Diving the Long Hose – Proper Usage

I’ve been noticing, at my local diving spots and on dive boats, that many divers are starting to use long hoses on their second stages. It’s good that people are seeing the value in using long hoses over the short hoses on their regulators. However, I’m seeing that quite a few people are not properly managing the long hose. This post will cover the proper storage and use of the long hose.

1) Storage of the second stage regulator – When the long hose is not in use, it should be clipped to the right chest d-ring. I can’t tell you how many times I see people not clip off the long hose and let it drop on the ground or boat deck. Obviously, this can damage the second stage. I don’t know about you, but I’m poor. I can’t afford to buy new regulators or have them fixed frequently. So I need to take good care of them. By clipping the second stage off to the chest d-ring, I can significantly reduce the risk of damaging it. My rule of thumb is that as soon as the reg comes out of my mouth, it gets clipped of to the right chest d-ring everytime.

2) Managing the long hose – When diving the long hose, the hose must be secured at the right hip. There are to ways to secure the long hose. One, tuck it under a canister light, weight pouch or harness pocket. Two, tuck the excess hose into the waist belt of the harness. These to methods prevent the long hose from forming a huge loop of hose around the diver. When tucking the hose into the waist belt, the diver must continually check to make sure the hose hasn’t come loose due to suit compression loosening the waist belt or other movements that could cause the hose to come out of the waist belt.

3) Trapping the long hose – I see this mistake quite a bit. When people are putting their equipment on, they don’t realize that the long hose is trapped under a dry suit hose or some other piece of equipment. When I put on my gear, the long hose is always the last piece of equipment that I put in place. This ensures that the long hose doesn’t get trapped. In addition to this, I always deploy the long hose just prior to getting into the water to double check that the long hose can be fully deployed.

Remember, the regulator on the long hose is the one that gets donated in an out of gas emergency. It needs to be readily available and functioning properly for such an emergency. So, let’s secure the long hose when it’s not in use and make sure it isn’t trapped.

I hope this post gives divers who are moving or are new to diving long hoses manage a few tips on how to safely dive the long hose. If you felt this was useful, feel free to share it with your diving friends, Digg it, or ReTweet it.

Dive Safe,
Duane Johnson
Precision Diving

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