Which side does your safe 2nd come off of??

[themagni]

My right side has the drysuit whip and my primary reg. I'm going to switch the drysuit whip with the octo (on the left) so that all the hoses coming out of the right are breathable air. That way if I lose the reg, I know where they are. If I grab the octo, who cares, it's air.

I learned with the octo on the left, where it is now. It's also where I'd previously kept my Air2, so that's another reason why my octo is on the left - it's where the hole was.

 

[Pembina]

So what's the big deal if you grab your octo instead of your primary? It's a regulator. It still delivers air, which is what you're looking for. Your priority in this situation is have have air, not to fuss about which prettier reg is in your mouth.

The deal is that I have the safe 2nd buckled to my BC so it doesn't drag the bottom.
Also with both regulators coming off the right, even if you give them your primary, you will still need to twist it to get in an upright position.

Maybe if you are diving doubles, cave diving etc., the configuration should be different but we are talking basic scuba here.

Just for your awareness, since it's been a few years for you, there are other forms being used.

It has not been a few years. I average about 70+ dives a year. The only reason I became aware of the different routing is because we sent our son-in-law to become certified as a Christmas gift. Since he will be diving with us and using our equipment we have converted him to our ways.

Another form, as noted, is the long hose. It's been practiced by cave divers for YEARS now and is nothing new. What is new is that it's now being utilized by OW divers. You wear a 5-7 hose on your primary regulator.

I am not a cave diver but am confused by the need for a long primary hose. I dive in lakes (with trees) and sometimes only 3-5' viz. The more hose you have loose around you, the more likely that a branch will grab it as you unknowingly swim past. Which is why the concern over loosing the octo in the first place.

There are two methods for wearing it that I've seen:
1)It comes down your right side, is tucked into your waistbelt or routed under your light canister so it doesn't "halo" then comes across your chest, around the left side of your neck, around the back of your neck to the right side, and into the mouth. You then wear your backup bungeed just a few inches under your chin. In an emergency, you quickly donate your reg in your mouth and start breathing your backup.

This sounds like a tangled mess. Down, under, across and then around behind the neck? I think I would feel like a top when my buddy unwound me to get my regulator.

Everyone I have ever dived with has used the same configuration as I do. I am glad though to know that there are other configurations so I can be made aware before diving with someone new.

 

[dbulmer]

Pembina,

Some divers remain horizontal if they have to share a breathing gas. Deploying the longer hose means that you don't have to go vertical and you can continue to the surface in the normal diving position if you wish.

I dive wrecks in similar conditions - the long hose (if routed properly) fits snugly and will not catch on anything. It would be most unusual to wear a snorkel with a long hose setup.

If you have a canister light there is an extra step to fully deploy the long hose but it is straightforward once you know how and even if you don't fully deploy the long hose (which is an option) you can still donate gas to a casualty.

BTW the long hose is tucked under the can light so it shortens the amount of hose that could be exposed to an obstruction.

The octo (backup) is around your neck and won't catch on anything and is easier for the rescuer to locate as you know immediately where it is.

 

[irishsquid]

....I am not a cave diver but am confused by the need for a long primary hose. I dive in lakes (with trees) and sometimes only 3-5' viz. The more hose you have loose around you, the more likely that a branch will grab it as you unknowingly swim past. Which is why the concern over loosing the octo in the first place.

I'm not a cave diver (yet) either, I dive lakes rivers, quarries, some ocean. When the long hose is routed properly, it is not loose and usually less of an entanglement hazard.

....This sounds like a tangled mess. Down, under, across and then around behind the neck? I think I would feel like a top when my buddy unwound me to get my regulator.

Check my profile picture. You'll see that it is not a "tangled mess" and I'm a rookie w/ this configuration. I've done one "real" air share with this configuration and it was smoother than the standard air share practiced in OW class. Handed the primary reg out of my mouth to my buddy, ducked my head to get my necklaced reg which allowed the primary to "uncoil", and the extra length hose let him place the reg in his mouth with the correct orientation and he wasn't all tangled up/on top of me. It works, each to their own.

 

[tgsmith]

Pembina,

The long hose is used in overhead situations because it's quite impossible to air-share in a lot of the situations we face while cave diving if you're using a standard length octopus. It's completely unnecessary for OW divers as there's no need to air-share through restrictions or while swimming in an overhead. According to my training from both PADI and SSI, I can see a point to being close to your buddy in an OOA situation. That's a whole other argument though that has been beaten to death on these boards. I still use the long hose for OW diving, but that's to stay in practice/it's what I mostly use. I was skeptical when I was first introduced to the concept of wrapping a 7ft hose around me, but frankly, it works.

Still, with coming off the left, what do you do if you need to use that backup reg for yourself? Now it's twisted around in front of you, which is a lot more awkward than a bend in the hose giving it to the other person. Something to think about. And if the regulator ends up in their mouth upside down it's still going to deliver air just fine. There are also in-line octopuses which means you can just jam it in their mouth without worry of bends, upside down, ect.

About recovering the reg, it's really a non issue if it drops out your mouth. In my PADI OW class, to recover it, all we did was lean to the right, sweep our hand down our side, back and out and then forward making a big "U" next to our body, which your primary would simply "fall" into. I never had a problem grabbing my octopus instead while doing this since it was attached to my BC within the "triangle."

I'm wondering if you were taught a different method of recovering your primary, and maybe that's why you think there might be an issue with recovering if your octo is on the same side. The way I was taught is a slow, smooth, deliberate motion involving no grabbing at all, really.

I don't think either right hand or left hand is more prone to dying than the other. What's important is making it as uncomplicated as possible(no clutter around what you're reaching for in a stressful situation) and practice.

Me personally, I've never seen the hose come off the left and it's fairly foreign to me, just as off the right is to you. I haven't done very many OW dives with divers using "traditional" setups though, so my exposure to such would be limited. Just about all of them since dive 11 have been with others preaching the long-hose method.

 

[diver 85]

For me, 2 2nds(primary & octo) off my right side, SPG & LP inflator hose off my left side........

 

[brutus_scuba]

I learned with the second coming from the left too, and it makes the most sense to me, but I'm not actually posting to argue over which is better. I am going to share the short history of second regulators as I have gotten it from a number of folks who have been diving longer than me, but the stories are unreferenced and I can't swear with my life that they are true. But as its been explained to me....

During the day of J-Valves there were no 2nds, and their origin can be contributed to cave divers. When Cave Divers added their second they added it in the same style as the 7ft hose method described above. When the recreational dive agencies decided to add an octo to their standard gear configuration a lot of them used the same configuration with both coming over the right shoulder but decided to shorten the hose. Some manufacturers design their octos so that the hose comes from the other side to avoid the S-Curve but the more natural solution to me is to put it on the left side so that when you sweep the only thing that lands on your right shoulder is the primary,

 

[tgsmith]

Do you wear your octo over your shoulder? We were taught under our arm. I'm just not seeing how the octo is going to land in your arm otherwise. You'd have to intentionally stick your arm under the octo, between the octopus hose and your body. I'm just not visualizing that happening on accident.