Posted by Ken Kurtis on April 09, 2001 at 12:22:15:
In Reply to: Re: Questioning DIR's reason to donate the primary second ... posted by tleemay on April 09, 2001 at 11:48:39:
Tleemay wrote: "As one very prominant local instructor once explained to me, 'People will do what they have been trained to do' The reality is, at least in my cases, they did not.
Since I think I'm the source for the quote, I'd like to offer a quick comment.
I think my full thought was, "People will do what they've been trained to do, and if they've been trained to do nothing, then it's anyone's guess." I'd suggest that Terry's experience points that out.
"Training" is not something you do once and then stick in your pocket until some day when you need the skill. Training is an on-going thing. Perhaps a better way to think about it would be to use a phrase we emphasize in DM and Instructor training which is "Ready to Respond."
Before EVERY DIVE, you need to at least mentally (if not also verbally and physically) think of the calamaities that can befall you and KNOW how you'll deal with them.
Personally, I'm not a big fan of donating the primary as a first choice. I prefer octopus/spare air/pony bottle donation as a first choice with primary donation/snatching as a second option. (And I'm not going to bother with reheashing the reasons since they've been discussed here before.)
But I do believe this.
If you are READY TO RESPOND and have been TRAINED to go for the octopus, that's what you'll do. If you are READY TO RESPOND and have been TRAINED to go for the primary, then that's what you'll do. (And as long as, within the confines of a buddy team, everyone's good with either method, I don't see anything "wrong" with either option.)
But if you are NOT ready to respond and have NOT been trained/prepared for OOA, then you'll probably panic and all bets are off.
The issue, IMHO, is not whether you're DIR or non-DIR, or whether you donate the octo, primary, pony, or whatever, but whether or not you're ready to deal with the situation.
And in the instances that Terry relates (and I'm assuming these three were NOT buddied up with him), it's a perfect example of inadequate preparation - forgetting the simple fact of monitoring your air - possibly casuing a tragedy.
Ken Kurtis
NAUI Instr. #5936
Co-owner, Reef Seekers Dive Co.
Beverly Hills, Ca.