No Octo?? Here goes...Blast away!!

[Damselfish]

You can come up with any number of "special cases" where it made/makes sense to not have some form of typical octo. "Didn't exist yet" certainly qualifies. But that doesn't change the fact that it's the current generally accepted standard for typical rec diving. Presumably if you were vintage diving you would be diving with others with similar equipment, or at least make sure they were familiar with what you had (or didn't have.) But if you're in a general rec diving situation where there isn't a very good reason not to have one, and people will generally expect that you do have one, I don't see a good reason not to.

Buddy breathing is fine, I learned it too, but in an OOA situation the octo is easier and I'd rather have it. I think easier is better when it hits the fan. I've only been in one real OOA, and it was a complete (and naturally panicy) stranger that came to me. I'd sure as heck rather have an octo than trust that this person would/could buddy breath. (Actually, I'm pretty sure he wouldn't have had a clue.)

 

[Nemrod]

"Hey Nemrod, come over to the MOF thread. You'll fit right in..."

Acually he Mod Police told me not to involve myself in that thread, that only want poseurs in that thread!!!!!! LOL


Peter Guy, since you asked, you need to join uo with the vintage divers at vintagescubasupply.com and vintagedoublehose.com forums. Some folks never quit the double hose and many more are taking them up. We didn't die then and have not since. Also concerning a secondary air supply for myself when diving double hose, well, it depends on the dive. I may or may not have one. An octapus is not secondary air. If I am diving with a buddy that knows buddy breathing--then not. If I am diving with a buddy that relies upon an octapus then I install one off the hookah port. If I use a BC, it is sourced there as well. If the dive is deep I may use twins with a dual manifold and have two regs, one a single hose and bungee it to my neck. If I am solo and not going especially deep, then I don't carry anything extra. Occasionally I dive with modern clunky plastic, low performance plastic gear like y'all (lol) and sometimes not. Since you asked, I have no one way of doing things, I do all sorts of ways to accomplish my dive as I see fit at the moment. I don't allow PadI and the lieyers to determine my dive gear or methods. To answer directly, no, most of the time now I dive solo, double hose and with no secondary or octapus, usually no BC. If you want more info on set ups to do all this safely or specific questions write me priivate or join the mentioned forums. N

 

[Diver Dennis]

Hi Nemrod. Is "poseurs" french? I'm not quite sure what you mean...

 

[drbill]

The octo is meant as a safe second for your buddy and vice versa, not for your backup. That's what a spare air or pony is for.

While there is truth to this, my octo is a backup in the event of reg failure. That's only happened twice in 45 years, and once was the first stage so the octo really wasn't used in that instance. I generally dive solo so that is the reason. I also carry a pony as a redundant air source.

If one wishes to dive on the edge, that is their choice. I actually never used an octo for the first few decades of my diving career. I did dive with buddies on anything deeper than 40 ft back then.

I wouldn't consider diving without one today and mine doesn't get in my way because it is properly clipped off.

 

[drbill]

if he/she is not, i wouldn't dive with him/her. if something goes wrong, i need to know i can get air from my buddy

I almost always assume I can't get air from my buddy so carry my pony bottle even when diving with one. As a videographer, with buddies who are photographers, we are often diving "same ocean." I always know I have air just a twist of a valve away. For good buddy teams this is fine.

 

[H2Andy]

I almost always assume I can't get air from my buddy so carry my pony bottle even when diving with one.

i don't think this is a viable alternative. dive as a team or dont dive with someone
else at all.

might as well go solo, and while i dive solo, it limits my diving (no overhead,
no deeper than 60 feet)

 

[divinginn]

what if you use your vintage gear for a octo,20 year old sp second stage with adjuster knob no free flows

 

[Nemrod]

"Hi Nemrod. Is "poseurs" french? I'm not quite sure what you mean..."

No, actually I made it up. I liked the way it sounded.

Regarding another post concerning DrBill's post,

"i don't think this is a viable alternative. dive as a team or dont dive with someone
else at all."

I am not aware scuba diving was a "team" sport. I always prefered solo sports like cross country running and long distance swimming and other stuff so naturally people of a like mind tend to approach diving that way. With a buddy, I would not make the assumption that someone I met on a boat was going to be there for me. I rely upon myself as does the Dr. it seems. I do wish I could always take a preferred buddy with me but until I hit the lottery I usually can only afford to get me to the dive site, if there is a team there--great--if not, I am going diving nonetheless. I am not much into safety anyways, it is way overrated, live dangerous, die free. N

 

[miler10498]

Well for me personally I would not dive with someone who didn't have an octo or secondary air source. I don't care if its an air 2 or regular octo but if you don't have one of those I won't dive with you, simple as that. I don't care if you dive with other people, and I won't bash anyone whos personal preference it is to dive without one but my personal preference is to only dive with buddies who do. This situation actually came up recently when I had a friend ask me to go diving. I agreed, but when we were discussing where we would go etc he started discussing his geat and come to find out he has no octo. I told him that I would be happy to dive with him if he would go rent a reg setup with octo but I would not dive without it as it is my life support in an emergency. He didn't rent a reg and we didn't go diving. To each his own, i think its up to your buddy as it's their life that depends on the equipment.

 

[Damselfish]

If you are diving only with someone you know and you know buddy breathing would work it's an ok choice. But if you are going to be in water near other divers where some random person may come for your air (such as on many boat dives with a group) the octo also protects you somewhat - from the unknown person who may grab your primary and not be inclined to give it back.