Calling all ponies
- Thread starter Wrecks30
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I was at my local dive shop, discussing spare air and pony sizes. We took a 3 cu ft spare air and breathed off it until it went dry. At the surface, it took about 11 minutes of calm breathing. Theory (which is not practice) says that if you use a spare air at 100 fsw and ascend at 30 fps, you should be able to BARELY make it to the surface with a three minute safety stop. That is theory. Reality says you will not have a relaxed breathing and you are unlikely to start ascending the second you start using the spare air.
The shop's course director's comment struck home for me. The best size to get is the size you are willing to dive with. If the most you are willing to carry on your dive is a spare air, then buy it and take it. It will get you closer to the surface than having nothing. From where it runs out, you can do a controlled emergency swimming ascent.
The shop's course director's comment struck home for me. The best size to get is the size you are willing to dive with. If the most you are willing to carry on your dive is a spare air, then buy it and take it. It will get you closer to the surface than having nothing. From where it runs out, you can do a controlled emergency swimming ascent.
Mattleycrue76
Contributor
Not to badmouth ponies but just to let the OP know, there is a significant group of divers who consider the combination of proper gas management and good buddy skills to make ponies and spare airs rather unnecessary for recreational diving.
OldNSalty
Contributor
If you have proper gas management and take care of your gear then you don't need good buddy skills. Any argument that concludes that you need good buddy skills can also apply to a pony.
Mattleycrue76
Contributor
Gear failures can and do happen (albeit rarely). If and when they do you rely on your buddies gas to get you to the surface. This makes proper gas planning necessary.
I'm confused by your post
TROGDOR
Registered
allow me to preface this by saying I dive a 30cf pony, and have never used a spare-air....
I find spare-air bashing here to be kind of funny. The biggest argument is that it doesn't have enough air for a safety stop or to work out problems etc....therefore, they are crap.
Ever gone to their website? it says that the idea of the spare-air was to give you ONE MORE BREATH to make it to the surface. (Submersible Systems - Spare Air SCUBA Diver secondary air supply)
like I said, I've never used one, but does it not do just that?
seems kind of like arguing against using a laptop battery vs. plugging it in, the battery isn't designed to last all day, but it serves a specific purpose.
I find spare-air bashing here to be kind of funny. The biggest argument is that it doesn't have enough air for a safety stop or to work out problems etc....therefore, they are crap.
Ever gone to their website? it says that the idea of the spare-air was to give you ONE MORE BREATH to make it to the surface. (Submersible Systems - Spare Air SCUBA Diver secondary air supply)
like I said, I've never used one, but does it not do just that?
seems kind of like arguing against using a laptop battery vs. plugging it in, the battery isn't designed to last all day, but it serves a specific purpose.
Mattleycrue76
Contributor
I think some people would say that a spare air might give their users a false sense of security.
Gear failures can and do happen (albeit rarely). If and when they do you rely on your buddies gas to get you to the surface. This makes proper gas planning necessary.
I'm confused by your post
I think the point is that you can rewrite any scenario such as...buddy failures can and do happen (albeit rarely). If and when they do you rely on your pony bottle to get you to the surface. This makes proper gas planning necessary.
Or looking at your other post and rewriting...relying on buddies could give one a false sense of security.
Mattleycrue76
Contributor
I think the point is that you can rewrite any scenario such as...buddy failures can and do happen (albeit rarely). If and when they do you rely on your pony bottle to get you to the surface. This makes proper gas planning necessary.
Or looking at your other post and rewriting...relying on buddies could give one a false sense of security.
In this scenario you're assuming the loss of Buddy AND a catastrophic gear failure at the same time. I'll let you be the jugde on the probability of that happening
I don't tend to do dives much outside of the CESA range without a reliable buddy/team but that's just me.
In this scenario you're assuming the loss of Buddy AND a catastrophic gear failure at the same time. I'll let you be the jugde on the probability of that happening
I don't tend to do dives much outside of the CESA range without a reliable buddy/team but that's just me.
Not necessarily, you may have a gear failure (catastropic or otherwise) and a buddy who is not lost but is just behaving like a human (not infallible) and may be a little slow to react or a little further away than you'd hope.
It doesn't have to be either or. You can have redundancy in the form of a bailout (such is the case with doubles) and have a good buddy as well.
You are correct to point out though, there is not just one school of thought in the matter of bailout bottles.
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