Spare Air

[Thalassamania]

More: Army 1st Lt. Erik Enyard from the 3rd Squadron 6th Calvary Brigade out of Camp Humphreys gets HEEDS (helicopter emergency egress device) orientation training.

 

[trucker girl]

I don't think that is what he means. It is oveconfidence about how well you will react in an emergency situation because most divers don't encounter them. When you take a class where you're stressed - your instructor takes your buddy's mask and then winds you up in the line from your reel - you realize very quickly that it takes twice or three times as long as you thought it would to solve the problem. Spare air may not give you the time you need to solve the problem.

I know that's not what he means...

The rest of this post is not a reply to The Red Head (who's comments I've appreciated, btw):

I think we're all aware that you can't truly "practice" an emergency situation (the folks posting in this thread, I mean). I also think it's a little silly to be so down on a diver who decides to carry a SA. I'm frankly insulted by the continual assertions that a diver who carries a SA MUST be assuming it will save him/her in an emergency.

And I carry lots of things I don't plan to use. A whistle. A safety sausage. My knife. I even tried carrying a cd in my bc pocket until I found out my bc pocket doesn't stay shut (it's old ). These are all small and out of the way items (including the SA). And because my computer is on my console, I have a backup depth gauge, a backup watch and a backup slate to write my times down on each dive just so I don't have to ditch diving if my computer fails (oh, and backup batteries just in case- but I don't plan to use them...).

I'm not arguing here but I feel that every time I've given my opinion or asked a question I encounter arguing- and about something that isn't pertinent to me, my post, or the OP. No one needs to convince me (or anyone else that I know who carries a SA from time to time and apparently none of those who have posted here that they "carry") that it is not for use in all situations. Not even most. But there are the one or two situations when, who knows? It might be a benefit. Regardless of what this anti-SA crowd thinks- I will carry it. Not always and not often.

And if that means you don't want to dive with me, then, TRUST ME, that's FINE with me.

Why don't you send your comments to Spare Air or to the diving media? Perhaps you have, who knows? I'm sure there are those divers out there who DO look at the SA the way some of you are assuming that I and others are looking at it (regardless of what we have said over and over and over again)... and perhaps they will realise that they should become better divers and NOT look at it as their backup plan.

I think I'm done reading this thread. Frankly, there is no new information coming out of it and reading posts that argue about the same thing over and over gets boring. The OP was asking for information- not just repetetive arguments for and against using it. So if I don't reply, that's why. It's not because I don't love you .

I'd rather play Uno.

 

[OE2X]

There seems to be two schools of thought about diving gear.

1. Those that bring gear with them that they never plan on using and when they need to, because it isn't practiced, mistakes are made.

2. Those that only bring the gear that they plan on using and do drills for that likelyhood. Every piece of gear I bring on a dive - I plan on using. I hope that I don't need it, but I'm prepared to at a moments notice.

FWIW - I spent a lot of time in the first group.

 

[Thalassamania]

There seems to be two schools of thought about diving gear.

1. Those that bring gear with them that they never plan on using and when they need to, because it isn't practiced, mistakes are made.

2. Those that only bring the gear that they plan on using and do drills for that likelyhood. Every piece of gear I bring on a dive - I plan on using. I hope that I don't need it, but I'm prepared to at a moments notice.

FWIW - I spent a lot of time in the first group.

I try very hard to fall into the second group, but its amazing what I find in pouches and pockets some times.<G>

 

[OE2X]

Yeah.... Last week I found a shell in one of my drysuit pockets that I picked up on a dive this spring.

 

[Cacia]

Cool pictures, Thall....I enjoyed seeing those! (got any more? wish you would start a thread of all that stash you must have)

taking a Spare Air on a dive where you have a deco obligation wouldn't help.

My dive style is I don't have back-up anything, that way, I know I could get -----ed and it makes me dive in reality mode. I don't believe in pockets either, unless they are somebody else's.

 

[OE2X]

I happen to own a spare air. It was given to me by my ex wife for extreme whitewater kayaking. I have lost a few friends do to accidents where they have become pinned underwater. My ex thought that it might be wise to carry it if that were to happen to me. Mine is pink. I've never used it for diving though.

I think where this thread has gone is that it is divided by newer divers and experienced divers.

The more experienced divers have stood exactly where the less experienced divers stand now. It is easy to impart knowledge because they have spent a great deal of time thinking this issue out. I only need to point out Lamont as an example. Honestly the guy was a cluster when he first started diving. Now look at him. His depth of knowledge is vast.

It is hard for a less experienced diver to be told that their choice is inappropriate. That they have wasted a bunch of money on something that won't safely work. Even more hurtful is to be told that their logic is wrong. Unless the newish diver has a thick skin then diving boards can be an emotionally trying place.

What I've learned to do is to realize that I don't know a heck of lot about diving and to listen to those that have much more experience than I. I also listen to someone like Lamont who has less dives than I, but he thinks about each aspect of the dive with far more alertness than myself.

 

[TheRedHead]

Yeah.... Last week I found a shell in one of my drysuit pockets that I picked up on a dive this spring.

Didn't you wonder why everyone moved away from you on the boat?

 

[Cacia]

Thinking for yourself is best, as long as you are smarter than average. If you are less smart than average, you should listen more. That's the harsh truth, with some variations of course. Bruce is pretty smart....whatever he is doing is probably well thought out.

I listen to Lamont on certain things like he is the gospel. Certain other things, I rely on my years of sizing situations up. No rules on how to think for me.

 

[TheRedHead]

Thinking for yourself is best, as long as you are smarter than average. If you are less smart than average, you should listen more. That's the harsh truth,

Are you bored today?

I am supposedly smarter than 99% of the population and very resistant to having ideas foisted upon me without thinking them through, but I must say I have learned things I would not thought of independently. Most of those things were learned at the expense of dead divers' mistakes, which have been used to create proceedures to prevent future deaths.