Vintage Scuba: Diver Training - Skills You Should NOT Learn - S08E03 

I always learn something watching all your videos. This video was packed full of gems. Thanks for sharing them!

In this ”gang” I’m obviously an youngster. Learned the skill of scuba 1992 from an old military diver. He told us exactly the opposite of the octopus. Therefore my octopus hose is extremely short and the hose for the primary is long. Three times during my diving career someone close to me got out of air and grabbed my primary, more or less in panic. With the octopus close by where I’m trained to find it, I found my air and the fellow in need don’t need to switch second again. I would say that as a routine, learn how Your buddy’s equipment works! Thank You Mr Pierce for all You wonderful videos and the knowledge You send us youngsters. Kevin: Thank You to! PeO

Cool topic Alec! Thanks to those who suggested this!

I took my training 30yrs.ago and I’m still learning.A few tricks I’ve taught myself.One is when diving by myself I make my bc neg.weighted and tie all my gear together and throw it off the side of the boat (only in 60ft or less) ,I’ve found it gives me up to 5min. More bottom time,like wise I pos.weight all gear to let it float up by itself which gives me even more time by waiting till last sec.to have only enough to make gear pos.buoyant.i have other tricks like a type of hookah diving with a buddy where only one of us carries the tank.I ‘m thinking of starting my own channel to share my tips on,because I have many.I really enjoy your show Mr.Alec,I believe you could explain how to boil an egg and make it enjoyable to watch.I not joking about that,thanks again!!

Thanks for your clips and tips,I am watching from Romania!

This is a relief to know divers are not donning and doffing their gear anymore. I was thinking I was remiss in not practicing these skills for the last 30 or so years. I guess I will have to forget buddy breathing too. Never thought about that skill being gone.

Hello Alec, I really enjoy your videos! I am Naui certified back in 1983 when I was 16 in central Florida by a former Navy Seal diver and Certified cave rescue (really cave recovery diver, great but morbid stories ). Your exactly right the instructor had very little patience for the students who were nervous or panicky and we had a high attrition rate. After watching this video I feel I might need a refresher coarse even though I have continued to dive for 30+ years plus. Keep up the Great work P.S. I think it would make a great video of you interviewing Kevin one time.

That's why we used to carry big dive knives. When the air hog runs out and tries to take your primary, you fight it out to see who gets to keep breathing.

Keep up the great work Alec, the firestorm over the long hose on scuba board was absolutely comical. I hope I never have the displeasure of diving with any of them fools. Talk about poking a hornets nest with a sharp stick. You said in the video “the standard setup for the standard REC diver is the standard for a reason”. Long hose has its uses, but for the majority of divers it’s just not needed. Diving like any hobby attracts all sorts, some way more passionate then others. The chairman said it very well “dive and let dive”

Alex: I was first certified back in the 60's in Florida. The final test was having the instructor drop your gear off the dock (lake-fresh water) and you had to come back up with it all on and ready to go. Upon retirement I started over and had great time with new gear and new instruction.

This was certainly a flashback for me. I did my training in 1984 and we did ditch and retrieve and buddy breathing. It was great to hear why they are no longer done. Thanks

Some of those skills can still be done as a fun night in the pool. You would need a suitable BCD though as you rightly state that many have velcro cumberbands and these do just get in a mess. As for buddy breathing, it was an essential skill. Once people started getting additional 2nd stages fitted as standard it could be safely dropped. Octopus is so much easier.

I did my training a couple years ago and we tried buddy breathing - not to master the skill, but to see how difficult it is and how easily something may go wrong! Spare regulator is a must have!

Great stuff! I was NAUI certified in 1979 and doffed and donned in the ocean during my open water checkout dive (December in New England). I must say though that the course was thorough and rigerous to say the least. Sure, a lot of the training really didn't apply to recreational sport diving, but I gained a real confidence in my own abilities.

