The information below is based on how I dive and how
my equipment is configured (unless teaching where agency standards dictate
otherwise), however other methods are available.
Overview
On my previous blogs we’ve discussed a Hogarthian
setup, chosen and setup twin cylinders (here), wings (here) a one-piece harness and backplate (here) and a suit
inflation cylinder (here). Now we’ll discuss regulator configuration.
This article will differ slightly from my previous
ones as I will discuss both Primary Donate (Hogarthian/DIR) and Secondary Take (BSAC).
Equipment configuration
is such a varied and topical subject, and in particular regulator
configurations make up a large part of this.
Happy reading.
Regulator Choice
The majority of regulators used by technical divers seem to
be either Apeks, Scubapro, Halcyon and more recently Tecline. Manufacturers
are also designing regulators with technical divers in mind with features such
as first stages which offer better hose routing or second stages that can be
configered left or right handed. Although
personally I am an Apeks fan there are a number of factors when considering which
regulator is best for you:
·
What other
regulators do you/your team/your buddy use?
If all regulators are from the same manufacturer, and of a similar
model, faults can be much more easily fixed on the spot as the odds are higher
that there will be a compatible spare in your kit/within the group.
·
What
regulators does your instructor use and more importantly why? Don’t just blindly follow.
·
The most expensive regulators are not
always the ones you need to buy. For
example do you need to pay extra for a regulator that can be configured left or right handed?
On the primary donate example below you do not.
·
Test any new configeration in a sheltered water
environment first.
·
And finally, regardless
of what regulators, or configuration you select, remember to keep the hose
routing streamlined. It gives the diver
easier access to the cylinder valves if required and ensures nothing protrudes that
could impact or snag with the outside environment.
Termonalogy
Below are a
few terms that may be unfamiliar which will appear later on in this post:
· Right post.
The right cylinder valve behind the divers head as they wear them. This can also be known as the primary post as
all the primary equipment is connected to it.
This is because this cylinder valve will ‘roll on’ (see below) therefore
all of the primary equipment will always be working.
·
Left
post. The left cylinder valve behind the
divers head as they wear them. This can
also be known as the backup or secondary post.
· Roll on.
Based on forward propulsion, the cylinder valve would roll (turn) on if
it were to make contact with an overhead environment (see diagram).
· Roll
off. Based on forward propulsion, the
cylinder valve would roll (turn) off if it were to make contact with an
overhead environment.
· Primary regulator. The one that the diver is breathing during
normal diving.
· Backup
regulator. The one that is not being
breathed. The ‘backup’. Usually located under the divers chin. In recreational terms this can be known as
alternate source (AS), alternate air source (AAS) or octopus.
·
OOG. Out of gas.
Sometimes referred to out off air.
Why the Long Hose
“A long hose is for technical divers. I’m still doing recreational diving, but I
want to stay down a bit longer.”
Personally
I’m a fan of the use of the long hose (primary donate) at ALL levels of diving
as it has a number of advantages. Most
boat skippers (or holiday dive guides) insist of ascending up a shot line or a
DSMB. If not, it’s still good practice to
as it ensures there is no surface traffic above. In an OOG situation, where you’re face to
face with your buddy, with little room, it is going to be extremely difficult,
and stressful, to deploy a DSMB. The
advantage a long hose brings is it gives added distance between the 2 divers,
increasing comfort and reducing stress levels.
A long hose
also has advantages in an overhead environment when exiting, even at
recreational wreck diving level. As an
example, the Scylla in Plymouth
is one of the most popular wrecks in the UK.
With depths ranging from 14-23m it sits within recreational levels. However if one were to have an OOG situation
inside, despite the multitude of exits, swimming out whilst adopting the
traditional AS would be a struggle.
“I’ll have a long hose on my AS. That’s ok isn’t it?”
Most training
agencies configure recreational divers with an AS clipped off somewhere within
the ‘triangle of access’ which the OOG then takes, and this method works fine
for the majority of divers. Fast forward
to a trimix diver who is carrying a number of stage/decompression cylinders. Despite divers carrying out a buddy check
before diving, an OOG diver may be panicking, and with a number of regulators
in view, may accidently take the wrong one.
