A good tip in a book I read.

[moosicman]

Has anyone ever read the book by Peter Benchley called "Shark Life"? It is a quick read and I found a great tip for divers in it. He was recanting a story of a dive he was on in which he wasn't paying attention and emptied his tank. So he gives the OOA signal to his buddy but his buddy can't get to him right away for reasons of a large shark or two, so he has to ascend. By ascending, what little was left of the air in the tank expanded and gave him a puff or two which got him close enough to the surface to do an CESA.

Suprisingly, I had never heard of that before, though it stands to reason I suppose, and I thought it might be something to share with you.

The book is a good one too. I would recommend it, although alot of it is elementary.

[NitroWill]

This is why you should keep your regulator in your mouth if you are forced into an emergency ascent. I thought this was covered in most OW classes, but I guess not all. It's good to remember - but nothing that watching your air and diving your plan won't prevent

[Splitlip]

Boyle's Law, n'est pas?

Will:
When I recieved my NAUI OW cert in the 70's it was discussed at length. I took an AOW in 1999 to tune up. Never discussed.

My daughter was just certified in 2007. To the best of my knowledge, although Boyles law was studied, the specifics of this were not made clear.

But then in my open water class, we also were shown how to breath off a tank without a regulator , and how to buddy breath lol. No octos and no BC's either. Fact is though, our buoyancy skills were spot on!

EDIT:
I stand corrected. I just spoke to my daughter. in her PADI OW she did learn that the air in the tank will expand as she gets higher in the water column and she can get air from an "empty" tank (at depth).

Another EDIT: Just spoke to my cousin from Key West. Recently NAUI OW certified. Does not recall learning to sip the reg.

[jeepbrew]

Originally Posted by Splitlip

But then in my open water class, we also were shown how to breath off a tank without a regulator

When I originally got certified at the old age of 12 (1993), we did not do this... however, when I took a refresher (at the same time my g/f got OW certified) in 2006, we had to act as if we had a 1st stage failure, remove the BC, remove regs from tank, and breath off the tank for several minutes. Well, I guess we didn't HAVE to do it, but everyone in the class did.

[newways]

It was covered in my OW, AOW, and scuba tuneup through PADI.

[Chocoholic]

It was covered in my Naui class long ago, but I never got to breathe off the tank

[Splitlip]

Originally Posted by jeepbrew

When I originally got certified at the old age of 12 (1993), we did not do this... however, when I took a refresher (at the same time my g/f got OW certified) in 2006, we had to act as if we had a 1st stage failure, remove the BC, remove regs from tank, and breath off the tank for several minutes. Well, I guess we didn't HAVE to do it, but everyone in the class did.

cool. What agency?

[mitchy]

We learned that in our OW last year (PADI). We were told numerous times about the availability of a few breathes being available during CESA assent.

[jeepbrew]

Originally Posted by Splitlip

cool. What agency?

PADI, but the instructor didn't just teach the basics. She covered much more than required. I was already an experienced diver so I knew most of it, but it was a great learning experience to my g/f who was a newbie!

[Splitlip]

I think a lot depends on the instructor.