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Post by luis on Jun 2, 2006 8:48:12 GMT -8
Thanks John
I am aware of double hose buddy breathing procedures, but I made the big mistake of not explaining it to Christine in advance. While we were underwater, I tried to demonstrate how to clear the mouthpiece by raising it and allowing it to free flow, but I guess I didn’t get the point across. I held the mouthpiece all time, but I allowed her to guide it into her mouth (as it should be done).
It is probably not intuitive for a single hose diver to put a free flowing mouthpiece in there mouth. In a real OOA situation it would be different, but it is hard to tell how a diver will behave with unfamiliar equipment in an emergency.
Again my point is that buddy breath out of a double hose may be totally second nature to many of us, but don’t expect that you can share your air with a diver that is not well aware of how a double hose functions and the techniques associated with it. You may have all the best intentions in the world, but it could be totally hopeless.
My wife has been diving for less than a year, but she has become extremely comfortable underwater in that short period. She did use my original Royal Aqua Master at Alexander Springs during Sand Dog III.
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Post by luis on Jun 2, 2006 9:00:56 GMT -8
Now…talking about the hoses, I think they would perform even better if they were yellow... I have no scientific data to back up my assumption, just a strong gut feeling.
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Post by nemrod on Jun 2, 2006 10:28:41 GMT -8
I concurr, I have no doubt that scientific test would reveal yellow hoses to breath superior to black hoses. My Mistral is sitting there pouting, all droopy and sad looking. It hates those stupid black hoses that spoil it's beautiful yellow name plate and lovely yellow mouthpiece. It is a poor thing, sitting there, shivering and wishing. Poor thing, I cannot make it happy. Nemrod
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Post by Broxton Coalition on Jun 2, 2006 13:22:14 GMT -8
will somebody please step forward and offer our vintage brother nemrod a pair of yellow hoses? i cannot bear to read another post from this man about his poor mistral's failing health! mike
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Post by SeaRat on Jun 2, 2006 16:43:00 GMT -8
Thanks John... My wife has been diving for less than a year, but she has become extremely comfortable underwater in that short period. She did use my original Royal Aqua Master at Alexander Springs during Sand Dog III. Luis, Alexander Springs!!! That was my favorite place to snorkel and dive when I was in the USAF in the late 1960s and early 1970s. It was such a fascinating area, with varied aquatic life. I'm glad you were able to get your wife in there, as it is really a wonder to see. I'm envious. Tomorrow, I'm expecting 3-5 foot visibility in our local river (it's been raining here) when I try out the new hoses, and so it will be nothing like Alexander Springs. I was pretty sure you know about the raising of the mouthpiece when buddy breathing, but wanted anyone else looking at the site to see that technique too. It makes the buddy breathing so much easier. John
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Post by luis on Jun 2, 2006 18:25:26 GMT -8
Hi John
Next year you ought to try to make it to Sand Dog IV. I know Florida is a long ways from Oregon (so is Maine), but we had a great time. We dove Alexander Springs, the Silver River, and Weeki Watchee Springs among others. It was some good diving with a great group of divers.
Well tomorrow I will be using the new hoses again. I will be diving from shore here in Maine. It has been raining and windy so the visibility is not going to be very good. If we are lucky we may have 15 ft of visibility, but most likely will be less (hopefully not as bad as 3-5 ft).
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Post by SeaRat on Jun 3, 2006 19:31:05 GMT -8
I had an interesting dive today in the Clackamas River at High Rocks. It is just after Memorial Day, and each year now there are water rescue personnel from the local ambulance service at High Rocks. Today, they were there practicing water rescue and swimming techniques when I came down to the river. I talked to them, and told them I would be diving.
I used my twin 50s with a Calypso single hose for backup, and my Trieste II with the new hoses on it. These new hoses are several inches shorter than the normal hoses I have on the Trieste II, which I bought from National Scuba Repair some years ago (1980s). The hoses from NSR were 21 inches long, and made of a different material which has stood the test of time, and are still very good hoses. But the new hoses, while shorter, had more stretch, and therefore did not cause me any discomfort at all, even with the lower regulator position I use with my twin 50s. The regulator seemed to have about the same performance, or perhaps just a bit better, with the new hoses than it did with the NSR hoses.
