YouTube have released a parody of Hitler complaining about his treatment by DIR divers for not being an advanced diver.

This video clip is actor Bruno Ganz playing Adolf Hitler during the end of world war II in the movie “Der Untergan (Downfall)” 2004 Constatin Films.

The premise of this parody is Hitlers highest command having the job of delivering the bad news to Hitler that his reservation to go diving on a charter boat in California won’t work because he isn’t an advanced open water diver. Hitler then starts to rant about split fins, snorkels and even making the mistake of wearing his mask on his forehead when not in trouble. The best quote in the movie is when the character says “I’m virtually a tech diver, i’ve put the gallileo into deco and traded my bcd for a transpac”

The film is very clever and many who are divers themselves will find this funny. Thanks to Kaare from the GUE Members mailing (Quest @ gue.com) list for sending us the link.

By Peter Steinhoff

Breathing the wrong gas at the wrong depth will kill you
This is a simple procedure yet it can cause big problems for those trying to do it fast and mess
it up. Remember, slow and deliberate is always fast. Also keep in mind that all deco and stage
tanks are turned off when not in use. That prevents us from loosing gas without knowing it
and is also an additional safety step preventing us from breathing the wrong gas.
Common mistakes

These are the most common mistakes for those relatively new to this:
- It’s easy to float up or down while changing regs. The solution is to check the depth
between each step of the procedure.
- It’s easy to get the hoses wrong. Make sure you have a clear mental picture of where
everything goes and what is behind or crosses when you switch.

Switch to stage or deco tank
1. Wait until you reach the switching depth.
2. Hang up you primary light (turned on, pointing down).
3. Choose the proper tank by looking at the MOD label and show it to your buddy who
verifies it with an OK (depth and gas is correct).
4. Grab the second stage with your right hand and route the hose around your neck.
5. Open the valve and purge the second stage.
6. Remove the long hose (with left hand) and put the stage/deco reg in your mouth and breath.
7. Clip the long hose on the right chest D-ring.
8. Unclip your light and signal you buddy that you are ready with an OK.

Switch back to the long hose
1. Hang up you primary light (turned on, pointing down).
2. Unclip the long hose and hold it in your right hand.
3. Remove the reg from your mouth with your left and pull the hose over your head.
4. Put the long hose in your mouth and start breathing.5. Close the valve on the tank you were breathing.
5. Close the valve on the tank you were breathing.
6. Lift the inner tube with your left hand (thumb) and push the hose in there.
7. Pull on the hose and make sure the second stage is secured under the inner tube.
8. Unclip your light.

Switching between multiple tanks
If you need to switch from one stage to another, from a deco tank to another or any
combination, you go to the long hose first. Like this:

1. Switch back to the long hose and stow the tank you are breathing.
2. Move tanks around if it makes things smoother.
3. Switch to the new stage or deco tank.
And you can have the light clipped off until you have completed the whole process.
If you are switching deco gases, let’s say from 50% to Oxygen, you switch to back-gas (long
hose) at 9m/30ft for the last couple of minutes. That gives you time to stow the 50% and
move things around. Then ascend to 6m/20ft and deploy the oxygen. This is the cleanest and
safest way to do it.

Gas breaks
When doing more than 20 minutes on oxygen you have to do a gas break to keep the gas
exchange effective. When you go to breathe the long hose you can stow the reg on the oxygen
tank just by clipping the second stage to one of the bolt snaps or the handle. Anyway you
chose to stow it, you NEVER let regs hang around your neck. Why? Because when something
happens you will not know what you are breathing or even if it is turned on.
Team switching
When you switch deco gases it’s best to do it one at a time, especially if you’re not very
experienced. The chance of something going wrong is always bigger at the gas switches so it’s
a good idea to supervise each other. I have stopped people from breathing oxygen at the
wrong depth or choosing the wrong tank several times. Also it’s easy to get something into the
second stage, like small sticks, sand, clay and if you breathe that you may need some help to
recover. By the way that’s why you need to purge the second stage before breathing it. But we
all make mistakes, right?

