Out-of-Air Drill: How to Donate the Long Hose

An out-of-gas emergency is rare. When it happens, the first few seconds decide whether it stays a drill-like event or turns into a scramble. The long hose system is built for those seconds: the diver who needs gas gets a working regulator on a hose long enough to swim with, and the donor has a backup waiting under their chin.

This is the gas-sharing sequence we teach. Learn it in the water with an instructor first; this page is a reference, not a substitute.

How does long-hose donation work?

In UTD's primary-donation system, you breathe from a regulator on a long hose, usually 7 feet. If a teammate runs out of gas, you give them that regulator and switch to the backup on a bungee necklace under your chin.

Three things make this fast:

1. The donated regulator is known to work. You were breathing from it a moment ago.
2. It's where the diver in trouble is looking. A diver out of gas goes for the regulator in front of them, usually the one in your mouth.
3. Your backup has a fixed home. It's always in the same place, on a necklace, right under your chin.

For the full routing, see Long Hose Configuration.

How do you donate the long hose, step by step?

1. Recognize the signal and make eye contact. The out-of-gas diver signals, and you confirm you've seen it.
2. Present the primary. 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. Don't throw it at them.
3. Take your backup with your left hand and breathe. Your necklace regulator is right under your chin.
4. Bow your head forward so the loop of hose around the back of your neck comes free.
5. Unroute the hose. Free it from under your light canister or waist belt at the right hip, and show the receiving diver that it's clear.
6. Stabilize, communicate and plan. Get the team neutral, in position and calm. Agree on what happens next: continue to the exit, or ascend.
7. Move together. Swim or ascend at a controlled pace, staying close enough that the hose never pulls tight.

The whole sequence should look slow. Practice makes the equipment handling familiar so you can keep thinking about the divers, the failure and the exit.

What does the out-of-gas diver do?

• Signal clearly and move toward the nearest teammate.
• Take the donated regulator and breathe. Don't fight for it.
• Maintain buoyancy and trim while establishing the exit position. Loss of cylinder pressure may also remove normal wing or suit inflation; tell the team and use the failure response learned for your rig.
• Communicate. Once you're breathing, confirm you're OK and agree the plan.

The third diver in a team has a job too: stay close, watch both divers, keep the team in position and be ready to donate if the first share fails.

What is an S-drill?

The S-drill is UTD's practiced version of this sequence. It is taught from UTD Open Water onward and is central to open-circuit gas-sharing training. A shorter version, the modified S-drill, is part of the Basic Six skills, and a quick long-hose check is part of the pre-dive sequence.

As training advances, the drill gets harder: sharing gas while swimming, during an ascent with stops and, in advanced and technical courses, over a swim of at least 200 feet. The goal is a team that can share gas for the whole exit, not just for a few breaths on the bottom.

Rock bottom gas planning exists for the same reason. Every diver carries enough gas for two divers to reach the surface or the next gas source while sharing one supply. See Gas Management for Recreational Divers.

What are the most common mistakes?

• Rushing the donation. A fast, jerky handoff knocks masks and spills air. Slow is faster.
• Losing buoyancy or position. Keep breathing, monitor depth and manage the available wing or suit controls while the team establishes its exit position.
• Forgetting to clear the hose. If the hose stays trapped at the hip or around your neck, the receiver is pulled into you.
• Unplanned or restrictive contact. Use the contact taught for the exit, visibility and diver condition. Support may be needed; it must not block breathing, hose deployment, valve access or the team's movement.
• Not making a plan. Once both divers are breathing, the dive has changed. Decide together whether to continue to the exit or ascend.
• Practicing only in courses. A skill you've done three times in a class won't be automatic in a real emergency.

How should you practice?

Practice with your own team, in calm, shallow water, after you've learned the drill from an instructor. Start hovering above a visible bottom or beside a fixed reference, then progress to mid-water, swimming and ascending while sharing gas. Do not brace on the bottom or line to hold depth. Film it if you can; video shows hose tangles and buoyancy drift you won't feel.

Instructors also create surprise out-of-gas situations during training, with a safety plan in place. Don't simulate surprise failures on each other without that supervision.

Learn it with a team

Gas sharing with a long hose is taught and practiced in Essentials of Recreational Diving, alongside the team positioning that makes it work. Our Rescue Diver course builds on it with self-rescue and buddy-rescue skills. For how teams work together on every dive, read Team Diving vs Buddy Diving.