team diving skills

[beeger]

A 7' foot hose will not really solve any problems by itself. A well trained diver with their primary on a long hose will solve problems and better manage stressful situations. In short a long primary hose provides two benefits: better hose routing than the traditional over the shoulder method; more hose to use when sharing air with another diver. It is okay to go with a shorter hose on basic open water dives. For example I use a 6' hose when diving single tank, and 7' with doubles (however, once I find a way to better route a 7' hose with my single tank setup I'll probably just stick with that).

tbrown - your comments are well intentioned. You should be paying close attention to your buddy. But I would submit that the real issues are as follows: your buddy needs a reg that works and s/he needs it NOW. You probably have only one shot to solve this problem and you better hand off a reg that works. There's no time to feel around for an octopus which might or might not be functioning (it probably is but you don't know for *sure*). Once you hand off the primary you need immediate access to your secondary - no time to feel around. It should be there under your chin. With practice and a perfect length necklace some divers can even get the backup reg in their mouth without using their hands.