Stage diving
When you are using stages in the ocean you often suck them dry or almost dry. Then you
switch to the back-gas (unless you have several stages which is uncommon). If you want to,
you can signal your buddies, show them the switch sign and everybody can do the switch.
Nice if you have similar gas consumption since everybody’s stages should be getting close to
empty. If you are experienced you can switch on the fly though.

Source

by James Thornton-Allan

Based in Montgomery NY. and founded in 1991, Ocean Management Systems Inc., commonly known as OMS (www.omsdive.com) is revolutionizing the future of sport and technical diving through the implementation of today’s most advanced technology. The company is leading the dive industry with innovative life support, computer and analytical products that greatly enhance the diver’s situational awareness and safety during every phase of dive. OMS Inc. has built its core business, around neutrally buoyant steel cylinders, patented BC’s and backplate harness systems. These and other OMS products are typically known throughout the dive industry for their innovative design, and robustness.

The ‘Workhorse’ unbalanced regulator has been the standard in SCUBA diving for years. Why? Its rugged, simplistic, dependable, low cost design lends itself for use as a primary, recreational, technical and DECO regulator. This regulator in fact was utilized by the National Park Service as a primary SCUBA regulator
in its 190+ foot dive to the B-29 bomber in Lake Mead! The Workhorse now comes standard with (1) Black (installed) (1) Green (Nitrox) and (1) (Oxygen) Yellow cover.

Big Blue Tech. own four OMS ‘Workhorse’ regulator sets and use them solely for the 6m to surface ascent zone of accelerated decompression on 100 % oxygen. To deliver this review in a clear and fair manner, the review will be broken down into seperate areas of consideration.

Function:

The OMS ‘Workhorse’ is an unbalanced regulator which means the tank pressure has a considerable effect on the breathing resistance. This is not related to our review since we never took a breathe from it below 6m. With this regulator being unbalanced it also means its very easy to repair and service which is essential for this unit, - more on this topic in the section reliability and robustness that follows-. If you look at the picture below you can see how simple it is inside. When we compare the ‘Workhorse’ to other regulators we found the Scubapro MK2 almost identical inside.

Robustness:

The OMS ‘Workhorse’ is by far the most fragile and delicate of all our regulators. There is one major design flaw: the exhaust cover. The exhaust cover is a large piece of plastic covering the area where exhaled bubbles escape via channel openings on either side. This cover is also looped behind the mouthpeice and secures on to the rest of the regulator by 2 very small clips. Below you can see a comparison of this exhaust cover; one with and one without such clips.

While waiting for replacement parts, we used the mouthpiece to secure the exhaust cover on to the regulator with a strong cable tie. This doesn’t really help since the mouthpiece comes off very easily. In fact, the mouthpiece is always twisting in your mouth during decompression. You can see below how the second stage is assembled.

This problem became quite dangerous when the regulator comes apart in your mouth but you still have the mouthpeice where it should be. For trained and experience divers it’s not an issue, but it could prove very dangerous for novice divers. Being divers, we assume that having a regulator come apart in your mouth would certainly pose some concern to someone.

All of our regulators broke this way. Despite becoming increasingly aware of this issue and exercising caution during use of these regulators during decompression, they would still come apart.

Features:

One of the great things about this regulator are the interchangeable covers. This is a really nice feature when diving in a large team, allowing easy identification of the gas the other team divers are on. Identifying and differentiating instantly oxygen from nitrox, can prove to be handy in certain tech. diving situations. That would be the only unique feature about this regulator.

Reliable:

Building further on the issue of robustness, we also found the 1st stage of the ‘Workhorse’ to have a great tendency to leak after only 20-30 dives post service. Not a major leak, but a slow and steady trickle of bubbles tickling the divers chin (in technical diving, your oxygen cylinder is slung onto your chest; this oxygen cylinder being the one the OMS reg’s 1st stage in question is mounted on). When decompressing for 30 minutes it’s very aggravating and distracting. Additionally, getting parts in Thailand is somewhat difficult and we were unable to find available service schematics at the time of writing.

