Done DM Gear Exchange!

[verona]

Woo hoo! And I guess I feel a sense of achievement. Instructor sprang this on us last night. We thought we were just there to assist in OW session but no it was ... let's do your gear exchange.

Panic.

We had a first practice, lasted a minute and had to surface as our breathing was out of sync. Had another practice, then remembered we both wore contact lenses and hadn't discussed what to do when it came to masks. Came up, discussed it and agreed a strategy. Then we did it for real with the instructor watching. It wasn't the prettiest or most artistic exchange in the world but we did it! And I'm feeling pretty good about it.

Buddy and I did have a kind of plan but it went kind of awry. Main thing is to keep breathing right and the rest can follow. We exchanged everything bar wetsuits - so weightbelts came off too. Left masks till the end and sacrificed our contact lenses so we could see what was going on.

Overall, it was a challenging but rewarding exercise. Skills assessment coming up soon. Will keep you posted.

 

[jeadiver]

Congratualtions! Don't you just love surprises? Of course with new divers, you will have lots of surprises come your way. :yelclap:

 

[H2Andy]

good job!

 

[Diver0001]

Woo hoo! And I guess I feel a sense of achievement. Instructor sprang this on us last night. We thought we were just there to assist in OW session but no it was ... let's do your gear exchange.

Panic.

We had a first practice, lasted a minute and had to surface as our breathing was out of sync. Had another practice, then remembered we both wore contact lenses and hadn't discussed what to do when it came to masks. Came up, discussed it and agreed a strategy. Then we did it for real with the instructor watching. It wasn't the prettiest or most artistic exchange in the world but we did it! And I'm feeling pretty good about it.

Buddy and I did have a kind of plan but it went kind of awry. Main thing is to keep breathing right and the rest can follow. We exchanged everything bar wetsuits - so weightbelts came off too. Left masks till the end and sacrificed our contact lenses so we could see what was going on.

Overall, it was a challenging but rewarding exercise. Skills assessment coming up soon. Will keep you posted.

Pfff.... you didn't need to exchange wetsuits..... bunch of slackers......probably didn't need to do it naked and neutrally buoyant in freezing water either........ LOL just kidding).

Congratulations. I've done this exercise several times with various people. What really amazed me is how much easier it is with the longhose. For me this was the thing that convinced me more than anything else that the longhose is *the* solution for sharing air.

R..

 

[Bluefish]

Congrats! I'll be doing that soon as well. Probably sooner than I think--like you....

 

[verona]

What really amazed me is how much easier it is with the longhose. For me this was the thing that convinced me more than anything else that the longhose is *the* solution for sharing air. R..

We didn't have real long hose but we did use an octopus rather than primary reg as it was longer. Did make a difference giving us a bit more space to move than the first effort. Also started with each other's gear on as it is easier to take off unfamiliar gear and put your own on than the other way round. At least that was what we figured.

 

[Juls64]

We do ours tonight. I wish it was a surprise as I have been so wound up all day in anticipation. One good part is we will be prepared to remove contacts ahead of time.

Again, Congrats!

Juls

 

[MaxBottomtime]

I wasn't surprised when I did mine, only surprised by the gear I had to get into. We were in a VERY heated pool. I was wearing swim trunks, a rental BC with a steel 72 and five pounds of lead. Our instructor made me exchange gear with my buddy Tim, who had just arrived from a dive in Redondo canyon. He put my gear on and was out of the pool in a minute or so. I put on his ss backplate, twin 120s, 26 pound weightbelt and Jetfins. I had to walk into the shallow end of the pool just to get out. It amazed me how negative all that gear can be without a wetsuit or drysuit.

 

[Juls64]

He put my gear on and was out of the pool in a minute or so.

Weren't you buddy-breathing for this exercise?

 

[frankster1138]

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