Funny situation - or not?

[lv2dive]

I think this has been a good educational thread for ways in which air sharing can be done well (and maybe not quite as well)

One point I would bring up, that I don't think has been mentioned, is the donee does not know how much gas the donor has in Thur tank/s unless the donor is telling them. Which means putting a great deal of trust in the donor to manage the gas both are breathing. I don't think this is an issue for reams who often dive together and share gas, or for DMs sharing gas, but it IS something to keep in mind if you are the donee and the donor isn't especially experienced with sharing gas.

 

[rddvet]

I can see a scuba related rap song coming from this. "Ho's all up on my long hose"

 

[stgcph]

LOL Notify me when you have it out on YouTube

 

[admikar]

It's not good to further stress an inexperienced diver who already has some reason to feel insecure. It's too easy to have someone like that become seriously unhappy, frightened and unpredictable.

OH, how can I relate to that. Read below.

One point I would bring up, that I don't think has been mentioned, is the donee does not know how much gas the donor has in Thur tank/s unless the donor is telling them. Which means putting a great deal of trust in the donor to manage the gas both are breathing.

To brag a little, I never went to a octo, yet! But I did see a diver on single tank get on an octo from a experienced diver diving doubles. When I got "upgraded" to those divers, I felt quite stressed about cutting their dives short, until I got to dive doubles and realized that we're approximately the same on consumption and that I might become a donor. I have no problem to donate, so why should my buddy have to?

 

[lv2dive]

Again, I don't think it is a problem - i was trying to ensure it is clear, that as the donee, you can not check the tank pressure of the donating diver, so you have to trust them to monitor it. Of course you can always ask them what the pressure is, at any time!

Perhaps I completely missed your point though- if I did please accept my apologies!

... I did see a diver on single tank get on an octo from a experienced diver diving doubles. When I got "upgraded" to those divers, I felt quite stressed about cutting their dives short, until I got to dive doubles and realized that we're approximately the same on consumption and that I might become a donor. I have no problem to donate, so why should my buddy have to?

 

[Duke Dive Medicine]

It's safe as long as the receiver and donor maintain enough gas to surface both of them safely should either system fail. (Rock bottom)

I often extend my wife's dives as I dive two tanks and with her back she can only dive one. So we each get one and a half tanks out of it.

Official agency policy stops after training dives. They are all VERY clear that they have no input on dives conducted outside of their courses.

This is a good point, and in your individual situation it may work. You know your and your wife's air consumption and can probably compensate. I doubt that was the situation here, though. What if the DM's first stage failed? Then he and Mr. Ho could both have been dependent on the OP for gas depending on the depth and what was left in Mr. Ho's tank. This is a perfect example of drift, aka normalization of variance. This DM has probably gotten away with this numerous times, but it doesn't make it any safer. I see this situation as a setup for an accident. The DM should have thumbed the dive.

Best regards,
DDM

 

[Patoux01]

This is a good point, and in your individual situation it may work. You know your and your wife's air consumption and can probably compensate. I doubt that was the situation here, though. What if the DM's first stage failed? Then he and Mr. Ho could both have been dependent on the OP for gas depending on the depth and what was left in Mr. Ho's tank.

That's exactly why everyone needs to keep a certain amount in his tank at all time, hence why you'd share but not "I'll first breathe my tank dry, then you share".

 

[Neilwood]

This is a good point, and in your individual situation it may work. You know your and your wife's air consumption and can probably compensate. I doubt that was the situation here, though. What if the DM's first stage failed? Then he and Mr. Ho could both have been dependent on the OP for gas depending on the depth and what was left in Mr. Ho's tank. This is a perfect example of drift, aka normalization of variance. This DM has probably gotten away with this numerous times, but it doesn't make it any safer. I see this situation as a setup for an accident. The DM should have thumbed the dive.

Best regards,
DDM

If the DM is doing it simply to extend the dive, with everyone still having a decent amount of gas left (in my case approx 100 bar) then there is still a large safety margin should there be a reg failure. Even if the DM had a first stage failure, I would simply have switched back to my gas and offered the DM my octo and proceeded to end the dive (100bar should be more than enough for 2 divers from 25-30m for a fairly leisurely ascent). Not to mention that the rest of the group all had their 50 bar reserves as well.

 

[Coztick]

"hose of shame...." LMAO
How about dynamic team gas management...

 

[Duke Dive Medicine]

That's exactly why everyone needs to keep a certain amount in his tank at all time, hence why you'd share but not "I'll first breathe my tank dry, then you share".

Certainly true, though this does not always happen in practice.

Best regards,
DDM