Practice reg retrievals at safety stop?

[RainPilot]

Semi on topic:

One of the biggest stressors for me when I was still training NAUI in 2004 was the reg recovery. It was the single biggest source of "bolters". I would watch a kneeling student throw the reg back, a stream of little bubbles from their lips as advertised.

Often I would see that the reg had landed in an odd position, or that on the first sweep they would not touch their leg and miss the reg. By the second attempt I was holding a reg in their face because they would be starting to panic and getting ready to "Polaris" their way out.

All of this with a perfectly serviceable regulator secured to them 6 inches from their mouth.

I could never understand why the procedure was not simply to switch to the other reg, find the primary and switch back. No pressure no worries.

When I did my RAID crossover, I did the reg retrieval neutral as per the old way. Once done, my IE asked me why i didn't just switch to the necklace backup. Turns out RAID teaches that step 1 is get a reg in your mouth, breathe, then go from there. This builds muscle memory for any reg removal.

Imagine someone swimming along and they get mugged for gas from behind. They then proceed to do a reg retrieval blowing little bubbles until they realize that the reason its gone is that its in someone's mouth? Nope.

Stop. Breathe. Think. Breathe. Plan. Breathe. Act.

 

[g1138]

I would say practice at the bottom at the start of your dive. The hardest part will be maintaining buoyancy while blowing bubbles. If you know your skillset and comfort you can attempt it early in your career, but I see a lot of new divers over-blow and go negative. OR they take a deep breath, ditch reg, hold breath, and go positive before they can recover.

I think everyone should always practice a full technique of reg recovery and not rely on "reg will always fall below you in view".
The muscle memory is especially important if you find yourself in blackout conditions or if your mask comes off with the reg. Even in a nearly non-existent case for long hose users, I still say keep the skill set.

Trim will also effect where the reg falls. Horizontal the reg can be below your chest or freeflow-floating above your shoulder to the right. Vertical the reg can be freeflow-floating floating above your head or dangling at your side.

I always tell students to take the reg out and tuck it next to their tank before making a recovery. Orient your eyes "up-right" from your horizon and then reach back to the tank valve with your right hand. If the reg is freeflow-floating you'll be able to eye ball it and grab. If not you're already in motion reaching for the tank valve and you can grab a hose and trace; you'll either have traced your primary or your octo/backup. Breathe off either and take your time to reset.

For those with an Air 2 or bungee backup, I say simply grab that, purge possible debris, insert, and breath, then go through the above motions.

 

[DevonDiver]

Safety stops (especially longer ones....) are a great opportunity to drill your buoyancy, trim, control/positioning and any of the skillset you've previously been taught to use.

The skills most important to practice are the ones you don't utilize in day-to-day diving. Skills do fade if unused. Buoyancy, trim, positioning/control and situational awareness ALWAYS benefit from practice.

 

[DevonDiver]

Semi on topic:

One of the biggest stressors for me when I was still training NAUI in 2004 was the reg recovery. It was the single biggest source of "bolters". I would watch a kneeling student throw the reg back, a stream of little bubbles from their lips as advertised..

or....

teach them to locate and breath from their own AAS.... and watch them perform regulator recovery with zero stress, complete calm and a continued air supply throughout.

Ideally with an observant and attentive buddy whose own AAS is in hand and ready for immediate donation should and difficulty arise.

Exactly as you'd (the instructor) would feel relaxed to know they'd respond once they're away from your diligent supervision

Honestly... teaching students to "blow bubbles" whilst going cross-eyed with breathing gas deprivation whilst scrabbling for a misplaced air source is neanderthal. All divers have an alternative air source located, and secured, inches from their mouths.... teach them to use it as a first response.

 

[Neilwood]

I have to echo the view that instead of going searching for my primary immediately I would take my octo out and use that while I did the recovery. Absolutely no stress and hurry that way. Takes me about 5 seconds to deploy the octo. To my mind that would be the better way to train people. The way a lot of current courses teach it as a major issue is false, it really should be a minor inconvenience at worst.

I do sometimes wish that people would not treat the traditional "rec" set up as being somehow dangerous. If the traditional rec set up was that dangerous no agency would think about training on it. The main issue with either long or short hose is people not practising deployment and airsharing as they have been trained to do - not the systems themselves.

If I suddenly decide to change to long hose, I would have to spend a long time pre dive explaining the system to my buddies (who vary depending on availability) and what happens in the event of air sharing. Also I would have the issue of having two different systems between the buddy pair (100% of my buddies use the "rec" set up). We are then in the situation that no matter how well practised I am in that system, my buddy is not and may react differently under stress. Back to the training/practise aspects.

 

[AlexL]

why practice just at the safety stop? nothing going on at the moment during a dive? if you're both comfortable and discussed it during pre-dive, signal your buddy and have at it

Practicing SMB deployment on our next dive.

throwing SMBs is always a good time! just don't do it when sharks are about if you're not comfortable in close quarters with em...



seems at least reef sharks tend to want to come check out the bright thing bobbing at the surface when you're hanging off it at your safety stop.

 

[Neilwood]

why practice just at the safety stop? nothing going on at the moment during a dive? if you're both comfortable and discussed it during pre-dive, signal your buddy and have at it



throwing SMBs is always a good time! just don't do it when sharks are about if you're not comfortable in close quarters with em...

View attachment 415066

seems at least reef sharks tend to want to come check out the bright thing bobbing at the surface when you're hanging off it at your safety stop.

I would note that if doing this on a guided dive, give the DM a heads up that you might be doing one in case he thinks there is an emergency and over reacts.

 

[txgoose]

why practice just at the safety stop? nothing going on at the moment during a dive? if you're both comfortable and discussed it during pre-dive, signal your buddy and have at it

throwing SMBs is always a good time! just don't do it when sharks are about if you're not comfortable in close quarters with em...
seems at least reef sharks tend to want to come check out the bright thing bobbing at the surface when you're hanging off it at your safety stop.

I was waiting to ask about practice mid-dive so as not to digress this conversation too early. Although the "dont practice" posts were a humorous distraction enough. I learned that the guy in the video was doing his skills for the first time. But now I've digressed.

My question is semi-related to the thread not long ago about surprising your buddy with a practice. I would NOT want to surprise a buddy with practice. But, I wonder if anyone uses some hand signal that tells their buddy that they'd like to practice stuff. Something hat couldn't be mistaken for anything else. Plenty of our practice dives in a local lake may have moments where nothing is going on. I could turn to the wife, give the I'm okay signal followed with the "wanna practice skills?" signal. She could reply that she is okay and the yes or no signal. We can obviously make up our own but is there any semi-universal signal for training/practice? We always knew in class because we got the 'you watch me' sign. That doesn't seem quite as obvious for an impromptu practice session.

Our first ocean dive will be first week in August. If everything goes well, we'll simply be following the mooring line up. but, I want to be fairly comfortable deploying the SMB before we go just in case. While I wouldn't mind seeing sharks, I'd pass on a reef shark nudging my buoy!

 

[txgoose]

I would note that if doing this on a guided dive, give the DM a heads up that you might be doing one in case he thinks there is an emergency and over reacts.

Duly noted. I think I would have hesitated to do that but it is a good point.

edit: hesitated to deploy an SMB unannounced.

 

[DevonDiver]

If you want to practice AAS sharing... why not take a leaf from technical diving.... stop at 5m, get neutral, clear your ears, get coherent as a functional buddy team..... and conduct an 'S-Drill'....

An S-Drill is a brief air-sharing practice. In addition to the practice value, it also ensures that BOTH regulators (primary and AAS) are fully functional and delivering gas as they should be in-water. It's a win-win-win scenario.