Spare Air: some thoughts

[idocsteve]

If your down there OOA praying Thal, you're committing suicide. Sometimes death is the only cure for stupid.

There are some who believe that the answer to life's tragedies is in fact to pray for God's blessing, mercy, forgiveness, or whatever.

They might take issue with your statement that relying on a higher power to save their ass is stupid and is in fact no different than committing suicide.

 

[Reg Braithwaite]

Because people make mistakes, that's why.

A diver who thinks they're always going to get it right and therefore needs no redundancy in their gear is taking an unecessary risk.

A diver who thinks they're always going to get it right and therefore needs no redundancy in their gear is a victim of a logical fallacy, a false dichotomy. This is also true of a diver who thinks they won't always get it right and therefore needs redundancy in their gear.

To make a long story short, we can also practice redundancy in our procedures to drastically reduce the likelihood of getting it wrong. For example, if you plan your dive and estimate your gas consumption based on time and/or distance, you now have two different ways to know when you will run out of air: The timer you are using to stay on plan and the SPG you are using to verify that your air consumption is staying within a reasonable deviation from your estimates. If you dive with a DM or guide who regularly asks you how much air you have, now there is a third procedural check. If you have a buddy who asks you how much air you have when they notice that their own is approaching rock bottom, you have a fourth redundant procedure.

Some of this does not this apply to solo divers like yourself, but we tadpoles diving on vacation can make use of three or four of these redundant procedures even when hooking up with insta-buddies. If you have the will and the fear of dying to walk into your LDS and buy a SpareAir, you have the will and the fear of dying to plan every dive and follow a few redundant procedures such that any one of them succeeding will make up for the others failing.

Of course, an equipment failure is another matter entirely

 

[Reg Braithwaite]

SPEAKING OF RELYING ON A HIGHER POWER...

A new diver--I will call him Reg--goes on a vacation with some Scubaboarders. The first one he meets offers to give him a free refresher in PADI procedures like performing a CESA.

"No thank you, I have faith that the Lord will protect me from harm," he avers.

The second one offers to mentor him in some team diving procedures like checking each other's SPGs.

"No thank you, I have faith that the Lord will protect me from harm."

The third one offers to loan him a SpareAir.

"No thank you, I have faith that the Lord will protect me from harm."

They go diving, he is separated from the group, and he goes deeper than his training allows. Naturally he is narc'd, he fails to check his SPG, and with the increased air consumption at depth he goes OOG. He offers a short prayer, closes his eyes, and tries to swim to the surface.

When he opens his eyes he notices that he is in heaven. He sees God and is a little indignant. "God, I was your faithful servant. And yet you let me drown!"

God frowns, "I sent you training, good buddies, and redundant equipment. What else do you want from me?"

 

[Thalassamania]

There are some who believe that the answer to life's tragedies is in fact to pray for God's blessing, mercy, forgiveness, or whatever.

They might take issue with your statement that relying on a higher power to save their ass is stupid and is in fact no different than committing suicide.

They tend to be the same ones who don't believe in evolution, and as a result are doomed to experience said same. It's kinda ironic.

A diver who thinks they're always going to get it right and therefore needs no redundancy in their gear is a victim of a logical fallacy, a false dichotomy. This is also true of a diver who thinks they won't always get it right and therefore needs redundancy in their gear.

To make a long story short, we can also practice redundancy in our procedures to drastically reduce the likelihood of getting it wrong. For example, if you plan your dive and estimate your gas consumption based on time and/or distance, you now have two different ways to know when you will run out of air: The timer you are using to stay on plan and the SPG you are using to verify that your air consumption is staying within a reasonable deviation from your estimates. If you dive with a DM or guide who regularly asks you how much air you have, now there is a third procedural check. If you have a buddy who asks you how much air you have when they notice that their own is approaching rock bottom, you have a fourth redundant procedure.

Some of this does not this apply to solo divers like yourself, but we tadpoles diving on vacation can make use of three or four of these redundant procedures even when hooking up with insta-buddies. If you have the will and the fear of dying to walk into your LDS and buy a SpareAir, you have the will and the fear of dying to plan every dive and follow a few redundant procedures such that any one of them succeeding will make up for the others failing.

Of course, an equipment failure is another matter entirely

Basic skills, like the ability to perform a CESA from the depth you (as a novice) are diving, is (IMHO) a highly preferable solution.

SPEAKING OF RELYING ON A HIGHER POWER...

A new diver--I will call him Reg--goes on a vacation with some Scubaboarders. The first one he meets offers to give him a free refresher in PADI procedures like performing a CESA.

"No thank you, I have faith that the Lord will protect me from harm," he avers.

The second one offers to mentor him in some team diving procedures like checking each other's SPGs.

"No thank you, I have faith that the Lord will protect me from harm."

The third one offers to loan him a SpareAir.

"No thank you, I have faith that the Lord will protect me from harm."

They go diving, he is separated from the group, and he goes deeper than his training allows. Naturally he is narc'd, he fails to check is SPG and with the increased air consumption at depth he goes OOG. He offers a short prayer, closes his eyes, and tries to swim to the surface.

When he opens his eyes he notices that he is in heaven. He sees God and is a little indignant. "God, I was your faithful servant. And yet you let me drown!"

God frowns, "I sent you training, good buddies, and redundant equipment. What else do you want from me?"

 

[TSandM]

Reg, beautiful revision of an old joke! Well done!

 

[muddiver]

SPEAKING OF RELYING ON A HIGHER POWER...

A new diver--I will call him Reg--goes on a vacation with some Scubaboarders..............God frowns, "I sent you training, good buddies, and redundant equipment. What else do you want from me?"

Good times!

 

[Tanked]

True, but it would be cheaper to buy an "H" or "Y" valve, then purchase a Spare Air, or a Pony

I actually dive with an H valve on a steel 120, and a 30 cf pony. Yes that means i have 3 regulators. If someone runs out of air then I give them my spair reg from my primary. If that tank runs out of air, and alot of times i dive solo, then I have my pony.
I'm sure people will say "why not just switch to doubles". Well i just don't want to.

 

[vshearer]

They tend to be the same ones who don't believe in evolution, and as a result are doomed to experience said same. It's kinda ironic.

For the upcoming retort, please navigate to this thread.

"Darwinism, what's not to get?"

HE will be waiting.

 

[vshearer]

An H-valve is a really good tool for mounting a vintage double hose alongside a regular 1st for the needed hp/lp hoses.

 

[vladimir]

There are two typical arguments used by the "Ponies are useless" brigade.

Firstly, there is the claim that if you can't get to the surface holding your breath, you're too deep to be using a single cylinder, and you should be on a twinset.

I fail to see the logic in this one. If a diver is at 20 meters and his main cylinder dies for some reason, which is the better scenario:

This is where I stopped reading this pony expert's treatise. Is anybody really claiming that you need to be able to "get to the surface holding your breath"?