The pony taboo

[Iain Thysse]

I don't think anyone should belittle you for carrying extra air....having said that, if decide to carry a pony you should practice your drills for deploying and using it often. Having the equipment is only the beginning If you are not practicing your drills often you might find that attempting to use it during a stressful time might task load you to the point of panic. So I say to tell all that try to put you off carrying extra air that they can't have any of yours, but be sure you know what you are going to do if they ask.

 

[PerroneFord]

I don't think anyone should belittle you for carrying extra air....

Not to be difficult here, but for the purposes of discussion, would you mind defining what you consider, "extra". I've certainly carried a lot of gas for some dives, but I would never have considered any of it, "extra". So I am genuinely curious what this means.

 

[farsidefan1]

Is simply the weight. Those of you living on top of great diving are able to load your stuff in the car and take off. I like to dive in the tropics. I live in Utah - oops. Since my company is here I fly to dive. On a trip to the red sea I was allowed one bag of 50 lbs. and another of 17 - for 2 weeks. my dive gear weighs 47 lbs. Without pony bottle. Do the math. This is not an isolated problem. Fiji a month ago. 50 lbs plus `17 carryon. And they weighed us and each bag. Great barrier reef, for flight to Lizard island to meet Mike Ball boat. 50 lbs plus - I think it was about 15 lbs. Total. Sorry but I even leave my beloved split fins home and take my lighter fins to shave a couple of pounds. Now most the major airlines are getting into the act. More stringent weight restrictions. I even have to buy batteries for my lights (8 c cells each) on location to save a couple lbs. By the time I have my clothes gear photo stuff - gimme a break. I just watch my computer and dive carefully. I've also done several solo dives without the pony. I'm just VERY carefull.

 

[Bottomfeeder Brodie]

I appreciate the opinions that agree with mine and the one that dont I appreciate more. I have learned gas managment and calculate my usage. My perspective is as follows. Learning how to perform with complicated machinery in a safe manner requires alot of training and experience. Like driving a car. You will get a fender bent here and there. In scuba we dont bend fenders we mistake ourselves into big problem. I will never say I am the best and never will. I am only learning and will aways be learning. I dont hit the water with multitudes of either experience or divemaster skills. So I will make a mistake, Nice to know I have a bailout. I have not yet been to any depth to get narc'ed and seeings how I don't drink and am not experienced in handling myself in an impaired state so I have my bailout. I wish all the buddies I will ever dive with had the same thirst for education that I do but if they dont and dont understand their responsibilities as a buddy, I have my bailout. If someday I feel as though I have the proper experience to handle anything or have 1000 pages of air usage records in my log to say I breathe This much at this depth being circled by tiger sharks than I may leave old faithful on the boat. But until then I will try to minimize my risk so I can lie about the megelodon I saw swimming around at 130 ft.

What an education I got today! Thanks to everyone I am gaining understanding. MUch more training on my part. Many more dives to remember. As few mistakes as I can make. Thanks for the great posts. Critical and not.

Just picked up my AOW books today. Deep steel here I come.

 

[PerroneFord]

I wish every newer diver approached this as you are. I don't agree with the pony bottle use, but your careful and critical examination of the reasons, really bodes well for you. You seem like the kind of careful diver people enjoy diving with.

Best of luck to you man.

 

[spectrum]

What an education I got today! Thanks to everyone I am gaining understanding. MUch more training on my part. Many more dives to remember. As few mistakes as I can make. Thanks for the great posts. Critical and not.

You made a lot of good "look in the mirror" points and I think you are on a good footing.

My real reason for coming back to this thread has a lot less to do the the technical or psychological aspects of the thread. It's about the thought process.

I came to diving with 48 years around the ocean and 25 years of engineering involving pneumatic systems. Boyle's law had gone from theory to common sense decades ago. I wasn't studying diving for very long before I was quite comfortable with the physics behind it all. In reading a gazillion posts and initiating a few threads of my own to close gaps I began to do what I call "think like a diver".