The river has high, but not a dirty as it was a month ago, and I had about 5 foot visibility. I explored the upper area where the river goes over a gravel bar, and found the bar itself to be carved out by the current, so that there was a steeper incline under the rapids than I had seen last year (I have noticed this for several dives now). The current was fast enough that it was carrying some fist-sized rockes (flattened) downstream, which made for a good test of the regulator's performance. I surfaced in an upper pool, which had a counter-current eddie upstream from the lifeguards, then let the current take me through a chute in the rocks into deeper water. I was surprised to get a reading of 27 feet on my Suunto computer (nice Christmas present) at the deepest point. I grabbed some rebar that was wedged between rocks to steady myself in the current and watched the bottom for a few minutes, relieving the bottom of two fishing lures and a lead weight, then released and went just a bit further downstream, found a big rock to get out of the current, and ascended into a protected area where the lifeguards were training. I told them about the currents, and the depth, then went down again and went to the other side of the river.
On the bottom again, I found another rod and hung on because my fish-of-interest, the red-sided shiner, was there in a school of maybe 50 fish. These small fish, about 4-6 inches in length, have been the object of my studies since the 1980s. They come upriver in the spring, and spawn when the water reaches about 60 degrees. The water temperature today, as measured by the lifeguards, was 50 degrees, so they are not ready yet. When they get to spawning, they develop a beautiful red side that extends from just under their gills the length of their body. I saw one today that was beginning to turn, and get the red sides. At one point, I held my breath for about 20 seconds to let them approach me (even with exhaust on my back, they are a bit skittish when I'm breathing). A mass of white stuff came by, and one went to feed on it, and turned the stuff down. But they were definately on the lookout for food. After about five minutes, I let go and continued downstream.
I got into an interesting area sculped by rock which had a counter-current that went against bottom rocks, then went toward the surface. I released air from my BC as I rose on the current to the surface, surfaced and got my bearings. I was in an area I had not previously seen, which had a very weird current that in these high waters could not be predicted from what was on the surface. I'll remember that for the next dive, and maybe explore it further.
It took some swimming against the countercurrent to regain the stream's main current and continue downstream. Once there, I followed the river's north bank under two bridges, and to my exit area.
Overall, I was pleased with the new hoses. In the current they are almost unnoticeable as they do hug my shoulders much tighter than my NSR hoses.
After the dive, there were two emergencies involving the water rescue group. They had to pick up two kayakers who's inflatable kayaks had deflated in the current (probably got torn on the rocks). While they were wearing life jackets, they were pretty cold (water temp. 50 degrees F). Then there was an ambulance response, and I was concerned that they had thought I was in trouble (I had drift-dived the area, and exited about 400 yards downstream). I went down in my wetsuit after walking up to my vehicle, and found out that they had a Sheriff's boat that picked up a gal who was being treated for something. I tapped one of the Water Rescue team members on the shoulder, and told her that I was safely out of the water. She thanked me, and said that when they first got the call they thought it might have been me. It is very good that this team is in place, as since they were there there have been no drownings at this place in the river (three happened the summer before they came).
By the way, I noted that the Cousteau Deep Cabin divers in the Conshelf Two project used a similar type of hose on their Mistral regulators. These were a tighter-corrugated hose than the other divers used, and they took those regulators to a depth of 363 feet in 1963. They used metal mouthpieces hooked into full-face masks. At one point, they needed to switch scuba tanks, and did so by taking their scuba off, removing the regulator off of one tank set underwater, attaching it to the other, and putting new tank set with their regulator on it back on. (see Jacques-Yves Cousteau, World Without Sun, Harper & Row, Publishers, New York, 1964, pages 98, -107, 156-163 for a description of the dives of the Deep Cabin divers, Raymond Kientzy and Andre Portelatine, the "Black Masks" in Cousteau's description of the deep-living aquanauts).
I noticed with my Trieste II with the new hoses, than the new hoses pumped air much better than the older hoses, and that would allow a completely flooded regulator to initiate flow much easier. But, this would never happen unless someone really set the regulator up to have this happen, as both I and Duckbill have shown.
John
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