Practice reg retrievals at safety stop?

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

I had the tkno on my necklace come loose once. I was actually on a course when it happened. If I'd have contined to dive like that rather than doing a crude knot and getting on with it - would it have been my fault or the equipment configuration?

Some people for having a poor attention to detail doesn't mean the system is broken. It just means that someone isn't doing what they are meant to do.

I've also seen plenty of divers not clip off their primary when doing a shutdown drill. I suppose that if they struggle to find it afterwards then the system must be rubbish as well.
 
I think skills practice on a safety stop (and elsewhere) is an excellent idea. As for regulator retrieval, even if you never experience losing a regulator for any reason, it's still good practice in terms of remaining very familiar with your gear, how it moves and feels, and what's it like to work with it.
 
@HantsDiver that would have been your fault for tying an insufficient knot, or more likely, not flattening the ends when you burned it. Double fishermans knots don't come out if tied appropriately. I have one that is 8 years old and has been on ~2000 dives *and comes off after every dive, so it isn't static*, and it's still holding. Regs coming out of necklaces is not a common occurrence. Regs unintentionally coming out of octo holders are quite common
 
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.

How's that?

I have my backup on a bungee necklace and my primary on a 40" hose. The 40" hose goes from the 1st stage, under my right arm, and to my mouth. It's not long enough to route under my arm and around the back of my neck. If I spit it out, it will be hanging down somewhere just like a "traditional" octo that comes loose.

Are you saying I should be running the 40" hose over my right shoulder and around my neck to my mouth?
 
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.

A nugget of wisdom that I passed on to my son: use your safety stop to practice buddy breathing in an open water column. See if you can manage it for three minutes without your depth varying more than +/- 3 feet.

Really good way to hone some core skills during what would otherwise be a three minute wait.
 
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.

Not "fear of," but rather, why should there be a need to learn the skill in the first place when there is an alternative configuration that obviates the whole issue?
 
Not "fear of," but rather, why should there be a need to learn the skill in the first place when there is an alternative configuration that obviates the whole issue?

Good question - and I'm not sure I can give an answer. I don't think you will ever get everyone to use a long hose so whilst shorter hoses dominate the market the skill is needed. In an ideal world I'd agree that people should use a long hose and a necklace. I certainly do in my personal diving.
 
I would caution that everyone needs something stable to hold on to or have excellent mid-water buoyancy control before holding your breath, even for very a short time, at such a shallow depth. You see the maximum volume change per foot in that last 15' to the surface so embolism is a serious concern. Definitely not something you want to do with big swells.

Storing your octo is a really insignificant concern by comparison.
 
How's that?

I have my backup on a bungee necklace and my primary on a 40" hose. The 40" hose goes from the 1st stage, under my right arm, and to my mouth. It's not long enough to route under my arm and around the back of my neck. If I spit it out, it will be hanging down somewhere just like a "traditional" octo that comes loose.

Are you saying I should be running the 40" hose over my right shoulder and around my neck to my mouth?

no, you're routing it correctly. I'm saying that when you spit it out and it goes somewhere far away, you have a secondary around your neck so you don't need to do the nonsense they make us teach of blow bubbles then do the tank lift or arm sweep. You switch to your secondary, reach back to the first stage, OK the hose, and retrieve it. With the traditional octo, if the primary comes out, you have to go find one of them before you can start breathing. If that octo has come out, then you have no choice but to go find one of them and start breathing. If it hasn't come out, you still have to remove it and that takes a lot more time and effort than looking down and "ta-da" there's my secondary.

for our students that are renting gear with traditional reg configuration, you have two and a half options. Put your suicide strap on the primary which is on the short hose and breathe off of the "octo" as your primary, or ask the dive shop to swap the primary and secondary so you have the primary on the long hose. Hose routing isn't the best, but it's very similar to the old GUE short hose single tank routing. If they say no, travel with an adjustable wrench, swap them when you pick it up, swap them back when you drop it off
 
https://www.shearwater.com/products/teric/

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