ALTERNATIVE AIR SOURCEApeks Egress
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'Egress' is a word used by estate agents. They use it when they mean a door but it sounds more grand and therefore more expensive than a word we all understand. It actually means 'exit', and I suppose it could be used as an alternative to 'escape'.
Â?Â?Â?Â? Those divers who unexpectedly find themselves under water without an air supply would be very glad of an exit or an escape. That's where the new Apeks Egress comes in.
Â?Â?Â?Â? It's an anyway-up regulator balanced second stage that can be used as an octopus rig or as a stand-alone regulator fitted to a suitable first stage and a stage-cylinder. Its great advantage is that you can stuff it into your mouth any way up and still breathe from it. As such, it accommodates panicking out-of-air divers, tekkies, left-hookers and anyone else you might run into under water.
Â?Â?Â?Â? I took an Egress off for some extensive use at 50m-plus and found that, although it didn't breathe quite as easily as my primary second stage, it was still pretty good. I used it as an octopus-rig and went in with it both on a necklace and also stuffed into the pocket of my BC.
Â?Â?Â?Â? 'Oh, that's going to free-flow,' prophesied one of my dive buddies when he saw me put it into my pocket, but did it?
Â?Â?Â?Â? No! It wasn't in that triangle-of-visibility so beloved of PADI diving instructors, but neither was it trailing among the coral wreaking ecological havoc and filling itself with sand and grit ready for the unsuspecting user.
Â?Â?Â?Â? I've seen divers practising out-of-air ascents and getting into all sorts of tangles. It usually stems from rigging a right-handed regulator on a hose on the donating diver's right side.
Â?Â?Â?Â? Good for him, but of little use to anyone who may need it in a hurry. Instead of getting into all sorts of hysterical arguments about where you stow your octopus-rig, why not get an Apeks Egress and exit the discussion? That's what I recommend.
Â?Â?Â?Â? If you are switching to a gas supply from a sling-tank, a regulator of this type makes hesitation unnecessary before you stuff it in and heave. Of course, it's unlikely that you will be using a deco gas at much depth but oxygen is pretty dense, unlike trimix, so it's nice to know that you have a regulator that breathes without much effort.
Â?Â?Â?Â? If you're planning to use it, you simply clear it with an exhalation. If things have become a bit dire and you've got nothing to blow, you'll need to use the purge. That's the yellow side, but it doesn't really matter. You grab it between thumb and fingers and press, and the yellow side flexes to purge. It's pretty foolproof.
Â?Â?Â?Â? So what was my overall impression of the Apeks Egress as an octopus rig? As they used to say in the '60s, the Egress is way out, man!
The Apeks Egress as an octopus complete with hose costs £103.
Apeks Marine Equipment 01254 692200, www.apeks.co.uk
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