Posted by Chris on April 05, 2005 at 18:42:08:
In Reply to: latest accident brings up a good point posted by Ross-O on April 05, 2005 at 13:29:38:
Ross,
About six years ago I had an exhaust valve failure while diving at San Clemente Island. I had just coughed, and then my regulator started sucking water when I tried to breath. So to breath I pressed the purge button and faced down, and took a few breaths this way. I then slowly ascended to the surface facing down and hitting the purge button while breathing.
Once back at the boat I dissembled the first stage to discover a piece of my lunch stuck in the exhaust valve. Apparently when I coughed it lodged there preventing the exhaust valve from closing.
Since I do not use an octo when I dive solo I had though about this situation and practiced it. It is really quite easy. Some very old divers I know were even taught to breath off a tank with no reg by facing down and cracking the valve below their mouth. However since it is very easy to injure of kill yourself if you put your mouth on the valve when you open it, this technique has not been taught for 40 years. However the concept of facing down and breathing from a bubble stream is the same.