Oh my God I love Alec! This was your best video yet (in my opinion). I love to see you get fired up talking about unnecessary skills and equipment. I know it upsets some people that are set in their ways and beliefs, but I love to hear your professional perspective. I live in the deep south (USA) but would love to visit you one day and have a pint or more and talk about the old days.

Hi Alec, I am based in the UK, love your videos. I did my OW with SSI in 2017 and was taught to donate the primary reg and also carried out the task of removing BCD and tank around onto your knee, and then back onto your back.

Oh Alec, Just watched your Vintage Scuba skills video! Some very funny moments. But the training I had when I started diving 50 years ago was so thorough. My first open water course took about 3 weeks of pool work, class room work and ocean training. It was wonderful and detailed. I was never a confident diver at the beginning and over the next couple of years I redid my basic training two more times and felt much more confident. Different instructors had different methods and I always picked up more knowledge. About 20 years of diving later I felt ready to do my advanced diving course and mastered underwater navigation, wreck penetration, deep diving where I got totally narc'd and stayed that way for 30 minutes on the surface. Yep, it happens! (45metres!) Still not happy with myself as a great dive buddy I redid the advanced course a second time. I met my husband 30 years ago. His basic course took 3 months to achieve. His instructor believed it was his job to make my Pete bullet proof and made him into the best diver I've ever buddied. He thinks the same of me which is lovely. Pete became one of the first divers to explore the cave diving in South Australia and they made their own safety systems and instead of weight belts they wore battery packs for their massive torches. When I learned to dive BCD's hadn't been invented and I used a J valve which always worried me. I was attracted to diving watching Mike Nelson every time he was on T.V. Didn't get the chance to use a twin hose though and after watching your video I'm very glad. I'm so happy I can call myself a diver! We went shopping this morning and bought the Beauchet (which means Beautiful cat) reg. It was a $700.00 reg, with Venturi breathing adjustment, balanced and with power windows! But it was on special for only $300-00. (Your price and I smiled) So I got the lot. Great price and a beautiful reg. If you do get the chance to write back, can you please use my e-mail address... di.austin@bigpond.com Anyway, my point was that I don't think modern training is as good as yester year. I have a friend who's doing a 2 day OW course. How bullet proof can 2 days make you and I don't think you have to wait long before PADI will teach you the advanced course and being an advanced diver should mean you're competent. Anyway, I love what you're doing. I find myself bending forward in front of my computer as I would if I was in a classroom listening to you. You have a fan here. Happy diving, Dianne.

Nice video again. We at Westland diving in the Netherlands have a weekly training in the swimming pool. Like exchange bcd's. Or trow our gear in the water and jump after it and cone to the surface with your gear on. Yesterday we had to put a Tshirt on under water. We do this to get experienced with equipment and water. It make me a better diver.

I have for the longest time thought about posting a note on one of your videos; I am finally doing it! Like so many, I learn (and relearn) much from watching your videos. While I never bring it up myself; due to being "older" I am sometimes asked how long I have been diving. When I mention starting in 1953, the person who asked often will just look at me; like how are you still alive. If a conversation ensues, I am always asked some version of what has changed? My response is, "just one thing; that is "everything". Today's divers come out of a basic course better trained than I was after a number of years of diving. And we won't even get into the changes in equipment, such as a number of your videos have covered so well. Over the years now I have retaken basic and advanced cert courses, along with a fair number of Specialty courses, all with the goal to be an up-to-date, knowledgable, safer diver. I have a Master Scuba Diver rating, and continue to strive to learn. About the only thing I think that has carried forward and served me well from my earliest days is simply having spent a lot of time in the water and being comfortable in that environment. I leave in a week for a two week dive trip and have signed up for several specialty courses; "never stop learning".

I became certified back in the late 70s as a teenager. When I got my AOW/Nitrox in 2003, I was pleased with the progress in education. Thank you for educating new divers so that they don't learn old and outdated skills.

My book is the Jan. 1973 edition. I took my OW Class in July 1973, and did most of what was in the book to "pass" the pool test, using double hose regulators. And yes, we did the Doff and Don... 🙂Those were different times indeed.

