Hi Devon, Ohh, well if we are just having a friendly conversation that is different
. Maybe I need to lighten up a bit and will discuss this with our CD and some of the other tek divers that I know and dive with,
I don't see how the value of a properly packaged pony bottle could be outweighed by not having one. I agree with you adding adding adding gear is not the solution and is something that is frequently observed with newer divers. I have seen divers go in with 4 knives, 3 lights and a pony bottle who couldn't find the knives with a road map and didn't even know how to clip the pony off never mind use it properly.
Here are my thoughts -
1) A properly packaged and donned pony bottle offers little danger of entanglement. If it is entangled its placement in front of your body allows you to either easily untangle it, remove it or even cut it away. For that matter in any emergency where it becomes superfluous it can easily be ditched.
2) Typically speaking most problems underwater can be solved if you have the time to solve them. A pony bottle adds that time and may even contribute to keeping a diver calm by reassuring them they have the needed gas should it be required. Of course this could be an
illusion but if it keeps you calm in an emergency situation it has already paid for itself by giving you precious moments to think calmly rather than panic. I will confess that I notice an increase in my sac rate diving the pony as to not diving the pony but I have never breathed through an entire set of doubles on deeper recreational dives or on dives with 5-10 minutes of decompression.
3) On a decompression dive (deliberate or not) it could allow for critical extra hang time. Of course this could be compensated for by hanging gas from an equipment line at the back of the boat but this assumes we reach the back of the boat. If I lose a tank (not a reg) in an emergency I could easily hang for an addtl 10-20 minutes from my pony at 20' allowing me to generally do whatever my computer deems appropriate. Additionally if I should lose both tanks (failure at the manifold) than the pony becomes a saver.
4) In the event you are confronted with an out of air diver it can allow you comfortable distance from that diver. A panicked diver is a danger to both themselves and to you and I am not sure I want them attached even to my long hose. A pony can be clipped to them and allow them their own private air source while the two of you do a comfortable ascent and hang (if you need to do one say for decompression obligation). Of course this presupposes that they will be calm enough to take the pony from you but none the less even if they appear calm and take the pony without incident I would still prefer to keep my distance. In the end my responsibility is to bring myself back alive.
5) It can serve dual purposes. A typical Jersey fill is 28% and we usually end up with 26-28% for our back gas. Often we will fill our pony with 30-36%. In an emergency we could still breath off our pony once we have started up the ascent line and if we don't have an emergency we could breath off the pony during a deep stop or during our hang to add an extra safety margin. Maybe the benefit is negligible but it still teaches us the skill to deploy a pony while doing an ascent or on a hang.
5) Any piece of gear that you aren't experienced with, know how to utilize or aren't familiar with is a danger, this can include the very scuba tanks that you put on your back. I understand the concept of minimalism but I would rather ditch an extra light, catch bag or scooter than give up my pony. If one drills with it so that deploying it becomes second nature I believe the danger it presents is outweighed by its value. I personally do every drill with my pony and could locate any gear on my person blind (I am partially blind in one eye so I drill so that I can find all my gear and deploy it blind).
I would also like to discuss side mount (independent doubles) again if I could. When talking about task loading and the like is the supposition that it is better to go without a pony bottle than (in a reg failure situation) to have to hold one's breath while removing one reg from the bad tank and replacing it with the good reg from the other?
What happens if the failure is not the reg but is the tank itself where is your reserve air? In this instance you are doing your ascent on the assumption that a double failure is statistically unlikely.
Again I will confess to not knowing about side mount or ever having dived that configuration but the shortcomings of independent doubles still applies. To me it seems a bit easier to turn on a valve and pull out the reg than it would be to hold my breath while switching regs at depth...but maybe I am wrong.
Extra gear can get you killed. For that matter so can the scuba tank strapped to your back if you don't know how to properly use it... Minimalism in the extreme can also get you killed!
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Grumpy Guy, You caught me. I give up. I will yell at Jim next time I see him for not supporting me and you will get a new email stating that you must have a pony even if you are diving Sea Hunt triples.
P.S. Ronald Reagan was a terrible president who ruined the country, I trusted him but verified that fact.