An Equipment Reality Check

[boulderjohn]

I really didn't know where to put this topic or what to call it. I will relate a recent experience that has had an impact on my thinking, offer some of those thoughts, and then see how others react. I just returned from a few weeks in Australia with some friends who were just certified this year, expressly for the purpose of this trip. We took a 3-tank day trip out of Post Douglas to help them get the feel of things, after which we went on a liveaboard trip n the Great Barrier Reef. My friends brought only mask/fins/snorkel, and I brought all my own gear. Australia's GBR is a popular dive destination, and as best I can tell, at least 80% of the divers on both trips were from other countries around the world. Our trip sizes were, according to the staffs, small to average. The pros on these trips must meet thousands of divers per year from all over the world.

The day trip was taken on a large boat, but not the largest one available. It had to have over 100 people on it, divided into snorkelers, Discover Scuba students, and about 20 certified divers. One other diver and I were the only ones who brought our own gear, and he was one of the locals. He had a jacket BCD, conventional regulator set, and split fins. Everyone else used the boat's standard rental set: very basic jacket BCDs, traditional regulator sets, and weight belts. During the long trip to the reef, we certified divers got a thorough review of the OW diver course, after which we divided into three groups. I went to our group's DM and told her that in the case of an out of air emergency, I would donate my primary regulator rather then the traditional octopus in the golden triangle. She looked at me like I was out of my mind and asked me why on Earth I would do that. I showed her my setup with the long hose and bungeed alternate, and she clearly had never seen anything like it before. Why would anyone want such a crazy setup? I explained it, but she wasn't convinced--I sensed she was wondering whether she should allow me to use it. She went through the PADI pre-dive checklist with our group, and when she got to R for releases, she looked at me in astonishment and asked, "Where are your releases?" I pointed at my belt buckle and said, "Right here." "You only have one release?" she asked in amazement. Well, she let me dive with my bizarre gear, and for the rest of the day, other members of the crew came to my station to look at it, their curiosity evidently piqued.

All the tanks were set up with yoke valves, although at least some of the valves were actually 200 bar DIN valves with inserts, so I was able to use my DIN regulators without an adapter.

On the liveaboard, the crew seemed more knowledgeable than the day boat crew, but I was certainly still an object of curiosity. I was again only one of two with our own gear, and again the other one had a jacket BCD. The rental gear was all jacket BCDs, although they were much better than the ones on the day boats, featuring integrated weights and very good trim pockets. All of the tanks had yoke valves, so I had to use an adapter for my DIN regulator set.

Anyone who has been a ScubaBoard reader for even a little while must have the idea that all experienced divers in the world are using back plates and wings, with long hose DIN regulators and bungeed alternates. When I dive in the Florida, nobody seems at all surprised when I show up dressed like that. I guess what stuck me the most was the reality check of seeing evidence of how rare a thing it really is to wear such equipment on a recreational dive in at least some popular dive locations. The jacket BCD, as much as it is disparaged on ScubaBoard, truly appears to be the king, and the traditional regular setup is clearly the norm--at least in that part of the world.

 

[Eric Sedletzky]

I really didn't know where to put this topic or what to call it. I will relate a recent experience that has had an impact on my thinking, offer some of those thoughts, and then see how others react. I just returned from a few weeks in Australia with some friends who were just certified this year, expressly for the purpose of this trip. We took a 3-tank day trip out of Post Douglas to help them get the feel of things, after which we went on a liveaboard trip n the Great Barrier Reef. My friends brought only mask/fins/snorkel, and I brought all my own gear. Australia's GBR is a popular dive destination, and as best I can tell, at least 80% of the divers on both trips were from other countries around the world. Our trip sizes were, according to the staffs, small to average. The pros on these trips must meet thousands of divers per year from all over the world.

