Alec Pierce Scuba - Long Hose Good or Bad

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All through her OW class, my daughter wanted t use "gear like dad's". She felt the "modified long hose, primary donate" was a much better method. This was from a 15 year old, who evaluated her options. I told her she had to complete the class the way they wanted her to, then could work with me to change things.
 
It’s perplexing to me that anything other than a jacket style BC and 30 inch hoses with yellow octo hanging in the triangle are considered too advanced for new divers. If you teach about the variety of gear configurations out there you have a beginning diver who can choose what works for them.

*edit* After all, a new diver doesn’t know that a long hose is supposed to be more advanced, or that it’s possible to start diving horizontally from confined water class number one. It’s the instructor/shop owner/training organization that sets the most expectations. Maybe the internet somewhat also.

If the instructor is able to, and brings in different gear, such as Air2s, 40 inch hoses, bungied back ups, sidemount, steel tanks, long hoses, jackets and wings, DIN fittings etc, the student is at least exposed to this gear and will have a place to start if they should wind up diving with someone not sporting a jacket style and 28 or 30 inch hoses and yellow octo in the triangle.

There’s been some posts about there being a standard gear set up for beginning recreational divers, which almost has an entrenched feel to it. Kind of like claiming that DIR or tech is entrenched in the long hose.

When I started OW/AOW diving in 1998 the long hose was still in the cave diving world. When I first saw a photo of a harness and wing in 2002 I thought, interesting, maybe it will be a better fit for me rather than my jacket which kept riding up and compressing my torso when fully inflated at the surface. And for me, that was true when I got my hands on one later that year. Thank you Walt Stark III in Bonaire for renting me a piece of equipment so I could try before buying.

I’m continually learning 18 years later. And I think a good instructor and/or store owner should generate this type of atmosphere in their classes.

One of the things I've learned from teaching and observing other instructors, wherever you set the bar, students will strive for and achieve it. Do you strive for students that can perform skills on the knees but cork and crater? Then teaching on the knees will get you there.

Do you strive for your students to be neutrally buoyant and trim? Maybe even in a BP/W with a long hose? Well, guys like Demis Farrugia in Malta, Arman Amores in SE Asia, Ryan Custureri in South Florida, regularly post videos of their students in BP/W, long hose, proficient in depth control, trim, finning, etc., all the basics of what is generally agreed as the foundation for being a good diver.

I bet, like every good instructor they continuously evaluate their results and work to improve them, even though what they achieve right now is excellent and way above average/typical.
 
yes, no doubt, it isn't easy to develop a certification course that tens of thousands of people use, distribute training material, certify instructors, get thousands of resorts and standards bodies to recognize and so much more... so yeah, the mindset for new rec diver OW training certainly would be "do we really need to change this?"

With that statement, how does the Air2 configuration have acceptance in a national 4-letter agency program policy?
 
I put it under a knife, or (in the case of my wife and daughter) a weight pouch. I moved them both to a BP/W, daughter thought it was the best solution, including the regulator configuration (and, just after completing OW), and the wife is a "work in progress".... change does not do her well....

YMMV
Yes, I can see that working. While I have a ways before training my daughter, I wonder whether training my wife is a good idea. When I was a ski patroller and we saw couples where one was teaching the other, we called them DIPs (Divorce in Progress). There was invariably a lot of yelling in frustration by both sides.
 
All through her OW class, my daughter wanted t use "gear like dad's". She felt the "modified long hose, primary donate was a much better method. This was from a 15 year old, who evaluated her options. I told her she had to complete the class the way they wanted her to, then could work with me to change things.
You have a teenager that wants to be around dad?

Please write a book. I'll buy the first one off the press. Seriously, I hope diving will be a dad/daughter thing for us.
 
consider the sheer horror of OW classes taught in dry suites.... Is that concept too advanced???????
 
consider the sheer horror of OW classes taught in dry suites.... Is that concept too advanced???????
There is the horror of students suffering in wetsuits. Open water students wearing dry suits are sooooo much happier (and more likely to keep diving locally).
 
Yes, I can see that working. While I have a ways before training my daughter, I wonder whether training my wife is a good idea. When I was a ski patroller and we saw couples where one was teaching the other, we called them DIPs (Divorce in Progress). There was invariably a lot of yelling in frustration by both sides.

My daughter was more the challenge with skiing (P.S. - wife is a way better skier than me). She expected to ski as easily as mom and dad, and took it out on us constantly. We finally gave up and put her with someone else. She is now a really good skier.

YMMV
 
A friend tried a 5 foot hose to be not quite long enough. BP/W, about 5'7" (170 cm?). Dry suit. I think for slimmer/shorter people, a 5 ft / 150 cm hose may work just about right. However, a 7', I'm more curious as to what they use to secure it without having a canister light/stick.
I keep my shears in a sheath on my right side. My long hose fits perfectly under the sheath. I have seen other divers simply tuck the hose under the harness on the right side.. I haven't had a canister light in 15 years, yet never have my hose come loose.
 
https://www.shearwater.com/products/perdix-ai/

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