The pony taboo

[CaptainCoops]

Sounds to me like you may not have been diving long but you have common sense, that alone saves divers daily, and you are right, pony bottles save lives period! I have had divers tell me they feel more comfortable underwater knowing they have a pony. Divers who have a pony and become seperated from thier dive buddy are more relaxed and have a clearer frame of mind when start thier search to find thier buddy, others say they are less likely to panic in certain situations. This may be psycological but if it helps cool. As far as mounting a pony do your homework. We sling or stage bottles and tank mount our ponies, I like to spearfish a get lobsters, not to mention I do not like a tank moving around and blocking my view. We also do alot of commercial salvage work and when you have to drop in from 15' and have strong currents back mounting is they only way to go.
Stay Safe!
Ponies are like seatbelts!

 

[TSandM]

I think this thread (which has remained delightfully polite) highlights one of the biggest principles in discussing diving, which is that circumstances affect the choices we make in gear and technique.

If I dove solo, spearfishing, or regularly climbed on boats with instabuddies to do deeper dives at resort locations, I'd probably think about a pony bottle, too. Although doubles are my personal solution to redundancy, they aren't very practical for something where you have to move really fast underwater, or for travel. In my shallower dives that I do with a single tank, I rely on my buddy, but that's not an option for a solo diver or, often, for somebody diving alone on charter boats and being paired up with another diver of unknown skill and diligence. And I know what Ron Frank is saying about current -- it takes some serious work to stay within donation's reach of a buddy when current is blowing, and I thought quite a bit about that on some of our deeper Cozumel dives.

What's really great is that we have a novice diver starting this thread who's thinking, and who's recognized that there are "what ifs" in diving that need to be considered, and for which some kind of plan needs to be in place. While I have chosen to solve those problems differently, my solutions may not be ideal for him (although everybody knows the way I dive is the best way, right? )

 

[John_B]

I have had divers tell me they feel more comfortable underwater knowing they have a pony. Divers who have a pony and become seperated from thier dive buddy are more relaxed and have a clearer frame of mind when start thier search to find thier buddy, others say they are less likely to panic in certain situations. This may be psycological but if it helps cool.

But maybe this comfort level makes people less inclined to keep close tabs on their buddies in the first place? I agree that, if someone is prone to losing track of their dive buddies, a pony is probably a good idea.

 

[dave4868]

But maybe this comfort level makes people less inclined to keep close tabs on their buddies in the first place?

You may be right in the sense that some divers are comfortable with making a conscious decision to focus on other dive goals more than keeping track of a buddy.

Sure, it makes sense that being comfortable with getting separated and continuing the dive solo makes regimented buddy watching less important to them. Heck, it's often part of the pre-dive planning to continue solo if separated.

I agree that, if someone is prone to losing track of their dive buddies, a pony is probably a good idea.

To put it less pejoratively, for many of the divers I know, it's a matter of choice, dive conditions and dive goals that make buddy separation more likely, not lack of skill.

If there's one thing they're not comfortable with, it's regimentation and dependence on a buddy.

A pony bottle makes that choice more comfortable.

Dave C

 

[John_B]

I had the opportunity to dive in NJ but the boat required a pony because (and I quote), "Everyone is responsible for looking after themselves around here." No big deal, its just a mindset that happens to be very different (e.g. incompatible) from my mindset. Not bad, not a negative judgement, just different than the way I dive. So I didn't go. :shrug:

I stand by my original statement, if someone doesn't feel the need to be in close proximity to their dive buddy at all times then a pony is probably a really good idea.

 

[gcbryan]

And I suppose seat belts are a good idea for those who drive too fast and for the others not necessary...?

 

[John_B]

A better analogy... I may believe that seatbelts save lives (which is true, btw, I know from firsthand experience) and may require that they are used in my car. But I'm not going to force you to wear them in your own car if you are adamantly against them. So long as we don't need a ride from each other there is no problem.

 

[gcbryan]

A better analogy... I may believe that seatbelts save lives (which is true, btw, I know from firsthand experience) and may require that they are used in my car. But I'm not going to force you to wear them in your own car if you are adamantly against them. So long as we don't need a ride from each other there is no problem.

Except that in this case the more adamant side seems to be those who are essentially telling others not to use something (pony bottles). You don't see many proponents of pony bottle usage strongly suggesting that others who aren't interested use them. You do see the other side strongly suggesting that others not use them. One side is minding their own bussiness and the other is not (so to speak).

 

[sunapeebob]

I will give you a pony story. I was doing my wreck diving course and we were going fairly deep - 95 feet in New England. I did my survey of the wreck with my buddy and we motioned to return to the mooring line. When I started up, I looked at my gauges and thought that it said 900 lbs. My dive buddy, my son, looked at my gauges and we went up to the safety stop and then he was signaling me to use my octo - which was attached to my pony bottle. I did not understand, so he physically took the octo and pushed into my face. I removed the reg and replaced it. We finished our safety stop, and then surfaced. On the boat he told me that what I thought was 500 lbs at the safety stop was 200 lbs. It was very relaxing that I had the redundancy in my air. The next day I went to the dive shop, bought a new mask and had precription lenses put into it. We are so comfortable with the pony set ups that we paid for them to be shipped to Florida for a trip this past March. They are more work, but worth it. In June, we are bringing them to St. Thomas, more work than Florida, but in my opinion still worth it.

 

[ArcticDiver]

I guess I'm at a loss to understand exactly why there is any question about carrying a second cylinder of breathing gas except when circumstances prohibit it. After all the only reason this question arises is because for some reason lost in antiquity the industry settled on the AL80 as the de facto standard tank.

Yes, there are lots of people who dive different sized tanks. But, without a doubt by practice the standard is the AL80. Had the standard been the steel 120, for example, we probably wouldn't be having this discussion.

Consdering the limitations placed on a dive by the AL80 it is only logical that folks are going to want more gas. It just isn't very much gas for many divers, or for many dives for that matter. If a person wants more gas they can get it by going to a large single, two matched tanks, or two unmatched tanks with one being larger than the other. Many times we call the latter choice "diving with a pony".

So, what is the big deal? A diver is intelligent enough to recognize the need for more gas and chooses the most convenient of the options and the most appropriate size tank(s) to fit in the options.

It absolutely baffles me why anyone would criticize someone else for making any of the choices, but it happens. To me the only bad choice and the only one worth criticizing is the one to attempt a dive without adequate gas for the planned dive plus a safety margin.

Can we get beyond tank selection and configuration and get just as passionate about making sure everyone knows how to gas plan and execute a dive according to that plan?