What Are Your "Pro-Tips" for Safety, Redundancy, and Accident Handling

[SlugLife]

I have anything to add to some already decent threads -- it is to test your recently-serviced regulators, in the wet, whether that's a pool or an easy entrance / exit shoreline. For me, it's usually two regulators at a time, one on my main tank; the other, on a decent-sized pony, so I can potentially test-breathe four second stages, if not more.

Gambling on your newly-serviced gear to be fully functional, one hundred and twenty nautical miles out, somewhere off of Queensland, is not the swiftest of ideas -- especially given the assortment of mouth-breathers, I've run into, occupying so many shops, who've truly never met a port they didn't want to cross-thread.

I service all of my own gear but always take things on a couple of shakedown dives to determine whether I feel like fiddling with something further, which I usually do, since I prefer my regulators, in the words of @rsingler, to run on the "hot" side; or whether the tech, that being me, is deserving of a swift slap upside the head -- "back and to the right?"

I service my own regs, and do the exact same thing! Specifically, I test with 1) Shallow/Shore Test Dive and 2) Redundant Air. This concept applies to more than regulators; for example I fixed a BCD-hole and did a similar dive with redundant buoyancy and a shore to climb-up worst case.

I'd do the same with shop-serviced regs. Shops in particular, I've learned from personal experience and several incident threads on ScubaBoard, are prone to mistakes our outright incompetence and regardless of shop-reviews you might only find out they did something wrong at 90ft deep with lots of bubbles in your face.

 

[BRT]

Redundant Air

Perhaps the #1 hazard to divers, is that we aren't fish and can't breathe water. If we have a problem of any kind, the clock is ticking.

OOA is obviously the main issue. Yes, one can monitor air, but what if there's some kind of regulator-issue, such as a hose comes unscrewed or blows? A purely redundant air-source that is adequately sized to get you to the surface turns this PTSD-inducing scenario into a mere annoyance. Furthermore, redundant-air can save you from other hazards, by giving you extra time to deal with an emergency like and entanglement. Simply having it there, may also reduce panic. Redundant-air may come in useful in rescues as well.

Insurance: Yes, a pony bottle and regs costs $$$, but think of it like a form of life-insurance or PTSD insurance. It's also a (mostly) one-time expense. Think of it like a more affordable version of health-insurance. (some tips on saving $ below)

Sizes: Someone may give the run-down about how to calculate your redundant gas. I'm going to over-simplify to get people started, and I do have experience with most of these sizes. This advice is for recreational-only, not mandatory-deco-diving.

• 1.7 cu or 3 cu - This size may be a safety-hazard due to giving a false sense of security. It runs out of air at such an insanely fast rate, I really consider them somewhat dangerous. "Spare Air"s probably belong in the garbage.
• 6 cu - Minimum recommended size. Perhaps avoid depths above 75ft. Perhaps be ready to skip a safety stop. In my experience, I use about 100psi per breath at 8ft deep on a 6cu.
• 13 cu - This is a common travel size. It should handle most scenarios at recreational depths, but you should also be ready to surface without delay. You may need to skip safety stop if starting from deeper depths (120ft)
• 19 cu - This is my generally recommended size. I find a 19cu is no more annoying to carry, deal with, etc, than my 6cu. By the time you have a pony bottle, you might as well go 19cu. This should technically handle 130ft, with safety stop and increased air-consumption for many divers. (although maybe actually calculate this, if you're pushing limits)
• 30cu or 40cu - More air is always good. However "the 13cu on your person, is better than the 40cu you left at home." The problem I've noticed with larger sizes, is that divers get lazy. Most divers seem to leave their 30/40cu tanks at home or on the boat. Some divers claim they don't mind that size, but I'm just reporting what I observe.
• 80 cu - Ok, we're now in SideMount or Doubles territory, which is absolutely cool if you're willing to go down that path. There are manifolds, h-valves, y-valves, and more but that's beyond the scope of this comment.

Regulators: It's better to have cheap regulators for your pony, if you're on a budget, than no pony at all.

It just has to breathe, work, and get you to the surface. De-tune the regulators to prevent free-flow, there's usually a "screw" inside 2nd stage, where the hose attaches. It's okay to save money here, because the only purpose of this regulator is to get you to the surface. If your maintenance schedule runs behind a little ... again ... the important point is mostly that it works.

Practice: Take a few breaths from your pony every dive. Practice switching regulators on the shore if you haven't done it in a while (I was guilty of this), and remember to purge or exhale when switching. Switch regulators underwater too, at least once per dive. Also ensure the pony reg can be found, by feel (no looking!) almost instantly. Stuff the hose under some bungies, use a retainer, or whatever you need to do, to ensure the pony-reg is always in the same place.

Transfill: If you want to save money on fills and avoid VIP costs, just get a transfill-whip. It'll save you money in the long-run. (I'll probably post my $40 transfill whip advice in another comment)

Popularity: "I don't see divers with pony bottles!" This isn't a popularity contest. Maybe they can't afford one, or havent thought of buying one yet. Leave your ego at the door, safety is what matters.

