Is a Pony Bottle too complicated for a beginner?

[skippy311]

Brain Surgeon - That Mitchell & Webb Look , Series 3 - BBC Two - YouTube

It's not rocket science! Love this

 

[Gandalf-the-Diver]

I have only skimmed through the 14 pages of responses but did not see any mention of cold water diving where free-flows can be quite common. Having two people breathe off of one first stage can result in the donors reg free-flowing as well especially when the receiving diver is a little panicked and breathing heavily. I have seen a number of double free-flows and all too often they result in a rapid ascent. By cold water I mean sub 40 degrees.

.... chuckles ... 7C ... so 44F ... almost

 

[wetb4igetinthewater]

.... chuckles ... 7C ... so 44F ... almost

Bathtub water! Close your eyes and you'd think you were in Guam!

 

[grf88]

When you are diving in 34 degree water and come up through the thermocline at 44 degrees you feel you are in a warm bathtub.

 

[Lorenzoid]

A new diver can handle a pony. I know, as I did it.

It aint rocket science.

I don't disagree per se, but my thinking is that we should look at each incremental item of gear and ask how far adding it would tip the scales toward too much complexity in total. So a new diver adds a pony and then wants to add something like a drysuit, a camera, a spear, or whatever. A pony, by itself, may not be too much for some newer divers. (It probably would have been for me, but I totally lack natural talent for this stuff.) If the potential problem or other reason that a new item of gear is being considered could be mitigated by some alternative to adding that item, then using the alternative might free up the diver's bandwidth to add yet some other item of gear that is going to see more use. So, for example, if you're set on using a camera, maybe the scales would balance better by omitting the pony that's intended to address an extremely rare event, and instead make sure you're diving with a proper buddy. Less gear means more diver bandwidth (both brain and physical space) for other things. If you have no choice but to team with an insta-buddy, and are choosing to use a pony for that reason, then maybe be judicious about adding other things.

 

[Celt]

If you’re obsessive about the pressure in one tank, will you be half as obsessive with two or twice as obsessive?

 

[Gandalf-the-Diver]

I don't disagree per se, but my thinking is that we should look at each incremental item of gear and ask how far adding it would tip the scales toward too much complexity in total. So a new diver adds a pony and then wants to add something like a drysuit, a camera, a spear, or whatever. A pony, by itself, may not be too much for some newer divers. (It probably would have been for me, but I totally lack natural talent for this stuff.) If the potential problem or other reason that a new item of gear is being considered could be mitigated by some alternative to adding that item, then using the alternative might free up the diver's bandwidth to add yet some other item of gear that is going to see more use. So, for example, if you're set on using a camera, maybe the scales would balance better by omitting the pony that's intended to address an extremely rare event, and instead make sure you're diving with a proper buddy. Less gear means more diver bandwidth (both brain and physical space) for other things. If you have no choice but to team with an insta-buddy, and are choosing to use a pony for that reason, then maybe be judicious about adding other things.

Not only was I a new diver, slinging a pony; I was also a new diver, in a drysuit. I still, however, have not brought out my camera yet.

 

[Lorenzoid]

Not only was I a new diver, slinging a pony; I was also a new diver, in a drysuit. I still, however, have not brought out my camera yet.

And you're still alive. So that's one data point.

 

[grf88]

Not only was I a new diver, slinging a pony; I was also a new diver, in a drysuit. I still, however, have not brought out my camera yet.

Good choice for cold water. Even for somebody just learning.

 

[Gandalf-the-Diver]

And you're still alive. So that's one data point.

dive #146 in a couple of hours

still no camera
I want to be able to back fin 1st