Never thought of buddy breathing this way! Thanks for sharing your thoughts! (they actually make sense) ...and it did happen to me during my first courses!!

I am an old diver and remember some of those skills from early 60's.. I also remember some instructor/divers telling girls why they could not learn to dive as they were not strong enough to do it. As example they would load her into all gear with weight belt and weights, wetsuit that was too big for her, fins, mask, etc and then ask her to walk around in it. She would be carrying about 25 pounds of weight. She could hardly move on land. Then would tell her how is she going to swim with all that gear on when she could barely stand up with it on. I remember a couple of guys doing their girlfriend that way to show her how she was not able to learn diving as was not strong enough. I think it went back to a manly type mentality of 50's or 60's or to impress girls on how skilled they were diving with all that gear on. Of course a few girls proved them wrong as they learned females could do it too with proper training. As an instructor I found girls to be easier to teach somewhat as they paid attention, followed instructions, and were careful with their gear. They almost always learned with a friend (usually female) and never exceeded their training when diving. While I have fond memories of diving back then, the gear and equipment today make diving more safe and easier in some ways than back then. Love your videos.

Hi Alec, The new vs old techniques in diving. That instructional book is in great condition after all these decades. My problem is I've lived so many places, east coast, west coast and Israel. With all the moves things got destroyed or i said to myself, i can't keep everything and the items were disgarded. Another entertaining episode. I thank the both of you, yes the man behind the camera Kevin too. Be well & stay safe.

Thanks for sharing. The equipment exchange is part of the dive master training. I’m surprised it’s been out there since that time already.

Another good fun video; keep 'em coming! I agree buddy breathing is not something you should practice. If you need it, it implies one of you has run out of air or has some other terminal failure and the other has simultaneously a broken/no alternate - how likely is that? Nevertheless, I often dive with a technical rig with a long hose on the primary and of course that's the one you're going to donate, from your mouth. The important thing for me is if my buddy is on a standard recreational rig I make sure to brief all the differences during our pre-dive checks. That includes things like how the harness works but most importantly what they can expect if we need to share air, and we will go through a short rehearsal so they see how it works.

Yep. Certified in 1977. Took everything off underwater, using the weight belt to hold everything down, went to the surface, then back down to put it all back on. Using the tank over the head method.

I have fix the limited slip differential on my dodge pickup. Alec you make great videos and lots of great info. i've been diving since 1987 and love it . keep up the good work.

I got certified 44 years ago through NASDS. I remember that book and the time we spent learning to buddy breath, I remember the doff and don well

Hi Alec. As usual good information. I agree with you about training today being better. But I also think that the old stile of training had its place in time. It was the right training at the time. For example, when I started diving I didn't have an octopus and the only one having one was the instructor. So buddy breathing was required if somebody had a problem. Having to learn all that stuff that you went through, even if you didn't need it later, made you professional diver/instructor that you are today. And we all are taking advantage of that. Regards.

Thats what estimulates new people to scubadiving ,the "inclusion", it use to be an "exclusive" sport due to the expence of the gear and the dificulties in the training course . Even nowadays some people still think its a exclusive sport ment to be only for profesional divers, swimers, military or higly trained individuals. Well done Aleck your goal is to bring and explain the sport for everybody.

I agree Alec. Pre-dive checks of equipment, monitoring depth and air supply, safe ascents and buoyancy. That is what a new diver needs to learn and unfortunately some instructors spend time on things that they do not need to know instead of reinforcing the few things that they do need to know. In the Marine Corps we call it brilliance on the basics.

Hi Alec, speaking of unnecessary skills. During my Jr. certification course in 1972 the instructor put us in the pool & had us breathe from the tank valve without a first stage connected to it.

Thanks Alec. I got my NAUI certificate in 1969. One exercise we had to do was buddy breathe while DOLPHIN kicking two length’s of the pool [20 yards long]. My partner was the best looking woman [out of three] in the class. We were both so embarrassed by the exercise I don’t think we ever talked to each other through the rest of the class.

