Primary or alternate donate poll

[Diving Dubai]

I wasn’t able to recover my primary. I guess that’s another learning experience for me.

It sure is one of these learning things. Reg recover is easy when you're expecting it, but when it happens out of the blue, yoru mind can go blank.

If in trim just go head downwards a bit and sure enough your reg will be flapping about near your face'

If you're a club member and they have pool access during the winter, get an instructor to teach you demonstration standard reg remove and replace. This is for NO other reason, than it's a bit of a long winded skill and you're supposed to be neutral. For this reason you're without a reg for a fair bit of time.

You'll soon grow in confidence, realising that you can be without a reg for a decent amount of time, without panicking, and because you're concentrating on the skill you're increasing your mental bandwidth - so in real life if something like this happens again, you'll be able to multi task easier (solving the problem and finding your reg)

 

[Diver below 83]

Would a 27” be considered too long for an alternate on a necklace? I see a lot of 22” being used.

 

[Ayisha]

Would a 27” be considered too long for an alternate on a necklace? I see a lot of 22” being used.

27" would probably be long, which would make the reg hang too low or the hose bow out, not looking streamlined. Even very tall people use 22". Mine is 20" and it should probably be 18".

 

[Centrals]

Would a 27” be considered too long for an alternate on a necklace? I see a lot of 22” being used.

As long as the reg sit just below your jaw.

 

[Doby45]

As long as the reg sit just below your jaw.

It can sit directly below your chin with a tightened necklace. But, what will happen is the excess hose that would normally make it sit low will be bowed out the side and not streamlined, which is what @Ayisha was saying.

 

[Ayisha]

It can sit directly below your chin with a tightened necklace. But, what will happen is the excess hose that would normally make it sit low will be bowed out the side and not streamlined, which is what @Ayisha was saying.

Yes, that's exactly what I was saying. If you make the bungie longer to accommodate the excess hose, the reg will hang too low - onto the chest. If the bungie is the right length for the reg to sit at the base of the neck, the excess hose will bow out.

 

[SoloMonkey]

I'm a massive fan of Primary donate (Hog Rigging), but my organisation has more or less outrightly banned us teaching it. So I have to teach alternative donate which is common throughout many recreational agencies.
When diving for myself I prefer Primary donate any day. It's about time I think that it is time that this organisation caught up with the programme and accept that other organisations in the world are right. I guess it mainly goes back to having arguments with the GI3 (Now DIR) lot as it was perceived back then.

 

[FreeFlyFreak]

Less than 20 dives.
Learned primary donate with Air2 alternate.
Currently dive primary donate 40" hose under arm, alternate on 22" hose bungie necklace. Much prefer this setup to the Air2

 

[Esprise Me]

If in trim just go head downwards a bit and sure enough your reg will be flapping about near your face

Unless it turns so the mouthpiece is up and it starts to free flow. Then you might actually need to do the arm sweep. And of course, if the mouthpiece separated in the process, you'll need your alternate anyway.

I'm not sure I understand your perspective that students are so lacking in control and awareness that they can't possibly be blamed for kicking you in the face, while newly-certified divers should have sufficient control and awareness to keep their faces out of the way of everyone else's fins. I don't think that was a skill my class even covered. I've been kicked in the face a few times, never lost my reg but I put that down to luck more than skill, and I've learned to avoid some face-kickings through trial and error. But fins aren't the only thing you have to worry about. New divers sculling with their hands can sneak up from your blind spot and accidentally claw at your hose. Oblivious photographers can crash down on you from above, trying to get that shot, and whack you with their equipment. I was on a dive once where the guide motioned for us to stop to point out an octopus under a rock. Another girl swimming behind and beside me couldn't stop as quickly (another skill that wasn't taught in my OW course) and the T-shaped handle of her weight pocket grabbed my hose and pulled. She was pretty small and wasn't traveling that fast (luck), which is why I think I was able to hold on to my reg. But I don't really see how I could've gotten out of the way of that; I was surrounded on all sides. Anyway, I consider it a benefit to have my alternate so close at hand.