[NeilP]

My regular kit consists of a standard length hosed reg and a long hosed (2m) reg on a twinset.

I have always dived with the primary reg being on the long hose, bungeed against the cylinder, and the standard length reg (secondary) necklaced.

My reasoning behind this is that if I find myself in a position where an OOA diver sees me and comes at me for air - in panic he is going to rip the reg I am breathing from out of my mouth before flapping around looking for the secondary reg. Therefore, with using the long hose as a primary I can let him/her have this, and get some distance between us whilst they calm down, and I can reach my secondary reg without using my hands.

Last night I was getting a fill for last nights dive in the LDS and the owner made an observation about using the long hose as the primary - and that was on a Poseidon course he attended recently, the chap there was stating that when regs are rated with the airflow, etc, this is measured on a standard length hose.

By using the longer hose as a primary, this causes performance issues at depth, because of the distance the air needs to travel to get to it's destination (ie, your gob).

I can understand where he is coming from, and it makes sense.

Anyone got any views on this theory?