UWSojourner:
OK.
Like I said, Mike, I'm trying to shave odds, it was late, and I was just thinking. If you look at potential accidents, they break down into certain categories probably. (Don't worry about the Rec-diver-does-cave-dive category or other should-have-known-better dives. We are unlikely to fall into the excessive risk taking category).
In the exact same categories, someone like you probably has lower odds than someone like me because your experience is much greater. So how do you cut the odds? Last night, after a glass of a nice Cab, I said hmmmm ... wonder what SB would think about redundancy for our situation.
It was just one idea, if you know of better approaches to cutting the chances, shoot'em my way.
This may sound a bit awful, but I have looked at the possibility of not returning with a live daughter. If that were to happen, what do I want in that situation? I want to know in my gut that I was deliberate in my decisions (thus, the odds reduction thinking) ... and that she wanted to dive, knowing the potential risks, because she thought it enhanced her life.
I understand your concerns. I started both my kids diving when they were 13. My daughter doesn't care too much for diving but my sons 18 now and has done many hundreds of dives.
Hedging your bet...
If you look at the DAN accident reports the things that constantly come up is buoyancy control problems and other procedural problems. One year they reported buoyancy control problems in over 40% of the dives that resulted in injury and in another year (I think it was last year) they reported buoyancy control problems in like 60% of the dives that resulted in fatalities. The things they attribute the buoyancy control problems to is poor skills and no being familiar with equipment. Also a significant percentage of divers who are injured are divers with little recent experience. Aside from heart attacks it really looks to me like the divers who get hurt are the divers who aren't any good at diving. That's not hard to believe is it.
The answer to these problems is to have good solid basic skills.
I don't remember "running out of air" or equipment malfunctions causing a loss of gas figuring very prominently in the reports but even if divers were running out of air I'd have to blame it on the fact that many people never learn to manage their gas and it sure isn't taught in many classes.
I think if you stick to the basics and do it well you don't have much to worry about and hanging all that extra junk on is likely to cause more problems than it fixes. Certainly a pony bottle isn't going to fix deficiencies in basic skills and can't save you from the problems they cause.
Of course you shouldn't take my word for it but look at how divers are getting hurt. In the last few months we've seen two divers die near the surface before or after a dive. The last one was the guy who was walking in shallow water, fell and drowned. The other couldn't get his inflator hose hooked up. His buddy turned his air off trying to get it on (if I remember right. He sank and drowned.
Last summer a lady with two buddies got tangled in some kelp while descending to start a dive. She drowned with lots of air in her tank if I remember right. Her buddies were waiting for here at the bottom and went looking for her when she didn't show up at the bottom.
List more of your own and we can chat about them.
from the above incedennts...mainntain pos buoyancy at the surface and be able to reach your valve.
Gilboa last year...a guy taking part in the DUI dry suit demo goes into the deep water, panics and suffers a rapid ascent. If I remember right think he too had plenty of air in his tank.
Look through the reports and see how many you think a pony would have saved. I think you'll have trouble finding any. It just makes you feel good. I think it's like a sugar pill.