The day trip was taken on a large boat, but not the largest one available. It had to have over 100 people on it, divided into snorkelers, Discover Scuba students, and about 20 certified divers. One other diver and I were the only ones who brought our own gear, and he was one of the locals. He had a jacket BCD, conventional regulator set, and split fins. Everyone else used the boat's standard rental set: very basic jacket BCDs, traditional regulator sets, and weight belts. During the long trip to the reef, we certified divers got a thorough review of the OW diver course, after which we divided into three groups. I went to our group's DM and told her that in the case of an out of air emergency, I would donate my primary regulator rather then the traditional octopus in the golden triangle. She looked at me like I was out of my mind and asked me why on Earth I would do that. I showed her my setup with the long hose and bungeed alternate, and she clearly had never seen anything like it before. Why would anyone want such a crazy setup? I explained it, but she wasn't convinced--I sensed she was wondering whether she should allow me to use it. She went through the PADI pre-dive checklist with our group, and when she got to R for releases, she looked at me in astonishment and asked, "Where are your releases?" I pointed at my belt buckle and said, "Right here." "You only have one release?" she asked in amazement. Well, she let me dive with my bizarre gear, and for the rest of the day, other members of the crew came to my station to look at it, their curiosity evidently piqued.

All the tanks were set up with yoke valves, although at least some of the valves were actually 200 bar DIN valves with inserts, so I was able to use my DIN regulators without an adapter.

On the liveaboard, the crew seemed more knowledgeable than the day boat crew, but I was certainly still an object of curiosity. I was again only one of two with our own gear, and again the other one had a jacket BCD. The rental gear was all jacket BCDs, although they were much better than the ones on the day boats, featuring integrated weights and very good trim pockets. All of the tanks had yoke valves, so I had to use an adapter for my DIN regulator set.

Anyone who has been a ScubaBoard reader for even a little while must have the idea that all experienced divers in the world are using back plates and wings, with long hose DIN regulators and bungeed alternates. When I dive in the Florida, nobody seems at all surprised when I show up dressed like that. I guess what stuck me the most was the reality check of seeing evidence of how rare a thing it really is to wear such equipment on a recreational dive in at least some popular dive locations. The jacket BCD, as much as it is disparaged on ScubaBoard, truly appears to be the king, and the traditional regular setup is clearly the norm--at least in that part of the world.

I've been saying this for years.
Most recreational divers around the world, or at least 99.999999% of them just use regular standard dive gear and go by regular standard protocols, and could care less about anything else. They just want to see stuff and the gear and protocols are just a means to get there, not an end in itself to split hairs over and get into 500 post debates on the internet.
The whole BP/W hog harness long hose jet fin can light scooter etc. is an internet thing.
Scubaboard is a microscopic speck of a community world wide. Most people around the world have never even heard of BP/W, long hoses. or Scubaboard, or any other dive related forum for that matter.
And the thing is they love scuba just as much and are into it as we are and without any problems we seem to be hashing out here on SB every day.
I wonder sometimes what the hell I'm doing here. None of my regular dive buddies hang out here.
I guess I'm still around because I like to read the DIY stuff since I'm a tinkerer.

 

[Blue Quaker]

I really didn't know where to put this topic or what to call it. I will relate a recent experience that has had an impact on my thinking, offer some of those thoughts, and then see how others react. I just returned from a few weeks in Australia with some friends who were just certified this year, expressly for the purpose of this trip. We took a 3-tank day trip out of Post Douglas to help them get the feel of things, after which we went on a liveaboard trip n the Great Barrier Reef. My friends brought only mask/fins/snorkel, and I brought all my own gear. Australia's GBR is a popular dive destination, and as best I can tell, at least 80% of the divers on both trips were from other countries around the world. Our trip sizes were, according to the staffs, small to average. The pros on these trips must meet thousands of divers per year from all over the world.

The day trip was taken on a large boat, but not the largest one available. It had to have over 100 people on it, divided into snorkelers, Discover Scuba students, and about 20 certified divers. One other diver and I were the only ones who brought our own gear, and he was one of the locals. He had a jacket BCD, conventional regulator set, and split fins. Everyone else used the boat's standard rental set: very basic jacket BCDs, traditional regulator sets, and weight belts. During the long trip to the reef, we certified divers got a thorough review of the OW diver course, after which we divided into three groups. I went to our group's DM and told her that in the case of an out of air emergency, I would donate my primary regulator rather then the traditional octopus in the golden triangle. She looked at me like I was out of my mind and asked me why on Earth I would do that. I showed her my setup with the long hose and bungeed alternate, and she clearly had never seen anything like it before. Why would anyone want such a crazy setup? I explained it, but she wasn't convinced--I sensed she was wondering whether she should allow me to use it. She went through the PADI pre-dive checklist with our group, and when she got to R for releases, she looked at me in astonishment and asked, "Where are your releases?" I pointed at my belt buckle and said, "Right here." "You only have one release?" she asked in amazement. Well, she let me dive with my bizarre gear, and for the rest of the day, other members of the crew came to my station to look at it, their curiosity evidently piqued.

