Learn. Practice. Explore.
Depth limits, no-decompression rules, redundancy and risk management.
How Deep Can You Go on a Hookah System?
Rated depth is not tested depth, and hose length is not depth at all. The three numbers people confuse, and the no-decompression limits that apply to a hose exactly as they do to a tank.
What Your Spare-Air Plan Actually Covers
A one-litre bottle is not a second air supply. Working out honestly what it buys you, which failures it covers, and the one scenario it does nothing about.
Ascent Rate on a Hose: The Discipline Nothing Enforces
On scuba the gas runs out and forces you up. On a hose nothing makes you surface, and nothing stops you coming up too fast. Why the ascent is the part of a hose dive that needs conscious effort.
When the Hose Wraps: The Stop-Pull Rule
Almost every hose incident starts with a diver pulling harder. What to do in the first ten seconds, and the surface habit that prevents most wraps before you get in.
Your Surface Team Is Part of the Dive
A surface-supply dive has a second half that most divers forget about. What the people on the surface need to know, and the three signals that make the difference at eight metres.
Runtime and Turn Points: Replacing the Gauge
A hose dive has no reserve pressure, so you have to invent one. How to pick a turn point, why the machine’s runtime number is not your dive time, and what to do when the battery is the thing counting.
Cold Water and the Layer: Diving Below the Thermocline
Crossing a thermocline changes temperature and visibility within a metre, and the cold side is where things go wrong quietly. How to plan a hose dive around a layer rather than through it.
Losing Visibility: The Lost-Line Drill
Every hose diver has a hose to hand, and almost nobody treats it as a navigation instrument. What to do in the thirty seconds after the water goes brown.
Boat Traffic, Floats and Being Visible
A hose diver spends the whole dive attached to something that floats, and almost nothing on the surface is looking for it. How to be seen, and where not to dive at all.
Diving in Current With a Hose
Current is the single thing most likely to move your air supply away from you. How to read it before you get in, and the two positions that keep a hose dive manageable.