Openwater divers have different equipment requirements as cave divers, technical divers and wreck divers and again different equipment requirements apply to rebreather divers. All of them have in common that it is imperative to be able to handle the equipment proficient in the environment one is diving in and be in charge of the equipment, not having the equipment being in charge of the dive or diver.
Poorly learned skills such as stress management, equipment management and survival skills are the first to go when an potential stressful situation arises resulting from poor skills, changing a potential stressful situation into a life threatening situation. Seeking proper and complete training with plenty of time to learn equipment related skills with a commitment to further practice the learned skills, drills and equipment needs beyond the training program is needed in order to become proficient, to have the equipment skills necessary to focus on dive objectives rather then having ones total focus on just handling the equipment needed to conduct the dive.
The assembling, disassembling, maintenance process of dive gear at any level should be no problem and provides time to check all equipment parts for leaks or deterioration. All and each additional diving accessories for certain types of dives such as cave, technical, ice, photography or night diving such as lights, stage tanks and regulators, reels, lift bags, DPV’s or cameras have to be tested prior each dive to ensure proper function and or life support.
Configuration Concept
The most important part of a life support system is you and your most important dive computer, sitting on our shoulders, your brain is on and functioning. You must be an aware and competent diver. Each piece of your life support system must be selected as if your life depended on it, because it does. Your gear configuration should be efficient and provide for personal safety requirements. As new ideas, styles, configurations and equipment develop we must be willing to modify our equipment and its configuration if necessary. An attitude with a willingness to evolve is necessary. Do not become stagnant in approach, attitudes and equipment.
Advantages of a clean approach and streamlining
Equipment configurations should be streamlined and provide ease of access to all basic and additional equipment, gauges and controls as well as to be user friendly. Items should be configured in such a manner that they can be located simply by touch. All gauges and consoles not wrist mounted should be attached to the BC or harness. Dangling gauge consoles often get entangled and or scratched, even damaged, can damage the environment and get you entangled. Keeping computers and gauges on the wrist and close to the body reduces drag.
Hoses attached to the primary gas supply’s first stages should also be kept as close to the body as possible using custom size and length hoses. They can be inserted into loops of surgical tubing, bungee cord or bicycle inner tubing. Hoses should not extend outward beyond the width of the divers body or outside the diameter of the tanks if possible. Evolve to a gear configuration that has all hoses pointed downward or cris-crossing behind your neck. Again the goal is to keep the equipment as clean and streamlined as possible. The more drag a diver has the more energy is needed to overcome that drag, making a diver less efficient and possibly exhausted or incapable of effortlessly glide through the water.
Hogarthian Style
The Hogarthian gear configuration has evolved into one of the more streamlined gear configurations presently. The backup regulator is attached to the same first stage in recreational diving as the primary regulator or to the left post and worn under the chin attached by a bungee necklace around the neck when diving with double tanks and manifold. The backup regulator long hose (5–7 feet/1.5–2 Meter) comes off the right post leading down toward the belt mounted primary light. If no primary light is worn the long hose can be looped underneath the waist belt to control the extra length hose. Belt mounted primary lights are streamlined and protected against sitting on them with tanks on plus are easy and quickly taken off in case one has to in a tight spot. The long hose is the routed under the primary light canister or waist band coming up and crossing the chest, finally coming half around the neck and then into the front of the diver. In case of an out of air emergency the primary regulator in your mouth is given away releasing immediately 4 – 5 foot/1.2 – 1.5 meter of the long hose. Another advantages is that the donor regulator is in good working order and is located centrally at the divers head, easy to be located even in zero visibility situations.
A different approach is used by some divers breathing the long hose in regards to long hose routing and storage. Some divers loop the hose through surgical tubing strapped to the tank, other divers breathing from the long hose route the hose through surgical loops attached to the right side of the back plate or BCD assembly. The regulator might still retained around the throat with a strap made of rubber tubing or bungee cord or clipped of like a octopus second stage. These configurations have some disadvantages as the diver might experience problems deploying the long hose, if the second stage is clipped of like an octopus it is not easily found in zero viz and the receiving diver does not know if it working or not. In most cases the diver will not be able to place the long hose back into the storage area neither should the long hose not be needed anymore.
Should a gas sharing emergency occur, the diver primarily using the longer hose will switch to his or her “ short hose ” regulator and will pass the long hose unit to the distressed diver. This allows both divers to maintain a comfortable swimming pace while heading for the exit.