Done DM Gear Exchange!

[AliKat]

Congrats. That drill took me 7 trys on 2 nights to finally get it.

I wasn't sure what the purpose either until I had finally completed it. Its a real confidence builder. It's not likely you will ever switch gear just for fun, but I know now if a diver rips my mask off, or the reg out my mouth, I'll be OK.

 

[Snowbear]

Just curious, what is the reasoning behind changing gear? I have not heard of this before.

Supposed to be a problem-solving exercise.

Mine was with a panicy buddy who kept bolting to the surface. I dragged her to a pool for some practice and we worked out a signal where if she needed an extra breath, just let me know.

She's a lot smaller than me and was using a "women's" BC. For the pool I was using an ancient Dacor (with the CO2 cartridge disabled) that is even too big for me. Even with a wetsuit, I use no weight in the pool. She uses 6#. We kinda cheated and I took a weightbelt for the exchange It was interesting, but fun.

 

[Firefyter]

It amazes me how much things have changed since I was certified in the 80's. We did this in our open water class when I was first certified, our instructor thought that drills like this would help make us more comfortable in the water, thus making it easier to fix most problems that could arise, rather than bolting for the surface. This wasn't the only drill, but it was one I definitely remember as being confidence building and comforting at the same time.

 

[MaxBottomtime]

Weren't you buddy-breathing for this exercise?

Up until the time we each had each other's gear under control. He left with mine while I was putting on his weights. I already had his tanks and fins on.

 

[DivemasterSteve]

Just curious, what is the reasoning behind changing gear? I have not heard of this before.

its to see how well you can handle difficult situations. my buddy and i had already practiced this until we had it down with no problems. we knew each other very well, dove with each other all the time and knew we wouldnt have ANY problems with it at all until our instructor threw a twist in our plans. another instructor in the shop had 2 students going through the same thing so they got together and made us switch buddies. we did get lucky though, the other 2 guys were good also so none of us had any problems.

verona... congrats on getting it done.

steve

 

[pt40fathoms]

When I did my DM course, one of the fellow students was a heavy smoker. We used his reg for the buddy breathing...KAACKKK. I was amazed at how bad that reg tasted, and considering that this smoke residue was coming out of his lungs well after his last cigarette, I was even more surprised!

We did it, but it was NOT pretty.

 

[Zaphod]

Try it with two instructors trying to steal your equipment while you're making the exchange. They were trying to take anything that we weren't hanging onto (i.e. when we put something on the bottom of the pool). They told us that they were simulating a current that might grab equipment not secured. We did just fine after we figured out what the game was.

 

[verona]

Its a real confidence builder. It's not likely you will ever switch gear just for fun, but I know now if a diver rips my mask off, or the reg out my mouth, I'll be OK.

Yes, this was the main thing for me. It's like it takes you onto another level of confidence. I felt a bit the same after Rescue Course, particularly after I had done a 20 minute search dive for a "missing" diver, with me leading another diver. That was the first time i had been out without either a DM or instructor.

And now with the gear exchange, it's kind of the same feeling. But this was more challenging than the Rescue dive. Even in only a few feet of the pool, there were moments when our breathing went out of sync and I thought I was going to burst. Had a couple of times when I nearly yanked reg from my buddy's mouth. :1poke: And I sure got expert in purging the reg and gasping into it before it was even in my mouth! Absolutely no breath left to clear by blowing!!

 

[Albion]

Before i had learnt to dive i went to a dive club annual party with a friend. They announced that there would be a kind of compettition with three competitors, one of whoom i had helped mix margaritas (and a fair bit of sampling by the pari of us as well, need to check the mix dont you know). anyway we all got to place bets on who would win, without knowing the task. I though this guy seemed pretty cool as we had some good mixing between us so put my money on him.

The task was to jump into swimming pool wearing swimwear & mask and clutching tank with reg in their mouthes, with the rest of their gear scattered about the pool, first one to exit fully geared up won and whoever bet on them shared the pot of money. needless to say i learnt first hand that alcohol (particularly Tequlia) and diving dont mix. The other two competitors emerged after a few minutes in their gear, my tequila mate emerged shortly afterwards wearing the same gear he jumped in with, he managed a grin and quote 'man where did they hide my stuff'