Give up my primary regulator???
- Thread starter Waterwulf
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Another way to view this is that you were not looking for a necklaced reg because you simply were not aware to look. It is wild the stuff that we as humans see everyday but place no value on until it affects us. This is common with cars too, you will not see a single white Ford Fusion on your daily commute, until you buy one, then every other car will be a dang white Ford Fusion. I was on a boat this weekend diving with a bunch of spearos and a few rec groups mixed in, I can almost guarantee you that the rec divers that were on the boat would not say "Hey over half of those guys with spearguns had regs hanging around their neck." It is simply not something you are trained to look for or notice. Unlike the 19cf bail out bottles strapped to the single tanks on our back, the regs do not scream "LOOK AT ME".
This is precisely the reason for using a necklace octopus and donating your primary. There is no rubber holder gripping the mouthpiece, You know where it is at all times. If it ever leaked or freeflowed you would know immediately. It won't come loose and drag in the sand. It takes a second or two to get it into your mouth. It's such a simple solution yet so many won't even consider the option because it's not the way they were taught.
Amen.
There is a general reluctance on the part of the larger recreational diving community to reject anything "techy" out of hand. Like BP/W, primary donate, etc... But many procedures and gear configurations adopted by the tech community are perfectly applicable to recreational diving. They are usually developed after a long analysis of failure modes, accidents, and just thinking about the best way to do things. Not just accepting that something is the best approach because it was the way that they were taught.
Bob DBF
Contributor
On the part of dive shop instructors, owners, etc., it is because they don't sell the gear and lose the commission/profit on the gear they sell.
Divers are comfortable with what they are trained on and are experienced with. I am careful with changes to my kit because I know it well now. Let's face it, in an emergency, reaching for a piece of gear you have moved can be an issue. And some divers have a lower threshold of emergency than others.
In my case, I am more comfortable in changing gear because, during the time I've been diving, gear and procedures have changed a lot, so I am more open to try a new, possibly better, configuration. A BP/W was a no brainer because I started on a BP and no BC. The bungeed backup just made sense and works great. The long hose took a few trys, the 7' and 5' did not work well because I use a snorkel extensively, so I moved to one around 40" and it works well for me. This all took time because I needed to use the configuration a while in order to make a valid test and to see if technique could overcome any issues I found.
The point is change may be good, however your muscle memory may no longer help you. If your skill level and watermanship skills are not very good it can become a dangerous situation. Inexperienced divers, I believe, on some level are aware of this and are not likely to try changes until they gain more confidence in their diving skills, and by that time they may believe their configuration is the best ever.
Bob
Yeah, I see. But I guess the bottom line is that if divers - new or old, experienced or inexperienced - are only going to do what they were trained to do, then why are we bothering to discuss this stuff here? One of the points of having this forum is for people to share ideas and improve their diving.
Bob DBF
Contributor
First is that we are not diving now, so... Second, there are people that will listen, learn and possibly try the configuration and change. Baby steps. Twenty years or so from now BP/W and long hose with bungeed backup may be the standard.
I have a couple of buddys that changed their rig because I have spare gear and let them try it out on dives. It was easier for them because they didn't have to buy any new gear in order to try, although they did buy the gear later.
Bob
I think Bob makes a good point, actually several good points.
1. I do not see many shops (nor, frankly, many instructors) doing a particularly good job of actively considering new approaches to procedures / techniques / configurations, etc. They do a better job of promoting new gear, whether it represents an advance in utility or performance, or not. They wait for, and even then are too often dragged kicking and screaming into, changes in agency training standards. There are exceptions, absolutely. But, those are just that - exceptional, and relatively uncommon, situations. And (understandably from a financial perspective, I admit) shops not infrequently hire younger, less experienced (and less expensive) divers as retail staff, and these are the individuals least likely to understand the significance and substance of changes. They simply don't have the length and breadth of experience to recognize genuine and positive change, and distinguish substantive evolution from new glitz.
2. Divers really have VERY limited resources available to them after certification for continued growth and development, except possibly if they pursue additional training (and even then, there is no guarantee of quality). SB, and similar sites, are actually one of the few resources widely available to divers. And, I know far too many instructors and shop owners who openly proclaim that they discourage their students / customers from going on SB, because 'there's too much politics'. I don't know what 'politics' they are talking about. Divergent - and strongly held, in some cases - opinions? Yes. Politics? Not really. Actually, what I suspect those instructors and owners are worried about is that their students / customers might pick up new ideas and begin to question some of the things that their instructor / shop has told them, and gear they have sold them.
So, the dive community very much needs venues like SB, in order to see this 'stuff' being discussed (and participate in those discussions), because divers are not going to get it from the majority of shops and instructors out there.
I say this as a person who supports local dive shops, who encourages divers to use local shops, and who staffs / instructs through a local shop. I am definitely not a LDS 'basher'. But, I sincerely believe that many shops (including my own) could be doing a MUCH BETTER JOB than they are doing.
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