Pony Bottle, worth it?

[pelagic_by_nature]

I will add being "psychic" to your many apparent talents.

Have fun with that.

Don't take my word for it. Look at the "Like" from my post, Dr Wu.

 

[ajduplessis]

Well if the diver had run out of air, he would have to reach for the redundant system, and drop his weights. Even at depth he could orally inject air into his BCD enough to stabilize and allow for a safe ascent.



Yeah I think having one would be a great ease of mind.

First off there is a place for ponies. I do however want to make the following point with no disrespect to the diver. The diver was unable to make a CESA and drowned. What makes you think he would have had the mental capability to use the pony in time, drop his weights and think of actually orally inflating his BC during this stressful time?

The point I want to make is that a pony is only going to delay your accident/incident if you are not well trained and prepared to handle serious issues. Adding gear is not always reducing risk.

Regards
ajduplessis

 

[Dr Wu]

Don't take my word for it. Look at the "Like" from my post, Dr Wu.

I don't know what that is. But it doesn't sound like something that would interest me anyway.

 

[jester1226]

You American's and your right to bear arms. We Canadians have a right to bare breasts. Much better

You Canadians have the right, but are too chicken ****ted to use it!! Prove me wrong, set a date, location, and time, get a bunch of lovely ladies together and let the games begin!!!

 

[DaleC]

google "canucks fan bares breasts" or "canucks fans body paint"

Just another day at the office.

 

[Stoo]

At 40', I had 1000psi left when my second stage developed an uncontrolled freeflow. My buddy offered me his AAS and we ascended. Only at the surface, did the free flow finally stop. I had still had positive pressure in my tank which registered below 100psi. It was so low that I could spin the valve on the tank without tools.

Freeflows are not uncommon in these parts due to the frigid water temperatures. I'm curious as to why you would take the time to go for your buddy's AAS. You weren't out of air, you had an abundance of it. Up here, we train people to keep their regs in their mouths, and surface "normally" assuming they have no decompression obligation. Even though you only had 100 psi or so remaining, I suspect that had you immediately headed up, you would likely have surfaced with significantly more than that, since you would not have lost time/air sorting out your air-sharing at depth.

I don't mean this is a criticism at all... It's just interesting to see how different procedures can be, given the same "problem". (And I guess at the end of the day, the "best" way up is the way that gets you there in one piece!)

Freeflows were pretty much "invented" in the Great Lakes after all...

 

[Whitewatermike]

I'm curious as to why you would take the time to go for your buddy's AAS. You weren't out of air, you had an abundance of it.

My first reaction was to try stop the free flow and then I signaled my buddy to ascend, who was about 2 feet away. He, recognizing I was having an air source problem, immediately presented his octo to me, and made a normal ascent (expect for safety stop). If anytime was wasted, it would have been measured in seconds... probably about 2 seconds. As we ascended I was intent on stopping the free flow, not monitoring my remaining air, while he was intent on controlling our ascent rate and ensuring he had control if I freaked out. Believe it or not, I was more concerned about getting water in my second stage upon OOA, however unlikely, than I was about having breathing gas to get to the surface.

I was taught the same way, including sipping off a free-flowing stage. In this case, he had his AAS in my face before I even asked for it. It's nice to know your buddy is there for you even if you don't absolutely need him.

 

[Stoo]

It's nice to know your buddy is there for you even if you don't absolutely need him.

LOL. Can't argue that point. I'm lucky if my buddy is even in the same lake...

 

[Crush]

I'm curious as to why you would take the time to go for your buddy's AAS. You weren't out of air, you had an abundance of it.

Being new to diving I can say that standard operating procedures (SOPs) vary from agency to agency. My basic OW (done at 4C) taught me to surface with my free-flowing reg in my mouth (breathing, not sipping). A subsequent course with a different agency taught me to switch to my buddy's AAS as soon as the freeflow began. I can see the logic in both approaches. If I am diving with someone with impeccable buddy air-management skills I might opt for approach #2, otherwise I might suck down my air while it lasts (while surfacing with my buddy) then switch to the AAS.