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There was a flurry of posting about this on one of the Uk groups a while ago. The BSAC is big on rescue drill from an early stage, and a few people found problems teaching new students how to dekit harnessed divers. We also do lots of inflatable boat diving in the UK, so we dekit in the water, often in choppy seas, more often than in any other situation. The DIR lobby insisted that a continous harness was sacred: a quick release could release by itself, and if it did that while other forms of solid matter were hitting the fan then a situation known across the Atlantic I believe as a 'CF' could develop. This is an irrefutable point, and it has happened on real dives with BCs. Then a crusty old engineer chimed in with a compromise: you dont need to break the webbing to make it easier to ditch, you just need to make one arm strap a bit longer. Therefore, catch a short loop of webbing in a quick release down the bottom of the strap on the left hand side , leaving it tucked away to avoid snag hazards. As long as the loop is not too long (6 or 8 inches is ample), even if it does release by itself its no big problem, and if you were dealing with something else you could afford to ignore it until the emergency had passed. But it dramatically increases the speed with which you can ditch the set using the one-arm-out-then-the-other method. I have also found it makes it easier for students to get me out of the harness when I'm pretending to be dead (now I know I could tell them to cut me out but they can't practise that can they - I'd go through 6 webbings on a Sunday). You can catch the loop using any old release thingy - some people use a big fastex clip. I used an old belt buckle I had lying around. The beauty of it is, if you develop an unaccoustomed suppleness and find you no longer need it, you can unthread the lot and leave yourself with a pure and unsullied harness again. Having said that, I read with interest an earlier post about doffing the set over the head while in the water. I'll try that, and if it works for me the loop will go. Dr David A. Fletcher (DHD: 0870 904 5286) 'Whereof it is not possible to speak clearly, thereof it is necessary to pass over in silence' - Ludwig Wittgenstein -- Send mail for the `techdiver' mailing list to `techdiver@aquanaut.com'. Send subscribe/unsubscribe requests to `techdiver-request@aquanaut.com'.
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