Northwest Dive Club

I have been a lurker on the Team Diving board and have spent some time looking into the DIR discipline of diving. Very sound but with 2 divers in the family, it will take some time (and some serious treasure) to get set up.

I recently came into ownership of a 7 foot primary regulator hose. I am 5'10" tall and currently use an approximately 40 inch primary regulator hose. My question is: Where the heck do I put all this extra length? I have read you stow it under your waste belt but I just cannot picture this configuration. Does the hose come over your right shoulder, go down to the waist belt and then back up? This seems like it would be a lot of catch points, would cover other vital equipment (ie my dry suit inflator) and, would present the primary regulator at an odd angle.

I currently own a ScubaPro Knighthawk BC and carry a pony bottle mounted on the right side of my main tank, as a redundant air source.

I appreciate the assistance.

There is no such thing as a stupid question.

The style of diving and the gear go hand in hand, it's a holistic approach. If your long hose is to be donated, then it will need to be "on top" of everything else, for exactly the reason you state (don't want it caught under your drysuit hose, etc...)

It is entirely possible to start working in the direction of GUE/UTD style of diving (one piece at a time) if that is what the budget allows, but it would almost be more important to get out with some folks who would be willing to mentor you in the non-gear aspects of it as well (accepting you with whatever gear you have now, and willing to mentor as you grow). By this I mean team positioning, team skills, kicks, buoyancy, ascents/descents, start working on the basic 5 (yes, that dratted mask off), philosophy of the configuration, gas management, etc... You CAN dive 'in trim' in a recreational BCD and split fins, and dive in a manner that won't stir up silt, and even back kick, it will all just be way easier and more streamlined once you make the jump to the gear as well.

A nice thing about easing into it as budget allows, is that you really appreciate it once you get there, and if your mentors are doing their job well, you'll find that even the non-gear aspects of the education will improve your diving comfort. There are even a lot of folks around with extra gear so plugging in to the community you want to dive with/like will allow you to opportunity to try before you buy.

SO, to start it off, when you are in a place where you want to try some different gear (change everything for a dive) I have a couple Halcyon singles kits available and would be happy to meet you out at cove 2 sometime, size them up for you and your buddy and let you take it out for a dive. I'd be happy to sit down and chat about the gear config and philosophy, but between some video projects and my newish job I simply don't have as much time available for mentoring as I once did, so i'd recommend catching up with one of the assorted groups that go out for regular dives.

This might help for how to route it:



The long hose is coming down behind the divers right wing, it tucks under the can light (this is where you tuck it into the waist strap instead if you don't have a can light, just make a little bite and stuff it under so that i'll pop out). then when you're breathing off the primary it looks like this:



The hose comes up from the can light across the divers chest, around the head and into the mouth with the hose coming from the right.

There's a whole lot of making sure that you haven't caught anything that goes into this config. You can trap the long hose on the waist belt, you can capture the long hose under your drysuit inflator, and you can route the long hose under the hose to your bungeed backup regulator. Generally what this means is that when gearing up you need to make sure that you're doing things in a sequence and generally involving rigging the long hose close to last. You want to be hooking up your drysuit inflator fairly early and putting the bungee backup regulator in place fairly early. When hooking up the waist strap you want to make sure that you're not catching the long hose when you do that. Then close to last, you want to be routing the long hose.

And hopefully all this should point out that there's some fairly subtle tricks to it all. Its generally better to get someone experienced show you how to use it, because I haven't covered even close to everything.

To answer your specific question: The hose comes off the regulator and goes down behind your back to your waist belt. It then comes up across your chest to your left shoulder, and goes behind your neck, coming into your mouth from the right side just as a "normal" regulator hose would do. The length is too great to wrap neatly around your body, so you take whatever extra there is, and tuck it under your waist belt. If you are using a standard BC with big pockets or integrated weights, you may have to tuck the extra length in pretty much in the front of your body, which is okay.

The most important thing is that the hose has to be on the OUTSIDE of everything else, so that you can deploy it if needed. This is pretty easy to do if you leave it clipped off to your BC until you have everything else fastened. Then check to make sure it hasn't gotten trapped under your waistbelt (easy to do, even with backplate/harness setups), route the hose, and double over the extra length and stuff it down under the belt. The loop you create by doing that will pull out of the waist belt easily, if you need it.

HERE are some photographs that will help you see this, and there are some more in THIS article. (Just imagine, where the hose goes under the canister in the side view, that it's just folded and tucked under the strap.)

Laura is right, the easiest way to do this is to spend some time with somebody who is familiar with the setup. IIRC, you are on Whidbey Island, right? If you want to take the ferry down to Mukilteo some time, I'd be happy to meet up with you and give you some coaching.

(I see Lamont has already posted the BAUE images!)

Very sound but with 2 divers in the family, it will take some time (and some serious treasure) to get set up.

Well, maybe, but maybe not -- honest.

Laura said it pretty well in that there are two basic parts to the "whole Team Diving" thing -- especially as defined by GUE and UTD. The one part, gear, can take some $ (although a BP/W setup, new is easily had for $460 or less) and the rest of the gear you have will probably work for open water (although maybe getting a longer hose for your primary 2nd stage is appropriate but that isn't that big of a $ issue).

