LONG HOSE VS STANDARD OCTOPUS

Is the “standard” way of using a 2nd stage regulator on a normal length hose plus an “octopus” regulator on a slightly longer hose the best way to arrange things?  Have you just taken this for granted and not given it any serious thought? Using this system the diver breathes from his primary regulator (on a normal length hose) and stows the “octopus” about his person somewhere.

There is an alternative system that has many benefits over the standard system described above.  This involves having your primary regulator on a 7ft long hose and your back-up regulator on a standard length hose.

The 7ft hose is routed so that it points down from the regulator 1st stage, runs down along the tank, across the chest, around the neck and then into the mouth.  For obvious reasons do not try and wrap this hose around your neck multiple times. The photo below will help you visualise.

Note that the long hose is tucked under a waist pocket in the above picture.  For wreck and cave diving, a light canister would be situated where the pocket is in the above picture.  The long hose would be tucked under this canister.

The backup regulator, on the normal length hose comes over your right shoulder and sits under your chin attached to a length of bungee cord.  The situation of the backup regulator has many advantages.  Firstly, it is right where you need it, close to your mouth.  It only takes a slight movement with your hand and the backup is in your mouth.  With practise you can even get the backup regulator into your mouth without using your hands!  Secondly, the backup is not dragging in any dirt/mud and will therefore be less likely to have problems.  Thirdly, the position of the backup means that it doesn’t present a snagging point.  Fourthly, if the backup was to free-flow or gently stream bubbles, you will notice it immediately because the bubbles will be in front of you.  The standard position of the “octopus” has none of these benefits.

In addition to these advantages, the biggest advantage of using the 7ft long hose is when it comes to “emergencies”.  The system is set up so that in the event that your buddy (someone else) is out of air/gas, you donate the long hose and switch to your backup below your chin.  This system is ideal in that it allows nearly five feet of hose to instantly be available and the remaining two to be deployed with a quick flick of the hand. In addition, the diver can easily return the long hose to its original position without needing assistance.

Other techniques whereby the 7ft hose is stuffed against the side of a cylinder (e.g. held by surgical tubing) or behind the diver’s head near the manifold do not allow the hose to be repositioned without assistance and pose entanglement problems or restrict access to the manifold isolation valve.  When you tuck a long hose into some surgical tubing you feel that it is forgotten and indeed for some, it is, but what happens when it pulls free or is not set just right? If you rely on your buddy to arrange this hose for you, what guarantee do you have that it is to your liking or even correctly placed? In a sport that preaches self-sufficiency, does it seem logical to configure your equipment in a way that forces dependence on your dive buddy?
By donating the long hose regulator from the mouth in an out of air situation, one guarantees that the person most in need of a clean, fully functioning regulator is going to get it. If you pass any other regulator to an out of air diver it is possible that the regulator received may contain contaminants that will be impossible for the stressed diver to manage. In essence, what you will have done is to place the last straw on the camel's back, creating the last problem your dive buddy can manage. The advantage of donating your long hose primary is that you are always ready for this very real possibility. You are, in essence, always prepared for the out of air situation.

In an out of air (OOA) scenario, the diver who is out of air may typically be in great panic, unable to breathe for much longer than they can stay calm. As tunnel vision closes in on them, you do not want to leave their fate to chance by handing them a secondary that may not be working, or that is not purged, or that may take you an extra 4 seconds to deploy. This type of delay will have them reaching for the regulator in your mouth anyway.  Consider also that the mass of bubbles present in a regulator free-flow situation might make the conventionally placed “octopus” difficult to locate.

The long hose will place a regulator in their mouth immediately, and they have room to become comfortable. By breathing the long hose, the OOA diver does not feel like the hose may rip the regulator out of their mouth at any moment, such as by a sudden body motion that one might expect in an emergency situation.

They will feel comfortably supported by a functional breathing system. They will be far more likely to calm down, and assist in the swim to the surface.  The 7 feet long hose provides you with a good safety margin for reaching the other diver if they are in a small confined space, and once in the open, your control and swimming are not hampered by constantly bumping in to the other diver who is pulled too close by a short hose (e.g. in a current or during decompression).

Although the 7ft hose was originally developed for cave diving, what is the difference between having to swim along a passageway of a wreck and along a tunnel of a cave?  Even if diving in open-water, the longer hose makes swimming easier and less stressful.  In an out of air/gas situation, the person receiving the long hose swims in front where the other diver can keep a close eye on the diver and monitor their progress.  He/she will be in a much better position to respond to any further problems.

If you read any of the incident reports you will note that people have died even after the initial donating of air.  This is because the panicked diver either had further problems or the situation simply became too stressful and the divers didn’t rectify the situation in a swift and controlled manner.  With proper training and practice, the OOA situation becomes little more than an inconvenience (having to abort dive) when using the 7ft hose.
Despite its growing popularity, many divers remain opposed to donating the regulator from their mouth. The following discussion reviews the most common resistance to donating the long hose from the mouth.

The last thing I want to do in an out of air situation is give up my primary regulator.

This concern does not really seem to be a rational fear. It is likely that a diver incapable of removing the regulator from his or her mouth for five to ten seconds is not skilled or practised enough to be in open-water anyway. One may question this divers ability handle an out of air situation in which the out of air diver chooses the regulator in their mouth despite their best intentions. A diver with this degree of concern over the regulator in their mouth may find it quite a challenge to even deal with the very real possibility of an accidentally dislodged regulator.

I don't want to breathe my long hose, I want to have the best performance regulator in my mouth and the long hose decreases this performance.
With literally thousands of deep exploration dives accomplished by divers breathing the long hose, the performance argument seems rather a moot point. Yet, if one were to insist that the reduction of performance is true, it seems like a poor solution to leave the stressed, out of air diver gasping for air on this lower performance regulator so you can have a more relaxed dive. Your best performance regulator must be on your long hose and if its performance is unacceptable in a relaxed situation then it is certainly inappropriate to suggest that the your stressed dive buddy is better prepared for this increased resistance.  I use a Scubapro G250 2nd stage on my long hose and a Scubapro R380 as my backup regulator.

Both 1st stages are Scubapro Mark 20’s (see regulator section for the reasons for this choice).  I have noticed no difference in performance when using the long hose.

I just don't want to deal with that hose on the second stage in my mouth.
Any skill worth learning usually takes refinement. The long hose may at times seem unusual to some people at first, but with a little practice it is surprising how you can adapt.  Regularly repeating out of air drills should be done whether you are an experienced diver or still undergoing training.  By doing such drills you will get proficient at deploying and stowing the long hose. When/if it comes to do it for real, only those tasks that have become automatic responses can be relied upon.