elan
Contributor
There are still cases when you do need to have redundancy whether is a form of doubles or a sling tank - call it a pony
One reason could be diving cold water when free flows can essentially force you to close the valve or abandon the reg. If the buddy's octo is running of the same stage as it their primary you can introduce the flow on their reg as well.
Great buddy skills in general do not guarantee you will never get separated. Strong currents and poor vis can still make it possible.
We got separated with my buddy this summer diving Niagara River the vis was around 10ft max and the current was around 2 knots. It took 2 seconds literally for us to get separated.
The pony does give you an opportunity extend your bottom time as you essentially carry your part of the rock bottom in it. So if you dive a 80 cuf single tank and have a rock bottom of 40cuf you can only use remaining 40 cuf from the back gas. If you sling a 30cuf pony you essentially carry your 20cuf in your pony and 20cuf in the backgas. So it essencially gives you 60 cuf.
You do have to be aware of the content of the tank at all times and monitor the state of the tank. You should also never eat into your buddy's rock bottom so
You have to switch to your pony the moment your buddy switches to your octo
And if you used the full 60ft from back gas you have to switch to your pony on the ascend.
it is a cumbersome protocol and there are other , much better options available but it can be done safely
One reason could be diving cold water when free flows can essentially force you to close the valve or abandon the reg. If the buddy's octo is running of the same stage as it their primary you can introduce the flow on their reg as well.
Great buddy skills in general do not guarantee you will never get separated. Strong currents and poor vis can still make it possible.
We got separated with my buddy this summer diving Niagara River the vis was around 10ft max and the current was around 2 knots. It took 2 seconds literally for us to get separated.
The pony does give you an opportunity extend your bottom time as you essentially carry your part of the rock bottom in it. So if you dive a 80 cuf single tank and have a rock bottom of 40cuf you can only use remaining 40 cuf from the back gas. If you sling a 30cuf pony you essentially carry your 20cuf in your pony and 20cuf in the backgas. So it essencially gives you 60 cuf.
You do have to be aware of the content of the tank at all times and monitor the state of the tank. You should also never eat into your buddy's rock bottom so
You have to switch to your pony the moment your buddy switches to your octo
And if you used the full 60ft from back gas you have to switch to your pony on the ascend.
it is a cumbersome protocol and there are other , much better options available but it can be done safely