Buddy breathing??

[Thalassamania]

Some time back, before octapus rigs were common my wife and I had gone out on a charter for drifting somwhere near Ft Lauderdale ... These skills were learned in a Y class where as I had years before, learned to buddy breath swimming laps with no mask switching off and even exchanging gear.

I'm impressed if she did that with a single hose, I'll be worshipful if she pulled that off with a double hose!

 

[dumpsterDiver]

I still think it is an important skill to learn for confidence, although I've never done it for real. I've had one real chance to do it and I wimped out.

One time around 15 years ago, I had no octopus (we were diving for work and they didn't have octopuses or even power inflators on their BC's) and my buddy gave me the out of air sign and signaled to buddy breath. It scared the heck out of me because we were both negative since we had been catching bugs after finishing the "working part" of our dive and I knew I had around 300-400 lbs and we were at 90 feet and close to the the NDL. We each had a decent bag of bugs (which are heavy) clipped to our belts.

I grabbed him so we would maintain a face to face position, and then vowed that I would never again intentionally dive deep without a power inflator or octopus and started swimming up hard. I never gave him the reg; I was quite nervous and just hoped that he would take it when he really needed it. We made it up without further incident and he never took the reg, I guess he just sipped his on the way up. Buddy breathing in a real situation is scary, especially if you're not sure you have enough air to get both of you to the top.

 

[Thalassamania]

I still think it is an important skill to learn for confidence, although I've never done it for real. I've had one real chance to do it and I wimped out ... Buddy breathing in a real situation is scary, especially if you're not sure you have enough air to get both of you to the top.

Almost every dive I've made since the early 1970s has begun with sharing air (using the method of choice of the moment) with my buddy. Back in the day it was BB, now it's passing the long hose and switching to auxillary, but in any case it is a critical skill and I fell should be practiced (whenever practical) at the start of a dive. All air sharing skills can be scary if you've not done them with other person.

 

[JessH]

As far as being confident under water without a reg in your mouth, Id think theres other ways to train that than by buddybreathing. For example simply taking the reg out and swimming around a bit, which IS a part of the course, for controlled swimming ascents for example..

IMHO ESAs(Emergency Swimming Ascents) should be performed with a reg in your mouth. There are a number of reasons for this, but I really don't feel like going into it.

~Jess

 

[FunkyDiver]

I got my OW this summer through the YMCA. We practiced sharing an octo and buddy breathing from a shared regulator, almost as much as we did mask flooding (which was more than once a session). We also practiced CESA. One time we even had 2 people buddy breathing off of an octopus while the instructor breathed from his own primary just to see if we could handle it. We all got pretty good at doing it, even to the point of being comfortable. But the one thing I never thought about until I read this thread, is how this would all work in an actual OOA emergency and a panicked diver not wanting to give up the reg. In class we all gave up the offered reg just like good little boys and girls. It all worked well. It would definitley be a different/bad situation with someone who is truly panicked.

 

[JillGadget]

I recently got certified OW in the Keys. We had to buddy breath on the way up and many other skills. After reading this board, I think my hubby and I will ocassionally practice all our emergency skills while doing some dives. Can't hurt to be prepared especially when not a natural thing. Going for advanced OW in January to make sure I know even more! What an addiction!!!

 

[J.R.]

Buddy breathing in a real situation is scary, especially if you're not sure you have enough air to get both of you to the top.

:14:

Naw... *buddy breathing* isn't scarry... being the the situation that requires it is scarry. Had to do it ONCE... (I was the one in need)...

From personal experience... yea... its a good concept to be familair with... but in the one instance where I needed my buddy's air... I really wish we had an AAS at the time... he was mildly narked and communications weren't working as well as they could have. [This was back in the 70's]... IF we were diving octos my calm would have been enhanced MUCH quicker... but back then it seemed that octos were exotic things that only people like instructors and hard-core pro's indulged in...

... things worked out... (I'm still typing)... but I would agree with most of the posters that basic diving safety is more enhanced by the modern equipment properly maintained and taught than by learning a technique that was "best available" given the state of the art "back when"...

One thing about *vintage* equipment and techniqes... it automatically includes, at no additional cost... all of the *vintage* risks and limitations...

J.R.

 

[Thalassamania]

One thing about *vintage* equipment and techniqes... it automatically includes, at no additional cost... all of the *vintage* risks and limitations...

Real good point, esp. since it doesn't come with the vintage training that was needed to render most of those risks and limitations moot. Keep in mind that the minimum vintage class was 40 hrs.

 

[Tigerman]

I recently got certified OW in the Keys. We had to buddy breath on the way up and many other skills. After reading this board, I think my hubby and I will ocassionally practice all our emergency skills while doing some dives. Can't hurt to be prepared especially when not a natural thing. Going for advanced OW in January to make sure I know even more! What an addiction!!!

I think you should NEVER stop practicing emergency procedures. Practicing things like sharing air and dropping weight makes sure you know where your equipment are, how to grab it aven without looking at it and make you more comfortable and effective at doing it.
Even if you are not actually in the water, you can train, mentally..

 

[Ber Rabbit]

I still teach it in the pool. The divers learn to do it with their buddy in the shallow end but when we go to the deep end they perform it with a staff member. We don't spend a lot of time on it but we do get them comfortable with it.

When I learned to dive in 1993 that was the first method we used and octopus breathing was the "back-up" method. It took me YEARS to get out of the single regulator exchange habit. My pre-dive check used to involve an explanation of my likely OOA response "If you're out of air I'll probably start with single regulator exchange; once the initial adrenalin rush wears off I'll probably remember I have an octopus and I'll switch to that and leave you with my primary."
Ber :lilbunny: