Is there a valid reason for a pony bottle

[tursiops]

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.

The way you describe it, it seems like there are some people that don't want you to be the boss and be in charge.

 

[NAUI Wowie]

I always find it amazing. that in all the post/threads about poor buddies. It's always the other person's fault.

My opinion is that to lose a buddy requires inattention from both parties

thats false. a month ago I was in monterey leading in maybe two feet of viz at 60ish feet. a couple were following I was leading as neither one had a light neither one had a compass. so by compass heading I was going to the point where a pipe came out with fish near. long story short they just decided to go up and abandon the leader. I was checking back every 30 to 45 seconds and lighting up different things on the ocean floor for them. It only takes about 2 seconds to completely lose and never find them again.

at channel islands i had multiple divers break from a planned point to reach and go chasing sealions, or fish, if you lead you will be abandoned. so I am always checking for buddys and finning to keep them in a safe distance. did I leave them? no. Did I lose them? No I keep close tabs on insta buddys. But its a lot of work im doing that others just do not care about and if you look at other pairs and groups of three as you go by them about half the time they are spread WAY out so its not just me on these channel island liveaboards. most a strangers to each other.

 

[rhwestfall]

throw a camera in someone's hands, and all bets are off (self included).....

 

[NAUI Wowie]

Poor vis isn't an excuse for losing a buddy. Many, many many peopel dive in crap vis without losing a buddy.

And you'd have to be pretty unlucky to lose a buddy and have a catastrophic failure in the time it takes to look for your buddy (1 min recommended) and then make a controlled ascent to the surface?

So you are a chaser not a chasee I take it. because if you never lose an instabuddy EVER its because you are finning hard to stay close when they just swim away from wherever you are going.and poor viz is the best reason for losing a buddy if they DELIBERATELY leave you. You cant prevent stupid.

 

[NAUI Wowie]

One thing that consistently comes up as a reason for using a pony is buddy separation. Being alone underwater does not mean out of air. It does not mean you are suddenly in a panic situation. If someone feels that they are unable to complete a dive without another diver next to them, perhaps more training is needed. It takes a catastrophic loss of air to need a pony. A blown hose, free flowing reg or extruded O-ring is an emergency situation that requires an immediate ascent, however, in those situations, you would still be able to breathe while ascending. Only a complete first stage shut down, which would be extremely rare, especially with maintained gear is the only time a pony would be absolutely necessary.
Pushing ndl with a single tank or putting yourself in potentially hazardous situations at depth are easily avoidable, yet we keep hearing posters claim that is why they need a pony.

another strawman statement by you. You are expert at this. No one is saying buddy separation means you need a pony or that we will have trouble diving alone during the dive. NO ONE. said this. What has been said is that IF anything happened you are left with Cesa as a result. is it likely to happen that you have a failure? No. Are we panicked? No. Is losing a buddy a catastrophic event that needs a pony? No.

You have tried to quote others many times on this thread and it ends up backfiring so then you make up these random statements and arguing against what you type to continue your plan of ridding the ocean of pony bottles. Not melodrama....sarcasm....

 

[NAUI Wowie]

No. I was taught to buddy breathe. I have an octo and have used it on one occasion to extend the dive for my buddy and once for my friend who ran out of air twice, with a pony. In that incident, we were at ten feet and I told him to go up but he grabbed my reg.

try to buddy breath with most divers and they may panic and try to keep your reg. what would you do then?

 

[rhwestfall]

there was a guy here in the past (@Paladin), he made a comment one time about a response to an underwater issue with a buddy, and the statement of "he would eat his mask" left an impression (and an option, and a snicker)...

 

[MaxBottomtime]

No one is saying a pony is for out of air situations. strawman argument again.

Wow. I guess I was wrong all along. I apologize. Perhaps you could enlighten us all and tell us what a pony is for. It would stop a lot of these threads from beginning.

 

[NAUI Wowie]

Poor vis isn't an excuse for losing a buddy. Many, many many peopel dive in crap vis without losing a buddy.

And you'd have to be pretty unlucky to lose a buddy and have a catastrophic failure in the time it takes to look for your buddy (1 min recommended) and then make a controlled ascent to the surface?

By the way if you look up Lake Hickory Scuba on youtube and under their video DONT PANIC it totally refutes everything you say. They were in low to zero viz in a lake and He has thousands of dives and is a rescue diver and police scuba search owns an underwater salvage etc etc etc. Probably THE most bad ass diver you would ever meet and HE got separated in low viz VERY easily and super quick! google it and come on back. He could have died as he then got into an overhead situation and also if he had a pony he wouldnt have been half as worried or nervous in that scenario. Im not calling you out here but I know I would have panicked and tried to keep calm and you would have too if in that exact situation.

 

[NAUI Wowie]

Wow. I guess I was wrong all along. I apologize. Perhaps you could enlighten us all and tell us what a pony is for. It would stop a lot of these threads from beginning.

catastrophic equipment failure avoiding a cesa. Buddy also does that however we have all ascertained that they cant always be counted on and I know this personally. Thus you want to always behave as if you are a solo diver mentally. Time to pony up !!!!