When have you been glad you had a pony?

[BobbyT22]

This thread is directed at those (like me) who have already made the decision to dive with a pony. I personally sling either a 19 or 13 cu ft, and suffice it to say the choice to dive with a pony is the right one for me. I have never actually used it though in an emergency situation (hopefully never will), and what I what to know is how many folks have actually had to use theirs, either for themselves or another diver. Please share your "Good thing I had a pony" experiences.

 

[drbill]

Let's put it this way... the only time I've been UNhappy was when I was too lazy to attach my pony (on a dive where my tank valve clogged at 75 ft). I've never dived without it since that "enlightening" event.

 

[ArcticDiver]

Let's put it this way... the only time I've been UNhappy was when I was too lazy to attach my pony (on a dive where my tank valve clogged at 75 ft). I've never dived without it since that "enlightening" event.

You are making me think again about my decision to do my first single tank diving in over two years when I go to HI next month. I shipped my singles gear over already but I guess I could take more when I go.

 

[muddiver]

Ther I was....

130 feet, looked at SPG and that little needle was in the red :11:

Started ascent at 30' per min. and had to switch over to pony at around 100'

Finished off at 15' on cylinder hung over side of boat.

Dr. Bill, that was with Cyd out near Blue Cavern when we were looking for one of the marine preserve bouys.

 

[Kirby Pollard]

I had a first stage failure at 80 ft, by the time my buddy realized the intense bubble show might signify a problem, I had already switched to my 30 cu ft pony and shut down the free flowing tank. No emergency ascent or buddy air share required, just a safe return to shore on bottom contour, safety stop complete, 1500 psi left.
I do not dive without a redundant regulator, they can and do fail at the worse times.

Kirby

 

[hlsooner]

Three incidents, none of them involved me breathing off the pony bottle.

(1) Playing instabuddy to a nice couple visiting from Iowa. They were doing their first ocean drift dives, so I carried the flag to help them out and keep an eye on them. About thirty minutes into the dive, on a reef at 50', I decide to check how fast they are using up their gas, I check the wife and she has 200 psi of gas showing on her rented SPG. I calmly pull the pony reg, offer it to her, and she takes it, looking confused at me. We make a normal ascent, do a safety stop, then surface. Sadly she was just enjoying the pretty fish and had no idea how close to an accident she was.

(2) Again playing instabuddy to a rather rotund Canadian gentleman who was visiting. My wife and I did a normal length dive on a 70' wreck. And I was impressed that this large gentleman stayed down with us, expecting him to go through his gas quickly. I signaled to hit the anchor line and head up. Shortly after we began the ascent, he begins signaling OOG. I offer him the pony reg, he refuses to take it and begins climbing up the anchor line at a good clip, but still seems to be breathing. I chase him up and finally get control of him around 30'. Finally I get him to take the reg and we did a safety stop and surfaced. Debriefing, he stated he looked at his gauge on the line and only had 150 psi and panicked.

(3) After a nice lengthy wreck dive to 100', I was hanging at 20' for a nice long safety stop. I had been the first to splash, and many divers remained on the wreck. As I was staring at a large barracuda under the boat, I felt a strong tug. I turned to see a diver breathing off my pony reg. Again we did a full stop and surfaced. On the boat he stated he had run out of gas coming up the line, and when he saw my extra tank and yellow reg on it, he just grabbed it. I said good, that's what it's there for.

Moral of the story, I love having a redundant gas supply for myself, but since we have many novice tourist divers frequently on our boats, I also carry an extra gas supply for the inevitable times when these divers do not monitor their gas well.

 

[scubajcf]

every dive I have carried it.

 

[peterbj7]

A friend and I were on a week's liveaboard diving off South Male Atoll in the Maldives (and by a fluke seemed to avoid CO poisoning!). We were both new instructors, and were diving together. Our group, from England, comprised around 12 souls.

We were on the down-current end of an erg, at around 25 mtr, with a hell of a struggle ahead of us to get back against a monstrous current (very common in those parts). No problem - we both had the technique (and air) to do it without drama.

We were to one side of the rear slope of the erg, and just as we were agreeing what we would do we spotted another dive couple in roughly the corresponding position on the other side, maybe 50 feet away. We recognised the divers as a couple of young lads from our group. Had to be our group as there were no other boats around.

We realised that these two lads had no idea what current they were in, and what a precarious situation they were rapidly putting themselves in. They were at around 20 mtr when we first saw them, but they were descending down the slope and were soon at our depth.

We banged our tanks and made as much noise as we could and eventually they spotted us. At first they didn't understand why were were making noise and didn't do anything, but after a while they started to come over to us. Only then did they realise how strong the current was, and they took several minutes of struggling and clawing at the erg till they reached us. When we checked their SPGs we were astonished to see that at 25 mtr and virtually in deco they were each down to less than 50 bar.

This is where the ponies came in, and my friend and I each had a full 3 litre. We each adopted one of the lads and clipped our ponies to their gear, so they would be independent if we were split apart by the current. We then both sent up our DSMBs (neither of the two lads had one) and did a synchronised lift-off from the erg. We wanted to stay together. After a normal ascent, which by then included a deco stop for all of us (the first ever for the lads), we surfaced over a mile downstream. Luckily the SMBs had been spotted as soon as they hit the surface and a boat had been despatched to follow us. So no drama there.

I and my friend were and still are in no doubt that we saved the lives of those lads. The lads didn't see it that way, and rather resented our "interference", which really just shows their inexperience and inability to recognise a crisis situation. Whether we could have managed a controlled ascent without ponies is a moot point, as neither of us had much more than 50 bar when we surfaced and both ponies were almost empty.

 

[lowviz]

When have you been glad you had a pony?

Every nitrox dive. It costs me the same to get my tanks filled whether they have a residual 1400 psi as it does to fill them at 500 psi. My rockbottom reserve (and more) is in my pony. Fill once with air and dive it until it gets too low from pressure checks.

 

[BobbyT22]

Awesome stories, thanks for the responses and sharing your experiences. Good stuff!