This is a very enlightening thread, that exploded with some interesting posts over the last 24 hours. It helps me, as an instructor, rethink how I do things, and what I should emphasize in training OW students. Personally, I find regulator recovery to be quite easy. But, then I practivce it a lot, every time I demonstrate it to OW studnets, when diving a 'conventional' regulator configuration. What this thread reminds me to do, in particular, is add emphasis and practice time to the tracing method. The sweep is easy, and relatively certain, IF the steps are properly performed (and they are frequently not), AND the second stage hose has not become looped back over the tank (which it occassionally does).
But, the thread also causes me to think about whether I should actively introduce all OW students to an alternate regulator configuration - long(er) primary hose and bungeed necklace alternate. I have not been doing that, but Maniago's comments, in fact, casue me to consider doing so.
I started diving a 'long primary hose, bungeed necklace alternate' configuration about a year after completing OW training. (I also moved to a BP/W configuration at the same time. I did (both) because I anticipated pursuing technical dive training in the future and wanted to begin preparing myself. But, what I found is that I very definitely prefer, for recreational diving, having my alternate second stage right below my mouth, where I can easily retrieve it, to address the exact situation that maniago found himself in. And, is it possible that your newbee-eyes have limited vision? Because, you DID go there - exactly there - albeit not because you were an unexpected donor, but because your regulator was knocked out of your mouth, and you could not find your primary or your alternate. That is not a criticism at all, in any way - you handled a difficult situation quite well, thought a lot about it afterward, solicited input, learned from it, etc, etc. But, because you suddenly found yourself without a second stage in your mouth, and your attempts to recover your primary second stage did not work, and you could not find your alternate, up you went. Is there a better way to avoid that? Here is a question:
As a newbee, what do YOU think would be the quickest, easiest way to retrieve a regulator to put back in your mouth, after your dive buddy has kicked it out?
1. Calmly lean (sharply) to your right, stick your right hand in front of you, elbow yourself in the ribs as you bring the arm back toward you, brush your butt with your right palm, stick your right arm out to the side and bring it forward, retrieve whatever hose(s) are captured in your elbow, and put the second stage in your mouth. (I am not being facetious with the terminology, by the way - that is actually how I teach it, for emphasis, to OW students 'elbow yourself', 'brush your butt', etc.)
2. Calmly take your left hand, lower it behind your back, find the bottom of the cylinder, push the cylinder up and to the right, reach over your shoulder with your right hand until you find the first stage, then trace one / two hoses from the first stage to a second stage, and put the second stage in your mouth.
3. Calmly take you right hand, reach immediately below your chin and retrieve the second stage resting there on a bungeed necklace, and put it in your mouth.
Ny point in asking the question is to encourage you, as a newbee, to not discard something because you are unfamiliar with it. You have thought through it, but have you really tried it? People with a lot more experience than you are saying, this is one possible solution - not the only one but definitely one of several. They have all been newbees at some point, don't assume they have forgotten what it is like. Some of them teach newbees regularly, don't assume they cannot relate. Don't assume something is way too complicated for a newbee, when in fact it may be a whole lot simpler and more straightforward than what you have been taught, simply because you have not tried it.
Having said that, your thoughts about practicing the tracing technique, etc., are spot on. And, yes, it would be great if OW training involved more time, and more dives. But, that isn't the reaility for what most people want in OW training, even if many of us, as instructors would welcome such a situation. So, consider your OW training as a license to begin learning how to dive, practice the skills that you began to develop (but, like the majority of OW students, probably didn't master the way you would have liked to), and be open to doing things differently than the way you were taught.
. Ahhh though, please, I'm not dissing anyone else who has posted - all are good and enlightening. I just thought that these comments were a great encapsulation of what's been bantered around, and wanted to acknowledge the effort to post. 