This could mean attempting to breathe from an empty regulator (cylinder
turned off), or (accidently) breathing from a regulator that contains a
poisonous gas mix (for that depth). And
even if the OOG diver takes the correct regulator, it could be ‘rolled
off’. By donating the regulator in your
mouth, the OOG diver knows he is getting a. a working regulator and b. one
which is safe to breathe. You then
simply go to your backup (under your chin).
Even if this has ‘rolled off’ you can calmly turn it back on
instantly.
“But I don’t carry stage cylinders.”
Even if you
don’t carry additional cylinders, by having the AS in a clip, on a breakaway, or
even in a necklace under your chin can cause delays in the OOG diver receiving
it. First you have to locate it (doesn’t
apply to a necklace). Is the AS hanging
where you expect it to be? Has it come
off? Then disconnect it, and then donate
it to the diver (if they haven’t already taken it). An easy task on the surface that can become
more difficult if stress is involved.
What if the
OOG diver takes the regulator from your mouth, without warning? The same situation applies as you need to
locate, disconnect and replace your AS, but now you may be panicking as well.
For all of
the above reasons, my preferred configuration is primary donate. There is an argument against this method as
it means both divers, for a split second, do not have a working regulator in
their mouth. Agreed. But it is only a split second, and the pros
out way the cons in my opinion.
“What length hose should I use?”
Traditionally
5ft/1.5m and 7ft/2.1m hoses are available.
I would always choose the 7ft/2.1m hose for 2 reasons:
 |
| Video screenshot of an OOG scenario on my Cave course |
· When swimming
out of a narrow overhead environment, a 5ft/1.5m hose is not long enough for 2
divers to swim out one behind the other.
 |
| Long hose tucked behind canister
on a single cylinder setup
|
· A 5ft/1.5m hose is not long enough to be stowed
around the divers body neatly using a ‘hog loop’ (Hogarthian/DIR).
Although this method can be used, the hose is free to move and
potentially either snag, or ride up behind the divers head. By using a 7ft/2.1m hose, it can
either be secured inside the waistband of the harness or tucked under the
primary light canister.
Long Hose Stowage
“So where do we store this long hose?”
We mentioned on one of the earlier paragraphs about
keeping our hoses streamlined to ensure access to the cylinder valves and to
remove snag hazards. It also needs to be
easily deployed and re-stowed. This gives
us 2 options; hog loop or bungee.
In my first twinset blog (here) I briefly covered the Hogarthian setup, what is DIR and William Hogarth Main. In this configuration the long hose goes
under the divers left arm, secured
inside the waistband of the harness or tucked under the primary light canister
(depending on hose length), across the body, around the back of the divers head
and feeding into the divers mouth from their right hand side. To deploy, simply grab the regulator hose
with an over grasp grip, pass it forward to the OOG diver briefly ducking your
head, all in a single movement. Only
then once the hose is clear can you go to your backup regulator. Once the OOG diver has the regulator and is
breathing, you can either deploy the remainder of the hose from inside the
waistband of the harness or tucked under the primary light canister, or try and
fix the problem. Re-stowing the regulator
after use is the reverse of deployment.
This method has the advantage that it will always deploy. The only thing the diver needs to be aware of
is their drysuit hose or primary light cable, which can trap the hose if not
properly checked.
 |
Continuous loop
|
When bungeeing the long hose (either primary donate
or secondary take), it can either be done on the wing (if it has bungees) or on
the cylinders. I have found the latter
the most popular. I have tried 2
different methods, a continuous loop and a horseshoe. My personal opinion is that the horseshoe
gives a much smoother deployment, and helps prevent snagging, as if the hose not
stowed with care, the continious loop can snag on itself and not deploy (see
picture). This disadvantage means that
it is impossible to guarantee deployment until it is required. There is also the disadvantage that bungeeing
the long hose require 2 divers to re-stow it after use, for example switching
onto a stage/decompression cylinder. It
also means that S-drills are often skipped pre-dive.
 |
| Horseshoe |
 |
| Snag |
SPG – 1 or 2?
“So how many SPGs should I have?”
Sometime I see people with 2x SPGs and when I ask
them why there is never a strong argument, with answers such as “That’s what I
was taught” and “If I have a failure I
still know how much gas I have left”.
Unfortunately the former shows a poor understanding of the divers
equipment. With regards to the latter,
providing correct gas planning was carried out prior to the dive, as long as no
team member broke the rule of thirds, there is sufficient gas left to exit the
water. No additional SPG is
required.
