No Octo while diving with redundant air supply

[Nemrod]

@Nemrod,

Accumulated experience is no longer a prerequisite. All a diver really needs is a Solo C-card. (And then he/she can proselytize.)

rx7diver

SDI requires 100 dives. That is time enough to get out your other C-card, that being a credit card and buy them.

 

[Fastmarc]

The SDI book Solo Diver recommends a single second stage per first stage as did my instructor of the time.

Hmm.... this is what I see in my copy of the SDI Solo book. Has it changed and my copy is out dated? Genuine question. I see 2007 on mine.
(Full disclosure: I haven't taken the course yet.)

 

[Nemrod]

Octopus in that contest is referring to your pony regulator IMO, your opinion may differ.

 

[RIHappyDiver]

SDI requires 100 dives. That is time enough to get out your other C-card, that being a credit card and buy them.

As does PADI.

Erik

 

[Fastmarc]

Octopus in that contest is referring to your pony regulator IMO, your opinion may differ.

I don't think so. The list is for 'a properly equiped diver'. It then goes on to say 'a properly equiped Solo diver will cary the same equipment with one major modification...' which turns out to be an independent alternative gas supply which in their opinion should be a pony bottle.

 

[NW Dive Dawg]

Hmm.... this is what I see in my copy of the SDI Solo book. Has it changed and my copy is out dated? Genuine question. I see 2007 on mine.
(Full disclosure: I haven't taken the course yet.)



View attachment 800487

Strange that the 2007 equipment requirements appear to NOT include a redundant gas supply / cylinder on the equipment list?

I just took the SDI course in May. The below PDF has the updated SDI SOLO course requirements as of Jan 2023.

What I find most interesting is that SDI actually allows a Spare Air as the required redundant gas supply for the course. Might as well just bring a waterproof joke book in your thigh pocket!

PS......, For gas supply, I SOLO dive with a back mounted 19CF pony with dedicated 1st / 2nd Stage, my primary gas with a single 1st / 2nd stage.......and an Air 2 on my BC inflator mechanism.

 

[Fastmarc]

Strange that the 2007 equipment requirements appear to NOT include a redundant gas supply / cylinder on the equipment list?

I just took the SDI course in May. The below PDF has the updated SDI SOLO course requirements as of Jan 2023.

What I find most interesting is that SDI actually allows a Spare Air as the required redundant gas supply for the course. Might as well just bring a waterproof joke book in your thigh pocket!

PS......, For gas supply, I SOLO dive with a back mounted 19CF pony with dedicated 1st / 2nd Stage, my primary gas with a single 1st / 2nd stage.......and an Air 2 on my BC inflator mechanism.

That list is for 'a properly equiped diver'. It then goes on to say 'a properly equiped Solo diver will cary the same equipment with one major modification, which they recomend to be a pony. That section is on the next page were it explores independent alternative gas.

 

[Nemrod]

I don't think so. The list is for 'a properly equiped diver'. It then goes on to say 'a properly equiped Solo diver will cary the same equipment with one major modification...' which turns out to be an independent alternative gas supply which in their opinion should be a pony bottle.

You have an opinion and I can see it based on that bullet, mine is formed both on my instructor of the time and the context of the entire book and my experiences as a solo diver and buddy diver. Again, carrying around an extra second stage that does not represent a redundant air source and is in my opinion superfluous and is extra gear and therefore not minimal and is not necessary and is counter productive. The sentence my instructor referred to was not bulleted, it was in a paragraph. I do not know where my copy is, maybe my memory is wrong, if it is then I stand corrected and regardless my opinion still does not change. I do not want an octopus secondary on my primary air source for solo diving. My octopus/secondary for solo diving is on my buddy bottle.

A solo dive in the context of non-technical diving is no deco, no overhead, no penetration. Any problem encountered does not require the diver to do anything but go up to the surface. If that cannot be accomplished on the primary air source that is the entire purpose of an appropriately sized buddy/pony bottle and entirely separate regulator. If the primary fails, go up, switch regs to the redundent system and go up. If you can and want to breath the malfunctioning primary for some reason, go right ahead but I am switching and going up to the surface where I have all the air in the world. And if there is some restriction to my surfacing like kelp or swim to shore such, then the buddy bottle should have been sized to take that in account.

 

[Fastmarc]

Been Running an Octo on my primary regulator while diving with a completely redundant system on my back

I'm thinking about ditching the Octo while diving solo as is just one more piece of kit to get in the way

What, if any, compelling reasons are there to keep the octo in play?

I plan to do the occasional solo once certified, but most of my diving will be with other divers. Right now I would donate my primary and switch to a secondary that's on a necklace. I do dive with a 19cf on every dive, because almost all my dives are same ocean insta-buddies that just takes off. Because I will be diving with other people mostly, I would not want to be changing my setup back and forth.
With my setup right now, nothing gets in the way and it's pretty streamline, so no compelling reason to ditch for me.

 

[rhwestfall]

I have an SDI Solo cert. I found it interesting that an H-Valve meets criteria for redundant independent air source....

It fails in my mind with (1) neck o-ring (2) clogged dip tube...