All the tanks were set up with yoke valves, although at least some of the valves were actually 200 bar DIN valves with inserts, so I was able to use my DIN regulators without an adapter.

On the liveaboard, the crew seemed more knowledgeable than the day boat crew, but I was certainly still an object of curiosity. I was again only one of two with our own gear, and again the other one had a jacket BCD. The rental gear was all jacket BCDs, although they were much better than the ones on the day boats, featuring integrated weights and very good trim pockets. All of the tanks had yoke valves, so I had to use an adapter for my DIN regulator set.

Anyone who has been a ScubaBoard reader for even a little while must have the idea that all experienced divers in the world are using back plates and wings, with long hose DIN regulators and bungeed alternates. When I dive in the Florida, nobody seems at all surprised when I show up dressed like that. I guess what stuck me the most was the reality check of seeing evidence of how rare a thing it really is to wear such equipment on a recreational dive in at least some popular dive locations. The jacket BCD, as much as it is disparaged on ScubaBoard, truly appears to be the king, and the traditional regular setup is clearly the norm--at least in that part of the world.

We left our BP&Wings at home when we went out to French Polynesia...but we got some really weird looks as our Poseidon Xstreams hissed and locked up as we turned the tank vales on. We got tired of the "who blew an O ring ?" question.

 

[Akimbo]

…The day trip was taken on a large boat, but not the largest one available. It had to have over 100 people on it, divided into snorkelers, Discover Scuba students, and about 20 certified divers…

That probably explains it. I suspect that the great majority of more knowledgeable divers won’t book on a boat like that.

 

[Mr Carcharodon]

I went to Rapa Nui late last winter (winter in the northern hemisphere) and dove in a jacket BC for the first time in years. It was a total non-issue. But I would not give up the BP/W for diving at home in a dry suit and another 12 pounds of weight. The standard recreational gear works well enough in standard recreational settings which is usually warm clear water.

 

[Eric Sedletzky]

I went to Rapa Nui late last winter (winter in the northern hemisphere) and dove in a jacket BC for the first time in years. It was a total non-issue. But I would not give up the BP/W for diving at home in a dry suit and another 12 pounds of weight. The standard recreational gear works well enough in standard recreational settings which is usually warm clear water.

Southern California is warm clear water, at least to me.
That's where I go for my poor man's tropical vacation.

 

[AfterDark]

On the East Coast North Carolina is warm and clear with tons of wrecks and fish too. Only a fourteen hour drive so I get to bring all my own gear!

I'm a big believer in configuring my gear the way I like not, the way some agency or some SB poster wants it. They are welcomed to dive what works for them, I will happily do the same. I'll explain my configuration, if someone doesn't like it they can find another buddy.

 

[boulderjohn]

That probably explains it. I suspect that the great majority of more knowledgeable divers won’t book on a boat like that.

Yes, they would. In that area, if you want to dive the reef, that is how you get there. We would not have taken that boat if we had had a choice, and if there was an alternative, we could not find it. It was more than two hours out with that extremely powerful, fast boat to do that diving. It's not something the average small boat can do economically.

 

[Eric Sedletzky]

I went out to the Barrier Reef on a smaller boat (about 42') out of Port Douglas. It was a very fast ride. They didn't slow down for swells, there were several times I was launched into the air and levitating waiting for the boat to come down and smack the water. They have to go a certain speed just because the Barrier Reef is way out there and it would take forever if they took their time.
It was considered one of the better day boats because they offered three tanks and went to places that the bigger boats didn't go, and it was scuba only, no snorkellers.
All the divers just had regular gear including me at the time because this was before the BP/W era.

 

[Andyoak]

Yes, they would. In that area, if you want to dive the reef, that is how you get there.

From a Aussie, though not a QLD native. It does sound like you were on a tourist cattle boat. Most experienced local divers would not be on one of the cattle boats. I am sure there are other smaller (20-50pax) boats you could go on which would have DMs with more experience and other gear configs. The boat we regularly dive on takes 45pax and has everything from OW to rebreathers on it.