Solo diving and back up gear.

[Peter_C]

Back on topic...at least for a minute.

2. One of the following must be used as a redundant air source:
Pony Bottle, Twin Cylinders with isolation, Independent doubles, Spare Air

What are the thoughts on using an H valve setup with dual regs? (Yes I can reach both valves.)

I have a set of doubles. I have an AL80 for a stage bottle. Although I rarely solo, when I do my tank of choice is my single HP130 with dual 1st and 2nd stage regs. For muscle memory I leave all my gear as I would for any other open water dive with buddies. Like Nemrod I feel I could safely blow and go from 60ft so that is my hard bottom. Always on Nitrox, and I do bring a buddy to tow me out and back in...my scooter. Funny as it may seem, I view my scooter as a safety device. So thoughts on the H valves?

 

[vapourinthesea]

Bob DBF, sorry..I didn't mention it, no I have grown up quite use to the water. When I was younger I trained to be a lifeguard, and was at local swim areas everyday swimming farther, constantly holding my breath longer, ect. And aside from the occasional pool, I've spent most of my time in the ocean off NJ, or in quarries, lakes, ect.

---------- Post added ----------

And thanks grateful diver, I will read that. Also my bday is coming up again and plan on getting AOW at that time. Also does anyone have any ideas of how I could go about trying to find people in my area to dive with? I tried to get onto wiscuba.com but it wont let me, so I'm not too sure how.

 

[Barracuda2]

My setup is an H valve on a 119 HP steel. My primary is a 7' hose reg and my backup is bungeed around my neck sitting just below my chin. My primary has a cut-off at the 2nd stage in case I get a free-flow at that point. And of course because an H valve is not true redundancy, I sling a 40 cu. pony. I use this setup for all my dives and feel confident whether shallow or deep.

---------- Post added ----------

Back on topic...at least for a minute.


What are the thoughts on using an H valve setup with dual regs? (Yes I can reach both valves.)

I have a set of doubles. I have an AL80 for a stage bottle. Although I rarely solo, when I do my tank of choice is my single HP130 with dual 1st and 2nd stage regs. For muscle memory I leave all my gear as I would for any other open water dive with buddies. Like Nemrod I feel I could safely blow and go from 60ft so that is my hard bottom. Always on Nitrox, and I do bring a buddy to tow me out and back in...my scooter. Funny as it may seem, I view my scooter as a safety device. So thoughts on the H valves?

Sorry, I forgot to include the quote from Peter.

My setup is an H valve on a 119 HP steel. My primary is a 7' hose reg and my backup is bungeed around my neck sitting just below my chin. My primary has a cut-off at the 2nd stage in case I get a free-flow at that point. And of course because an H valve is not true redundancy, I sling a 40 cu. pony. I use this setup for all my dives and feel confident whether shallow or deep.

 

[ams511]

Do you know your gear well? What would you do if faced with a chronically flooding mask? What about a regulator that suddenly starts freeflowing? How would you deal with a sudden sensation of "I can't get enough air?" What about if you accidentally inhaled a tiny dose of water and found yourself alone at 70 feet with a laryngospasm? What would you do if the OPV or inflator hose became separated from your BCD? Or if you put air in your BCD and it kept inflating when you released the inflate button?

Have you ever practiced responding to any of those failures? You should ... because I've seen every one of them happen, and unless you've actually practiced dealing with them, you don't really know much about your equipment at all. We don't train for what goes right, after all ... we train for what goes wrong.

Bob, reading this I wonder what good is a buddy (especially a new one) in these situations? The only thing they would try to do is get you to the surface, except with the stuck inflator as you will hit the surface anyway.

 

[MXGratefulDiver]

Bob, reading this I wonder what good is a buddy (especially a new one) in these situations? The only thing they would try to do is get you to the surface, except with the stuck inflator as you will hit the surface anyway.

But you're asking the wrong question ... it isn't what a buddy would so much as what you would do. Each of these situations requires a certain response. Sometimes that response is to get to the surface as quickly as possible (or as safely prudent). Sometimes heading up is exactly the wrong thing to do ... laryngospasm, for example. The issue is that as a solo diver, no matter what back-up equipment you bring with you, you still only have one brain to make these decisions ... and so it behooves you to know in advance what the appropriate responses are.

This is what's missing in the solo diver who relies on equipment to resolve issues ... all the gear in the world won't do you any good if you make the wrong choices ...

... Bob (Grateful Diver)

 

[vapourinthesea]

I totally agree. Every diver, even a diver with a buddy, should treat every dive as if he was solo diving...and if you do have a buddy with you, that can be just a bonus if things do go wrong. Every part of you needs to be prepared, the best you can, for each dive: physically, mentally, emotionally, knowledge/understanding, equipment, ect. And when there is a weak link in that chain, that can be where things will start to go wrong first.

 

[MXGratefulDiver]

Every diver, even a diver with a buddy, should treat every dive as if he was solo diving....

I see this statement a lot ... and I completely disagree with it.

Solo diving and buddy diving require different mentalities. Solo diving is about my dive ... buddy diving is about our dive ... planning, preparation, and execution of the dive are different between the two.

Every diver should be prepared to be as self-sufficient as possible, given the circumstances of the dive you are doing. Self-sufficiency and solo are not the same thing ... one can be successfully accomplished within the buddy system, while the other cannot. People who treat every dive as a solo dive make terrible dive buddies ... because they fundamentally lack the proper attitude (and usually aptitude) to be a good dive buddy.

Diving with a buddy is more than just jumping in the water with another diver. It requires communication, agreement between the two divers, the self-discipline to conduct yourself according to what you agreed to do, and an awareness that encompasses both you and your dive buddy. If you are not doing those things, then you're solo diving whether or not you're in the water with another diver ... and unless the person you're in the water with happens to be of a similar "solo diver" mindset (in which case you're both just solo diving) then you are probably one of those dive buddies that everyone likes to complain about.

... Bob (Grateful Diver)

 

[vapourinthesea]

That's a good point, ok what I meant was that every diver needs to be self-sufficient, whether with or without a buddy.