Tom, I have email from a guy who says he was trained by the IANTD 
franchise holder for a particular area and the only thing he was 
taught regarding air sharing through restrictions is the out of air 
diver without air waits behind on the other side of the restriction 
while the donor goes through first.

I won't even begin to comment on the rest of this, as I'm sure 
someone else will. But, let me just say how can there be a 
restriction that you can't negotiate single file one at a time?

The logic is skewed, and unfortunatly the instructors are only 
remembering the "must go through restriction without out of air 
buddy" and that's what is being passed on to the student.

Ken

> Reply-to:      "Tom Mount" <TOM.MOUNT@wo*.at*.ne*>
> From:          "Tom Mount" <TOM.MOUNT@wo*.at*.ne*>
> To:            "Richard Pyle" <deepreef@bi*.or*>, <kirvine@sa*.ne*>
> Cc:            <cavers@ca*.co*>, <Randylabel@ao*.co*>,
<rebreather@nw*.co*>,
>                <techdiver@aquanaut.com>
> Subject:       gas sharing and restrictions in caves
> Date:          Tue, 10 Nov 1998 12:11:46 -0500

> George
> First under all circumstances possible divers are to remain intact sharing
> gas, through restrictions etc. In fact when I and I imagine other cave
> instructors teach gas sharing we have students share gas through
> restrictions. One of my favorites is the half hitch in Madison. Another one
> is the restriction in the Gonzalla room tunnel and a third is the
> restriction coming out of devils eye. In all these normal gas sharing is
> performed right through the restrictions I usually do a few restriceion gas
> sharing drills with the divers sharing gas at all times.
> 
> 
> SECOND IN THE EVENT THERE IS SUCH A MAJOR And Complex RESTRICTION
> ENCOUNTERED THAT THE DIVERS CANNOT GET THROUGH IT WHILE SHARING GAS, a
> situation exist that they must separate in order to get to a point where it
> is possible to share gas again, the procedure of having the donor allow the
> out of air diver to get several deep slow breaths and become as calm as
> possible before the temporary interruption of the act of gas sharing due to
> the nature of the MAJOR restriction (remember this is a worse case scenario
> not the average restriction, this is a very major restriction event, making
> it virtually impossible to continue sharing gas and still be able to exit
> the cave.) it was felt that if one diver had to lead through such a
> restriction the donor should, as the out of air diver could relax and see
> that the air supply was infront of him/her not behind,
> The donor will at the earliest point where it is possible to get the second
> stage /long hose to the diver signals the out of air diver to come and get
> the gas the diver then swims towards the air supply and gets it.
> 
> Hopefully most divers will not be in areas that have such major complex
> restrictions, but the process was developed so that there would be a
> predetermined plan of action on how to handle such a drastic situation
> should it occur. The other choice would be that in such a situation the
> diver out of air goes first which means he begins to exert, then exit the
> restriction and have to turn facing back into the restriction to get air,
> that is more difficult and stressful than the first option.
> 
> A third approach of course is do not teach anything for this worse case
> scenario and if it happens to a dive team let them figure it out on their
> own, under stress without having the benefit of a dry rehearsal or thoughts
> as to how to address such a possibility.
> 
> What prompted the development of this drill was from early blue hole
> explorations where we did have restrictions that made it virtually
> impossible to share gas through so this drill was introduced for a worse
> case scenario, not a routine gas sharing exercise for all restrictions.
> 
> Now for those of you who mistakenly assumed that this was a procedure for
> any restriction hopefully you now know better. Maybe you would like to
> comment then on
> 1. Should this remote what if situation be taught
> 2. Should this type situation not be addressed and just let the divers who
> may face this situation someday figure it out under a real situation instead
> of a simple training exercise for a worse case scenario, which is how it is
> descried. And practiced.
> 
> To summarize all students are taught to remain actively sharing gas (in an
> out of air situation) under any condition where it is possible to do so.
> They are then exposed to a worse case scenario where a restriction is so
> major and complex that it is impossible to go through it in a gas sharing
> mode thus this is a alternative that will work.  Students are also taught if
> possible that gas sharing should start with a little gas left in the
> cylinders in event of such a situation, but again the most serious situation
> we can imagine must also be at least introduced to the student.
> 
> 
> 
> Respectfully yours,
> Tom Mount
> CEO IANTD World HQ
> http://www.iantd.com
> 
> -----Original Message-----
> From: Richard Pyle <deepreef@bi*.or*>
> To: kirvine@sa*.ne* <kirvine@sa*.ne*>
> Cc: cavers@ca*.co* <cavers@ca*.co*>; Randylabel@ao*.co*
> <Randylabel@ao*.co*>; rebreather@nw*.co* <rebreather@nw*.co*>
> Date: Tuesday, November 10, 1998 8:12 AM
> 
> >
> >
> >
> 
> 
"Say, is that your Captain Marvel secret decoder lunchbox you got
hanging back there?" - Anon E. Mouse

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