By only having 1x SPG routed on the left post it
brings the diver many advantages:
·
More streamlined and less chance of a snag.
·
Less failure points.
·
Allows the diver to look at it whilst using a spool/reel or a DPV (these
are right handed operations).
·
Allows problem solving. Lets look at
this more closely:
·
Closed isolator valve. Because the
SPG is on the left post (see below), if the isolator valve is closed the
cylinder pressure will not drop, indicating this problem.
·
Closed left post. Either, the
cylinder pressure will not drop, or, the SPG will read low or empty as the backup
regulator loses pressure, again indicating this problem.
·
These problems may be missed if the diver is looking at an SPG coming off
the right post.
Equipment List
To have you regulators set up in the
configurations below you will need the following:
1. 2x regulator first stages.
1. 2x regulator first stages.
2. 2x regulator second stages.
3. 1x 7ft/2.1m low pressure regulator hose (as
per the reasoning above).
4. 1x 22”/24” (depending on body size and
regulator type) low pressure regulator hose.
5. 1x 22” low pressure wing hose (plus 2 strips
of innertube if not already on the corrugated hose).
7. 1x 24” high pressure SPG hose.
8. 1x SPG. Usually the boot or console is removed as
these are heavy, can drag underneath the diver and damage the environment.
Primary Donate
Below is my configuration as per a Hogarthian/DIR setup. Before I explain what goes where, lets go recap
some of the reasonings behind the configeration. If we start with the long hose, based on
primary donate and the ‘roll on’ principle, this is connected to the right
post, meaning the backup regulator is connected to the left post. Our primary buoyancy is the wing so this is
connected to our right post, so our drysuit (which can be used as reserve
buoyancy) is connected to the left post.
Finally, as reasoned above, the SPG is connected to the left post. Below we will discuss the routing in much more
detail.
Right Post:
·
Primary
regulator. This is connected into the
rear most port on my first stage (Apeks DS4) as it naturally routes the hose
downwards. The hose then runs down the
back of the wing and is hog looped as per my previous statement. Finally a p-clip/boltsnap is added at the end
of the hose so that it can be clipped off onto the right should d-ring when not
in use.
·
Wing hose. This is
connected onto the front port on my first stage as it angles the hose forward
slightly. The hose then runs behind the
divers head and down the corrugated hose. It is secured into position on the corrugated
hose by 2 strips of innertube. The LPI
is secured into the harness by a large O-ring/bungee loop on the left shoulder
d-ring as per my blog here. Some divers prefer to have wing
hose running directly off the left post reasoning it is more streamlined and
much simplier. I admit that I used to do
this, however another reason for having the hose come off the right post is if
the diver had a failure in the schrader valve, resulting in the wing
automatically inflating. If this failure
were to occur, you could simply disconnect the hose from the LPI, but by this
point positive buoyancy will have occurred which could result in an unplanned
ascent. Instead, by shutting off the
right post and dumping from the left kidney dump on the wing, buoyancy can be
maintained. Once the valve is completely
turned off, switch to the backup regulator and try to resolve the problem. If you were to configure your wing hose on
the left post your drysuit hose should be swapped over to this port.
Left post:
·
Backup
regulator. This is connected into the
rear most port on my first stage as it naturally routes the hose down. The hose then runs behind the divers head
(some divers prefer to have it running under the corrugated hose), around the
right hand side, and is secured in a necklace under the divers chin. Although previously I mentioned that this
hose should be 22”/24” long, to check it’s the correct length,
with the regulator in the divers mouth it should not drop off the right
shoulder, and when looking left it should not pull out of the divers mouth. When kitting up this must be placed on before
the primary regulator so that it sits underneath and does not restrict the
donation movement. Some divers prefer to
have the regulator fed over the left shoulder if the regulator can be
configured that way, again reasoning it is more streamlined and simpler. I have
also done this. For this method to be
streamlined, you would require an extremely short hose. By having the backup regulator routed over
the right shoulder, you reduce the snag hazard, and maintain similarity across
all second stages (primary, backup, and stage/decompression).
·
Drysuit hose
(if not using a suit inflation cylinder or wetsuit). This is connected onto the front port on my
first stage as it angles the hose forward slightly. The hose then runs under
the left arm, inside the harness (to prevent trapping the backup light) and is
connected to the drysuit. When kitting
up this should be placed on first so it sits underneath the long hose and does not restrict the donation movement.