NOT a Dive Extender: The pony should be there for emergencies, not to extend dives. Not to mention, it can be a hazard if you forget to top-off the pony. If you want extended dives, look into SideMount or Doubles.

Octo or No-Octo: (Possibly Controversial Warning) In most SideMount, you have two first-stages, and 2 second-stages (Each 1st stage has one 2nd stage). No octo. Assuming your pony-bottle is adequately-sized, you may consider ditching your octo. More hoses, means more clutter/entanglement/mess, and possible confusion (i.e. grabbing wrong regulator). You could even re-purpose your "octo" as a 2nd-stage for your pony-bottle, meaning you only really need another 1st-stage and SPG (or button-SPG).

100 psi per breath on an 6 cf tank at 8 ft means you would get about 400 breaths on an al80 at 8 ft.

 

[Bob DBF]

No matter what goes wrong underwater, take a moment to think before acting. Panic kills, not the problem.

And to that end, freediving and finding out how long you can actually go without a regulator, will assist with the amount of time one has to think rationally.

 

[jadairiii]

 

[SlugLife]

"Blind" Practice & Equipment Setup

Consider the difference between someone who finger-types and stares at their keyboard, versus one who can type without looking. While vision is certainly useful, it is far better if you can do everything proficiently without looking. If you wish to improve your skill, safety, and proficiency, I highly recommend practicing "blind" or with your eyes closed. You can obviously do this (a) when on a dive, but it's also useful during (b) land-practice or (c) equipment setup. In land-practice, it's all to easy to cheat even without realizing, as you'll use your peripheral vision, so I really mean eyes-closed.

When scuba-diving, there are all kinds of things that restrict your vision, including refraction, your mask, lack of flexibility (tank and backplate), reduced light, silt, or bubbles. Add in task-loading, being narced, thick gloves, or a possible emergency and you want everything to be as easy as possible.

With equipment setup, such as adjusting your BCD, I find this is VERY useful. Can I "instantly" find my d-rings, cutting devices, octo, and inflator? Where do I naturally reach? Is my [item] in the location I naturally reach for? Doing this on land, and re-adjusting d-rings, etc can save you a lot of time and effort doing the same thing in the water.

However, also practice the same in the water. During a dive, reach for your octo, is it where you expect? What about your cutting device? (and go down the list). If anything isn't exactly where it needs to be, either do a quick fix, or make a mental note of it, and try to improve it after the dive.

To highlight the importance of blind practice, even if you dive in clear-waters, see this incident.

(I'll cover equipment retainers & suggested locations in another post)

 

[ScubaWithTurk]

Diving sidemount is what is I do for safety and redundancy. Two independent sources of gas is better than one. The other big one for me is something we often hear but many seldom use unless doing tech dives; Plan Your Dive and Dive Your Plan.

 

[Ross19966]

Rig your gear like you are diving solo. I don't want to rely on a dive buddy who may or may not be competent in an emergency. If you are self sufficient you should be able to get your self out a jam. If your buddy does help, that's a bonus.

 

[SlugLife]

Plan Your Dive and Dive Your Plan.

I'd even add (edit: for recreational dives) "over-plan your dives, and dive your plan."

For example, if it's a 30ft dive, I'll "plan" a 60 ft dive. If it's 60ft, I'll plan 90 ft. The reason being, there's about a 25% chance I'll encounter something interesting, or have a reason to go a little deeper. I do a lot of "treasure diving" which means there's a lot I may not know about the dive-site. And if the dive-site is not suitable for my planning or equipment (depth, visibility, temperature), I'll abort, and then either move to another site or surface, re-equip, and then go.

To be more specific, lets say I'm solo-diving with an 80cu + 19cu, thin wet-suit, and only my backup dive-light. That's probably ideal for 45ft (locally), but is probably limited to 75ft max on a good day. Beyond that I prefer to have a thicker wet-suit, "real" lights, and 2x 80cu.

Rig your gear like you are diving solo. I don't want to rely on a dive buddy who may or may not be competent in an emergency. If you are self sufficient you should be able to get your self out a jam. If your buddy does help, that's a bonus.

That's like my "Snake eyes principle." If you roll dice all-1s your dead or injured. So the more dice you have, the better off your are.

 

[ScubaWithTurk]

I'd even add "over-plan your dives, and dive your plan."

For example, if it's a 30ft dive, I'll "plan" a 60 ft dive. If it's 60ft, I'll plan 90 ft. The reason being, there's about a 25% chance I'll encounter something interesting, or have a reason to go a little deeper. I do a lot of "treasure diving" which means there's a lot I may not know about the dive-site. And if the dive-site is not suitable for my planning or equipment (depth, visibility, temperature), I'll abort, and then either move to another site or surface, re-equip, and then go.

I see your point here but that is what we have +/- 5 for when we plan. If you are doing a 30ft dive and planning 60, I see how you are incorporating safety but it isn't really planning the dive and diving the plan. I am guessing it works well for you on recreational dives but it isn't advice I would give anyone, at least for me it isn't. To be clear, it doesn't mean you are wrong, but just that we have different opinions on dive planning and that is ok.

 

[Searcaigh]

What do you carry as a means of shark defense/deterrence?

A camera with a wide angle lens