Pony Bottles on NJ Charters?

[Rescue Diver68]

I'm just going to give up and assume you haven't bothered to read any of the posts I've made in this thread.

I *explicitly* mentioned that a pony bottle makes sense for instabuddies. I asked about solid teams not "new to each other" divers.

And yes, I'd MUCH rather rely on another smart, skilled human than a "dumb" piece of gear. Both can provide gas, but only one can provide another brain. I'm perfectly happy for you to make a different choice, though. That boats should dictate that choice (either choice, BTW, I don't particularly like boats that won't allow appropriately equipped solo divers either!), however, does strike me as silly.

Once upon a time there was a diver who had a bag of lobsters and blew on o-ring at 130'. He thought it made more sense to swim to his buddy who is carting along a speargun and stringer of fish and use his alternate air source rather than just switch to his pony tank secured to his highly trained/skilled back.

 

[Rescue Diver68]

Another reason might be the current here. Could you safely get back to the upline in a strong current sharing air near the end of a dive and have enough enough safe reserve to get to the surface with a safety stop. At 100 feet how long will 1000psi last even on a 130 with two stressed divers and a strong current. With the the way the weather and conditions can change, I think its a good practice in prudence to have one no matter how good your buddy is.

No no no, your team should be skilled enough not worry about the silly current.

 

[Rainer]

Another reason might be the current here. Could you safely get back to the upline in a strong current sharing air near the end of a dive and have enough enough safe reserve to get to the surface with a safety stop.

Well, regardless of whether you do this dive on singles as a team or on singles with a pony (or doubles, or a RB, etc), you need to attempt to work out how much gas such a scenario might take. What good does it do to go down with a pony that wouldn't covered this scenario either, right? In any case, you *can* make educated approximations (that can be further padded) about how much gas is needed. If that number is doable on a shared single, what's the issue?

If the current is so bad that you can't safely explore the entire dive site (whatever the gas plan might be), you can always stay closer to the anchor/mooring line. You can even decide to not dive. Strong currents exist in many places I've dived (including the NE). Sometimes they do preclude safe extended dives in singles, other times they do not. That's a decision almost always best made by the divers themselves, though.

 

[Rainer]

Nonsense. Current plays a roll no matter what gear you have.

No no no, your team should be skilled enough not worry about the silly current.

 

[Rainer]

What does this have to do with anything under discussion?

If that's your sense of a "skilled" dive team, I'm getting a better understanding of why you choose to only dive with a pony bottle....

Once upon a time there was a diver who had a bag of lobsters and blew on o-ring at 130'. He thought it made more sense to swim to his buddy who is carting along a speargun and stringer of fish and use his alternate air source rather than just switch to his pony tank secured to his highly trained/skilled back.

 

[Rescue Diver68]

Nonsense. Current plays a roll no matter what gear you have.

Oh, sorry I was just predicting what your next post would say. Silly, absurd.

 

[Rainer]

You aren't very bright, are you?

Oh, sorry I was just predicting what your next post would say. Silly, absurd.

 

[Rescue Diver68]

What does this have to do with anything under discussion?

If that's your sense of a "skilled" dive team, I'm getting a better understanding of why you choose to only dive with a pony bottle....

Choose to dive with a pony on deep dives - if you are going to quote me do it properly. Funny though the only time I have needed it is to donate it to someone who thought pony bottles were silly.

 

[Tanked]

Knowing how these threads usually turn to bickering, and name calling by the 5th post, ive decided to only read, and respond to the OP. So forgive me if I'm repeating what someone already said.
Working on a NJ dive boat, I know that it is highly recommended that you have some type of alternate air source. Pony bottles being the preferred type. I've never seen anyone not allowed to dive because they lacked a pony.
Octo's, and H valves are also accepted

 

[parzdiver]

My question is specific: why is this a requirement in NJ when it isn't elsewhere? Does it follow from a law? From insurance requirements? From groupthink?

I do not believe it is law or insurance requirements since all boats don't require it. Groupthink? I can think of better terms, but it probably is something along those lines. At some point one boat probably had an issue and they added the requirement, another liked the idea and copied it and so on.

You state it is a "silly" requirement. I think it a poor choice of words regarding something with which you disagree. There are laws and rules and regulations in different places that I find disagreeable. That doesn't mean they are silly or a complete waste, just that IN MY OPINION, I don't think they are necessary. Please don't dismiss as silly just because you disagree, that is what causes most drops into name calling, where this thread quickly went.