The pony taboo

[lowviz]

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?

Jeez, just got back from training with public safety divers, that's it in a nutshell...

 

[lowviz]

My last post really needs a bit of clarification. Need sleep. The same public safety divers (that I know) won't think of entering the water without the required pony but they all sport dive in all sorts of configurations. I've only trained with one agency so I can't comment on how other PS agencies employ ponys. The point is that even rigorously trained public safety divers show a great amount of variation in how they sport dive. There seems to be a message there.

 

[jo8243]

This argument is akin to saying no one needs seat belts because you should always be able to anticipate any dangerous scenarios and take steps to prevent any accident.

You can't control your buddy's actions any more than you can control the actions of another driver.

So now you're doing dives and you realize, wow, what would happen if I got separated from my buddy and I needed air? I need a pony bottle. Or what would happen if I had a free-flow I couldn't stop it and I can't get to my buddy? I need a pony bottle. What happens if I don't pay attention and I run out of air? I need a pony bottle. No. You don't. What you need to do is to increase your diving skill and awareness so that you NEVER become separated from your buddy, and you NEVER become so inattentive to your depth and time, you breathe more gas than you should. And those two things won't cost you a dime.

 

[rjchandler]

"Air is for tires" therefore a snorkle is never appropriate is it!

nitrox works in tires as well. they don't wear out as fast and you go longer between fills.

 

[riverdiver]

I dive with a pony and so does all of my friends, same as the Sheriff dive team that I belong to. I do more than my share of solo diving over 200 dives a year. And yes I have used it many times to send a lift bag to the surface, I have had freeflows and have switched to my pony, and have ran my tank empty and used the pony. If you are diving a couple times a year or on vaction maybe you do not need one but for the diving that my freinds and I do it is a must have. You can buy regs now for under a hundred and ponys bottle for another hundred and a pony bracket for $30.00 so that is $230.00 for a piece of mind, you can not even buy a spare air for that.
At the same time I have a friend that is marketing pony brackets that work great for PSD glmarineserviices.com
Ed

 

[Garrobo]

15 dives and taking AOW. Nuff said.

 

[PerroneFord]

You can't control your buddy's actions any more than you can control the actions of another driver.

I can't?

I have reached out and grabbed my buddy when necessary. I have grabbed my buddies fins, I have grabbed my buddy's BC, and in certain cases, I have grabbed their drysuit at the leg for certain purposes.

I can't put my hand out the window and stop a car from slamming into me.

 

[Bottomfeeder Brodie]

15 dives and taking AOW. Nuff said.

?????

 

[Bottomfeeder Brodie]

Did I mention I blew a high press seal last weekend on my 400.00 brand new reg? Glad I knew what to do and was in 15 ft water. Dont carry my pony in shallow water but if I was on the Speigel Grove I would have been wearing my seat belt

 

[dumpsterDiver]

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? )

How are we going too have a good argument if you are going to be so damn reasonable?