Practice reg retrievals at safety stop?

[txgoose]

As my family continues with our diving quest, and as I am wanting to push them towards more competency and comfort under the water, are there any reasons to not practice a regulator retrieval or two during safety stops? As long as everyone keeps exhaling and blowing bubbles during the drills I assume off gassing is covered. With the line as a guide, it also seems like a good place to practice maintenance of neutral buoyancy during some task loading (with the benefit of not being around anything fragile we can harm).

Good, bad, indifferent? I would really prefer reg retrieval to be a non-event if it were ever to arise as an event)

Practicing SMB deployment on our next dive.

 

[tbone1004]

no reason not to, though i would argue that with proper hose routing you should never be in a situation wher eyou need to retrieve it....

i.e. with a bungeed secondary, that should never go anywhere, and if the primary is on a 40" hose, it should just fall right in front of you if you spit it out. My personal preference for a 7' hose removes that as well since you spit it out and it doesn't go anywhere

 

[northernone]

To me, safety stops are a great place to enjoy relaxed skills practice.

 

[txgoose]

no reason not to, though i would argue that with proper hose routing you should never be in a situation wher eyou need to retrieve it....

i.e. with a bungeed secondary, that should never go anywhere, and if the primary is on a 40" hose, it should just fall right in front of you if you spit it out. My personal preference for a 7' hose removes that as well since you spit it out and it doesn't go anywhere

I am not sure that I understand. To me reg retrieval generally means you or something or someone accidentally knocked it out of your mouth. If it is three inches away or hanging at your side, we should be comfortable finding it and getting it back in our mouths, right? Why would we ever not practice getting our reg back? I am still way new, not calling you out, I just don't get your angle on not practicing.

 

[tbone1004]

I am not sure that I understand. To me reg retrieval generally means you or something or someone accidentally knocked it out of your mouth. If it is three inches away or hanging at your side, we should be comfortable finding it and getting it back in our mouths, right? Why would we ever not practice getting our reg back? I am still way new, not calling you out, I just don't get your angle on not practicing.

with a primary donate type system, you typically switch back and forth between the regs at least once during the dive to verify function of the secondary. I usually do it on descent, so I will have my primary clipped off *or more normally just hanging from my neck when I'm lazy* and then breathe off of my secondary, then switch back.

I read the start of the thread and title as the "tank lift" and "arm sweep" reg retrievals that are only useful with the golden triangle abomination of a regulator setup.

 

[txgoose]

I read the start of the thread and title as the "tank lift" and "arm sweep" reg retrievals that are only useful with the golden triangle abomination of a regulator setup.

You are correct. My family will be on the abomination systems for some time as rec divers that will be renting.

 

[Lorenzoid]

Having to concern myself with that skill learned in OW class of "reg retrieval" is one of the things that motivated me to move to a long-hose-and-necklace configuration.

 

[Dave Bevan]

I tend to err towards turning at 1/3 gas (usually 120Bar on Single) which is good practice and then carrying out all my stops.

Then I use my reserve for practicing skills near the exit on the basis that if there is a problem I can ascend normally. Builds the idea of a solid reserve for a gas sharing event whilst maximising time in water and safely carrying out all stops. But it depends what type of diving you are doing.

 

[HantsDiver]

Having to concern myself with that skill learned in OW class of "reg retrieval" is one of the things that motivated me to move to a long-hose-and-necklace configuration.

Being pragmatic. If you are diving with a traditional recreational set up and you lose your reg you can easily get to your alternate and really should know where it is.

There are some solid reasons for using a long hose and a necklace. I'm not convinced that the fear of not being able to retrieve a primary regulator is one of them.

 

[tbone1004]

Being pragmatic. If you are diving with a traditional recreational set up and you lose your reg you can easily get to your alternate and really should know where it is.

There are some solid reasons for using a long hose and a necklace. I'm not convinced that the fear of not being able to retrieve a primary regulator is one of them.

tell that to all of the dangling secondaries that I've seen trailing behind people. Yeah, those are super easy to retrieve....