Do you actually see people diving with pony bottles?

[markmud]

I have never seen anyone ask how large a person was when they stated they were hard on air. I have seen repeated comments regarding weighting, trim and skill.

Hi LJPM,

Most of the "air hogs" I have witnessed were large guys. They were not ballerinas, for sure.

I am not a big guy, but I have a large vital capacity (6' and 185 lbs). I can literally, if I breath like I want to, drain an al80 in 20 minutes. My wife could not drain one in 40 minutes if she tried.

Your statement is profound because those of us who have worked very hard to conserve gas forget how it was when we were struggling to not breath normally.

Just a fact (anecdotal of course).

cheers,
markm

 

[Gareth J]

I do find it amusing to read that a Pony is the new diving fashion accessory.

I would have agreed in the 90's. Pony's have been overtaken by twinsets as the preferred option (at least in the UK).

There is a definite 'fashion' with diving. Partly pressed by the industry (more sales), partly by instructors and schools (more courses).
For schools, instructors and guides, warm water resort diving is a different clientele to the type of divers who dive regularly (say once a month). Similarly, the kit they use is likely to be different.
Similarly, diving warm water with good visibility, the kit is likely to be different to those diving colder waters, potentially with variable visibility. This is no different to the changes in kit for deep diving over shallow diving.
Where you are located, and the type of diving you do will influence the kit you use and are likely to see.
Occasionally, we are all surprised by 'unusual' configurations for the environment. ( I saw a diver on a 10m dive in Gozo using twin 10's - but then the choice was logical, he was solo, taking photographs.)

Divers are like magpie's, they like shiny things, and they collect them.

Keep safe, however you choose to dive.

Gareth

 

[Ayisha]

I do find it amusing to read that a Pony is the new diving fashion accessory.

I would have agreed in the 90's. Pony's have been overtaken by twinsets as the preferred option (at least in the UK).

Agreed. Many of the divers who once had pony bottles here have moved on to twinsets, back mounted or side mounted. We still see ponies a bit, but not like in the early to mid-2000's, in my estimation.

 

[Kharon]

Hi mioook,

Make sure you practice inflating your BCD manually while practicing pony bottle ascents. In a true crisis, your BC won't inflate with your push-button inflator.

Just a thought,
markm

Actually, I always orally inflate my buoyancy equipment. That air has already passed through my lungs, in other words "been used". Waste not, want not.

 

[2airishuman]

Throughout this thread, I have been focusing on the needs (real or perceived) of the average recreational diver, not divers who go solo, in reg-freezing conditions, etc..... I believe most of us do not see that, because most of us--especially outside of SB--constitute the "average recreational diver." Some of the pony use we do see might be by other average recreational divers who could probably make it easier on themselves using alternative means to improve their safety. Maybe this thread is another example of how SB isn't very representative of scuba diving in general. Yeah, we on SB probably see a lot more ponies out there than the average recreational diver.

There is no "average recreational diver" because what it means to be an "average recreational diver" varies from place to place.

In Minnesota, among people who have their own gear, dive regularly, and see diving as an activity that they will engage in for many years to come, roughly half only dive in tropical locations. The other half make a good deal of local dives where visibility, cold, depth, and lack of surface support are often things to consider. Which group is "average?"

And Minnesota isn't unique. The west coast, the UK, northern Europe, all similar.

Don't let tropical paradises define what diving is about.

 

[2airishuman]

But after reading the 50+ (!) pages here, I now see that there seems to be two major camps on SB: those who insist on (almost) always using a pony, as the effort and inconvenience is minimal relative to the potential benefit; and those who believe that using a pony is more dangerous than not.

I'm in both camps I guess. I believe a pony is dangerous if misconfigured. I use one on a minority of my dives. I do believe they are a valuable tool and can provide an important safety benefit in certain specific situations.

I think there are three camps at ScubaBoard:
1. People who can't figure out why any skilled diver would want to use a pony and wonder what all the fuss is about
2. People like @The Chairman, @CuzzA, and a few others who, as you describe, use a pony cylinder on substantially all dives within recreational limits
3. People who use a pony cylinder for select dives where a twinset is not workable and where factors like depth, visibility, temperature, surface conditions, etc., etc., make redundant air a wise choice.

I'm more in the first camp. This is scuba diving. How can more air on your back be bad? Breathing off the wrong tank and errors like that are operator errors, not equipment issues. Those people, IMHO, have issues more severe than the equipment they (mis)use (I can't imagine how I could breath off my pony reg by accident).

I believe it is indeed an equipment issue. There are some configurations where there is no straightforward way to be absolutely sure that the reg in your mouth is the primary, particularly when you're at depth where the light is poor, you're wearing gloves, and you're perhaps a little narced. Which, after all, is the sort of dive that you might want to bring a pony along for). Colors and textures aren't reliable indicators. If your primary and pony are back mounted and the hoses both come off the top then how are you supposed to tell?

 

[2airishuman]

Maybe I'm having a difficult time articulating exactly what it is that I see. I think I see some kind of trend. I mean, I think I see more ponies today than 10 or 20 years ago. Yet recreational diving has only, if anything, gotten safer, statistically speaking. That seems like a paradox to me. So I ask myself why?

Added thought: Or could it be that an increasing number of people are doing more aggressive diving? Is this a spillover effect from tec diving and "extreme sports" in general? I likewise think I perceive a trend toward more recreational drysuit diving today. I would bet a walk through the archives of SB would show the word "drysuit" trend upwardly over the years. I own one myself--something that I never imagined years ago.

If there really is a trend, then why do people today, doing the same kind of relatively benign rec diving that people have long been doing, feel a need for increased safety?

I think there is more acceptance of solo diving. With that the maverick approach to solo diving common in the past is being replaced by a "self-reliant diving mentality" which has spilled over into buddy dives. There is also more recognition that a large number of accidents involve scenarios that include both buddy separation and an OOA emergency.

I see these changes as a good thing.

 

[The Chairman]

2. People like @The Chairman, @CuzzA, and a few others who, as you describe, use a pony cylinder on substantially all dives within recreational limits

This is not completely accurate. I dive with a pony/stage if I'm diving solo, if I am heading into deco (or might be) and as a bailout if I'm diving my breather. My pony, stage or bailout is never less than 40cf and is sometimes an AL80, depending on the dive. If I have a buddy, I rarely have a pony/stage unless I'm on my breather.

 

[2airishuman]

I said that it may differ from one person to another..

I have friends that with a bit of help and more practice have largelly decreased their SAC in a few months.

Now if one is clearly out of shape and largely overweighted, maybe he/she should not be diving in the first place

Bullocks. That's like saying that anyone who thinks a 120 is too heavy is clearly out of shape and shouldn't be diving. I can climb out of the water with twin 120s. Why would you think that my air consumption would be the same as some short thin individual with no muscle?

 

[MXGratefulDiver]

Wow.

If I had any input, OWS would be the next cert past OW. Open Water Solo. 1:1 instructor to student ratio, instructor hangs 3' above in the 'death from above' position. Student does all the OW required skills without eye contact or any other form of emotional support. In it all alone. The first time I soloed, diving became real.

The foundation of OW, as taught, is that hope springs eternal. Somebody will always be there...

I'd technically agree ... but my preference for a second course would be Rescue. The real benefit from a properly taught Rescue class is less about saving someone else than it is about how to prevent yourself from becoming that person.

My biggest beef with AOW ... particularly right after OW ... is that it gives people the mistaken impression that they're somehow "qualified" to be doing deeper dives. And almost everyone I know who went through that class did so because they wanted to go deeper.

... Bob (Grateful Diver)