Testing Grounds:

We have taken these regulators from swamp bottom lakes to open ocean wrecks. We are certain we have been putting these regulators in the conditions they are designed for. As these regulators are secured by strap to the cylinder (for retrieval in the latter stages of the dive for decompression purposes), they are subject to impact with rock walls and boulders when penetrating caves and narrow overhangs. Furthermore, add to this the possible degrading effects of silt, sand and sun and ofcourse the occasional bashing about on busy dive boats during the kit up and storage process and one can understand why a regulator can fail mechanically at some point. However, given that these regulators are designed with such issues in mind, have a name like ‘Workhorse’ attached, and are produced by a company like OMS, one would imagine they could withstand these conditions (despite the stress or amount of repetitive diving strain placed upon them). During all dive testing and opinions formulated, the ‘Workhorse’ was only used at 6m.

Breathing:

It breathed fine at 6m, no worse or better than any other regulator we have used. Since it is a simple unbalanced regulator we imagine it would perform the same as any other entry level piston regulator.

Price:

One great feature of this regulator is the price tag attached to it. It’s cheaper than the competitors and when buying in bulk it makes a difference.

Conclusion:

If you’re thinking of buying a ‘Workhorse’ regulator, you have to consider primarily what environment you will be using it in and for what type of diving. If you’re using it for simple recreational diving where the regulator will be stored in a nice padded bag, you dive maybe once or twice a year and you live in the United States where spare parts are abundant and easily accessible; then this is a good regulator for you.

If you are considering of doing all the cool things advertised in the OMS catalogue then perhaps this is not the best option for you. If you are an avid recreational or technical diver with frequent dive exposure and you require a reliable strong regulator then you will find yourself dsappointed quite early on. For consistent performance - such as that required by a dive professional- we recommend the MK2 regulator with a R295 second stage (pictured above). We utilize these for dives to 40m and shallower and they prove to be very dependable indeed.

Written By James Thornton-Allan (Instructor) and Hannah Lusby (Diver)

James:
I was woken periodically throughout the night. At 5 the boat started rocking, at 5:30 I could hear the rain hitting the hull, at 6 I could smell diesel and then knew we we’re going to have a challenging day of diving.
In the hull I couldn’t tell how bad the weather was until I came up into the dry room and everyone was hiding from the wind, 2 meter swells and sideways rain. Even getting a coffee was a mad dash topside and trying to stir a cup faster then I was getting wet.
Looking at the ships radar the storm surrounded the Trident and didn’t appear to moving in any specific direction. Perhaps this would be the end of the trip, when does safety override the completion of the diving?
No one wanted to go diving, in fact I think many felt robbed because they were even out of bed. In true tech form, after breakfast and a few cups of tea, a movie with Keanu Reeves about being a good cop or perhaps a bad cop with a terrible ending , everyone was rearing to go. The rain had subsided and the waves slowed down and it was off in groups of 4, down to the wreck below.
Surprisingly the visibility was good, the sea below the surface was calm. No current and if you hadn’t been topside before you wouldn’t even know there was a small storm. We we’re hoping to circle the wreck along the sand at about 60 meters. We didn’t get very far around it. We checked out the props and the stern area but got consumed with the radio found outside the wheel house. It was written in English which leads me to believe the Thai Navy probably had problems operating it, perhaps that’s why it went down with very little information, the poor operator couldn’t tell which one was the on button.
All the deco was done but getting back on to the boat was another thing entirely. The waves were making the trident jump like a bucking bull. The dive deck was rising and falling about 2 meters, crashing into the sea and throwing any unsuspecting diver back into the rough waters. With careful coordination and timing we all got back on board safely. There was no handing up fins or passing up gear, fins were looped onto our wrists and once we got on the ladder we got up as fast as possible with all 4 cylinders on. Hannah unfortunately broke a nail, not joking, she actually broke a nail while wearing gloves, but she learned a very good bit of experience and training that good conditions wouldn’t of taught her. Happy to be back on the boat and happy to be out of the rain. The TV was fired up and House put on. Let’s hope the afternoon pans out to be calmer.

