), with the reg clipped off to a d-ring so it can be grabbed. It's still the only reg which is switched on and/or visible to the other diver.
Cheers,
Stuart