Is there a valid reason for a pony bottle

[NAUI Wowie]

A situation like that could now be avoided by having and monitoring an spg.

if he had an spg during that incident it wouldnt have helped. He wasnt out of air by what I read. the J valve got shut off yes? Ponys since the 1950s!!! love it!!!

 

[NAUI Wowie]

Well...it's probably good you dive with a pony. If you treated some of the folks I dive with like that, your solo dive would start before the boat stopped. I get being careful, but treating other divers like that...I'm surprised you can find a mask strap that fits. Good luck & safe diving...

No. I dive out here in CA and liveaboards and 2 tank dives off boats meeting whoever shows up matches you all the time with people with no semblance of reason or safe buddy distance. The safer person. Him or me ends up hard finning through many parts of dives to stay close. people goproing or just not caring as they are chasing sealions at channel islands. Dude start diving in CA and you will see that many many many divers will say one thing on the surface but at 70 to 80 feet its like its all about seeing as much as possible as quick as possible.

 

[NAUI Wowie]

"I untangled my valve from the net by taking off my tanks off and swam out of the wreck with my tanks under my arm handed off my camera and put back on my tanks, then I was out of air."

That doesn't sound like low on air to me. Either way, an spg would have stopped him from getting into the situation in the first place. Like many of the arguments for ponies in this thread, the out of air could have been avoided by simply knowing how much air you have.

No one is saying a pony is for out of air situations. strawman argument again. state a random sentence and argue against what you said...

 

[NAUI Wowie]

I have had to share air diving singles. No panic, no crawling, just a diver asking and being given gas. I have also messed up by starting with less than adequate gas, overstaying and needing to borrow gas for deco. No drama there. None of these were emergencies, running out of gas is only an emergency if the mitigations are not in place.

you have never been on a liveaboard with an instabuddy finning like the devil away from you? lucky man.....

 

[NAUI Wowie]

55 pages - not bad going.

Following the spare wheel analogy

Spare Air = Bicycle Wheel
Pony = Space Saver Wheel (I don't know if you get those in the USA)
Twinset = Spare Wheel

Buddy = Breakdown service

Motorcycle = Single tank

Trike motorcycle = Twins and a pony ,,,,, yes too much redundancy but so is a 3 wheel moto

 

[NAUI Wowie]

↑
I began my diving career using 72s with J valves. I understand how they work. I was referring to the fact that he ran out of air after getting snagged in the net. An spg would have let him know he was already low on air before swimming under the net. In that incident, a simple spg would have served him more than carrying around an extra tank and reg.
↑
"I untangled my valve from the net by taking off my tanks off and swam out of the wreck with my tanks under my arm handed off my camera and put back on my tanks, then I was out of air."

That doesn't sound like low on air to me. Either way, an spg would have stopped him from getting into the situation in the first place. Like many of the arguments for ponies in this thread, the out of air could have been avoided by simply knowing how much air you have.
↑
Since you have difficulty with reading what I said, I'll repeat it.
A situation like that could now be avoided by having and monitoring an spg.
Note that I said now, not back then.
~~~~~~~~~~~

Really? Read your own posts.

 

[grf88]

It's not the pony or insta-buddy, it's you. Why would you do that? Why not just show them how your pony works and how you would deploy it in an emergency. Then just go dive with the pony and act like you've been there before. It might impress them by showing them something new. Why act like an a$$hat to a perfect stranger? They might be the best dive buddy you NEVER had.

Wow, what an over the top reaction. It forms part of the pre-dive discussion which also covers other aspects of the proposed dive. I also cover items such as the use of the long hose and primary donate as well as handling freeflows etc.

 

[johndiver999]

Ahhh... I see! They ARE different things...

So, you would say that for Max's deep dive mentioned upthread - given the context and scope of this discussion and forum - you would recommend that he use a pony instead of his isolated doubles? Maybe an 80 on his back and a slung 80 on his side?

Maybe that would be safer, but I don't dive like that and doubt he is seeking advice. I probably wouldn't give advice (or recommend) something I have no experience with.

My comment pertains specifically to the topic of equivalency between doubles and a pony bottle.

 

[NAUI Wowie]

Yup, a crutch for poor buddymanship skills. If everyone is always leaving you...maybe you're the one leaving them?

You're not going to a chamber if you CESA. The whole idea of OW diving is to be able to make a direct ascent to the surface. You're also not "gunna die", so please disembark the SS Melodrama.

So I must be drunk underwater that I cant tell if im swimming away from them or them me eh....your statement makes no sense. Try doing liveaboards and single day boat dives in california. Ive stated at many points in this thread how utterly careless many divers are in these instances. This is based on personal experience. Does EVERYONE act like a bad buddy? No but theres some every day on liveaboards. you dive with many different people on a liveaboard. I always stay within about 5 to 15 feet distance. Its not easy with many divers here. as for melodrama this forum does understand sarcasm yes? Also in the channel islands if im at 80 feet and do a single breath to surface im not really sure I could make it without blacking out first. And im an in shape male 6ft 2 inches and 180 pounds, I run at the track 3 days a week sometimes 4 and hit gym weights 3 to 4 days a week. I think id probably die before reaching the surface. And most arent in as good condition OR shape as me. Not patting my own back just saying I think most divers couldnt do it including me. Or if I did i be holding my breath the last 30 to 40 feet.

Maybe you are aquaman I sure am not.

There is a ton of talk on this thread about CESA from 60 feet being doable but I would say that most normal average somewhat out of shape divers could not do this.

If I am wrong please correct me.

 

[NAUI Wowie]

I'm sorry your experience in CA has been so awful. I wonder why other people don't seem to have that problem?

those are the bad divers not staying close. They dont have a problem with not being good buddies Theres good and theres bad however I am not the deciding factor in these scenarios. Im the one finning hard to keep close. Im usually the only one with a compass or that knows how to use the compass I have. Sometime I lead slowly for a point and they just decide to surface randomly or go chase sealions instead of following the plan. many many divers fail to follow a plan as easy as lets follow this compass heading i lead at this depth you follow make sure we stay at right depth etc etc ....air consumption rules...you name it people act stupid underwater. and many of these divers have under 50 dives and think theres no risk.

Im not a retard underwater. But I also want to have extra redundancy in a pony underwater because I know idiots abound.