Hannah:
When we woke this morning it really was Blackpool weather! Wind and rain going sideways, everyone walking in the drunken, sea legs kind of way. Diving started a little later today so we could see what the weather would do, so after a somewhat lazy start of bacon sandwiches, porridge, mugs of tea and a movie, everyone was ready to get wet. On the surface the waves were still coming in strong. Sea legs are useful things to have; especially when geared up, you want to be quick and well timed, waddle like a penguin and get the hell in the water. No time to natter on the surface, just in and down. Once under, there was no current and the visibility was far better than expected. We were taking in the full tour this time; our bottom time was 25 minutes, which got eaten up a bit by a radio we found on the sand, something to go back for on the next dive! Although 25 mins seems like a long time it’s amazing how quickly the time goes, the shear size of the wreck, and the constant preoccupation of finding something and trying to prize it free soon eats up your time.
Deco in this weather is a little less relaxing, the line is going up and down, and you can feel like being on some sort of fairground ride, but once you’ve found your place you can just relax into it and the minutes tick by.
On the surface, it’s all a timing game to get back onto the boat, as the back deck rises up and crashes down in front of you. There’s one thing getting up a ladder in rough seas with one tank on, but quiet another with 4 tanks on! Having first tried and failed to time the waves right I was pushed back out to sea, but no problem for Trident, Stew jumped in and gave me a hand to the ladder (thank you very much Stew!), then it’s a one, two, three and up and out I come – breaking a nail in the process. What a girl!!! Oh and then punching James in the face! (This was an accident!)
Then it’s back to the usual routine on board, people find places to lie down and sleep or watch back-to-back episodes of House or Prison Break. Lunch is served, which gives the eyes a break from the TV, then back to lounging position for an hour or so until your slot comes along. Then its’ off to get some loot!

James:
The waves have calmed down a lot, the clouds are breaking and the waves are settling down. The plan was to do a lesser bottom time but Hannah’s gas consumption was so good we extended it to 25 minutes rather then 20 minutes. We had two missions: recover a brass pressure gauge from the boiler room and recover a radio box from the sand. Hopefully we could get both done but not a concern if we ran short on time. We had some sort of curry slash chicken soup thing for lunch which was filling and tasted good but could have been a bit more variety. After which we jumped in and headed down to the wreck. The first mission was to recover a pressure gauge from the engine/boiler room. Hopefully the pressure gauge needle would be fixed giving us a greater indication of how it sank. As I entered I could see the gauge from a great distance reading zero. With not educational value we left that in place and exited the engine room. Arriving an the radio the idea was to see what channel or frequency the radio was tuned into and recover the whole item. Unfortunately the radio was very heavy and required some greater planning to recover it. This planning needed to be done topside so we went on an exploration of the wheel house. Hannah caught the sight of a sink, a very old style sink with beautiful brass taps. This sink is not attached to anything but is in a difficult area to penetrate. We decided we would discuss this option topside as well. The dive ended with a small penetration in the hull of the vessel giving Hannah even more time to explore the levels of the massive wreck. However our time was cut short and it was time to make our way back up with a total elapsed bottom time of 25 minutes. After all decompression was done we surfaced to be greeted by blue skies, finally. This meant there was a slim, a very slim chance we might be visiting the pottery wreck which would be done live (shot line only) so the weather needed to be decent at least.
Back on board it was shower and dinner time, everyone chatting about the various recovered items from below and then the Trident slipped into a quiet hum with just the generators grumbling and paper pages turning.
Off to bed early, tomorrow is early again with getting up at 7. We want to be done diving and on our way before lunch so we can either get back to land on time or so we can get to the pottery wreck on time. My hope is for a final dive on the pottery wreck but it’s not worth it at the cost of safety in bad weather.