Hi Alec.. Not sure if this is already asked and answered but here goes. In your last portion of your video you show two exercises. a) take off your gear, swim to the surface and back down again to put it on. b) Change gear. Are not these two skill/stress tests for the Divemaster course even today? Think it was called "divemaster equipment exchange." the second one.

Very nice video

I learnt Buddy breathing 14 years back when I got certified as a CMAS 1star... Totally agree with you, not safe at all and the best part is there we had an alternate air source as well and learnt Alternate air source ascend... I also learnt how to dawn my equipment over head, which at that time I found quite cool... But as you said with the standard rental equipment we used then and is similar now, there is no need to do it that way... Infact, I did fall once when wave hit the boat and hurt my back... Was out of the water for 2weeks... This was the French CMAS and they were old school... And last, equipment exchange under water I did for my DM and we even had 2 or 3 other DM's and Instructor who would pull off our masks, tie the hoses, turn off the tanks, among other things... This was for my PADI DM course... I kinda enjoyed it, cause I went through a hell of a lot in CMAS and found this quite easy... But, all in all with experience comes wisdom and you realise how unsafe these practices were...

in 1975 we had to breathe from a tank without a regulator on it. Open the tank valve a bit and place your mouth above it. you were not allowed to place you mouth on the tank valve. The air came out cold so you felt like you were drowning. Lots of fun.

Hi Alex I learned to scuba dive in 1967 the same as you I did the ditch and recovery in 25ft in the lake to pass my open water did you get the black out mask treat ment also Just discovered your channel really enjoy it I was brought up on a two hose regulator j valve and wrist depth gauge Have a great day!

You sir are a treasure. I've been binge watching your videos in no particular order. Question: Dump valves on BCD's, seems like they all have one on each shoulder, and one at the bottom. Is that redundancy or do they all have a specific purpose? Thanks again!

I like the idea of Rescue PADI course where you have to be proactive and swim to your buddy who ran out of air with your secondary already in your hand directed to his mouth. Than there is no chance he even considers to grab your primary.

Very interesting comparison! You made it comical too. I am Naui certified(5 yrs)and they did teach the Doff and Don. I must admit that was the most challenging exercise I had to do, I did it just fine but it was stressful! And I don't know a situation where I would ever use it. I may remove all my equipment if I got caught up in something and the only way out was to ditch my gear but why on earth would I go back for it???

Thanks Alec

Trained old school and have never had any accidents. I’ve rescued several divers diving with new skills. A couple may have died had this old man not been there.

lmao...i remember my brother 20plus years ago practicing these maneuvers for his scuba prep classes!!!

Donning and doffing SCUBA units over the head is still a useful in-water skill with backplate/wing systems with continuous webbing. Particularly doffing a twinset at the surface before exiting into a boat. But it is more like slithering down from your kit while the wing is is half inflated on the surface.

I did the Doff and Dawn at Catalina at 40 feet to be an LA county instructor. That exercise was haulted.

Good stuff Alec,all true

Great video again!! When I had my modern scuba course, we had to learn how to take off our gear underwater and how to put it back on underwater. I thought it was totally useless, but our instructor told us that one time she had to take off the gear underwater because her gear was caught up in a line... she had to untangle the line. What's ur opinion on this training procedure?

Great video. I would recommend to PADI and SSI to rent this book for development of new certification - Vintage Frog Man ; )

LOL, have the T shirt. My instructor was a Navy Frogman also. In his pool work, he would have us tread water in a circle, and pass weights around. He also had us, on the bottom , with our buddy, and proceeded to rough us up....remove your mask, rip your regulator out of your mouth, turn you upside down. He even turned one guys air off, at the tank valve, and removed the student's regulator. What fun !

I completely agree with you about the buddy breathing aspect. Why am I going to give up my reg when I have another that I can give. On my first open water dive, there was another guy who had was going for his rescue diver. He turned to me and said, if you run out of air, it's your fault... you should have been monitoring your air on your spg. Funny. When mu daughter was going.for her open water, i.told her, when you share air, only share with the backup 2nd stage. Anyways, I also agree with having your hand extended above your head, both vertically and when in dark, murky, or dark murky water.

