Buddy breathing
Encyclopedia
Buddy breathing is a rescue technique used in scuba diving
"out of gas" emergencies, when two divers share one demand valve, alternately breathing from it. To a large extent it has been superseded by safer and more reliable techniques using additional equipment.
Running out of breathing gas
most commonly happens as a result of poor dive planning or failure to adequately monitor remaining gas supply during the dive. It can also happen due to unforeseen exertion or breathing equipment failure.
Equipment failure resulting in the loss of all gas could be caused by failure of a pressure retaining component such as an o ring or hose
in the regulator or, in cold conditions, a freezing of water in the regulator resulting of a free flow from the demand valve.
The donor is expected to take a good breath and pass his/her demand valve to the recipient, who is expected to take two good breaths and pass it back. In reality the recipient will often take more than two breaths, and the donor should expect this and relax to minimize metabolic rate. The donor should retain a good grip on the demand valve throughout the buddy breathing process, as a panicked recipient may fail to give it back. A reasonably reliable way of keeping control of the demand valve is to grasp the hose firmly in the fist where it connects to the demand valve. This provides good control but allows the recipient to use the purge button if needed.
A pattern of two breaths per diver should be established as soon as possible and then terminate the dive and start the ascent as soon as possible, as air consumption while buddy breathing is usually more than double the normal rate
Most demand valves will only drain correctly if the hose is to the user's right, and in these cases the divers should align themselves to allow convenient movement of the demand valve from donor to recipient and back. When the divers need to ascend or swim horizontally, it requires co-ordination and some skill, which is best practices in a low hazard environment.
Buddy breathing is discouraged by many training agencies because other more reliable techniques and equipment exist. The technique needs training and regular practice by both divers if it is to be used successfully in a crisis; panic
and task loading being the main reasons for it failing. Especially in situations in which one or both of the participants are not well-trained in the technique, the procedure has been criticised for endangering two people instead of one.
Many divers fit a second demand valve, often called an "octopus", to their diving regulator
s, for emergency use by another diver. Some go so far as to recognise that the out-of-air diver will want the demand valve they are breathing off at the time, as it is indisputably providing air. These practice "donating the primary" in recognition of this tendency, and often use an extra-long hose (up to 7ft long) to facilitate the procedure in tight spaces. These divers often wear the secondary demand valve on a "necklace" which keeps it ready for immediate use under the diver's chin, where it can be retrieved for use without the use of the hands.
Divers doing deep diving
, cave or wreck penetration, or decompression stops may routinely carry a complete, independent bailout scuba set
for their own or their buddy's emergency use. See diving cylinder
and alternative air source for more details of breathing equipment configurations.
Scuba diving
Scuba diving is a form of underwater diving in which a diver uses a scuba set to breathe underwater....
"out of gas" emergencies, when two divers share one demand valve, alternately breathing from it. To a large extent it has been superseded by safer and more reliable techniques using additional equipment.
Running out of breathing gas
Breathing gas
Breathing gas is a mixture of gaseous chemical elements and compounds used for respiration.Air is the most common and only natural breathing gas...
most commonly happens as a result of poor dive planning or failure to adequately monitor remaining gas supply during the dive. It can also happen due to unforeseen exertion or breathing equipment failure.
Equipment failure resulting in the loss of all gas could be caused by failure of a pressure retaining component such as an o ring or hose
Hose (tubing)
A hose is a hollow tube designed to carry fluids from one location to another. Hoses are also sometimes called pipes , or more generally tubing...
in the regulator or, in cold conditions, a freezing of water in the regulator resulting of a free flow from the demand valve.
Technique
Buddy breathing is usually initialised by the diver with the "out of air" emergency signalling this to another diver by a standard hand signal "give me air". This signal is made by holding the fingers and thumb of one hand together, pointing them at the mouth and making repeated movements of the finger tips towards the mouth.The donor is expected to take a good breath and pass his/her demand valve to the recipient, who is expected to take two good breaths and pass it back. In reality the recipient will often take more than two breaths, and the donor should expect this and relax to minimize metabolic rate. The donor should retain a good grip on the demand valve throughout the buddy breathing process, as a panicked recipient may fail to give it back. A reasonably reliable way of keeping control of the demand valve is to grasp the hose firmly in the fist where it connects to the demand valve. This provides good control but allows the recipient to use the purge button if needed.
