Burke,
Your instructor is a putz... ditch him before he kills you along with himself...
I don't recommend a spare air as an alternate air source because:
1. You buddy should be you alternate air source... that means that you need, above all other things, to develop a good buddy and good buddy skills. Shane and I dive together but sometimes separated by as much as 50' if the visibility permits it... but the further we get away from one another the more our attention is directed to one another. Most of the time we are side by side separated by no more that 10'. This does not restrict our diving at all... we dive as a team! Even at 50' separation we can successfully perform unannounced OOA drills... because we have developed good buddy skills and pay attention.
2. Spare air is aptly named but who needs spare air... you should know within 50 psi what your SPG will read before you look at it... and if you follow my suggestion in #1 above you should know what your buddy's SPG reads before looking too.
3. Spare air is one more piece of junk to entangle you.
4. I could go on but I'm getting bored with this...
All the above apply to ponies x 10
Rig your secondary second stage on a bungee (when you sell the worthless spare air on ebay or make your LDS take it back)
Read all the stuff on:
www.gue.com
www.wkpp.org
Your instructor is a putz... ditch him before he kills you along with himself...
I don't recommend a spare air as an alternate air source because:
1. You buddy should be you alternate air source... that means that you need, above all other things, to develop a good buddy and good buddy skills. Shane and I dive together but sometimes separated by as much as 50' if the visibility permits it... but the further we get away from one another the more our attention is directed to one another. Most of the time we are side by side separated by no more that 10'. This does not restrict our diving at all... we dive as a team! Even at 50' separation we can successfully perform unannounced OOA drills... because we have developed good buddy skills and pay attention.
2. Spare air is aptly named but who needs spare air... you should know within 50 psi what your SPG will read before you look at it... and if you follow my suggestion in #1 above you should know what your buddy's SPG reads before looking too.
3. Spare air is one more piece of junk to entangle you.
4. I could go on but I'm getting bored with this...
All the above apply to ponies x 10
Rig your secondary second stage on a bungee (when you sell the worthless spare air on ebay or make your LDS take it back)
Read all the stuff on:
www.gue.com
www.wkpp.org