Long Hose Configuration: Why You Donate the Regulator in Your Mouth

In UTD's primary-donation system, you give an out-of-gas teammate the regulator you are breathing and take your necklace backup. Both regulators are checked before the dive; the donated primary is also known to have been working a moment earlier.

Why donate the regulator you're breathing?

Four reasons, all about what happens in the first few seconds of an emergency:

1. It's known to work. You were breathing from it a moment ago.
2. It's where the panicked diver is looking. A diver out of gas goes for the regulator in front of them, usually the one in your mouth. The long hose system plans for that instead of fighting it.
3. It's long enough. A correctly sized long hose supports gas sharing in the team positions needed for the dive. Gardner specifies 7 feet; UTD's general minimum permits 5 or 7 feet.
4. Your backup is fixed in place. It's on a necklace under your chin. After donation, take it with your left hand and breathe.

How is the long hose routed?

The routing keeps a 7-foot hose neat against your body, with no loops sticking out:

1. The hose comes off the right side of your first stage (in doubles, the right cylinder valve) and runs straight down your right side.
2. At your right hip, it is retained under your light canister or tucked into your waist belt so it can deploy cleanly.
3. It runs diagonally up across your chest to your left shoulder.
4. It wraps around the back of your neck, from left to right.
5. It comes into your mouth from the right.

Your backup regulator sits on a shorter hose, held by a loop of bungee or surgical tubing around your neck so it rests just under your chin. Your pressure gauge sits on a short hose clipped at your left hip.

How do you donate the long hose?

1. Recognize the signal and make eye contact.
2. Take the regulator out of your mouth slowly and present it to the mouth of the out-of-gas diver, mouthpiece the right way up.
3. Grab your backup with your left hand. Breathe.
4. Bow your head forward so the loop of hose around your neck comes free.
5. Unroute the long hose from under your light or from your waist belt and show the receiving diver it is clear.
6. Stabilize, communicate and make a plan. Then swim or ascend together, at a controlled pace.

The whole sequence should feel calm and automatic. That only happens with practice, ideally on many dives, not just in a course. UTD calls this practiced gas-sharing drill the S-drill, and it's part of every UTD course from open water up. In advanced and technical courses, teams also swim at least 200 feet while sharing gas.

Is 5 feet or 7 feet better?

Gardner Underwater specifies a 7-foot primary hose for singles, doubles and sidemount. UTD's general minimum equipment standards allow either 5 or 7 feet. Hose length must support clean donation and the team positions needed for the dive; the local equipment list is the starting point for training here.

For training here, start with Gardner's 7-foot specification and verify fit, retention and full deployment with your instructor.

Can you use a long hose with a jacket BCD?

You can, but it's harder to route neatly. Jackets don't have a harness belt to tuck the hose under at the hip, and integrated weight pockets get in the way. The long hose works best as part of a full configuration with a backplate and wing. See Backplate and Wing vs Jacket BCD.

Common long hose mistakes

• Nothing to hold it at the hip. The hose loops away from your body and snags. Use the light canister or waist belt retention taught for your configuration.
• A loose necklace. If your backup hangs at chest level, you'll have to reach for it. It should sit right under your chin.
• Routing it under other gear. It must come free in one movement. Nothing should trap it except at the hip.
• Never practicing donation. A long hose you've never donated is just a long hose.
• Leaving the primary unsecured when not in use. If you switch to a stage or decompression regulator, secure the long-hose primary in its trained stowage position so it remains ready for donation.

Practice it with your team

Gas sharing with a long hose is a core skill in Essentials of Recreational Diving. For how the rest of the rig fits around it, read DIR Gear Configuration, Piece by Piece.