Secondary reg bungee'd around neck?

[ScubaSteve2000]

Here's my .02. First I applaud all those that practise OOA drills on a regular basis. We all should and I will with my next dive (this weekend).

That being said, A couple of weeks ago I ran into an instructor friend of mine at the local dive spot. He had a student with him and asked me to buddy up with his student for OOA drills. I hadn't practiced OOA since getting certified and my octo was clipped to my right hip with a standard length hose. When I donated the octo I had to get almost mask to mask with the other diver to keep from pulling it out of his mouth on ascent. This was mainly due to the fact that when I pulled the octo off the clip, the hose was routed under my arm. That used up most of the hose length. When we surfaced, the reg did pop out of his mouth (or he spit it out) and now I'm somewhat frantically sweeping back to find it in case he needed it back.

I had been thinking about bungeeing my octo for a while and this convinced me. I have to admit that the OOA drill left me a little shaken. I didn't like how short the octo hose seemed. Yes, if I'd routed the hose over my shoulder it would have been longer, but I didn't. And I might not be able to in a real situation. I didn't like being nose to nose with the other diver on ascent. I can't imagine trying to swim like that. This was the best possible scenario: a controlled situation with an instructor within arm's reach.

That evening I fashioned a "bungee" using surgical tubing and the next day I ordered a 5' long hose.

Last weekend, something happened that made me glad that I'd at least bungee'd my octo. I was diving with two buddies. We surfaced after the dive and were talking about whether to surface swim back to shore or descend and follow the contour. One of my buddies pointed out a speed boat that was quickly closing in on us. We descended immediately but my problem was that I had let my primary get away from me on the surface and had trouble finding it in all the rush to avoid being run over. Not to worry, I popped in my octo and switched back to my primary after we joined up at the bottom.

Sorry about the wordy comments but I really believe in the bungee'd octo and I have a couple of personal experiences that bear it out. All the what-if's and how-abouts aside, it works for me. and it works well.

 

[MBH]

OK, devil's advocate here.

Supppppooooosssseee, you're diving your 7 foot rig w/ bungie octo, cruising along when out of nowhere a panicked OOA diver comes over your shoulder and grabs your primary from your mouth. (For the DIR crowd, who always have a team member around, just a millisecond before this everyone turns and says "Cool, a whale shark" into their reg, you're on your own) Everything is fine except that the panicked diver grabbed the hose from your bungied second while frantically grabbing your primary, disconnecting your secondary from the bungie. Now our panicked diver starts heading for the surface, swimming like Mark Spitz, causing your now unbungied second, on the short hose, to hang itself on your tank, behind you, as you are dragged to the surface. You try to "reel the panicked diver in" but he's now 7 feet above you, holding your 7 foot hose with both hands and since he's 7 feet away from you his fins are exactly even with your face so he's kicking your mask off. You haven't had a breath in a while, what now?

I, on the other hand, am 40 inches away. I reach for my always secured octo, then my knife and thank God this is a shark dive.

Only kidding about the knife, maybe???

The guys that I dive with would most likely notice all the commotion- me getting mugged for my reg and my light beam going all fugazi. In all honesty I firmly believe that the people that I choose to dive with would be doing everything in their power to get a reg into my mouth as quickly as possible and I've seen some lighting quick donations while task loaded. I'd expect the rest of the team to assist in getting the whole CF under control.

 

[dumpsterDiver]

I didn't read all the posts, but another SIGNIFICANT benefit of having the safe second bungied around the neck is that it is nearly impossible to fail to notice a free flow.

All the good divers I know descend head first. If the octo is freeflowing and blowing bubbles over your waist and legs (i.e., clipped in the triangle) it is very easy to over look especially if you have a thick suit and hood on and are working to swim down or are pulling yourself down an anchor line. Also freeflows often start upon entry or descent and you can loose a lot of air on descent if you are not paying attention.

I went to the bungied back up a few years ago after witnessing people having trouble with deploying from the triangle. When I used to use that method, I had the regulator very securely clipped with a fastex clip, but used a rubber band break away that would allow it to be ripped off (rather than unclipped) in a real emergency. So many of the "store bought" second stage attachements are mickey mouse and the reg falls out way too easily making more of a hazard.

 

[rjpv]

Thanks, great thread!!

 

[Age]

Thanks, great thread!!

You are not kidding, and it convinced me to convert to the D side (Dark side? DIR?, not sure which) side of diving. My instructor is tech trained and he's delighted. trouble is that he has shipped long hose, bungees etc. to my home and he expects ME to set it up. HEEEELLLPPP!

 

[MikeFerrara]

OK, devil's advocate here.

Supppppooooosssseee, you're diving your 7 foot rig w/ bungie octo, cruising along when out of nowhere a panicked OOA diver comes over your shoulder and grabs your primary from your mouth. (For the DIR crowd, who always have a team member around, just a millisecond before this everyone turns and says "Cool, a whale shark" into their reg, you're on your own) Everything is fine except that the panicked diver grabbed the hose from your bungied second while frantically grabbing your primary, disconnecting your secondary from the bungie. Now our panicked diver starts heading for the surface, swimming like Mark Spitz, causing your now unbungied second, on the short hose, to hang itself on your tank, behind you, as you are dragged to the surface. You try to "reel the panicked diver in" but he's now 7 feet above you, holding your 7 foot hose with both hands and since he's 7 feet away from you his fins are exactly even with your face so he's kicking your mask off. You haven't had a breath in a while, what now?

I, on the other hand, am 40 inches away. I reach for my always secured octo, then my knife and thank God this is a shark dive.

Only kidding about the knife, maybe???

Have you ever seen or even heard of anything like that happening? I've never seen a diver with the persence of mind to grab a reg panic and bolt. All the paniced divers that I've seen bolt rejected everything including their own reg.

 

[TSandM]

Age, installing a 7' hose on your primary regulator is as easy as using a wrench to unscrew the existing hose from first stage and second stage, and screwing in the new, longer one.

You can then put the backup second stage on your short hose, and if you do a search on "necklace", you'll find several threads with photographs of necklace setups and instructions on how to tie fisherman's knots. It's the work of a half hour at most.

 

[bubba105]

Have you ever seen or even heard of anything like that happening? I've never seen a diver with the persence of mind to grab a reg panic and bolt. All the paniced divers that I've seen bolt rejected everything including their own reg.

I was just having a little fun, making people think. I like the idea of cutting the hose, that would work.

Mike, You're exactly right, I've never seen anyone who was bolting for the surface do anything but bolt. I have to admit, the only panicked, bolting divers I've been involved with were doing checkout dives. Air wasn't the issue. An OOA or low on air diver who is not panicking, asks me for air, I give them my octo. The dive is over. The OOA diver then positions his/herself on my right side, above me, holding my first stage, like was taught in OW class. The only thing I have against the 7' hose is that as I swim this person has to swim at the same rate as me without holding on to anything. It's hard enough to swim with a monkey on my back but to have this person free swimming, things could get ugly in short order unless their buoyancy and swim rate match mine. The DMs in Cozumel have gone to 7' yellow octo hoses so air hogs can suck on their tank, allowing the rest of us to continue the dive. The air hog always has one hand on the hose next to the reg to keep it from being pulled from their mouth. As the DM swims there is a continuous bungie effect of the hose stretching full length, the air hog swimming to catch up, the DM looking back to make sure he's still got his air hog. It would be comical if it weren't at 60', but it is so it isn't. If you're diving with good divers, team members so to speak, then you can expect the OOA diver, who is OOA because of some catastrophic failure, to match your pace. In this case a 7' hose works. I do a lot of vacation diving, I'm very good on air and the people I dive with know it. Some of the air hogs think of me as a pony bottle, once. I've bailed out a few divers who show me their gauge reading 300 psi at 50' or so, I've got 1800. I empty both BCD's and I control our ascent. You get bailed out like that once, read the riot act on the boat and paying attention becomes part of your dive. Most times we never see that diver again. Short hoses work well in these situations. If I had friends interested in DIR I would go the way of the 7' hose but that's not the case. We're vacation divers, the bride & myself, good divers but vacation divers, traveling the world with 20+ friends on every trip, having fun while being safe. My job dictates safety, which I carry over to my diving.

 

[bubba105]

The guys that I dive with would most likely notice all the commotion- me getting mugged for my reg and my light beam going all fugazi. In all honesty I firmly believe that the people that I choose to dive with would be doing everything in their power to get a reg into my mouth as quickly as possible and I've seen some lighting quick donations while task loaded. I'd expect the rest of the team to assist in getting the whole CF under control.

I added the whale shark in for a distraction. Picture your friends saying "A whale shark. We're in a freakin' quarry, how'd a whale shark get in a quarry?" while you flail to the surface. Just joking of course. Your team would be at your side in an instant. The same as the people I dive with would do for me, or I wouldn't be diving with them. We always have a core of good divers on every boat, ready to assist. We may not call it a team but if I didn't think we could handle any situation that arose, I'd call a big TIME OUT before we got onto that boat. Vacation diving, we always have newer divers in the group, buddied with good divers. Some people don't want to be involved with new divers but I enjoy helping new divers become good divers. I guess like giving something back.

Something not mentioned too much around here. You exhale, attempt to take another breathe and get nothing. When an OOA diver approaches you, you should purge your reg as they come in because they may not have enough air to blow the water out of their mouth. Purging will blow the water out of their mouth, allowing them to breathe easy. The next time you practice an OOA drill, try it with empty lungs as would happen if the next breath wasn't there. Realizing the purge is there could keep you from taking a lung full of water, which might have a negative effect on your otherwise calm demeanor. You can also overcome this by breathing very slowly, allowing a little air in so you can expel the water from your mouth. Probably not easy when you're dying for a breath.

 

[VooDooGasMan]

hey age you can google GUE configureation, it will tell prety much all you need, and pictures.


bubba love you story, yes that can happen, I will always have my air 2 cause of that reason, but remember, at seven feet you can put your feet on him and pull that hose loose, swim down while pulling reg to mouth, more than likely the diver will go to the surface.