Well, that was a new one...

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Guba

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Experience, that is. I was diving the bottom of a pretty murky lake (vis was only about 2-3 feet) with a buddy, and the "mission" was to search for "treasure"...the cove is a popular party-boater destination and things get lost a lot (has something to do with the amount of alcohol in the water, I'm told). Anyway, we were cruising in a heads down trim in order to avoid stirring the silt when I suddenly had a blast of bubbles in my face. I was momentarily confused because it didn't appear to be a freeflow, then I saw my reg just below my mask. The mouthpiece was gone...well, rather the mouthpiece was still in my mouth; it had simply come off my reg. No biggie...I just switched my octo and we terminated the dive to make the repair.
I only mention this because it is one of the few times I've ever had to resort to an octo. Every once in a while here on SB, there is discussion of gear configurations and the term "fumbling for the octo" comes up, usually when folks talk about long hoses, necklaced octos and such. Question...does anyone actually "fumble" for their octo, or do we not know where to find it? Mine was right where it was supposed to be for my gear config...right upper quadrant on a quick pull attachment.
Still, an interesting incident for me.
 
Several issues here...
1) losing the mouthpiece - can be a real world disaster if the diver aspirates water before realizing what's happened. (a fouled exhaust valve can be almost as bad) I guess the moral of that story is to always be "suspicious" of every breath and ready to stop inhaling at the first hint of a wet one. And of course that pre-dive check of the retaining zip-tie is important.
2) fumbling for the Octopus. I can't count the number of divers I see whose octopus has come out of the quick release and is dangling free... should any of these divers need their octopus there may be a bit of a fumble finding it. I recommend going to the "secondary on a necklace" arrangement. The necklace should have a "breakaway" feature but be more robust than the average octopus retainer.
3) if you're ever faced with breathing from a regulator that's lost its mouthpiece don't fret. It's not a big deal at all - just stick the stub in your mouth and have at it.
Rick
 
As a divecon, I saw several students mouthpieces detach from their regs. For some, it was as simple to solve as it was for you, but I've seen others bolt without so much as reaching for their secondary.

As an instructor, I have students zip tie the mouthpiece on every session, even in the pool. I also drill them multiple times per session on reg switches until they can locate their secondary as surely as they can locate their own ass. It shouldn't be a big deal, but it can be if they aren't somewhat anal about the location of the secondary or aren't practiced at locating an deploying it.
 
As a divecon, I saw several students mouthpieces detach from their regs. For some, it was as simple to solve as it was for you, but I've seen others bolt without so much as reaching for their secondary.

As an instructor, I have students zip tie the mouthpiece on every session, even in the pool. I also drill them multiple times per session on reg switches until they can locate their secondary as surely as they can locate their own ass. It shouldn't be a big deal, but it can be if they aren't somewhat anal about the location of the secondary or aren't practiced at locating an deploying it.
Hi Dave....................what do you mean by Zip tie..........being the newbie that I am..............I dont know what you mean by that and being the freaK THAT I AM, I want to make sure I never have this problem..........thanks
 
Zip ties are the plastic straps that tighten when you feed one end through the little square box on the other end. They can make a "zipper-like" sound when being tightened. Also known as zap-straps or cable ties.

Cable tie - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
 
I buy a thousand at a time. It's the cheapest insurance against the stress of seeing students without regs at depth I can think of.

Diving rental gear for pool sessions, I've had regs drop out of mouthpieces several times. The first times, it actually took me a second to realize what had happened, but I never came close to aspirating water.


zip-ties.jpg
 
Wow, you mean your octo wasn't on a long hose and bungied around your neck and you LIVED!

-Charles
 
Wow, you mean your octo wasn't on a long hose and bungied around your neck and you LIVED!

-Charles

Fortunately, he wasn't diving split fins or the outcome would have been very different.
 
No no no, you've got it all wrong.

Because he was diving a BP/W, instead of an evil Jacket BCD, he was able to bladder breathe from the wing. That's what saved his life!
 

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