After 41 years I almost bought it today...

[Otter]

Saw the title of the thread and THEN the poster. Like others, I am glad you decided to say with us a bit longer. In addition to your problem with the 1st stage, an instructor friend had his Apeks 1st stage explode at 80fsw while in Fiji a year or two ago. With his buddy handy, it was a non-issue.

Since you prefer solo, keep your pony. I don't want to read 'bout you in the paper.

Otter

 

[JHAM]

Stories like this actually scare the hell out of me.

I am currently taking a SCUBA lifesaving and accident management. Lately the thought of equipment failure is on my mind a lot. I guess its because I spend a lot of time and most of my 170 dives practicing skills, but equipment failure is something harder to prepare yourself for. Let's face it, when(if) it happens, its going to be a complete surprize to you and you will have to rely on your wits to get you through it.

A while back I purchased a pony bottle set up and have made very few dives with out it since. In fact the more I think of the possibility of equipment failure the less likely I am to go with out it. The thought is, that during even the most basic of dives, you may need it.

When people have asked me about it, my answer is now simply that, no matter the depth, I do NOT dive with out a second air source. Sure it takes a little work to set it up, but if I ever need it, I'll sure be happy I went to the trouble.

 

[Uncle Pug]

JHAM once bubbled...
if I ever need it, I'll sure be happy I went to the trouble.

You didn't read my post did you.

Do you practice deploying your pony reg. every dive so that the response is automatic?

If not you are only fooling yourself with a false sense of security. And that false sense of security may very well put you in a position that you cannot recover yourself from when things do go sideways.

It has happened to others.

 

[drbill]

Uncle Pug- although your post was directed at JHAM I'm not sure I understoof or agreed with it. Yes, one should practice deploying one's pony reg. If I practiced it every one of my ~250 dives a year, I'd get much less work done. I do ensure as I'm traveling to my video subjects that I re-familiarize myself with the location of my pony tank valve (I leave it off most of the time) and my reg, but if I'm doing 4-6 dives a day I don't think it is at all necessary to do so on every dive. It depends on the frequency of dives for that diver.

Don- what's a cell phone? Is that what those terrorist groups use to communicate?

Dr. Bill

 

[Uncle Pug]

drbill once bubbled...
Yes, one should practice deploying one's pony reg. If I practiced it every one of my ~250 dives a year, I'd get much less work done. ~~~~if I'm doing 4-6 dives a day I don't think it is at all necessary to do so on every dive.

... consider that a figure of speech.... hyperbole even.

However... for JHAM is was just good advice. He has half the number of dives the kid in my story had.

 

[Uncle Pug]

I *practice deploying* my long hose regulator every dive.

Actually I make sure that it is deployable and not caught on anything or routed wrong. This only takes a few seconds to accomplish and can be done on the water or in the water. I also switch to my necklaced back up every so often to make sure that it is functional.

And I'm still able to get a lot of diving in.

 

[drbill]

Thanks for the clarification Uncle Pug. Must admit since both my underwater housings went into the shop a few weeks ago, I've spent a lot of time practicing skills on my dives. Given the conditions of low vis and surge recently it's been a fun game to practice bouyancy control as I weave through the kelp and around the boulders. (However, I didn't expect to "practice" an emergency ascent!).

Dr. Bill

 

[Frank O]

drbill bubbled...
Given the conditions of low vis and surge recently it's been a fun game to practice bouyancy control as I weave through the kelp and around the boulders.

Speaking of which ... has it been getting any better at Avalon in the last week or so? There seems to be a little bit of improvement in the aggregate at mainland beaches, but it's the usual one step forward, one step sideways, etc.

 

[zboss]

I was under the impression that most 1st stages were designed to provide positive pressure to the 2nd stage if there were any kind of issue with it?

Obviously I am wrong in this?

 

[Dr Deco]

Dr Bill:

All’s well that ends well

Glad to hear that this very scary experience had a happy ending.

Dr Deco

On vacation this week :mean: