kids and sasy

[spankyscuba]

Ok here is a question I have a 2.5 year old who love to swim. I have been getting him use to snorkeling and seems to like it for periods of time. probally not as much because i cannot find decent gear for his age. anyhow as he progresses in snorkeling I would like to move him on to the sasy unit designed for surface only snorkeling cannot be inflated or deflated positive bouyancy only. I am wondering about him breating compressed air. does anyone know anything about the risks of this.

 

[neil]

My guess is that breathing air out of a tank at the surface will be harmless for your child. You know the air is very dry, so make sure he's got water to drink.
But why spoil the fun of snorkeling by restricting him to the surface with the SASY? Once he's been taught how to dive down a few feet he'll think it't the coolest thing in the world. He'll need closer supervision, and still should use a buoyancy vest, but I can't help but think that it would be more fun. As you may guess, I'm not a big fan of the SASY. It seems that it was invented to fill a void that only exists in the minds of marketing people. My 2 cents, anyway.
Neil

 

[DiverBuoy]

neil once bubbled...
My guess is that breathing air out of a tank at the surface will be harmless for your child. You know the air is very dry, so make sure he's got water to drink.
But why spoil the fun of snorkeling by restricting him to the surface with the SASY? Once he's been taught how to dive down a few feet he'll think it't the coolest thing in the world. He'll need closer supervision, and still should use a buoyancy vest, but I can't help but think that it would be more fun. As you may guess, I'm not a big fan of the SASY. It seems that it was invented to fill a void that only exists in the minds of marketing people. My 2 cents, anyway.
Neil

I've read the marketing hype ... it's just another way to separate a fool from his money. IMO, it's purely a gimmick like saying "Never aspirate on another snorkel". I say how about buying a decently designed snorkel - duh.

As a father of a four year old myself, I can tell you I'm passionate about never "training" kids in those little floaty things that go on the arms too. Those things are idiotic. If a parent isn't ready to spend the quality amount of time a child requires to be safe around the inherent dangers of water ... those things are a license for negligent parents to leave children unattended - ridiculous!

 

[spankyscuba]

Dont get me wrong, I want my son to learn with the conventional method of snorkeling first since it will lead to him learning how to freedive ( expanding his horizions). I feel that it is improtant, but I also thought that it would be another step closer to scuba diving in his mind while he is young. He see's mom and dad's equipment and is always going for the reg. while I have it out at home the first thing he does is pop it into his mouth. At this point he does not use any floatation device and that was his choice. We had him in a ski vest which taught him to hold himself upright and to submerg his face and swim along then one day he decided he did not want it on anymore. I have also contacted DAN about the use of the product just waiting for a reply.



:sharky:

 

[voidware]

I find that sasy works much better if you take out the floatation stuff.

brandon