Recreational Pony Bottles, completely unnecessary? Why or why not?

[scubaozy]

Deploying a pony involves reaching down grabbing something and putting it in your mouth, a skill most have acquired before the age of one. Many recreational divers rent their tanks at the dive location and doubles and H-valves are not normally available unless the shop caters to tech divers. Even if you have your own they may not be easy to travel with depending on mode of transportation. If the chances of having sudden gas loss is so rare why do we teach buddy breathing or even dive with buddies at all. Not everybody travels to warm waters to dive, my last four dives trips that were not local were Greenland together with Labrador and Newfoundland, Victoria Island, Newfoundland and then again to Victoria Island. A lot of people also travel to the Great Lakes for the fantastic diving available there.
Please remember the title of this thread is not Should everybody use a pony tank but is Recreational pony bottles, completely unnecessary, why or why not. In some situations my vote is for Piece Of Necessary Emergency Equipment. (PONEE)

Most of us make first cesa at the moment we are born, does that guarantee you will make an safe ascent ?. I guess you did not read the fatality report I shared earlier on. He had a pony with him, he went for his buddies second stage despite the buddy told him to switch to the pony. And all this at the surface. There is absolutely no certainty you will be able to deal with it once it happens. If you are confident set it to 100%, in only will have small impact on final probability.
If you can find only basic equipment in a certain location, probably locals see it fit to dive with that equipment there.
Let me summarize how different people see the world with a little humor.
American: I need my weapon because world is an evil place, things go wrong, I want to feel safe.
Greenlander: I need my weapon to feed my family and protect them from wild animals.
European: I do not need a weapon because I trust others to be reasonable and statically I will not be safer if I had one.

 

[grf88]

Most of us make first cesa at the moment we are born, does that guarantee you will make an safe ascent ?. I guess you did not read the fatality report I shared earlier on. He had a pony with him, he went for his buddies second stage despite the buddy told him to switch to the pony. And all this at the surface. There is absolutely no certainty you will be able to deal with it once it happens. If you are confident set it to 100%, in only will have small impact on final probability.
If you can find only basic equipment in a certain location, probably locals see it fit to dive with that equipment there.
Let me summarize how different people see the world with a little humor.
American: I need my weapon because world is an evil place, things go wrong, I want to feel safe.
Greenlander: I need my weapon to feed my family and protect them from wild animals.
European: I do not need a weapon because I trust others to be reasonable and statically I will not be safer if I had one.

CESA at birth! you do know what function the umbilical cord serves don't you. It would be better described as a diver being pushed/pulled through a restriction that would not qualify them as a cave diver. The diver had a pony with him which he failed to deploy, that is no more the fault of the pony than a seatbelt that isn't fastened is responsible for someone being thrown through the windshield. You mention a mistake with a diver who mistook his pony for his main supply, if he had gone for his other reg, the one he thought was the pony, he would be on his backgas and in no danger. When a diver descends on his O2 deco bottle toxes and dies do you blame it on the deco bottle or on diver error

 

[jadairiii]

Can you tell me which part of this dive was a technical dive on a single tank? ... I had started ascending from 45m ...

Bounce diving to 45m, you may want to listen to this:

 

[Lorenzoid]

Or if everyone dove doubles using only standardized gear and gases, dove with similarly trained buddies who they took on vacation and didn't dive to more than 100 ft. without trimix this entire thread would never have been started. ( love that smiley)

I gave your post a "bullseye" Like, but it too needs the inverted smiley.

 

[Blackcrusader]

Assuming we believe @BLACKCRUSADER 's gas consumption, it's still a rec dive outside of the recommended limits.

120 feet or more is a technical dive.

Bounce diving to 45m, you may want to listen to this:

No need to listen to something not related to the topic at hand. Again a 120 foot dive is not a technical dive. It's just a normal deep recreational dive safely done by thousands of recreational divers every year. Also the best known agencies like PADI and ADI etc also have dives this deep listed as recreational dives not technical dives.

 

[grf88]

No need to listen to something not related to the topic at hand. Again a 120 foot dive is not a technical dive. It's just a normal deep recreational dive safely done by thousands of recreational divers every year. Also the best known agencies like PADI and ADI etc also have dives this deep listed as recreational dives not technical dives.

In reality there are only two types of diving. Recreational and Commercial with the latter governed by typically workplace legislation and the former covered by no legislation in many countries. It is probably a subject for another thread, this one has dragged on long enough. Within recreational there are many types but only governed by independent bodies who set their own rules for their members not by legislation in most countries.

 

[VikingDives]

No need to listen to something not related to the topic at hand. Again a 120 foot dive is not a technical dive. It's just a normal deep recreational dive safely done by thousands of recreational divers every year. Also the best known agencies like PADI and ADI etc also have dives this deep listed as recreational dives not technical dives.

OMG, a typo!

But all the best known agencies consider a dive plan for 45 meters a technical dive. If you want to dive to those depths without a gas plan, well you do you.

 

[Blackcrusader]

OMG, a typo!

But all the best known agencies consider a dive plan for 45 meters a technical dive. If you want to dive to those depths without a gas plan, well you do you.

Two issues, one diver claiming any dive to 120 feet is a technical dive which most agencies would not agree with. The dive I did to 45m was a planned dive.

 

[VikingDives]

Two issues, one diver claiming any dive to 120 feet is a technical dive which most agencies would not agree with. The dive I did to 45m was a planned dive.

I'm typing slowly so you'll understand. When I typed 120 it was a mistake. That's not an issue, it's a mistake.

Planning dives to 45 meters without a gas plan is also a mistake, as is making strawman arguments.

 

[Blackcrusader]

Planning dives to 45 meters without a gas plan is also a mistake,

Yes it was very naughty of me not to have gas planned it. On recreational dives that do not go into deco I don't normally gas plan multilevel dives. I have yet to see any dive buddy DM or guide or instructor ever gas plan a non deco recreational dive either.