Long hose routing

[TSandM]

I guess my big reaction is why bother? The routing behind the neck leaves the reg sitting comfortably in your mouth, and makes donation a snap. Further, it's easy to practice air-sharing that way, because restowing the hose is simple. If you stuff the hose under bungie, then once you have practiced deploying it, somebody ELSE has to help you stow it again.

People have this initial "eeewww" reaction to routing the hose behind the neck, but once you have tried it, you realize it sits quite naturally that way, and is very easy to donate and restow.

 

[JayJudge]

Ummm....I use bungees on the right tank (doubles) and I am left with a question on doing this. Going around your neck- what happens when the person comes from an angle of your left, and below-it pulls tighter on the neck, doesn't it? And before you say-we practice this, when on a boat/quarry/etc, an unknown diver swims up OOG, they have no idea except that your second stage works. Second- as for retucking- first, if you are practicing, your buddy is there anyway- you might as well use them- and I guess you are planning on finishing your dive after letting the OOG diver suck half your tanks down, and you aren't going to follow them out of the water to ensure they didn't embolise, get bent, talk to the diver about how to avoid this next time, and if necessary, write a report on your involvement in the accident. Now, both systems do work, both are used by cave divers, wreck divers, etc. I have no problem with either system, tried both, I like mine. So, to the OP, try a few different ways, find the one you are most comfortable with, and use it.
-J

 

[Jimmer]

Ummm....I use bungees on the right tank (doubles) and I am left with a question on doing this. Going around your neck- what happens when the person comes from an angle of your left, and below-it pulls tighter on the neck, doesn't it? And before you say-we practice this, when on a boat/quarry/etc, an unknown diver swims up OOG, they have no idea except that your second stage works. Second- as for retucking- first, if you are practicing, your buddy is there anyway- you might as well use them- and I guess you are planning on finishing your dive after letting the OOG diver suck half your tanks down, and you aren't going to follow them out of the water to ensure they didn't embolise, get bent, talk to the diver about how to avoid this next time, and if necessary, write a report on your involvement in the accident. Now, both systems do work, both are used by cave divers, wreck divers, etc. I have no problem with either system, tried both, I like mine. So, to the OP, try a few different ways, find the one you are most comfortable with, and use it.
-J

Why is the unknown diver coming to you, and not his buddy? Secondly dip your head and the hose goes over your head and gets freed, or roll to your right and it gets uncoiled (I've tried it, not fun but it works). As for restowing, what if you have deco obligations and you are switching to a deco bottle, yes you want your long hose restowed, and the around the head method is way easier and takes all of 5 seconds, and doesn't require a buddy stuffing it into some bungees.

 

[TSandM]

If somebody pulls on my regulator, no matter what direction they're coming from, it's coming out of my mouth and my head will dip and it will slide off. The only way it could get caught is if the person came from behind me and to my right, reached around in front of me, pulled the reg out and swam to my right. I think this is unlikely!

I can think of at least two or three reasons why bungieing the long hose is a PITA, and I can think of no reason why the standard routing is a PITA, so I will stick with the standard routing. I don't think very many people bungie, or teach that any more.

 

[JayJudge]

Why would a diver be coming to me out of air.....and not his buddy.....hmmm. The number one reason people run out of air (aside from technical diving) is not a catastrophic failure of the system- burst disc, tank O-ring, high pressure hose shearing, etc. It is strickly failure to look at a gauge. Its great when you and the rest of the DIR squad go play, but, in the non DIR world, we have a thing called beginning diver, or vacation diver. These are people that do not have the experience, or perhaps are just rusty, but do have a card that has let them get on the boat. Whether it is the boat I work on, or, one I am having a ride on. If they can't watch a gauge, do you really think they will have any idea where there buddy is? Or that their buddy has much more air? And before you go saying that they shouldn't be allowed on the boat, until there is an industry change, they will be there. Now, part of my personal reason for bungee tanks is this- I drop and pull anchor. Alone-yes-alone. The last thing I want is anything that can get caught on that anchor and pull me down/ remove my reg, etc. I know this is hard for DIR people to understand, but, you cannot always safely use a buddy. It is too easy to have them pulled off the line, miss the line, etc. At the point we pull or drop, there is no tag line, no granny lines, nothing. We are not truely on the wreck. We are coming to it or leaving it, and either way, there is a lot of nothing down there- open sand. And that means if you have 2 people yanked from the line, they can easily go 2 different directions, vis being one of the many reasons. Then, the boat has to find 2 people. Now, I tried to explain a different way to the original poster. I am really not trying to start a DIR war. As for the deco obligation- if I have just gotten someone who was OOG back to the boat, I really don't care too much about my long hose. I'll tuck it in the bungees on my hang (and yes I have done this) Then I am coming aboard to see how things are. Putting it back is really no different than putting away my Jersey upline, its just something you have to practice.
J

 

[TSandM]

JayJudge, can you describe to me the way in which a standardly wrapped long hose is an entanglement hazard for your anchor work? I'm not being argumentative, I'm actually curious. I cave dive, which is an environment in which entanglement is very easy to do, and all the cave divers I know dive a standard wrapped long hose. So I'm curious about what you see as the hazard there.

 

[Jimmer]

JayJudge, can you describe to me the way in which a standardly wrapped long hose is an entanglement hazard for your anchor work? I'm not being argumentative, I'm actually curious. I cave dive, which is an environment in which entanglement is very easy to do, and all the cave divers I know dive a standard wrapped long hose. So I'm curious about what you see as the hazard there.

Same with all the technical wreck penetration divers I know, they all use a "DIR" style of stowing the long hose, inside shipwrecks and it works for them. I also set the hook solo from time to time on our dive boat, and I see no reason where this style of stowing the long hose would pose a problem.

 

[JayJudge]

We use a Danforth anchor, we physically hold onto it (like in the cartoons), for the most part. The pull of currents, the resistance to the water at the beginning pluge all try to pull it away from you. The blades can catch on anything, and have- when I was learning, I watched a very experienced mate get it hooked under his harness. And I don't mean he had a lot of dives, I mean he had been doing that job for over 20 years. So, all of my hoses stay above my ribcage, everything as far from that anchor as is possible. . Now, like I said, this is a personal thing, it is a different way of doing things. Now, I know quite a few cave divers, and yes, I have learned much from them. However, there is not much monofiliment, nets, sharp jagged metal, nor steel leaders inside of the caves. Or are y'all doing something in there I don't know about. I will be honest, I don't dive caves, have no interest in them, there is nothing to take. I dive wrecks, and thats what I like. Therefore, I rig more the North Eastern style, complete with something that most cavers wouldn't dream of- goody bags. Certain cave things work in the ocean, certain don't. Most boats would have a problem if you come on without boots on steel tanks. the currents in a cave are predictable- I have seen multiple directions on decent/ascent, making the anchor chain look like a Z. As long as the system works well for you, use it.
-J

 

[TSandM]

Thank you. I can see how, if you were hugging an anchor to your chest, you would want that chest as free of anything as possible.

 

[Green_Manelishi]

GREEN MANELISHI DIVING/MY GEAR

Hose routing remains same with no stuffing, wrapping around knife, etc. This is used when I do not need a can-light (solo diving, in broad daylight, recovering lobster traps)