·
SPG. This runs down the divers left side, close to
the body, and is clipped to the left hip d-ring by a p-clip/boltsnap. Some divers prefer to have this clipped off
on their left shoulder d-ring as it makes it easier to see. I prefer not to, as a. you should only be
confirming what you think your SPG should be reading, and b. once you add
stage/decompression cylinders, the left shoulder d-ring becomes very cluttered
and has a number of SPGs there. Some
divers then add “I’ll move it down when I
start carrying stage/decompression cylinders”. In addition to learning this new skill, they
have to learn to clip off the SPG in its new position, which is now slightly
more awkward as there is a cylinder there.
By clipping the SPG off on the left hip d-ring from the start the diver
builds muscle memory.
Secondary Take
In 2009, the
British Sub-Aqua Club (BSAC) released a clarification statement on Alternative Supply
training and going diving (link). In summary, it said that BSAC’s policy is
“to teach a simple consistent method for dealing with an out of gas
situation for a buddy. That system should be consistent with the most common
method taught worldwide and workable with all types of equipment configuration.
BSAC aims to maintain consistency throughout its training courses and its
safety advice to members.” Because BSAC teach
secondary take across all levels it does not support the teaching of primary donate
as it is not compatable with their policy.
With regards to diving within a branch, they do go on to say “divers who have been taught
alternative methods through other training agencies are not banned from using
those techniques within BSAC”. Although I understand with BSAC’s reasoning,
(in my opinion) they have managed to alienate themselves within the technical
diving community.
If we think
back to Primary Donate we started off with the long hose (primary
regulator). Lets again start here. Should the long hose (AS) be connected to the
right post so it always ‘rolls on’, or should it be connected to the left
(backup) post?
When
required to do so, below is the configeration I believe works best:
Right Post:
·
Primary
regulator. The primary regulator, this time
on the short hose, connects as per my previous statement. It would arguably be better to have the
backup regulator (AS), this time on the long hose, attached to this post so it
never ‘rolls off’, BUT, when dealing with failures, the standardisation of the
right post remaining the primary is key, especially when muscle memory kicks
in. As before, a p-clip/boltsnap is
added at the end of the hose so that it can be clipped off onto the right
should d-ring when not in use.
·
Wing
hose. No change.
Left post:
·
Backup
regulator. The backup regulator, this
time on the long hose, connects as per my previous statement. It is then bungeed to my left cylinder in the
Horseshoe method as previously shown and is secured in a necklace under the
divers chin. For this method to work,
you will require a regulator that is reversible such as the Apeks XTX series. Some divers have this
clipped off if they do not have a reversible regulator, but I do not like this as
a necklace has the advantage of being instantly assessable to the diver in an emergency. You’ll need to find it fast so it’s important
you know exactly where it is.
·
Drysuit hose. No change.
·
SPG. No change.
Finally
The explanations and pictures above
are based on Apeks DS4/XTX series regulators.
If you have another model first stage, or regulators from another
manufacturer, the orientation of the hoses may change slightly however the
principle is the same. A few final
thoughts are:
·
Ensure you
have spare hoses of the correct length.
Ideally per diver but if not per team.
·
The hose lengths listed are very specific, especially the
low pressure hoses. If you have existing
hoses, why not shorten them as per here.
· All the hose protectors have been removed as they can
hinder hose routing and hide hose damage.
·
When not in use, the long hose
is always clipped off on the right shoulder d-ring with the hose tied in an
overhand knot. This prevents the hose
snagging during transit and the second stage falling from the dive platform
onto the floor and getting damaged.
I hope you
enjoyed this article and no doubt some of the above will create some discussion.
The above 2 configurations are how I dive, and are the result of many different
configurations, in the same way as my back plate, wing and harness setup. But I have an open mind and am happy to
discuss any configuration questions you may have. Lastly, regardless of which method you decide
to use on your own equipment, always get formal training from a qualified
instructor.
The boring bit!
All opinions
expressed in my articles are my own and may differ to other instructor’s and
agency guidelines; by no means are they wrong and I would not wish to disrepute
any of them. This article is for
information only and should not replace proper training.
Safe diving!
Timothy Gort
BSAC, PADI & SDI/TDI diver training
