I had purchased this package from Golem Gear on a whim, I liked the price but figured I would never dive it since I don't dive doubles. A friend and instructor offered to set it up for me, the webbing is one piece and I had no clue what to do with it LOL! Saturday he brought it down to the quarry along with his double 100's for me to try with it. We fitted the harness in the quarry office since it wasn't even 30 degrees outside. He decided we wouldn't bother with the crotch strap this time, he said I didn't need it for what we would be doing. Once all my regulators were rigged onto his tanks and we had the harness set where we thought we wanted it we headed outside to the staging area.
I have only ever done one dive in doubles and it was in the 100's I was planning to wear using one of his harnesses, I don't remember if it was a deluxe or one piece though. I was definitely in serious newbie mode for this dive and that's where my observations are coming from.
Getting into the harness was interesting to say the least. My instructor said to crouch down and lift my arms up through the straps. I'm so clumsy I was afraid I would drag the tanks over onto my head though so I put my left arm through the harness, put my hand through the right strap THEN squatted and came up from under the harness to get it on. That worked a lot better for me but the straps didn't want to stay in place, they wanted to slip off my shoulders even when tightened. My instructor thinks I need a chest strap to keep the straps in place; considering the fact I can't even keep bra straps on my shoulders I wouldn't be surprised if he's right.
The next thing I noticed is how short the inflator hose is, that was going to present a challenge in the water so I was a bit concerned.
We all geared up and headed down the icy steps to the water. I didn't notice the weight of the tanks and could easily steady myself and navigate the slippery stairs. The rig was comfortable enough I could have walked for miles without strain with those tanks on. I wasn't wearing a weightbelt and the harness put a lot of the tank weight onto my hips where it was easy to carry. I was a happy camper navigating the stairs and the walk to the water.
Once in the water the problems began. I was expecting some buoyancy issues but the tanks kept shifting forcing me to shift them back with these odd little movements of my back, butt and legs. Reaching the inflator was a chore and since I'm used to a pull dump it was hard to control my buoyancy because I couldn't get it into position or find the buttons very easily. I finally ended up pinning it against my head to work it and was having some success with that. When I was trying to stay neutral above the platform the tanks shifted around now that I had air in the wing; once my left post and tank ended up under my left arm. I was getting frustrated and the odd angles were causing me to get water when I inhaled which was driving my anxiety level up as well. I would get stable then everything would shift and I'd screw up my breathing and drive my anxiety up while fighting with the tanks.
My instructor and I surfaced and he told me I was fighting the tanks, I told him "They STARTED it!" I was almost in tears. He thought I was the problem and didn't believe me when I told him the harness was so loose the tanks could come under my arm...so I demonstrated what they were doing. He had me back up onto the steps and get out of the gear so he could tighten the harness. When he told me to drop my regulator so I could get out I nearly panicked, I was happy as long as I had air but was afraid my struggling to get out of the harness would result in the tanks falling on me pinning me underwater without a reg. I finally dropped the reg so we could get my necklace off then picked it back up while he fixed the harness. He got me back into it and when he tightened it the buckle, which had been centered on my body, was now over my right hip and the tanks still weren't as snug as they needed to be. There had been about 8 inches of slack in the harness allowing the tanks to do their own thing. We went back down and I was a little more stable but the tanks were still shifting and pitching me either forward or sideways. My instructor took my hand and indicated we were going to go for a trip around the plane. I didn't want to leave the platform for fear I couldn't control my buoyancy since I had so much trouble finding the inflator. He steadied me as we limped around the plane and came back to the platform. I was so stressed that I grabbed a small tree when we got back and wrapped my arms and legs around it so I could get my head collected. He tapped me and gave me the "up" but I wasn't mentally in control and I gave him the "time out" to which he returned an "up." I figured if he needed to go up he could go ahead but I was going to stay on the tree until I knew I wouldn't panic if something else went wrong. I closed my eyes and focused on my breathing while he unsuccessfully tried to pry me off of the tree. It took a couple minutes to get my head back in the game and I dumped the wing before letting go of the tree and giving him the "ok, up". Naturally my fin was now tangled in a rope that goes from the tree to the platform so I spent several seconds undoing that mess but staying calm in the process. When we surfaced my buddy said, "What was with the tree hugging? It looked like you were taking a nap." I told him I couldn't surface until I got back in control, if I did I would never dive that rig again. I HAD to have a positive ending to the stressful experience I had endured.
