Keep your hoses to yourself!

[Progen]

but I probably disagree with Progen and others who say that an instructor must always have the octo secured or a bad example is set. ...

But my original post wasn't about instructor and student situations. It was about the 'professionals' in dive magazines in full glory with all manner unsecured or overly long hoses.

 

[gcarter]

But my original post wasn't about instructor and student situations. It was about the 'professionals' in dive magazines in full glory with all manner unsecured or overly long hoses.

This I agree with. Regardless the merits in a training situation - which is a different debate IMO, although I personally don't see it - I shake my head at the number of times I see photos or videos demonstrating this or that where the octo and console are both floating free.

I was on a boat doing an 80 FSW wreck dive last summer where I was called a christmas tree diver by one of the DMs. Clipped to my BCD were a small Intova dive light and a DSMB. They were properly secured and not dangling. No fiddly gadgets or doo-dads. My octo and console were properly secured and close to my body.

Every DM in the water that dive (3) had an unsecured octo and 1 had an unsecured console. I tend not to see too much of this locally (lots of tech and wreck divers), but I do see it and I don't get it.

 

[Progen]

... where the octo and console are both floating free.

...

Maybe they were trying the outrigger theory for more stable trimming?

 

[RJP]

What does a dangling octo/SPG has to do with knocking into the coral reef? That sounds like a depth control problem than danglies problem. If your danglies are, say, on a 36" hose (or whatever length), and you stay 5-ft above the reef, what are these things going to hit?


[/COLOR]

My experience tends to tell me there is a fairly high correlation between dangling gear and poor buoyancy control. (As Andy points out above, a sloppy approach in one area of diving...)

Plus, even with good buoyancy control why would anyone want to stay "five feet above the reef" when seeing some of the really cool stuff requires being within 6-12" above it!

 

[Quero]

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[Progen]

Ok, it's all my fault for broaching this topic. And I haven't even really done any serious diving yet. Imagine all the trouble I'll cause after I've had a few hundred dives under my belt.

 

[RJP]

Ok, it's all my fault for broaching this topic. And I haven't even really done any serious diving yet. Imagine all the trouble I'll cause after I've had a few hundred dives under my belt.

Could have been worse. Imagine if you had asked why a transfilled tank heats up?

:d

 

[Progen]

Could have been worse. Imagine if you had asked why a transfilled tank heats up?

:d

Ok, I've started a new thread called 'Why does a transfilled tank heat up?'.

 

[RJP]

Ok, I've started a new thread called 'Why does a transfilled tank heat up?'.

It's like deja vu all over again!

 

[TSandM]

Progen, I'm with you. I'm so used to photographs of technical or cave divers (or their equivalent in OW) that a picture of the standard setup, with the hoses making huge loops everywhere, makes me wince a little. And unsecured consoles make me crazy. Why doesn't everybody want their setup to be neat and tidy?

(BTW, we put our money where our mouths are -- the shop we teach for doesn't secure the consoles on their regulators, and Peter and I have bought clips to do it with. And we require our OW students to buy retractors so that we can at least keep the consoles from dragging.)