Insta-buddy and pony stories??

[divedadepths]

OK i know that there are 20920348658420 threads on pony bottles. I am thinking of getting one becasue i dont have a stable buddy and usually go single to charters. Also, i travel a couple times a year with the family to diveable destinations, and nobody in my family dives, so an instabuddy is inevidable. If i were to purchase one i would get a 13 or a 19 for ease of travel. So my question is this. Does anybody have any stories about instabuddies gone wrong or ever being in a situation where you used your pony (or wished you had a pony)? Thanks.

 

[Web Monkey]

OK i know that there are 20920348658420 threads on pony bottles. I am thinking of getting one becasue i dont have a stable buddy and usually go single to charters. Also, i travel a couple times a year with the family to diveable destinations, and nobody in my family dives, so an instabuddy is inevidable. If i were to purchase one i would get a 13 or a 19 for ease of travel. So my question is this. Does anybody have any stories about instabuddies gone wrong or ever being in a situation where you used your pony (or wished you had a pony)? Thanks.

When travelling, I always get instabuddies, but never expect them to be able to provide any assistance. In fact on the cruise ship dives, I'd be happy if they could return to the boat without barotrauma or bleeding.

My personal "solution" is to not do deep dives with unknown buddies.

My instabuddy doesn't run out of air because I've gotten very good at sneaking a look at their SPG (or getting them to show it to me). If they start running low (my idea of low, not theirs), I'll thumb the dive.

Also, as long as I stay well within the table limits, I'm OK with doing a CESA if necessary. If I'm not well within the table limits or with a known buddy, I'm on shore having a burger and a beer.

I actually have a pony (30') and like it, but unfortunately it's too difficult to travel with, so I don't have it in the places where it would be most useful.


Terry

 

[scarefaceDM]

here we go...Once upon a time..

>Poney what on earth. I used a 30 cub poney.>

Dive: Saint Lawrence River Ontario Canada. Mid summer. kind a nice weather, water was warm for cold water diving. Mild winds.
I am the DM for the day..( lucky me..I get instabuddies all the time. )

Chat with buddy. Man says" YUP I dive all the time down south". My face changes as I start to go throught the rescue procedures in my head.

I ask the Man...when was the last time you dove sir. ( Hope to get big tip after days dive..so be polite.)
Man replys." last dive I did was to 120 feet 6 months ago. when I was down south." "and you" he askes me.

My reply to his obvious question. " My last dive was the night before".

Man replys..You do night dives aswell.? He asks.

"Yes" I reply, "I dive year round, cold water, rainy, hot, current, low vis good vis...no vis..any vis. I can dive all year and even under the ice" I reply

Man asks.."what does Vis mean?"

So I reply "your last dive was 6 month ago in warm water to a depth of 120 feet. Cool" I say.

Man replys.."Yeah I kind of went through my air on that dive. But do not worry I have good air consumption."

At this point. I have gone through what is possibly the worse case senario of OOA to happen. Being the DM of the charter. I have a duty to SAVE this man from himself and myself included.

After going over the Buddy check. ( the man had no clue what to look for aside from my PONEY attached to my Single 80.

Man asks.." you need alot of air, you must go through your tank prety quick" And I never seen that kind of gear before. plus why you wearing a hood, is the water that cold.?"

The smile on my face was hiding my true feelings. But I replied to the nice man..."No not quite..the PONEY is for just incase. And for the GEAR I have, it is just meant for cold water diving."

man replys, " I do not get cold, I do not wear any wetsuits down south. " but they told me at the dive shop it was warm water for this time of year 75°, Outside temp was a nice 28....so they insited I wear a 7mm with hood and gloves "But I am not comfortable with the hood on, I do not need it. I do not get cold.

Well we entered the water. Me first, giant stride in turn give the OK and wait for buddy. The fine gentalmen takes his big stride, face plants, lost his mask on entry making a giant stride off the back deck. His words were "I never done that before"
as we squared him away. I once again, go over the dive plan. In water just before we decend.