We returned to the picnic table and he adjusted the harness so it was even smaller for the next dive. He told me I needed to get my back arched and get the top of the wing higher than the bottom. The air was going to the bottom of the wing because I always dive head down and it was causing a lot of the shifting problems. I was ready to try it again by the time our SIT was up and the newly tightened harness felt even better on the surface than it had before. We got into the water and this time when I moved the tanks went the same place I did, that felt SO much better. I descended to the platform and was much more stable. I arched my back and focused on keeping my hips lower than my shoulders. It felt really strange but after the dive my buddy said my body position was perfect. I was concentrating so hard on body position that I couldn't frog kick, my right leg was frog kicking but my left leg was doing something really peculiar that probably looked hilarious. I made one lap around the plane without holding onto anyone then on the second lap I went ahead and went through the plane without too much difficulty. The newly snugged harness REALLY made a huge difference. The shoulders still wanted to slip off even though they were tight but I could deal with that. Finding the inflator hose was still a challenge, it's going to take a few dives to decide if I need a longer one I do want to give this one a fair chance. While I wasn't confident in what I was doing I did feel more in control than I had been the first dive. I found myself flailing wildly with my hands and heard my voice telling my students "If you feel like you need to use your hands you need to do something with your BC." so I listened to the voice
When we returned to the platform my dive buddy clapped to show his approval. I noticed how heavy and hard the tanks were to move through the water on my second lap around the plane, my knees were killing me by the time we got done.
Once we surfaced getting my fins off was another challenge, one came off easily but every time I put my left foot on my right knee to take the left fin off I shifted to the right and did a cartwheel. Four cartwheels later I still didn't have my fin off so I put my leg up on the stair railing and told my buddy to pull it off. He managed to stop laughing long enough to help me :shakehead
All in all it was an interesting and frustrating experience. I would like to try some other sizes of doubles to see what they feel like before I decide to buy tanks.
Ber :lilbunny:
I have only ever done one dive in doubles and it was in the 100's I was planning to wear using one of his harnesses, I don't remember if it was a deluxe or one piece though. I was definitely in serious newbie mode for this dive and that's where my observations are coming from.
Getting into the harness was interesting to say the least. My instructor said to crouch down and lift my arms up through the straps. I'm so clumsy I was afraid I would drag the tanks over onto my head though so I put my left arm through the harness, put my hand through the right strap THEN squatted and came up from under the harness to get it on. That worked a lot better for me but the straps didn't want to stay in place, they wanted to slip off my shoulders even when tightened. My instructor thinks I need a chest strap to keep the straps in place; considering the fact I can't even keep bra straps on my shoulders I wouldn't be surprised if he's right.
The next thing I noticed is how short the inflator hose is, that was going to present a challenge in the water so I was a bit concerned.
We all geared up and headed down the icy steps to the water. I didn't notice the weight of the tanks and could easily steady myself and navigate the slippery stairs. The rig was comfortable enough I could have walked for miles without strain with those tanks on. I wasn't wearing a weightbelt and the harness put a lot of the tank weight onto my hips where it was easy to carry. I was a happy camper navigating the stairs and the walk to the water.
Once in the water the problems began. I was expecting some buoyancy issues but the tanks kept shifting forcing me to shift them back with these odd little movements of my back, butt and legs. Reaching the inflator was a chore and since I'm used to a pull dump it was hard to control my buoyancy because I couldn't get it into position or find the buttons very easily. I finally ended up pinning it against my head to work it and was having some success with that. When I was trying to stay neutral above the platform the tanks shifted around now that I had air in the wing; once my left post and tank ended up under my left arm. I was getting frustrated and the odd angles were causing me to get water when I inhaled which was driving my anxiety level up as well. I would get stable then everything would shift and I'd screw up my breathing and drive my anxiety up while fighting with the tanks.
