Switching to doubles - Am I in a rush?

[kylehorn]

Hi all,

I live in the NYC area and grew up on eastern Long Island. That said, there are plenty of wrecks for me to explore and I finally have the potential time and wallet to do some of the dives I want to do. At 22 years old, I'm currently certified as a Rescue Diver and I have around 30 logged dives, since I've started logging them (my OW instructors didn't encourage logging the dives so it was a habit I've had to form). Having done most of my diving in the northeast I am comfortable diving in cold water and less than ideal conditions. If I'm not diving, I'm reading about diving in any capacity I can and I try to learn and apply as much as I can from the things I read.

SO, sorry for the long winded introduction to this thread but I want to get an idea if switching to doubles is in anyway rushing myself. I thought that my initial foray into diving was sort of rushed and I don't want to get ahead of myself, mastering the mental and physical skills of diving is more important to me than some new gear. I have a serious interest in pursuing tech diving and I figured a good first step would be to become comfortable with a configuration that I'd be using to do those dives in the far future. It would also afford me a longer bottom time at some of the deeper wrecks out here. Any thoughts or input are greatly appreciated.

-KH

 

[ScubaSteve]

......I have around 30 logged dives, since I've started logging them (my initial agency IDEA didn't encourage logging the dives so it was a habit I've had to form)......

IDEA was against their divers logging dives? Something smells fishy here. As for whether you are rushing, I would say that you likely are but I have dove with divers that had as many dives as you and were great and safe divers in doubles. As long as you train properly in them and do not just mount them and jump in the water, I suspect you will do just fine.

 

[kylehorn]

IDEA was against their divers logging dives? Something smells fishy here. As for whether you are rushing, I would say that you likely are but I have dove with divers that had as many dives as you and were great and safe divers in doubles. As long as you train properly in them and do not just mount them and jump in the water, I suspect you will do just fine.

I should say that the instructors didn't encourage logging our dives, they weren't necessarily against it - we just never did it after our checkouts. Wasn't trying to throw IDEA under the bus.

 

[nimoh]

I agree with Steve. Get some instruction on using doubles, and practice your valve drills. Doesn't need to be a formal certification card, mentoring works well for this if you can find a good mentor.

Also, as far as rushing, be careful about changing too much of your gear configuration all at once. For example, switching from a jacket BC, single AL80 to BP/W, double steel 120s, long hose, canister light can be overwhelming.

 

[kylehorn]

I agree with Steve. Get some instruction on using doubles, and practice your valve drills. Doesn't need to be a formal certification card, mentoring works well for this if you can find a good mentor.

Also, as far as rushing, be careful about changing too much of your gear configuration all at once. For example, switching from a jacket BC, single AL80 to BP/W, double steel 120s, long hose, canister light can be overwhelming.

Thanks for the response. I worked at a dive shop a couple summers ago so I have good relations with a lot of experienced divers from there that I'm sure would help me develop and practice those new skills. Right now I dive with a Black Diamond back inflation BC and I'll typically use a steel LP95 or HP100. But, I definitely agree and I don't want to change too much, too fast.

 

[bamafan]

You can start diving doubles anytime. I know people who did their OW certification in doubles and sidemount no less.

 

[TSandM]

I'm going to throw in a counter-argument here. I would highly recommend you work and polish your skills in a single tank setup, before switching to doubles. If you have developed a solid, stable platform, and good tolerance to task-loading, the switch to doubles will be fairly easy and seamless. If you are still unstable, either in position or under stress, in a single tank, it won't get better when you move to doubles. Worse, you'll have trouble diagnosing what part of your problem lies with gear that isn't properly balanced, and what part is poor technique.

In our Seattle GUE community, we have a lot of people who come to us as single tank divers and eventually switch to doubles. The ones with the best skills in double tanks are the ones who spent the time in a single to get squared away.

 

[doctormike]

I'll throw my 2 PSI in as well... and if you are in the NYC area and want to bounce this off some VERY experienced divers in person, the Sea Gypsies are meeting tonight at 7. So you can join us, have a drink with them and find out what they REALLY think!.

I switched to doubles last season after about 500 dives, many in the NYC area, in anticipation of going to tech training next season. I am VERY glad that I did it, I really like my current setup, it's a big stable platform and it's always good to have redundancy (need to know valve drills for that part).

It's also good to have extra gas underwater, but there is an additional issue with that for new divers. Most new divers know about NDLS from their class in theory, but really tend to just watch their pressure gauge, and unless they have a very low SAC end up being limited by gas rather than NDLs. Double tanks can put someone who is not watching their nitrogen accumulation carefully into a dangerous situation - specifically a potentially big deco obligation. I'm not saying that would happen to you, but if you really only have 30 dives I would have to agree with TSandM (I usually do), and say that you should dive more with a single tank, and get your skills dialed in before task loading with more gear.

On the other hand, if you really have hundreds of northeast dives and are very comfortable in your dry suit, etc... I guess you could go for it. Just be careful about your bottom time!

Mike

 

[razorbackdiver]

I cannot say if your ready for doubles or not but when you do make the switch I suggest you start back in the pool. I recently made switch and I guess the extra weight threw my buoyancy off. It wasn't thrown off really bad, but bad enough I would not want other issues to have occurred while I was getting adjusted. Good news is it took me two dives working on buoyancy drills to get everything back in line.

 

[Akimbo]

Nobody has mentioned your ability to pack doubles. They are a no-brainer if you are 6' 6" and can bench press 250 Lbs. Not such a good idea to jump in this soon if you are 98 Lbs and need a dolly to move them around deck. Let’s not forget we are doing this for fun and hernias are no fun at all.