Pony, Octo, or both?

[SkimFisher]

senseiern,

If you follow SB for a while you can almost predict what certain regulars are going to post, and why.

This forum has several certified cave divers, many of whom practice DIR/GUE diving. These schools believe in absolute standardization - you will never find them agreeing with anything which is not DIR/GUE. Since pony bottles are anti-DIR and anti-GUE, responses from them will be negative. You will also see than many of them are unable to conceive of any situation where DIR/GUE doesn't have all the answers. DIR and GUE are like the Marines - they leave no one behind. If you are one of them, they are the best dive buddies you could hope for - they follow the rules, they get things done, they know what to do and where to be, and they don't panic. Diving with a DIR/GUE buddy is probably the best safety insurance you could have.

On the other hand, I am neither DUI nor GUE. I travel to distant dive sites when I squeeze in a few extra personal days to dive when I work. I end up with insta-buddies who are not DIR/GUE. Many of them are jokers, drinking between dives, and I can't trust my life to them. In such cases, I believe that a pony bottle is entirely justified because, unless I am a mind-reader, I might unknowingly end up diving solo.

Summary: I believe that diving an octo and a pony is a reasonable thing to do, especially if your dive buddies might not be reliable. Also, take a look at who is posting and how they were trained - this will likely explain why they think what they think.

While it may be true for some, it's not true for all. Pony's encourage less conservative divers to push limits. They offer a false sense of security. They allow "fly-by-the-seat-of-your-pants" gas management. If you want to use a pony, fine. But you should first become proficient diving without one. Otherwise, what are you learning? Perhaps it's not that I don't like pony's, it's just that I don't trust that a diver knows how to dive and plan without one (or with one, for that matter). Why is that? Because of the hundreds of threads with new divers rushing out to buy a pony in order to "feel safer". Well, I'm glad that you feel safer - I sure don't.

If new divers would give themselves a chance to learn how to dive, they would find that they really don't need a pony.

 

[TechBlue]

My personal preference is, rather than mounting a 13 cubic foot pony on my single, to sling a 19 cubic foot tank. Slinging harnesses can be made as per DIR-diver.com - Stagebottle rigging . A 19 cubic foot tank gives you a rock bottom depth of about 130 feet, which is secure enough for me.

Not bad advice but the cost difference of a 19 a 30 or a 40 is not much and a 30 or 40 just gives you so many more options moving forward, a 19 may well up being sold to move up. That being said you do have a way to go before you need to purchase one

There is nothing wrong with asking questions and I am very interested in hearing from you what your final gear configuration becomes

 

[Crush]

Not bad advice but the cost difference of a 19 a 30 or a 40 is not much and a 30 or 40 just gives you so many more options moving forward, a 19 may well up being sold to move up. That being said you do have a way to go before you need to purchase one

I was originally going to buy a 13 cu ft pony and mount it on my main tank. I borrowed one from my LDS and found that even the 13 cu ft made me off-balance when surface swimming on my front. I opted instead to sling. Also, based on discussions on SB I opted for a 19 instead of a 13 because of the rock bottom times. Finally, I can eventually use the 19 bottle for a deco bottle if/when I get into deco diving.

 

[pedo]

Same way having a spare tire or an extra can of gas in the trunk makes you a safer diver... which is to to say "not at all."



Having a false sense of security does not make you safer; it just make you FEEL safer.

And yet SOME boats have as a policy:
All divers MUST dive with a pony or stage bottle with a separate regulator, including students

 

[TechBlue]

I was originally going to buy a 13 cu ft pony and mount it on my main tank. I borrowed one from my LDS and found that even the 13 cu ft made me off-balance when surface swimming on my front. I opted instead to sling. Also, based on discussions on SB I opted for a 19 instead of a 13 because of the rock bottom times. Finally, I can eventually use the 19 bottle for a deco bottle if/when I get into deco diving.

To each his own a 30 or 40 bottle would stand you in much better stead than a 19 when you start doing deco dives, but at least you are slinging it

 

[senseiern]

OldNSalty, I do not plan on diving alone, ever. Even snorkeling in the pool, I won't do it without being watched.

 

[Dr Wu]

And yet SOME boats have as a policy:
All divers MUST dive with a pony or stage bottle with a separate regulator, including students

I have never seen that policy enforced.

 

[Web Monkey]

I dive with a great bunch of buddies so I look at how can a get to my buddy if I need to. Spare Air starts to look good. Not to surface but to just to get to my buddy (even if around 120ft).

That's pretty much the point. If your buddy is much more than one kick away from "grabbing distance", you don't have a buddy.

Nearly every incident ever reported here involves buddy separation.

The most valuable thing I ever learned in any SCUBA class was when my nitrox/deco instructor had me and my buddy swim into the current for a while at approx 90', then signalled "OOA". When you're breathing hard, any buddy that's much more than "grabbing distance" away might as well be on another planet.

Terry

 

[captain]

For 53 years I have dived with neither pony or octo nor any other form of breathing system redundancy in the context of non overhead, (well maybe occasionally) non deco, solo, open water diving.
Do as you choose, I just offer another viewpoint.

 

[pedo]

I have never seen that policy enforced.

Ah, well see now I didn't know that. That changes everything of course. Please disregard my post above.