Understanding the nuances of the sport sometimes made what seemed like a common sense decision quite wrong. I came to see Scuba Board much like a lawyer in training might see moot court. In working through a tread you see different approaches to problem solving and risk analysis and to me this is a huge learning. I am grateful to many veterans of the board for the volumes they have written and like many enjoy giving something back to this community.

As you state thoughts have been expressed that you agree with and others that you find inapplicable. That is to be expected because one of my laws of diving is that almost nothing is absolute. What works for me may not work for you. What is prudent in my local waters may be foolhardy in yours and so on. Be sure to keep that in mind when accepting feedback.

Dive safe,
Pete

 

[Colliam7]

Why is it that the vast majority of divers ( observation) don't carry pony bottles? ... Others have remarked on the fact that a pony ( adequately sized) is expensive and cumbersome. ie: in the way. Most videos I have watched show divers diving wrecks like the Speigel Grove with just one tank at 100 ft. ... What really bothers me is that many instructors and veterans have indicated to me that having an adequately sized pony would keep me from being immortalized on the ( Darwin Award Network) annual report. This is, to me, an unprofessional and callus statement and used to really anger me to hear it but I see what they are trying to do. ... My point is that what is the big taboo about carrying a pony?

You've gotten a lot of good commentary. I will add three thoughts: 1) I don't think there is a 'taboo' on pony bottles, but many recreational divers do not carry them. Maybe it is an issue of expense. Maybe, it is a matter of convenience. Maybe it is ignorance. 2) It is probably best to think of a pony bottle as 'redundancy' not 'extra air'. Not suggesting that you were saying it was 'extra air', just trying to make sure that the distinction is made. We can all agree that proper dive planning, good gas management, etc. are requisite diving skills. The pony is redundancy in case of (equipment) failure. It is a redundant reg, and a sizeable redundant air supply. 3) I fully agree that anyone who carries a pony should regularly practice with it, and know how to deploy it, if needed. Having said all of this, I dive with a 40cf pony, slung, whenever I can. The times when I cannot are international trips where I cannot carry one with me (because of regulation, not weight). Personally, I do NOT find that a 40cf slung pony is in any way cumbersome or challenging in the water. I recently picked up a couple of used 30 cf tanks which I will use for deco bottles, but also as a (slung) OCA pony.

 

[Diver Dennis]

Not to be difficult here, but for the purposes of discussion, would you mind defining what you consider, "extra". I've certainly carried a lot of gas for some dives, but I would never have considered any of it, "extra". So I am genuinely curious what this means.

He means redundant air supply.

 

[Diver Dennis]

The problem I see with most newer divers such as yourself is that you are discovering what most new divers discover shortly after OW class. And that is, the fallacy that "everything is always going to be ok". This is the impression OW class is designed to leave you with. On the opposite end of the spectrum, technical diving instructs that NOTHING will be OK, and we must plan for everything to fail. The truth lies somewhere in between. /QUOTE]

Good points about becoming a "thinking" diver. The OP has already passed the fallacy stage and understands that stuff hits the fan once in a while. There is nothing wrong with carrying a pony if he and his wife practice deploying them. In fact a "thinking" diver is one who would be carrying a pony because he knows that when things go wrong, they do so in a hurry. I know people who dive doubles recreationally and although they could opt to dive singles, they like the redundancy that doubles gives them.

 

[jkaterenchuk]

Bottonline is you and your family are the only ones that suffer should you die from a OOA scuba accident. If you want to minimize the risk of that happening then you make the decision to carry a pony as a redundent air source. No one else can make that decision for you. No training agency can tell you to use it or not. Get the proper mentoring or instruction on the proper size and use. Practice deploying it.

I have seem more than a few regulators free flow at 60 feet in cold water. I have seen many buddies busy and too far away. I have seen a few burst disk failures both on the surface and at depth. Trust yourself before trusting your life with someone else or with a piece of equipment.

Whatever your decision please ignore those people that post that a CESA from 90 ft is a regular simple procedure. Its not.

John