So I was reading up on pony bottles here on the site.... Let's not start another thread here about pro's/con's and who is right please... Thanks! Anyway, I decided to switch the way I carry a pony from using a pony tamer to carrying it rigged like a stage bottle (slung from chest to hip on my left). Anyway, I spent a good amount of time getting the system rigged, trying it on on my couch, getting excited about the new setup and its advantages to my style of diving.
I was so excited that I thought I should jump in the water and do a cool wreck penetration (on the Yukon in San Diego) with the new setup and see how it worked. It never crossed my mind that it would be prudent to take an OW dive first to practice with the new setup.... To make a long story short, the scheduling of the boats I was diving from got screwed up, so they cancelled the Yukon trip and sent the boat to the Coronado islands instead...no big deal since I was going to dive those the next day anyway. So I jump in the water with my new rig, and no surprise, the new kit behaves completely differently than the old. My buoyancy was screwy because of the new distribution, my pressure gauge was in a new place, other components were arranged differently.... Needless to say, the first 5-10 minutes of the dive were spent getting used to the setup!! Time well spent everyone. While I imagine that a wreck penetration would have been possible, it certainly wouldn't have been fun.
So my lesson learned the easy way, is to always try out new gear/setups on simple dives first. Then use them on complicated dives when comfy. This may sound obvious and over discussed, but I was ready to jump the gun, and am very glad I didn't get the opportunity!! Gonna dive the Yukon tomorrow now that I'm all setup and ready to go. I hope this inspires someone else out there to take a breath (pun intended) before jumping into a complicated dive with new gear! Later
I was so excited that I thought I should jump in the water and do a cool wreck penetration (on the Yukon in San Diego) with the new setup and see how it worked. It never crossed my mind that it would be prudent to take an OW dive first to practice with the new setup.... To make a long story short, the scheduling of the boats I was diving from got screwed up, so they cancelled the Yukon trip and sent the boat to the Coronado islands instead...no big deal since I was going to dive those the next day anyway. So I jump in the water with my new rig, and no surprise, the new kit behaves completely differently than the old. My buoyancy was screwy because of the new distribution, my pressure gauge was in a new place, other components were arranged differently.... Needless to say, the first 5-10 minutes of the dive were spent getting used to the setup!! Time well spent everyone. While I imagine that a wreck penetration would have been possible, it certainly wouldn't have been fun.
So my lesson learned the easy way, is to always try out new gear/setups on simple dives first. Then use them on complicated dives when comfy. This may sound obvious and over discussed, but I was ready to jump the gun, and am very glad I didn't get the opportunity!! Gonna dive the Yukon tomorrow now that I'm all setup and ready to go. I hope this inspires someone else out there to take a breath (pun intended) before jumping into a complicated dive with new gear! Later