Plan: Decend the line slowly to a depth of 60 feet. Check gear, give the OK sign and we continue the dive plan, follow the line to the ship wreck make a clock wise sweep outside the wreck, moving slowly...Once we get to the bow, Give me an OK sign. If all is good we follow the port side of the ship to the stern. ( back end )...look around an move into the wreck. Everytime I give you an OK you do the same, if your not okay point to where your having a problem, everytime I ask you for your AIR pressure in your tank ..show me your guage..OK. Or turn point is 1500 psi. first one hits it we are out., Ime of dive runs about 50 minutes easy.

Now this dive is a simple dive, the ship is broken up but still in good shape and a diver can move freely in and out. There is a mild current but it is a good dive for open water divers to get under there belts. Wreck rests at 60 feet.with about 30 foot of vis.

I give the ok and down we go..all is good. We hit the mooring blocks...check for anything missing..all is good. I get the ok..Air is good 2600 psi for my buddy I have a good 3100 ( I had 3300 nice fill )..so off we go..Hit the BOW...I give the ok...I do not get one back..HUMMM I ask myself...ok what is wrong...I see AIR venting at a rapid pace. I flash an OK, I get BIG eyes and a look af fear...I gab the mans guage it read 1900PSI..From what was 3000psi as we decended. I show him it is ok. I modify the plan slightly, we stay on the Starboard side. out of current and explore alittle towards mid ship...I turn to the buddy whom is by now HUFFING...we are 12 minutes into the dive. I look at him he gives me the OK...I ask him for his PSI reading...His tank is now at 1200psi...Ok time to turn the dive.
As we come to the mooring blocks and wait for the other divers to pass. I look at my instabuddy diver...he gives me the OOA sign...without hesitation I shove my reg in his mouth grab my octo...check his guage, he is now at 600PSI. Grab my poney reg...so as to GIVE the OOA diver a fresh 3000PSI...He grabs my poney reg..and is HUFFING like crazy. I grab his harness, hold on as we acend slowly to our 15 foot stop...3 mintes are up and out we go...My poney was down to 1200 PSI

His story was...this was the first time he did a long dive. Our dive time total was 22 minutes.

Moral is...always be prepared...and when in doubt...thumb the dive.

safe dives

 

[Nemrod]

I will give you a story of mine. My wife and I were diving down in SE Florida, circa 82ish, on a series of medium depth drift dives. At that time I was big time into marathons, 10Ks and triathlons. I was superbly fit. Well, on the boat, they divided us into groups and the divemaster took one group, another experienced diver got the second and I got stuck with the third and that meant--I had to carry the stupid flag float. Well, the two other divers aside from my wife kept wandering up current or hanging looking at something this or something that which meant I had to hold position in a very strong current (it was ripping and whirling that day). When they wandered up stream I tried to go with them but I was dragging that stupid flag and we were running around 80 to 90 feet.

Well, see, the thing is that a fit diver uses very little air but it is also true that a fit diver can consume prodigious amounts of air when they use that fittness they have at a high level of output. I was very strong in the water and kept making ground on them, getting them back, over and over. This effort was begining to cause me to work and therefore consume a lot of air--really fast.

OK, I remember checking my guage and seeing something around 1200 psi. The other divers were again hanging back and with 60 foot viz they had gotten beyond my vision but my wife some twenty to thrity feet from me could still see them and was waving at them. I was furious with them and then---yep--the next thing that happened was I took a breath and there was nothing there. At first I was so preoccupied with the errant buddies I payed no attention to being out of air and actually swam to within vison range and waved at them. About this time, still at 80 to 90 feet I started needing some air and I gave my wife the out of air over my throat signal and her eyes got big as saucers. She came at me like a torpedo. Now, I had been trying to decide--just head to surface or go with my wife--well--I decided to go with my wife and at least get a breath, now some two or so minutes into an OOA. So, now here is a good part. We did not have octapus, no buddy bottles, just that is how we dived back then if y'all recall. So, my wife executed a perfect Buddy Breathing ascent. At around 40 or 50 feet I let loose of my wife and went on to the surface on my own. I even stopped a moment before breaking surface to make sure she was OK.

Well, it is true the whole thing was botched but a pony would have come in handy. We also purchased octapus rigs that trip as well.

Oh, I forgot, I had fallen in the hotel room the evening before and gashed my head open getting four stiches, got no sleep because we sat in the emergency room all night and all in all it was horrid. I had to keep my mask over the gash so it would not bleed--lol.

N

 

[divedadepths]

Wow great storeis guys! Keep them comming.