I still do a tank flip. No problem with the BCD. And yes I learned it 20 years ago. I find it easier than other ways.

The idea of a full doff makes sense if you are military and for some reason need to surface with "plausable deny ability" you surface without all your gear so other teammates can find it/potentially other items you may need to retrieve but don't want the enemies to have. And then you could retrieve it later. Or if you need to doff so you can go attack some stuff without carrying all your scuba gear. Donning for later when you exfil. Regular divers as you said I'm sure don't need that unless they are prepping for a military course

15:21 Someone starting watching Sea Hunt! or is that your ring tone?

The toughest thing I had to learn in the previous century was how to breath directly out of the tank. The instructor turns off your tank to simulate a reg failure. You then take the reg off the tank and slightly open the valve and breath directly from it. I did it once to pass the test and never did it again.

Quick question for you Alec. What about five knives? I was trained in '96 and a knife was standard EQ. Later I was told it isn't necessary. Any thoughts?

As allways interessting mind set from you Alec. But I have to disagree on the Budy-Breathing topic. This might be of my location (middel-north Europe) where we're do cold water diving and are more skeptical about our gear (there are some spots where you have to dive with two frist stages and so on). I had a buddy where they need to buddy breath because of the situation and I think its good to know what to do if everything fails. You won't need this skill in 99% of emergency situations but I would still say that it is good to know what to do if allmost everything fails. Better then to rush to the surface or drown.

I got my PADI certification in 1976 from a retired US Navy dive instructor. I remember ditching and donning hahaha... Buddy breathing was a required skill back then. We were trained well and because of that I got out of a jam 3 times. Once at 80 feet deep my buddy's regulator failed and she motioned to me and we buddy breathed to the surface. Another instance my first stage hose detached and we were around 50 feet deep my buddy rushed to me and we buddy breathed to the surface. Back then we didn't have SPG so once I ran out of air and the reserve on my J valve malfunctioned so yup we buddy breathed to the surface. So I guess if you are trained well and master it well it can save you even today if in the even that the octopus malfunctions. Not to argue but just saying...

I love the t-shirt, I would love to get one of this, something like: Alex Peirce student Or maybe something funny comes in your mind. :)

Newbie diver here: We still practice taking off the gear in the water (no diving down to get it though) and taking off some gear under water too (mask, regulator) to prepare you for a situation when you accidentally loose it. Taking off the mask was awful. I got water in my nose, panicked and shot out of the pool. Took me a few more attempts until I got that skill signed off by my (very kind and patient) instructor. A navy instructor probably would have kicked me out.

Hi Alec! The chrome plated brass second stage help you to breathe more moisture air than the synthetic second stage? Moreover could you make an underwater video ? Safe dive !

In DIR they like the backup on a necklace around diver’s neck. I give my primary to the distressed diver. Why isn’t my primary the necklace and the back the one on the long hose waiting to be needed?

It's good to have lived long enough to see how stupid things were we learned back in the day. I remember how they thought how to resuscitate a drowned person by turning them over on there stomach, put their arms in a butterfly position , push on their back to expel the water, then raise the arms, I guess to open their lungs. That was lifeguard training in the early 60's, only been diving for about 20 years. Now I believe they just do chest compressions to keep the blood moving and no mouth to mouth. Things change for sure.

Sounds to me like I would have loved your original course sounds like it'd also be good for a salvage diver like me, and I served I can definitely handle being yelled at by the sergeant lol that last skill takes a lot of practice

This video brings me back to when I learned lol.

We did the doff and Don for our open water in thirty four feet fresh water . But it was safe because our buddy stayed with our gear until we came back down .... Wow !

