Would you dive with someone who wouldn't share air if you were OOA?

[Crawl79]

If someone said that to me they better have a damn good reason, but otherwise no way.....

 

[KevinLButts]

If I remember well what my Rescue Instructor taught me, it was that if someone should be frantic or out of control and you fear for your life, and you cannot control your buoyancy with the victim trying to get on top of you at the surface, (lots of ands there), THEN you should let some air out of your BC, and the theory is that the victim will then let go and not want to go under the water. Of course this also means that you are still in control of your reg. I think it would have to be really bad to use that technique, but I think that is the way I remember it being taught.

Your refering to approaching a paniced diver on the surface. If the paniced diver tries to grab you, then you go under (the last place the paniced diver wants to be) swim below the diver and approach from the back to gain control in a rescue situation.

 

[bfw]

Because someone here has explicitly stated that if you're OOA and come to him, you're not getting any.

I thought it was bizarre, but wanted to hear what others thought.

http://www.scubaboard.com/forums/ba...500-psi-contigency-reserve-3.html#post3369036

His rationale is based on a fallacy. He believes that to share his air is to place himself at unacceptable risk. If sharing your air means endangering yourself, then yeah, his rationale makes sense. The only problem with that is, if you can't plan, equip for, and execute your dive in such a manner that sharing air is safe, then you shouldn't be diving. If he doesn't understand how that can be achieved, then his past participation in dive accident investigations is a glaring example of the Peter Principle in action.

 

[saltysupply]

whoever said that should not be diving

 

[kman]

If the need arose, he'd learn how to share his air real quick amigo!

 

[ucfdiver]

This is great! You talking about it! I am still waiting for someone to post what agency says your air belongs to someone else!

NACD, NSS-CDS, GUE, TDI all have the 1/3 air rule. 1/3 to get you in, 1/3 to get you out, and 1/3 to get your buddy out. If you don't have enough air for you AND your buddy to return safely, you're being an irresponsible diver. 1/3 air rule for the overhead environments, or 500psi for OW, you need to have that reserve air.

Glad you asked.

I'd rather dive solo than dive with a buddy who wouldn't share air...at least I know up front I have to fend for myself. Your knife doesn't belong to me either, would you use it to free me if I became tangled? What about if my lights failed, would you leave me, or loan me one of your two backups?

 

[perdidochas]

If another diver stated that "His air is his and if you run out, you're on your own", would you dive with that person?

Terry

Yes, but I would only do so in fairly calm conditions under 60 ft. I have solo dove before, when the boat captain/divemaster who knew me, and the scuba club that had most of the seats on the boat, suggested that it would be safer for me to dive alone than with the club divers. (at the time, though, I was extremely fit (could freedive to 50 ft), and had gone on over 50 dives in the past year) It was a kind of strange dive (40 ft of water), in that I didn't have to watch out for anyone else (and didn't have anyone to point things out to).

 

[perdidochas]

Are we talking about cave diving? The is basic SCUBA! First rule know where you are!

And thats still not a sighting!

GUE divers dive the same way, regardless of location. So there are agencies that say that your air belongs to both you and your buddy.

 

[MXGratefulDiver]

whoever said that should not be diving

Although I don't agree with the premise or assumptions of the person who made the statement that started this thread, I really don't think that a new diver is in a position to tell someone with thousands of dives that they shouldn't be diving.

One of the things that you learn with experience is that every "rule" of diving needs to be applied in the context of a given situation. There are no hard and fast rules that apply in every case ... the number of variables that create the situation require, above all else, judgment.

What you learn in OW class are "rules of thumb" ... designed to be applied in such a manner as to allow you to not kill yourself while you gain some experience, and learn how to apply those rules to a wider set of circumstances.

A thinking diver will not just look at how a safety protocol is applied ... but why. Sometimes that requires thinking beyond what the OW manual said should be done in a given circumstance.

Remember ... that C-card is really just a learner's permit. At less than 24 dives, you really aren't qualified to decide that someone with thousands more dives than you "shouldn't be diving" ... it's possible that he has legitimate reasons for saying what he did, and you haven't yet developed the experiential context to understand what those might be ...

... Bob (Grateful Diver)

 

[MXGratefulDiver]

GUE divers dive the same way, regardless of location.

Are you sure about that?

... Bob (Grateful Diver)