alternative air source for newbies....

[beach89]

Actually its not too difficult to travel 20 to 30 feet while out of air. This is one of the things I do during the in-water portion o my courses during the airsharing scenario's.

And yes I do do it at the end of an exhale.

Plus in a real OOA, adrenaline would kick in. As long as you didn't have to turn around, 50ft is doable. With a full breath of air, 100ft is easy.(for me w/out any gear/fins)

 

[ItsBruce]

There are lots of threads on Spare Air versus pony bottles. Look at them. You must ask yourself whether you will actually carry a pony on a shallow (30 - 40 foot) dive and how you would feel about a CESA from that depth. If you'd always carry or didn't mind a CESA from 40 feet, then don't bother with a Spare Air. And, if you are going to carry a Spare Air, get plenty of practice deploying it and then never actually rely on the fact you have it. (I often carry one and rarely find myself in a position where I'd carry a pony.)

 

[Doc Intrepid]

I have 12 dives and security take priority over money so I was thinking to buy an alternative air source, the one that is kind of a pony bottle with its own regulator....what do you think?...3 cf or should I go for 6 cf?

Icarus,

Red said it best, as she often does;

I would be interested in why you feel you need one.

You appear to be missing the point.

At 12 dives you are still learning how to dive. The OW certification introduces mechanics. It provides familiarization, not proficiency. It gives you basic skills, but you must go out learn how to apply those skills to the environment.

The point is that at this stage you should be learning how to plan (first) and properly execute (second) dives so that you don't need an alternate air source. Focus on the thinking and the mental approach to planning for safe diving.

At your stage of diving you should not be descending deeper than 60 fsw, from which depth you should be able to calmly conduct an emergency swimming ascent if you absolutely HAD to. OTOH, you should also be watching your gas consumption over time, paying attention to your buddy, learning hand and light signals to communicate, planning your dives with concepts such as gas management and navigation - paying attention to currents and/or other environmental factors, and following your dive plan so that you avoid mindless unthinking screw-ups such as inadvertantly separating from your buddy, running lower than you'd planned on backgas, or other inattention to detail that results in you creating the very conditions that you're seeking to address by buying some redundant air source.

At your stage of diving you don't address emergencies by purchasing more gear. You address them by ensuring that they don't happen in the first place - that is, proper planning, situational awareness underwater, practicing skills, and learning to follow a dive plan that you've established and discussed before you began the dive.

Get the basics down, the thinking and application of fundamentals part of it, and don't be in a hurry to drop down below 60' and start getting radical. Once you can dive plan with your buddy, plan and manage your gas with your buddy, communicate with your buddy, and run skills drills smoothly with your buddy, then go deeper. The only thing that deeper consistently gives you is narcosis and less time to respond if things should get sideways.

It isn't that additional gear won't be needed eventually, depending on what you're doing, but that at this stage more gear is actually detremental - you're actually safer without it, learning to hammer down the basics and really thinking about "if X happens, then we're going to do Y"; my gas plan is (what it is)", my list of emergency phone numbers is located (wherever); etc.

Save your money for the moment. (You're gonna need it big time soon enough! )

The best way to avoid an emergency is to not be there when one happens! Focus on avoiding them at this stage in your development...

Dive safe,

Doc

 

[cummings66]

My point is that 5 feet away from your buddy is a long way to swim underwater without air mostly if he was looking at a barracuda. I don't know how

I'd ask you how far you swam underwater in your OW class during the pool work without the scuba gear on. That should have showed you that 5 feet is a walk in the park. Or maybe it was just my instructor but I thought that this was a standard part of the class.

In any event as others have said, save your money for other things.

 

[Icarusflies]

I see that most of you are aginst this type of tanks...Now I would like to ask you if a malfunction in the gear is something that rare...for what I hear it must be a very rare event

 

[HowardE]

Here's the most recent discussion on Spare Air http://www.scubaboard.com/showthread.php?t=154481

If you feel that you MUST carry a pony... Get a pony tank, not a spare air.

Diving with a buddy IS a redundant air source, it's cheap and easy to use.

- Icarusflies - If you are diving in Miami, gear malfunctions (rare in general) in warm water are EVEN less common than in cold water as well. Also, if you are diving in the ocean, you can always (almost) see the surface...

 

[The Kraken]

Gear failure is rare.

Keep in mind that in your buddy you have a completely redundant system.

There are statistics about gear failure somewhere, but I can't point you in that direction. Perhaps some other member can.

the K

 

[jbd]

I agree with The Kraken's comments.

Gear failure is rare and usually if there is a problem it is not typically catastrophic. Most problems while underwater are easily handled by pocession of competent diving skills, achieved through training and frequent practice.

 

[ItsBruce]

When I posted my prior reply, I overlooked how new you were. Hold off on extra air sources and master your skills. Keey your buddy within arm's reach...which is an important skill anyway.

 

[TSandM]

Icarusflies, read Doc Intrepid's post. Then read it again.

Catastrophic failures that completely interrupt your gas supply suddenly are very rare. Things like freeflows and leaks aren't that rare (at least, they've happened to me already) but give you plenty of time to sort the issue out. And that's part of why you dive with a buddy. Develop your buddy skills -- staying in communication, staying aware of one another, developing and polishing a clear set of signals, and practicing emergency procedures such as air-sharing.

When I did my Rescue course, the first night in the pool, the instructor said, "We're going to start with self-rescue and emergency procedures. I'll bet none of you have done an air-share drill since OW . . . " This was what he expected. I listened to a diver in our local LDS tell a story of running low on air on a dive, and not asking a fellow diver for an air-share "because it would probably panic him". It shouldn't. Practice these procedures until they're second nature, and then, in the unlikely event you have to do them for real, you are much more likely to be successful and remain calm.

And learn dive planning and gas management. PM NW Grateful Diver and ask him for his gas management handout, if you don't have somebody local who is teaching this material. That will give you a rational approach to planning your gas supply for any given dive. Knowing how to predict how much gas you need to do the dive you contemplate is one of the first steps toward never having an OOA emergency.

And then go diving and have fun!