Air Sharing/ S drills in sidemount

Question...

In my normal single tank setup I have a bungee necklace for my octo, I have the reg zip tied so that its impossible for the reg to come out of the bungee necklace. I have a long hose hog looped for my primary reg. My buddy has the ok, if he needs air just to grab the primary out of my mouth if he needs air.

On my sidemount rig, I have a short hose on the tank on my left side coming around my neck and to a bungeed necklace, also zip tied to the necklace. On the right side I have a 7 foot hose with the extra tucked into tank bungees, it comes around my neck also and is either in my mouth or clipped off on a shoulder d ring when I'm breathing off the other tank.

I can see an OOA emergency or S drill not being a problem if I'm breathing off the tank with the long hose, the problem I see is what if I need to share air while I'm breathing off the left side tank. If my buddy suddenly needs air and had to grab for a reg, the one in my mouth would be on the necklace and a very short hose, the right hand tank reg would be inconveniently clipped off to the d ring. In a low or no vis situation in an overhead that might make it even impossible to find for him.

Should I remove the zip tie on the necklace so the short hose can break away so he can grab the one in my mouth and then we can deal with unclipping the long hose while he suckles on the short hose and I hold my breath?

I guess I'm asking how you guys handle air sharing or OOA's with a clipped off primary (long) hose?

There's been a fair amount of discussion of this as sidemount has become more popular. One solution is to have some type of beak-away connection for the bolt snap on the long hose, such as this one or an O-ring or zip tie. I don't like the idea of permantly attaching my back-up reg to the necklace--I want it to slip out with a tug, whether in back or side mount. (If you're not diving in mixed teams, donation isn't really an issue.)

I'm a sidemount convert from backmount.& no expert.
My left hose is short, necklaced around my neck.
I donate the long right hose, either from my mouth or from D-ring
My right hose is 7ft long, & attached to a bolt clip via brake away oring.
I still dive with back mount wreck divers.

Mike D

My 7 foot right tank hose is zip tied to the snap for break away ease.

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The air sharing issue can be addressed by always using your short hose cylinder first. Breathing it to thirds. Then the Second cylinder with the long hose, breathing it to thirds. That way at the turn point, you still have 2/3 in both cylinders. Switching back at the turn to your short hose cylinder insures that both you and the buddy will have sufficient gas to exit.

The ideal way is not to dive with buddies that will just grab a reg out of your mouth. Dive with people who manage their air supply and IF they should run out for some reason will have the presence of mind to ask for air. This is why I don't even teach "regulator take" in the open water class. An OOA or LOA diver should ask for your help. If they are capable of mugging you for a reg better find a new buddy or get better training for the one you have.

Jim Lapenta:

The ideal way is not to dive with buddies that will just grab a reg out of your mouth. Dive with people who manage their air supply and IF they should run out for some reason will have the presence of mind to ask for air. This is why I don't even teach "regulator take" in the open water class. An OOA or LOA diver should ask for your help. If they are capable of mugging you for a reg better find a new buddy or get better training for the one you have.

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It's all well and good to do it that way when you can, but it won't work for every situation. During a zero viz touch contact exit, there may be no way to signal out of air other than just grabbing the reg. And when diving with any buddy (at least in singles, this is only my third sidemount dive) I always told them if they need air, go for the one in my mouth" no matter how experienced they are. If they have the time to ask for it, all the better, but when diving with me it's not a requirement.

A panicky diver is probably going to grab for that one anyway. Might as well be willing to let them have it when they need it.

SWAMPY459:

It's all well and good to do it that way when you can, but it won't work for every situation. During a zero viz touch contact exit, there may be no way to signal out of air other than just grabbing the reg. And when diving with any buddy (at least in singles, this is only my third sidemount dive) I always told them if they need air, go for the one in my mouth" no matter how experienced they are. If they have the time to ask for it, all the better, but when diving with me it's not a requirement.

A panicky diver is probably going to grab for that one anyway. Might as well be willing to let them have it when they need it.

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I assume by "zero viz touch contact exit" you are referring to cave or wreck penetration, otherwise why not just go up and get out of the zero viz?

As for overhead:
1. there are protocols taught for OOG in zero viz to cover that
2. what are you doing in an overhead with a panicky diver?

nimoh:

2. what are you doing in an overhead with a panicky diver?

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I presume you will be cool,calm and collected when one breath away from eternity?

I like the zip-tie idea for the long hose bolt snap, so that both regulators have breakaway connections in a stress situation.

Hopefully, you already manage your gas and breathe your cylinders down evenly, as DogDiver recommends. It's critical in sidemount that you never end up with either regulator unusable due to having too little gas in the cylinder.

I won't even mention the sidemount system that makes your question a non-issue. I get enough flak as it is.