Info Are Pony Bottles Dangerous?

[BlueTrin]

Nice try selectively quoting. Here is the full quote, try reading it again:

Obviously this almost never happens in recreational diving, which is why 3rds is not very relevant. If I plan on returning to the start point of the dive, I dive 1/2 + reserve. If **** happens I could always surface before returning.

Uh it happens frequently here when you dive close to shipping lanes?

 

[Boarderguy]

 

[steinbil]

Uh it happens frequently here when you dive close to shipping lanes?

Which is why I included it in the first place. Even though it is more common in specific environments in some parts of the world, I would think that for typical recreational diving worldwide, "must return" is very rare. Maybe I exaggerated the rarity because I was annoyed at the straw man argumentation, I don't really know and it's not even that relevant. The point is, keep a gas reserve appropriate for the exposure and conditions, use the rest in whatever way makes sense. "Return to the boat with 500psi" or "Turn around at 1/2 tank" is not gas planning, it's just rules-of-thumb that are not always appropriate or even sensible, and it's intellectually lazy in a way that causes problems. I've read and heard tons of stories of people getting into dangerous situations being low on gas because they haven't thought through how much gas they need in an emergency at different depths. Oversimplifying gas planning is not serving any purpose, it really isn't that complicated to do it properly.

 

[BlueTrin]

I take your point that, in the world, it’s not the majority of the dives. And that gas planning should be done seriously, if not trivial.

 

[rjack321]

I LOVE venn diagrams!!
Pony bottles are not any more or less dangerous than a regular scuba tank. Despite some agency's claims to the contrary, attempting to breathe and survive in an alien environment underwater is actually inherently dangerous - compared to I dunno... golf?
Plus!
Some divers are on SB
Some divers are dangerous to themselves or others
Some divers do solo dives and some are functionally solo
Some divers use pony bottles

Some divers are 0 for 4, some 1 for 4, and some hit the home run at 4 for 4.

For me personally, I find pony bottle divers are generally poor divers and not particularly good buddies. I suppose that's why they feel the need to carry the pony bottle in the first place - although they love to project their weaknesses and blame everyone else for being the lame distracted buddy. Hence the thread here. It's fine, go ahead I'm terrible whatever. I've been diving since 1993 and the overlap between pony bottle and poor buddy is way way over 75% - enough so that I can reliably say "no thanks" and invest my limited leisure time with better buddies.

 

[BlueTrin]

I LOVE venn diagrams!!

Are you working with data or a scientific field? That was a passionate statement.

 

[Cthippo]

For me personally, I find pony bottle divers are generally poor divers and not particularly good buddies. I suppose that's why they feel the need to carry the pony bottle in the first place - although they love to project their weaknesses and blame everyone else for being the lame distracted buddy. Hence the thread here. It's fine, go ahead I'm terrible whatever. I've been diving since 1993 and the overlap between pony bottle and poor buddy is way way over 75% - enough so that I can reliably say "no thanks" and invest my limited leisure time with better buddies.

Thats an interesting perspective, and not one I would have expected. I would have expected the correlatiln between gear and unskilled divers to lean towards those who are equipped exactly like the book says, and don't know why. But, my buddy divomg experience is almost non-existant and I'm not going to to question someone else's lived experience, so...

 

[VikingDives]

 

[SlugLife]

Thats an interesting perspective, and not one I would have expected. I would have expected the correlatiln between gear and unskilled divers to lean towards those who are equipped exactly like the book says, and don't know why. But, my buddy divomg experience is almost non-existant and I'm not going to to question someone else's lived experience, so...

I'll question that "lived experience."

I don't think I've ever encountered another scuba-diver actually using a pony bottle "in the wild." I've certainly met scuba-divers that own pony bottles (and leave them at home, or are selling them). I talk to some on places like ScubaBoard. I never see them at dive-parks, on dive-boats, or any other in-person activities. Actually buddying with one, would have to be an even smaller sample size. Perhaps pony-bottles are common somewhere, but I don't see them locally or while on vacation.

It would be almost impossible to draw any accurate conclusions about the diving skills, personality traits, and mental deficiencies of an entire group of people based on a nearly non-existent sample size.

 

[mr_v]

I'll question that "lived experience."

I don't think I've ever encountered another scuba-diver actually using a pony bottle "in the wild." I've certainly met scuba-divers that own pony bottles (and leave them at home, or are selling them). I talk to some on places like ScubaBoard. I never see them at dive-parks, on dive-boats, or any other in-person activities. Actually buddying with one, would have to be an even smaller sample size. Perhaps pony-bottles are common somewhere, but I don't see them locally or while on vacation.

It would be almost impossible to draw any accurate conclusions about the diving skills, personality traits, and mental deficiencies of an entire group of people based on a nearly non-existent sample size.

Your experience may vary. I've seen enough pony bottles on cattle boats on both coasts.

Pony bottles, split fins, poorly fitting (and obviously rental) equipment, swivels, rookie mistakes on the surface, very large knives, and or yoke regulators catch my attention. These things aren't red flags per se, but they certainly raise my awareness. It paid off at least once: a struggling but chatty diver almost jump off with a tank that was not fastened properly. That "1st stage to back of the skull" impact would have been awful.

If you want to flame, go ahead. But context awareness is a critical survival skill and I'll stand on that.