Excellent piece over at Divester on sharing air.

If a diver is hurting for air, they might start to panic. They’ll want the first regulator that they see and know has air: the one in your mouth. It’s a good idea to stay in control of your regulator. If a diver looks like they may need air, place your hand on your regulator. It’s better for you to hand it to them than have it yanked out of your mouth. You can make sure you grab a nice breath of air and demonstrate that you’re calm while handing it over. Someone who’s been swimming without an air supply will usually feel the need to catch their breath. If you just exhaled and a panicked diver grabs your regulator, you may not be very happy while they’re gobbling up air.

I’ve only had to share air once and it was in Cozumel on a vacation. We had done a deep dive in the morning but we had a fairly aggressive profile for our second dive. The DM suggested we do a good 5 min or more safety stop before surfacing which I felt was a pretty good idea. I’m not sure why but I became a little bored on the dive and decided to cut it short. I parterned my buddy up with another pair of divers and swam back to the anchor line where I did my extended safety stop. Near the end of my stop a pair of inexerpeinced divers (they were on their 4th post-certification dive) approached me on the safety line. My instructor instincts kicked in naturally and I glanced down at their pressure gagues and noted that both divers were in the red zone. I called them both close to me and held their guages up to their eye level so they could see that they were running low. Neither of them was going to make the 5 minute recommended safety stop at their current rate of consumption so I signaled to one of them that I was going to give her my octopus. She took it as the needle on her SPG started to approach 0 and I grabbed the waiststrap on the other diver’s BCD figuring I could share air with him if needed. I wanted to prevent panic and a shoot for the surface so I attempted to keep both divers calm by not appearing to be overly concerned about the situation.

As the second diver’s SPG approached zero I noted that the DM was leading a group up the line. I gave the line a few good yanks to grab his attention and he swam up. I showed him the two SPG’s and he gave the second diver his octo. I had noted the time when the other two divers had approached me so I knew when they had had a good 5 minutes of off-gassing. When we hit the 5 minute mark I signaled to everyone that we were going to make a nice, easy ascent and we got everyone on the surface.

My first (and hopefully last) air sharing experience went rather calmly. I don’t think either diver realized in how much danger they were in. I’m quite sure the situation would have turned out very differently had they taken a hit and they couldn’t draw any air.

As an instructor, I always knew that I shouldered a special risk. You are in charge of a group of people who do not know how to dive yet. As long as you can lead them they should be fine but what if something should happen to you? I’ve always felt like being on a teaching dive was like being a solo diver. I don’t really have a buddy who I can count on to react calmly to the situation.

I’ve experimented around with carrying a pony bottle and having three air source (reg, octo, and BC octo) but in analyzing the situation I’ve come to the realization that in an emergency, as an instructor diving with inexperienced divers, the first thing they are likely to go for is the reg that’s in my mouth. That leaves me without an air source and attempting to help a diver at some level of panic. I don’t have time to waste in finding my octo so the normal placement affixed to the BC shoulder strap doesn’t seem optimal. The octo could easily become dislodged during a dive without my knowledge and then I’m wasting time sweeping behind me trying to find an air source.

The solution I like best is the DIR-inspired necklace. It keeps the octo near your mouth and it’s much more noticable when it becomes dislodged. I’ve practiced with it and can actually get the octo in my mouth without using my hands. It’s much cleaner to use my hands but it can be done simply by dipping one’s neck.

Fortunately, I haven’t had to test this configuration out in a real incident but I do make sure to communicate the location of my octo to my buddy and students when I dive. If anything, I think the unusual placement sticks out in people’s heads and I’ve gotten quite a few “That’s not a half bad idea,” from other divers.

BusinessWeek is running a short little profile on dive equipment company Halcyon and the DIR (Do It Right) diving philosophy. Just scratches the surface and I wish the reporter could have given it more space but then again, it’s not every day that a diving equipment manufacturer graces the pages of BusinessWeek.

This is a story I posted on Rodale’s Scubadiving.com back in 2001 under an assumed name (didn’t want to catch the hate-mail it was sure to inspire). I’ve posted it here but since I’m taking credit for it let me add some disclaimers:

I have nothing against DIR. It was a joke.