OTOH, the training/mind/skill set of "Team Diving" or "DIR Diving" can be learned through classes or mentoring -- and it is my firm belief that the mind & skill set is the most important aspect. There are many ways available to get the mind & skill sets -- there are classes, I know of at least four, Fundamentals of Diving (GUE), Essentials (UTD) Intro to Tech (NAUI) and TecReational Diver (PADI), taught by local instructors at various price points and each can provide you with a good foundation.

If you would like more information on any of these classes, PM me and I'll give you provide it. BTW, the PADI class is a class I teach.

A lot of people have already given great advice, but if you don't have a can light, then you can also just run the long hose underneath a knife you wear on the left of your waist. This can be worn on the weight belt, if you have one. I used to do this while I was in transition to DIR diving. In fact, I had the same config you are in--long hose + Knighthawk BCD! Doing something like that will work fine until you get a canister light (assuming you don't have one already)

I like pictures and love Brian's site. http://www.frogkickdiving.com/Single_Re ... ration.php

I have my DIR reg set before my canister light and dove it for few weeks before I got my trusty "Dusty" light. What I did do, since I didn't a canister light was tuck my hose in the area I 'would' have a canister in my webbing. It worked just fine, and I do a few practice drills just to make sure.

Now it makes sense.

Thank you all very much, I definitely appreciate the information shared.

Laura is absolutely right on with her advice regarding team diving, the GUE/UTD way.. Even although she and Lamont don't blow bubbles anymore, we won't hold it against them :p

Im the local GUE instructor and If you can ever make it down to the west Seattle or really anywhere closer to Seattle or Muk, I'd be happy to answer any questions you have as well as can guide you with regards to all the finer details with our equipment configurations and they ways we dive and more importantly, the "why" behind all of it.

Drop me a PM and we'll get you connected. I also have a few spare full kits that I'd be happy to take you out on a dive as we discuss all the gear, configurations and reasoning behind the system.

You seem t have done your homework wrt team diving and Its certainly not the only way to dive, but It's really a neat system that resonates well with a lot of folks.

If you can, you should also take Lynne up for a dive, she is one of our band of merry (wo)men and absolute awesome mentor, excellent diver and a doll!

Lastly, if you are around cove2, especially on Wednesdays, the crew hosts an "all divers" dive weekly to mingle with local dive community.

+1 on what Koos said, especially the part about Lynne.

I've found that an approach in other hobbies/lines-of-work for me also is true for team-diving. Here are the 4 components in order of priority.

1. Mindset
2. Tactics
3. Skill
4. Equipment

Don't get caught-up on the equipment part... the most important thing to do is to show up, introduce yourself, and start asking questions. Wednesday evenings at the mud hole are designed for this. If you show up with the mindset of wanting to learn, you will... and you will in a hurry. Tactics come next - knowing WHAT to do, and understanding the HOW to do it, will lead to skill development. Once you know the "what & how," then you'll naturally become skilled at it... but don't lose sight of the mindset - keep seeking to learn and keep asking questions. Finally, the equipment will naturally come from the development of the above.

Many people start with the equipment... "I need a long hose. I need a can-light. I need this and that and holy shit - this is a lot of money!" They get so caught up on cost and assembling a Hogarthian rig that they miss the early boat on meeting people and learning. The GUE-Seattle crew has TONS of extra gear (seriously... like, thousands of pounds of it) and we're incredibly generous in lending it to people. Just hook up with one of us and tell us what you need - it's really no big deal for us to throw an extra rig in the truck.

See you soon.

Sounder wrote:+1 on what Koos said, especially the part about Lynne.

I've found that an approach in other hobbies/lines-of-work for me also is true for team-diving. Here are the 4 components in order of priority.

1. Mindset
2. Tactics
3. Skill
4. Equipment

Don't get caught-up on the equipment part... the most important thing to do is to show up, introduce yourself, and start asking questions. Wednesday evenings at the mud hole are designed for this. If you show up with the mindset of wanting to learn, you will... and you will in a hurry. Tactics come next - knowing WHAT to do, and understanding the HOW to do it, will lead to skill development. Once you know the "what & how," then you'll naturally become skilled at it... but don't lose sight of the mindset - keep seeking to learn and keep asking questions. Finally, the equipment will naturally come from the development of the above.

Many people start with the equipment... "I need a long hose. I need a can-light. I need this and that and holy shit - this is a lot of money!" They get so caught up on cost and assembling a Hogarthian rig that they miss the early boat on meeting people and learning. The GUE-Seattle crew has TONS of extra gear (seriously... like, thousands of pounds of it) and we're incredibly generous in lending it to people. Just hook up with one of us and tell us what you need - it's really no big deal for us to throw an extra rig in the truck.

See you soon.

Good advice!

I definitely look forward to meeting everyone and, I definitely appreciate the openness of everyone I have conversed with on the board.

If I could ask, let me know when you all will be hitting Mukilteo in the near future and I will do my best to join you! After school lets out and our business goes to "summer hours" I look forward to heading down to some of the sights I have only read about (Redondo, Cove 1, 2, 3, etc...)

Keep an eye out for the MMM threads. A few of us have spare gear for people to try out.

Nwbrewer wrote:Keep an eye out for the MMM threads. A few of us have spare gear for people to try out.

Will do and thanks!

lamont wrote:

Dare I say this is an epic mustache?

D

A mustache some men can only dream of sporting!