A pattern of two breaths per diver should be established as soon as possible and then terminate the dive and start the ascent as soon as possible, as air consumption while buddy breathing is usually more than double the normal rate
Most demand valves will only drain correctly if the hose is to the user's right, and in these cases the divers should align themselves to allow convenient movement of the demand valve from donor to recipient and back. When the divers need to ascend or swim horizontally, it requires co-ordination and some skill, which is best practices in a low hazard environment.
Alternatives
Most recreational and professional diver training organisations would consider relying on buddy breathing from a single regulator as an unacceptable risk, as the use of a secondary demand valve (octopus) or second regulator, either from an alternative scuba cylinder, or from the primary scuba set, is a far more reliable and safe method of supplying emergency air to a diver who is part of a planned team or buddy dive, and a solo diver should carry his/her own emergency gas supply. There should never be a situation on a well planned and executed dive where two divers need to share a single demand valve, but the technique is still considered useful by some diving schools as it teaches control and hones skills under difficult circumstances.Buddy breathing is discouraged by many training agencies because other more reliable techniques and equipment exist. The technique needs training and regular practice by both divers if it is to be used successfully in a crisis; panic
Panic
Panic is a sudden sensation of fear which is so strong as to dominate or prevent reason and logical thinking, replacing it with overwhelming feelings of anxiety and frantic agitation consistent with an animalistic fight-or-flight reaction...
and task loading being the main reasons for it failing. Especially in situations in which one or both of the participants are not well-trained in the technique, the procedure has been criticised for endangering two people instead of one.
Many divers fit a second demand valve, often called an "octopus", to their diving regulator
Diving regulator
A diving regulator is a pressure regulator used in scuba or surface supplied diving equipment that reduces pressurized breathing gas to ambient pressure and delivers it to the diver. The gas may be air or one of a variety of specially blended breathing gases...
s, for emergency use by another diver. Some go so far as to recognise that the out-of-air diver will want the demand valve they are breathing off at the time, as it is indisputably providing air. These practice "donating the primary" in recognition of this tendency, and often use an extra-long hose (up to 7ft long) to facilitate the procedure in tight spaces. These divers often wear the secondary demand valve on a "necklace" which keeps it ready for immediate use under the diver's chin, where it can be retrieved for use without the use of the hands.
Divers doing deep diving
Deep diving
The meaning of the term deep diving is a form of technical diving. It is defined by the level of the diver's diver training, diving equipment, breathing gas, and surface support:...
, cave or wreck penetration, or decompression stops may routinely carry a complete, independent bailout scuba set
Bailout bottle
The term Bailout bottle or Bailout cylinder refers to a scuba cylinder carried by an underwater diver for use as an emergency supply of breathing gas in the event of a primary gas supply failure. A Bailout cylinder may be carried by a scuba diver in addition to the primary scuba set, or by a...
for their own or their buddy's emergency use. See diving cylinder
Diving cylinder
A diving cylinder, scuba tank or diving tank is a gas cylinder used to store and transport high pressure breathing gas as a component of a scuba set. It provides gas to the scuba diver through the demand valve of a diving regulator....
and alternative air source for more details of breathing equipment configurations.
In popular culture
- Mike HardingMike Harding (New Zealand)Mike Harding is a well-known New Zealand folk musician born in 16 July 1952, now living in New Plymouth, Taranaki.- Musician :Growing up in Eketahuna, Harding practised his music in "the streets, markets and clubs of Auckland in the early 1980s", before he describes himself as having spent a "Time...
's eponymous melancholic song Buddy Breathing uses the image of the diving technique as a multilayered metaphorMetaphorA metaphor is a literary figure of speech that uses an image, story or tangible thing to represent a less tangible thing or some intangible quality or idea; e.g., "Her eyes were glistening jewels." Metaphor may also be used for any rhetorical figures of speech that achieve their effects via...
for love, especially of the need to trust your partner in such a risky territory as a relationship.