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

[napDiver]

@Boarderguy @SlugLife O ok I wasn't thinking of pony bottles at all. I don't ever use a pony.

I often take a steel 130 so I don't need to worry about air. If I was ever worried about redundancy, I tend to just sling an AL80. I'm guessing whipping AL80s don't have much of a benefit?

 

[Boarderguy]

@Boarderguy @SlugLife O ok I wasn't thinking of pony bottles at all. I don't ever use a pony.

I often take a steel 130 so I don't need to worry about air. If I was ever worried about redundancy, I tend to just sling an AL80. I'm guessing whipping AL80s don't have much of a benefit?

I have 3 AL 80s that are destined for deco fills once I care more. I don't sling anything because it's often a pain and will get in the way for me. A back mounted pony is out of the way and always there regardless of which single tank I grab.

 

[happy-diver]

Have I ever mentioned that after you are nitox accredited having 50% in your pony can be quite advantageous
making the dive oxygen safer and pony safer for more fun

 

[lermontov]

As for #3, I do the same. I have never had a student run OOG either in class, or after training, but I really stress gas management. I tell them my expectation is that they will never run out of gas and that they have to mail their certifications back to the shop if they do.

completely agree -spend equivalent time teaching dive planning and gas management first and foremost and youll likley never have to use OOG skill

When I did cave training, I had an absolute blast doing things like zero-viz exits, working on entanglements, and sidemount mask switches. I

whats a sidemount mask switch? as opposed to any other type of mask switch ?

 

[SlugLife]

@Boarderguy @SlugLife O ok I wasn't thinking of pony bottles at all. I don't ever use a pony.

I often take a steel 130 so I don't need to worry about air. If I was ever worried about redundancy, I tend to just sling an AL80. I'm guessing whipping AL80s don't have much of a benefit?

To provide a bit of a strawman, if one is diving with 8 full sized scuba tanks on a 30-foot recreational dive .... maybe something's wrong with the picture. The ideal purpose of a pony, is a convenient way of having a completely redundant system. If anything at all goes wrong with your primary air-system, you have another independent air-source which can get you to the surface safely. For example, if your first-stage blows up, a hose come loose, or your regulator freezes.

If you wanted to use an 80cu as a "pony" I certainly wouldn't stop you. But that's a lot of mass to be dragging around, both on the surface and underwater. For a very deep dive, that might be appropriate. For an open recreational dive, a 19cu is typically adequate for most divers. So depending on the kind of dive you do, having a smaller tank for redundancy might be far more convenient.

The reason I carry a pony is only about 1% for the case of failure to monitor my air or needing more air. A brand new diver might need it for that purpose, but an experienced diver should not. The pony is mostly there for some kind of unexpected scenario like a severe entanglement, complete regulator failure, etc.

 

[VikingDives]

completely agree -spend equivalent time teaching dive planning and gas management first and foremost and youll likley never have to use OOG skill


whats a sidemount mask switch? as opposed to any other type of mask switch ?

There's a little more to it in sidemount in a cave with a helmet, pouch, and hood.

 

[scubastutz]

My suggestion is probably a bit off centre. learn and practice solo diving. That way you will be able to deal with most situations with confidence, a big life saver. Start easy, work up to more challenging dives, and do not bite off more than you can chew, You will get there eventually!!
Also, try to dive with minimum equipment, less to go wrong, and you will be surprised how much a lot of gear divers carry is surplus to requirements. I know some of you out there will think it is irresponsible to dive without lots of safety gear, but if you can dive safely without it, how much safer will you be with it?!

 

[SlugLife]

My suggestion is probably a bit off centre. learn and practice solo diving. That way you will be able to deal with most situations with confidence, a big life saver. Start easy, work up to more challenging dives, and do not bite off more than you can chew, You will get there eventually!!
Also, try to dive with minimum equipment, less to go wrong, and you will be surprised how much a lot of gear divers carry is surplus to requirements. I know some of you out there will think it is irresponsible to dive without lots of safety gear, but if you can dive safely without it, how much safer will you be with it?!

Agree/disagree on nuance.

The safety philosophy I often use is "If you roll the dice and get snake-eyes (all 1's), you're dead." For diving, the more and more reliable ways you have for safely getting to the surface, the better off you are. For example, CESA is a fantastic no-equipment out of air redundancy. Unless you have a deco-obligation, are too deep, or you unluckily have an entanglement at the same time.

Conversely, having a bunch of clutter, devices, tools, etc that you don't need or won't use will get in your way. "I'm entangled, where's my knife? Nope that's a wrench. Nope, that's my 5th backup light. Here it is! No, that's not it, it's my screwdriver!" I wish most dive-equipment could be like those mini line-cutters or knives that are barely bigger than your 2-inch-harness-webbing.

 

[NW Dive Dawg]

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

1) Learn, prepare and equip to SOLO dive, even when diving with others.
2) Learn, prepare and equip for First Aid & CPR
3) Learn, prepare and equip for 02 administration.

 

[ofg-1]

I always think of the words of U S Navy diver, Thomas Roan:

"When in danger;
When there's doubt;
Run in circles,
Scream and shout"