Well I wouldn’t mind to share the regulator, but it must been a real emergency. I guess everyone would do, but you are right it shouldn't be learned this way, it's much more useful to learn keep atleast 20% air in your tank if you already on the surface. Or to learn: I used 15% until I arrived so I should keep atleast 15% to go back. (I think until 10m it's enough, but if you go deeper or much deeper you may need air for your bcd.) I am not a diver but I would recommend to have left: 10% until 5 m 15% until 10m (maybe 100% as you need to go down) If you go deeper i would recommend 150% more, 200% if you go much deeper. So whatever happened you got still enough rest. So I would teach: keep enough air so you could still recue someone. 😊

Tech divers still teach buddy breathing for various contingencies. SDI uses the don on/off skill as opposed to PADI's gear exchange which I agree the latter isn't useful other than to show that you're comfortable underwater.

Buddy breathing is still part of the divemaster course, the stress test, where you switch equipment with each other while buddy breathing.

Some of them made sense for the time I suppose. (Im not certified by the way. Not yet anyway. I hope to soon though). Buddy breathing made sense before everyone had octos. And browsing the online scoba shops, I've seen full face scuba masks. (Does anyone ever use them recreationaly?) As far as switching out gear, perhaps best left for technical diving where you have different decompression gasses (again, specialty training)

Now i have to know! What's the C stand for?

Training Agencies in Asia aren't strict about training protocols in the beginning. My belief is everyone can be trained to be a good diver regardless if they can't swim, or are having difficulty at the beginning of their course. Trained a guy who couldn't dog-paddle more than 10-metres. Yet his buoyancy/trim and confidence in low visibility was outstanding. Dive operators in Asia wouldn't survive if they flunked everyone who can't swim.

I went to basic scuba... Then commercial.. I always wanted to dive a single stage regulator. In diving on golf course you have to come up with your hand above your head because Gators like to float over you in the bubbles. As soon as you touch one they go crazy. We practiced buddy breathing because a lot of the time we only had one regulator. Most of the time it was more too get comfortable and use to what you can do if you needed to. You can breath with a missing mouth piece. We still use full face mask they are getting redisigned and making a come back. I used a Kirby mask once and it came off at 60', I just put it back on and kept working. I think it snagged on something. I put my tank over my head a few times be cause it was easier. Then I just started putting it on in the water a lot of times. Training to change gear underwater is good training because if you lose a mask, find, or weight belt, then at least you will know what to do. It does happen. I lost a fin in a pond once from getting hit by a big fish. You haven't lived till you try to find a fin in 30' of water with one fin on, 0 visibility, and mistakenly thinking a 2' catfish for a 25' great white shark like in the movie you watched the night before you went diving.... Lol.

Tank boot installation video??

Is there anything in the modern training that you dont like or would change?

I did my open water cert 3 years ago with SNSI and did the doff and don, buddy breathing, mask ripped off of my face, reg ripped off, you name it... lucky i went through it all ( they said i was a natural) but the other 2 persons that day went home without their money or their certification.

Thanks Alec... I heard from someone that apparently while doing the Padi divemaster you need to swap gear (usually with someone who's physically similar) as part of the training. Not sure whether that is an actual thing or not.

Did it take 50-years to put ring-weights on a CCR loop?

Military Diving discipline has some difference when it comes to safety, for reasons of the mission essentials. And at the other end, recreational diving is supposed to be more on safety taking in consideration it is basically recreational and is supposed to be enjoyable and very safe. Not all civilians in recreational diving are fully muscled and extremely fit that they can withstand jumping out of a perfectly maintained aircraft in parachutes hit the water to dive, conceal their gear underwater, surface and march towards an objective. And later on go back to the water get their dive gear and dive away. I prefer the outmost safety skills to enjoy the scenery at the bottom, surface safely with all my dive gear and enjoy a sumptuous dive interval time above surface. Two disciplines with somehow different and related skill sets.

PADI requires Buddy Breathing to pass the gear exchange to become I Divemaster??? So is it really bad to know, I don’t think so!