Author: DIR Dork

Date: 08-06-01 03:26

I converted to DIR about 6 months ago and I have found that the philosophy extends way beyond diving. I think most people tend to view DIR as a gear configuration or diving objective type of thing but it really is a philosophy that you can use in other parts of your life. For instance, below are just some of the ways I’ve extended the DIR way of doing things into other areas of my life.

Last week some of my buddies came over to my house. Now, not all of them are divers but they do understand the DIR philosophy. So, first off, we all drink the same beer. This avoids any situations where you might be enjoying a lager and accidentally pick up an ale (or the other way around). That can be very uncool. That could quickly lead to a panic situation so we avoid it all together.

We also drink only from cans, no bottles. And we never put the beer in the refrigerator. It always goes in the ice chest in my living room. 47% of Drinking Related Incidents (DRI) occur when someone is going to the fridge for another beer so better to be safe than sorry. Of course, this is all rigged up while we’re still 100% sober so there’s no impaired judgment once things get cooking.

All of us wear a bungee necklace with a full beer on it just in case someone experiences an Out Of Beer (OOB) emergency. I can offer my already opened beer to my buddy and simply reach down and grab the backup off my beer necklace. And, without exception, we always use the 7 foot hose on the beer bong.

Of course, we don’t stay in every night so when we do decide to go out we make sure we’re still DIR. All of us wear exactly the same clothing:

Levi’s 501 Jeans (button hole, straight leg)

Gap Black T-Shirt

Haynes boxer shorts, black

Gold Toe socks, black

Kenneth Cole shoes, Brad Bitt style

G-Shock watch, black band

Nylon belt, black, with military buckle

Black Leather Jacket (optional, depending on weather conditions)

This may sound a bit silly or overdone but believe me, when you’re penetrating a night club, knowing exactly what you buddies are dressed like can make all the difference in the world if you’re hoping to snag some hottie. Let’s say I see some cutie and just before I get up to go talk to her a waitress spills a drink in my lap? No problem, because I can always swap pants with my buddy. I don’t have to worry if they match, because I know he’s wearing Levi’s 501′s. Bam, swap pants and I can still complete my objective.

One thing to keep in mind about night clubs is that you seldom want to penetrate a club on beer. I know, some of the macho jerks do this and brag to all of their buddies but believe me, it’s not DIR. You have to do it on mixed drinks. Obviously the mix will be different on different nights but a good vodka tonic mix is pretty standard. Again, there’s a right way and a wrong way to do this. You can’t just order any old vodka or depend on some bartender to get the mix right. That’s what the strokes do. No, you order Stoli vodka which has an excellent reputation in the DIR partying community. The correct blend is 2oz Stoli with tonic water poured over ice in a highball glass (lemon or lime optional). I always bring a testing kit with me and if the blend is off, I send it back. It’s just not worth the risk and it’s not DIR.

So you penetrate the night club and you’ve got a good mix, now it’s time to meet the ladies. I should have said this earlier but watch your drink consumption. It’s a well known fact that women look 25% – 30% better in a night club and if you get all narc’d up on vodka tonic, it increases your chances of a coyote ugly blackout. You have to keep your wits about you.

If it’s early, you probably have pretty good viz. Later in the evening when the smoke silts up the room it’ll be harder to make out the women on the other side of the club so get your headings early. On a few occasions I’ve had to bust out the wreck reel just to get to the bathroom and back.

If you are lucky enough to hook up with a nice hottie, this is when doing it right really can pay off. Now, let’s face it, there’s a certain degree of danger involved here that I don’t want to downplay. You need to minimize your risks by using the proper equipment. I carry 2 condoms. One I put on . . . well you know, and the second I put on a bungee that goes around my waist. If there’s a malfunction on my primary, I can quickly go to my backup without hardly skipping a beat.

So, as you can see from these pretty basic examples, DIR is not just for diving. It’s something you can use in all areas of your life.

Keep it real,

DIR Dork