OP
DC53
Guest
As the OP....
Yes these are very good recommendations and I appreciate your providing them. For example going to a pony only to find it low on or out of air is an example of exactly what I am concerned can happen if I do not integrate the pony as an equal and normal part of the package which supports my life underwater. I am sure there are other things that I will learn about living with a pony that I do not know yet but hope to discover (and am happy to receive advice about!)
My own approach and thought is to consider the pony an integral part of my dive gear and not an add-on which is to be separated from other parts of the gear in terms of attention and training. I want to use the pony now because I think that if I learn my balance buoyancy and skills with it the eventual package will feel more normal than if I learn these issues without the pony and add it later. Including it now includes rigorous attention to learning to easily and seamlessly switch between main tank and secondary, constant familiarity with the placement of the primary and pony regulators on the BCD, routine attention to the pressure of the pony tank to the same extent as the primary tank, and attention to buoyancy skills and underwater swimming resistance with the (1.3 lbs negative buoyancy) tank as part of the kit.
In bicycle racing which I pursued when younger, rearview mirrors on the eyeware were looked at as either as silly crutch or as something that could be added later when one was too old to be a serious cyclist. I however, did not want to die as a result of being rear ended by a vehicle (and wanted to glimpse competitors in the final meters to the line), and so included a tiny mirror glued to the eyeware as part of the kit. This “crutch” was learned to a greater extent a little at a time over the years of training with other skills, as opposed to adding it in as an afterthought. Hence at this time, when no longer racing, it has become an integral part of the equipment and I have no more thought of riding the bike without it than most ordinary folks would feel comfortable driving their car without the rearview mirror. It’s use and existence is every bit as intuitive as the other skills the bike requires. And yes, it did save my life on one occasion, and not in a circumstance or location that I would have expected.
It’s an orientation of learning these skills in parallel, rather than in series, to use and electrical analogy. Learning with an additional element integrated will perhaps result in a slightly slower rate of learning the primary skill, but at least in my opinion, a final product of combined skills in which the added element (the pony in this case) is experienced as more integral, and more automatically available and correctly deployed (in the case of necessity.) It then becomes not an element to be added in a situation of additional challenge (in which it is inherently less intuitive and familiar), but instead only one of several well integrated and parallel pathways that one may choose to respond to situations that develop.
I resolve to never become complacent as a result of the added security of a redundant air source and/or to dive something that would be inadvisable with only the primary air supply. The added cost and the slight reduction in swimming speed are irrelevant to me. I already have a low SAC and minimizing factors that will reduce this to some small extent are also of little concern to me relative to the primary function of my scuba equipment which is to keep me alive underwater regardless of the circumstances and conditions, anticipated or otherwise.
For these reasons I have decided to allow the pony to keep its place nestled beside the steel 100 primary, or perhaps between if I go to doubles someday. I hope that my instructor will accept my inclination, even if his experience calls upon him to view this decision with a different set of concerns.
And I appreciate all the input from so many experienced people, through this forum. It has been of inestimable value and has been read with an open mind.
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