A question from an 11 year old.

[Splitlip]

When I taught my young kids to dive, they were taught to carry and use a 6 cu-ft pony bottle. The weight is negligible as is the drag and I would like you to expalin to a 11 yr old why he doesn't have to use a pony...

Yah know. My Dad was 11th Airborne. He may have had to jump below 500 at times, but that aside, he carried a reserve. I jumped out of a few aircraft myself. If I knew I was doing it, I took two parchutes (not two pair o' suits). Every skydiver I know jumps with a (redundant)bailout chute.

 

[oreocookie]

"Tout le Monde sont tous fous." Close? (not sure if "tout" is singular or plural. In any event, I am tip toeing backwards quietly out of the room.)

XS, help us Man. I'm struggling with my HS French and the Italian I learned from my mom. "French are very (f'ing) nuts", n'est-ce pas? That came out wrong. I was asking about the translation.

I can give you a couple of options:
Tout le monde est fou. (Everybody's crazy) or...
Nous sommes tous fou. (we're all crazy)... depending on whether you consider yourself crazy as well or not.

 

[Splitlip]

So, "tout" is singular. "Tout le monde est tres fou"? What is "tous"? I think something beyond "tres" or plural? (just trying to exercise my brain. Pop did the New York Times crossword puzzle every Sunday.)

Edit. Never mind. Got it (tous). Thanks.

 

[Tom Smedley]

Breathing off the BCD is a skill that once was taught and still is in parts of the world. The risk of infection does not outweigh the possibility of terminal drowning. However.... Answer your child that this is an advanced and last ditch skill and is beyond the scope of the open water diver course. Skills such as buddy breathing with a single second stage, going above your buddy and catching their exhaled air with a funnel, buddy breathing with a snorkel, breathing off a tank without a regulator, and push-ups with tanks and weights on are skills that have long proved obsolete and have been removed from entry level training courses. Have them concentrate on what is pertinent. Teach them that gas management and a solid buddy team are far safer...

 

[yardpro]

for those that worry about the nasty bacteria, etc... REALLY????


well let me think.... a potential bacterial infection that in can be knocked out by antibotics, or a coffin....HUMM pretty much a no brainer to me..

if you are using nitrox, the air is about 30 ish % O2. a typical breath uses about 4-6% of the O2 in the air, you could rebreath the entire volume of the BC several times...

 

[Crush]

Oh, you can take a few breaths. But the O2 content keeps dropping and the CO/CO2 content keeps increasing. I'd limit it to less than five breaths, personally.

 

[gypsyjim]

Personally, I prefer to plan and dive so OOA is not an issue.

 

[Bob DBF]

Oh, you can take a few breaths. But the O2 content keeps dropping and the CO/CO2 content keeps increasing. I'd limit it to less than five breaths, personally.

The concept is OOA, head for surface, vent BC into mouth instead of dumping it as you surface. You only need it if can't suck another breath or two off your reg on the way up. Taught when actual horse collar BC's replaced the Mae West types(with the modified tire valve inflation mouthpeice).

Watching the SPG and maintaining your equipment leaves this procedure as a relic of the past because it wasen't used much, if at all, then.


Bob
-------------------------------
I may be old, but I’m not dead yet.

 

[Frosty]

Ya well guys I'm not entirely sure I want to dive with these kids now.
Question -what do you do if you see a shark.-The answer I wanted was relax,a sharks unlikely to want to come near you.
--The answer I got. "make sure DAD is between you and the shark at all times".--HMMMM

Ohh and Nitrogen narcosis-- Being drunk underwater-trouble is these kids want to find out what its like to be drunk. eeep
T

 

[boulderjohn]

Once out of air with no help around you will want to use the remaining air in your wing. I will however first use the last bit of air available in your primary/octo hoses. As you ascent the small amounts of air left in the 1stage & hoses will expand giving you at least one/two more breaths depending on depth and then go for my wing.

The air in your hoses (etc.) will not expand at all because they are in a container that does not compress. However, something even better will happen.

Your tank is NOT out or air--it just thinks it is. For your regulator to work, there must be higher air pressure in the tank than the ambient pressure at your current depth. When you think you are out of air and start your ascent and the ambient pressure decreases, you will get air from your tank. The effect becomes greater and greater the closer you get to the surface. I would much rather breathe air from the tank than a BCD.

This should be enough to get you out from 100ft if you don't panic!!! How bent you are going to be is another story. Remember to exhale (CESA) on your way up!!!

In OOA with not help around you have 2 choices: Use whatever air you have in stage/hose & BC and bolt to the surface and deal with the consequences, or drown.

You seem to have forgotten a third choice, which you mentioned in the last paragraph: CESA!

The "C" in CESA is "controlled." It is NOT a bolt to the surface. A bolt to the surface is extremely dangerous because of the danger of embolism. You should be able to get to the surface from 100 feet exhaling all the way at a safe ascent rate. If you are diving within recreational limits, you should not even have a serious risk of DCS. If you do exhale too much out, then you can inhale from the tank, provided that you have left the regulator in your mouth where it belongs and are not instead fumbling for the inflator hose.

The main reason I would not breathe from my BCD is that there is no point in it. A CESA should get me to the surface, and if it doesn't, I will get all the air I need from the regulator as the ambient pressure decreases.