My instructor and I surfaced and he told me I was fighting the tanks, I told him "They STARTED it!" I was almost in tears. He thought I was the problem and didn't believe me when I told him the harness was so loose the tanks could come under my arm...so I demonstrated what they were doing. He had me back up onto the steps and get out of the gear so he could tighten the harness. When he told me to drop my regulator so I could get out I nearly panicked, I was happy as long as I had air but was afraid my struggling to get out of the harness would result in the tanks falling on me pinning me underwater without a reg. I finally dropped the reg so we could get my necklace off then picked it back up while he fixed the harness. He got me back into it and when he tightened it the buckle, which had been centered on my body, was now over my right hip and the tanks still weren't as snug as they needed to be. There had been about 8 inches of slack in the harness allowing the tanks to do their own thing. We went back down and I was a little more stable but the tanks were still shifting and pitching me either forward or sideways. My instructor took my hand and indicated we were going to go for a trip around the plane. I didn't want to leave the platform for fear I couldn't control my buoyancy since I had so much trouble finding the inflator. He steadied me as we limped around the plane and came back to the platform. I was so stressed that I grabbed a small tree when we got back and wrapped my arms and legs around it so I could get my head collected. He tapped me and gave me the "up" but I wasn't mentally in control and I gave him the "time out" to which he returned an "up." I figured if he needed to go up he could go ahead but I was going to stay on the tree until I knew I wouldn't panic if something else went wrong. I closed my eyes and focused on my breathing while he unsuccessfully tried to pry me off of the tree. It took a couple minutes to get my head back in the game and I dumped the wing before letting go of the tree and giving him the "ok, up". Naturally my fin was now tangled in a rope that goes from the tree to the platform so I spent several seconds undoing that mess but staying calm in the process. When we surfaced my buddy said, "What was with the tree hugging? It looked like you were taking a nap." I told him I couldn't surface until I got back in control, if I did I would never dive that rig again. I HAD to have a positive ending to the stressful experience I had endured.
We returned to the picnic table and he adjusted the harness so it was even smaller for the next dive. He told me I needed to get my back arched and get the top of the wing higher than the bottom. The air was going to the bottom of the wing because I always dive head down and it was causing a lot of the shifting problems. I was ready to try it again by the time our SIT was up and the newly tightened harness felt even better on the surface than it had before. We got into the water and this time when I moved the tanks went the same place I did, that felt SO much better. I descended to the platform and was much more stable. I arched my back and focused on keeping my hips lower than my shoulders. It felt really strange but after the dive my buddy said my body position was perfect. I was concentrating so hard on body position that I couldn't frog kick, my right leg was frog kicking but my left leg was doing something really peculiar that probably looked hilarious. I made one lap around the plane without holding onto anyone then on the second lap I went ahead and went through the plane without too much difficulty. The newly snugged harness REALLY made a huge difference. The shoulders still wanted to slip off even though they were tight but I could deal with that. Finding the inflator hose was still a challenge, it's going to take a few dives to decide if I need a longer one I do want to give this one a fair chance. While I wasn't confident in what I was doing I did feel more in control than I had been the first dive. I found myself flailing wildly with my hands and heard my voice telling my students "If you feel like you need to use your hands you need to do something with your BC." so I listened to the voice
When we returned to the platform my dive buddy clapped to show his approval. I noticed how heavy and hard the tanks were to move through the water on my second lap around the plane, my knees were killing me by the time we got done. Once we surfaced getting my fins off was another challenge, one came off easily but every time I put my left foot on my right knee to take the left fin off I shifted to the right and did a cartwheel. Four cartwheels later I still didn't have my fin off so I put my leg up on the stair railing and told my buddy to pull it off. He managed to stop laughing long enough to help me :shakehead
All in all it was an interesting and frustrating experience. I would like to try some other sizes of doubles to see what they feel like before I decide to buy tanks.
Ber :lilbunny:
). 
