Last weekend I got to dive with some guys who were taking a Rescue class. I was one of the victims who were going to be abused. The class members were friends of mine whom I have dived with before.
And I knew that we were going to have a bit of fun. 

 We were in a place that I had not been before along the Oregon coast, called Sand Lake. Nice place and lots of people around camping for the weekend. The spot that we were to dive was like a pond with water running through it. It is about 30 feet deep with no visibility once you hit the bottom.

Part of the class was to look over the other diver’s equipment and check out how it was arranged and what type of hook and snaps were associated with the equipment. I use a back plate and not the standard BCD which has only one clip to release the back plate, and a seven foot hose for my primary regulator, with the second one around the neck.

Doctor Steve was checking my equipment and wouldn’t you know it, he located the hose snap to the argon bottle that I had not cleaned, which had a little green on it.  It was quickly brought to my attention with the remark that I should clean it as soon as possible. I guess they got a lot out of the class from the instructor Michael, my dive buddy, on checking equipment. Here again I was glad that they knew to not just look at their own equipment, but to check out their dive buddies’ equipment as well. Could this be a problem in 30 feet of water? I would venture to say yes. If I was out of air and could not use the in falter, I could use my dry suit to do the lifting. During a rescue it is important that you use the victim’s equipment as well as your own to effect the rescue.  

The guys did well and we all came out a little smarter. Always good to review and talk to the other divers, learning where they place, and how they hook up their equipment. In an emergency at depth you just do not have a lot of time to react.  What’s good about my dive buddy, we have the same equipment and it’s all located in the same place and it is easy to check and work with. We use the same set up for both the singles and our twin tanks.

There is a lot about equipment that we could talk about, and we will get to that point. I do like to talk about what happens during our dives as well. I will discuss during this next week snorkels, fine regulators, and lots of other stuff. 

It’s always best though that you take a class to get yourself in the equipment care and maintenance mode. You alone are responsible for how you maintain your equipment. Your life depends on it...  and your dive buddies as well.

© 07-11-2005 G. McK.