"here look! This guy says buddy breathing is stupid... " *SEAL and Pararescue Cadre's eyes narrow* "... and that day was they highest attrition day Ive seen yet"

I would just share my own regulator, if it's a real emergency, like if my secound regulator wouldn’t work and if there were no other divers around who could help. Some old skills aren't that bad, but some should just be used if there is no other options. SSI says you shouldn't arise faster then 9m/min PADI says 18m/min I believe if you are in real danger you could arise 20meter per Minute. But why should I risk something by training the emergency? It helps already to know, could could if needed. Flight attendant, also just train what they had to do, they never train a real emergency, if they would do, imagine how many airplanes they would need to crash. So some skills are great to know, but don't need to be trained. Maybe you know some skils, which are maybe stupid this days, but could be useful in a real emergency.

While Buddy breathing may not have any place in an OW class these days, I think it's justified in Deco courses.

Good job no-one teaches buddy breathing nowadays. Also a good job that buddy-breathing has nothing to do with primary donate and hog rigs.

I see UDI still teaches buddy breathing and they teach OWD guys to swim wide length of swimming pool without masks while buddy constantly sharing one regulator.

Buddy Breathing resulted in more double drownings than saves.

I agree there shouldn’t be buddy breathing anymore. My wife and I where tough by a professional who has been diving for at least 25-30 years of diving and he’s a ICD. He assigned my wife a newer student instructor and and he was showing my wife buddy breathing. Now keep in mind we where students and didn’t know and because of this guys error my wife was rushed to the hospital ER and almost got tubed and put on life support because of his mistake. Yes we both still scuba dive and enjoy it very much. Alec I’ll have to tell ya the full story one day when we meet up in Fl as u know where we live. This happened in a different state. I agree a lot with what you say.

Switching gear strangely enough is a Dive Master skill still being taught. More of a shake down then anything.

to me it is not the method chosen to return safely to the surface, it is to gain confidence and stay calm and the best way to achieve that is to control freediving techniques so in an emergency, in most cases, you can, at worst, dump the equipment and return ot the surface as a freediver, at least, you can maintain the control of your emotions and of course, of the solution adopted . the panic is the source of many accidents , so, if you stay calm, the solution often arises by itself.

In my padi open water, we never learn how to buddy breath.

I volunteer at an aquarium, we did a skill with about 12 of us, at the bottom of the pool and circle and we all had to change gear with the person next to us. How many popped up to the surface? At least 4. Seemed so pointless.

i did this. and was a nightmare

Agreed to all you said except one: Stop teaching the octopus concept. Long hose on primary and short hose on the secondary which hangs on your neck. A desperate diver will always head for the reg that you are breathing from, no matter his training agency or level. That is why you as the donor diver always has his secondary for your own personal use. And using this concept we eliminate the stupid thing that I see a lot: octo is s crappy reg and the primary is a spaceship.

We STILL do the Doff & Don for NAUI Leadership. It's done the same way the US Navy teaches it during dive school. I know, because I've done both. As a certified military diver (retired), and a NAUI Instructor, we STILL do it. Also, we STILL do underwater exchange for NAUI, we STILL do bail-out for NAUI, we STILL use many of the things you said "not to learn". Additionally, the industry is moving away from "jacket" BC's, and has for a while now. The industry is ALSO moving away from short-hose primary's and long-hose secondary's and moving more toward long-hose primary's (which YOU DO give away) and a short-hose secondary (which is for you to use once you gave away your primary). And yes, buddy-breathing is still taught for a variety of courses. Just some things to think about before suggesting what you're saying is de-facto. ;)

If my buddy runs out of air, and he grabs my octopus (or rather: backup), he is about to die. It’s bungeed. And on a hose just long enough for ME. Please, for the love of god, grab my main regulator. But ok. I’m GUE & IANTD trainend ;) Love my longhose.

Don't be ashamed of your training,,you passed " bud's open circuit scuba."

yes, let's teach people less. Lets turn out a less competent diver so that when something minor happens underwater they panic... Apparently, your ilk is largely responsible for the incompetent diving on display everywhere.