My first doubles dive was...

When did you first dive doubles?

  • below 50 dives (yikes)

    Votes: 21 16.7%
  • 50-100 dives

    Votes: 34 27.0%
  • 100-150 dives

    Votes: 30 23.8%
  • 150+dives

    Votes: 41 32.5%

  • Total voters
    126

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lundysd

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I'm a Fish!
Simple enough question- when did you first dive doubles?
 
Hmmmmmm..... had to check my log book on this one..... there it is!
"below 50 dives (yikes)" :D



Gotta ask, though.... why is that a "yikes?" After all, for me anyhow, learning to dive in a drysuit was more complicated than learning to dive in doubles..... and my OW class dives were in a drysuit :11:
 
I guess it was around 20 years ago. No idea where the old logbooks are :bubble_fi
 
Snowbear: I just assumed that most people started doubles via advanced nitrox/deco, and doing that at under 50 dives seems a bit premature (even for my gung-ho blistering attitude :)) I would assume it's really no different except for valve drills and not turtling, but I just barely passed 50 and I assumed I had a while to go before getting into doubles (which is why I started this poll).
 
lundysd:
Snowbear: I just assumed that most people started doubles via advanced nitrox/deco.
Ah! Not I... I started doubles as a recreational diver to get used to them before moving on to more technical training (was considering cave training at the time).
lundysd:
...doing that at under 50 dives seems a bit premature (even for my gung-ho blistering attitude :))
Yes, I agree that adv ntx/deco training and the associated dives are a bit premature at 50 dives, but there's nothing at all wrong with getting together with a mentor or instructor and learning to use the equipment while staying well within "recreational limits"
 
Something like 110 dives. First day I ever used doubles was the first day of Advanced Nitrox. Doubles,2 stages. Was err.....interesting. Take stages off,drop them.Pick stages up,clip back on to harness. Take mask off,take reg out,swim to instructor to share air etc etc.

It was a test that amazingly I managed to pass. (Should point out that the stages that day were only there for task loading,not for breathing from)

I would suggest that anybody planning on advanced Nitrox get some practice with doubles ,valve drills, clipping and unclipping a stage before class starts if at all possible
 
lundysd:
Simple enough question- when did you first dive doubles?

I really don't know. I got my first set of doubles in about 1975 or there abouts. I bought them used and cheaply from another diver who was getting a bigger set. It was a pair of converted CO2 cylinders that held about 45 CF each with the threads bushed down to accept a standard manifold. At that time a standard manifold was 3/4" tapered threads with an outlet for a single yoke style regulator on the cross over pipe and a "J" valve on the left side. I dove this set untill it was time to get the cylinders hydroed. When I dissassembled them to send them in for hydro, I found that the brass reducers were cracked because they were not the exact size needed. They were ordinary plumbing parts and tank threads are not exactly the same size as pipe threads. I scrapped the CO2 cylinders and reassembled the manifold on a couple of 72's.
 
I put my first set of doubles on at dive 10. Spent 5 hours on them in the pool. Did my next 4 dives in them (Nitrox class) and then bought my own.

I will hopefully be progressing to cave and wreck, and I audited Adv. Nitrox/Deco. So I wanted to get used to the gear earlier rather than later. Let me tell you, on dive #12 with doubles and a stage, it was interesting! But I am happy to be learning the gear in a safe way rather than just haphazardly.

I couldn't IMAGINE strapping doubles on for the first time and dealing with a drysuit, doubles, and stage/deco bottles all at the same time. Using doubles recreationally will give me the ability to spend more time in the water getting comfortable as my SAC rate drops. I noticed this in my class dives. The extra time bought by having more gas allowed me to calm down and get more in tune with the dives. On a single tank, I would have run out of time far earlier.
 
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