Pony tanks Good or Bad? - POLL

[NEWreckDiver]

Well... this guy's pony was at least fairly close... but didn't come to his rescue. The pony probably didn't understand his situation.

Now this makes since.

I can see we simply are not going to agree on this and that is OK.

 

[Uncle Pug]

Oh. And I thought we were making headway. So with the example given how could a buddy have made a difference?

 

[Genesis]

Which example Pug?

Are 'ya picking on my spearfishing buddy, or someone else? (Not sure I'm following this one here.)

 

[Uncle Pug]

I was refering to the example of the fellow who was well equipped with everything but a buddy and his pony bottle didn't come to his rescue and untangle the line from around his fins.

But I can pick on your friend to if you want. wink

 

[Genesis]

I was refering to the example of the fellow who was well equipped with everything but a buddy and his pony bottle didn't come to his rescue and untangle the line from around his fins.

But I can pick on your friend to if you want. wink

Ah....

Well, at least it wasn't me. These days I wear doubles. Nanananana. And he wasn't on my boat either - he was on his own. But he was spearing on a local wreck I know quite well with a couple of other guys, all of whom dive with me from time to time.

He was at 130 and the last guy to head up, and went to unstick the anchor. Huffed and puffed a few times with the exertion and when he went to huff again he got nothing. A quick glance at the gauge showed him a big goose egg.

Pulled the pony and headed up. Of course his breathing rate was just a BIT above normal D) by now, and at about 60' he ran out AGAIN, this time for real. Now it was CESA time; he fortunately ran into another diver on the line at 30' and was able to secure gas and do (most of) his stops.

A blow-up ascent from 130 would have been bad.... very bad. Oh, he said he was right at the NST limit too.... a good prescription for a fizz test.

Without the Pony I bet he would have made the DAN list.....

 

[Uncle Pug]

Well we he was stupid... but lived.
Been there... done that.
And of course your example proves another point:
Pony tanks encourage irresponsible diving.

 

[Genesis]

Well we he was stupid... but lived. Been there... done that.
And of course your example proves my point: pony tanks encourage irresponsible diving.

I don't think he was "encouraged" to be irresponsible by the presence of the pony. Certainly, he didn't figure on running out of gas, and certainly, that was dumb, but I don't think the presence of the pony encouraged him to "push" things more than he would have otherwise.

But heh, what do I know. I've yet to have to draw my 19cf "in earnest", but when I dive a single in more than 40' or so of water I still wear it, or I put on my doubles.

I've yet to have an in-water failure on my doubles either, but that doesn't mean that I'll go into an overhead without them.

 

[Uncle Pug]

Certainly, he didn't figure on running out of gas

"I didn't mean to do it."
To which I always replied,
"You didn't mean not to do it."

He didn't work hard enough at not running out of gas.

Funny thing about these, "How my pony saved my life" stories... they always end with:

"That is why I will never dive without my pony again."

Instead of:
"I won't be so stupid as to let myself get into that situation again."

 

[Genesis]

Irrelavent UP.

If he had not had the bottle, he'd be dead. All the "I won't in the future"s would mean nothing, right?

What's the difference between running out of gas and a first-stage lock-up at 130', or any other catastrophic failure (e.g. blown LP hose, etc)? Without a pony - nothing.

Is that failure rare? Sure it is. Can it happen? Absolutely. As your cold, dead body is winched aboard does it matter whether you cacked yourself because you ran out of gas or your equipment failed? Nope - you're still dead.

Why is redundancy such a bad thing?

 

[Uncle Pug]

Redundancy isn't a bad thing. Responsible diving sets limits beyond which redundancy is required. For some of us having the redundancy of a buddy starts at the waters edge and the redundancy of a set of doubles starts at a certain depth, ect.

But tell me Karl... you've heard the *my pony came to my rescue* stories... hasn't it bothered you that most of the time the conclusion folks come to is that they are sure glad they have a pony rather than addressing the issues that caused them to *need* the pony in the first place.