Diving Taboo question

[Luiz Rocha]

Note that no Spare Air, pony bottle or doubles set can replace a good buddy. A pony will never understand what to do when you narc, ox tox, pass out, have a heart attack, or get entangled... And a backup gas supply is no fun to share the dive with.

Kudos for considering "a backup gas supply." That's a healthy thought process that will keep you alive underwater. Consider, though, other simpler, more straightforward, and in many cases cheaper ways of addressing the issue.

Hope that helps.

I couldn't put it better myself SeaJay, in all of my years of diving (I got my open water certification 20 years ago) I unfortunately have heard of and personally witnessed several dive accidents. NOT A SINGLE ONE OF THEM could have been solved by a stage bottle or alternate air source. Most of them were just plain stupidity, and a great deal would have been avoided by a good buddy.

So, my question, I am sure there are some people that have been diving for a long time reading this thread, outside of technical (decompression, cave or wreck) diving, which is not the subject of this post, have you ever heard of a dive accident that could have been avoided by a stage bottle?

A few things to consider:

1. If a diver is careless enough to run out of air he will get into an accident eventually, even if he dives with a stage.

2. If you don't trust your buddy, dive DIR, do it right, doubles, as if you were going tech, but get the proper training for it. Read this interesting article:

http://www.scubadiving.com/training/advanced-skills/2006/10/should-you-go-solo

 

[imbarrie]

Im a PADI Instructor and I have crewed Dive Liveaboards in the Bahamas for a couple years. Diving 3-5 dives daily on walls and fringing reefs taking 15-20 people per trip.

The only person I have ever sent to the chamber from my boat dived with a pony bottle.

Concentrate on your breathing. Count to 5 as you inhale 1-2-3-4-5 then count as you exhale 1-2-3-4-5. Then you will take 6 breathes per minute. You will find your tank will last a lot longer and you may not need a pony tank.

Could it be that a dive store owner has mentioned this to you?
I know many store owners that would drool over another "necessary" piece of equipment.
I stay away from those.

 

[SeaJayInSC]

I know many store owners that would drool over another "necessary" piece of equipment.
I stay away from those.

Yeah, what he said.

+1.

 

[diver07]

Im a PADI Instructor and I have crewed Dive Liveaboards in the Bahamas for a couple years. Diving 3-5 dives daily on walls and fringing reefs taking 15-20 people per trip.

The only person I have ever sent to the chamber from my boat dived with a pony bottle.

Concentrate on your breathing. Count to 5 as you inhale 1-2-3-4-5 then count as you exhale 1-2-3-4-5. Then you will take 6 breathes per minute. You will find your tank will last a lot longer and you may not need a pony tank.

Could it be that a dive store owner has mentioned this to you?
I know many store owners that would drool over another "necessary" piece of equipment.
I stay away from those.

This isn't about running out of air. The OP has already shown he has a good head on his shoulders regarding gas management. It's about redundancy in case of equipment failure when he has no/and or/crappy buddy. If he blows his tank neck o-ring, burst disc or 1st stage at say 100' it may be difficult to make a safe ascent with safety stop.

I doubt your chamber ride guy went there because he had a pony. More likely because he failed to observe NDL limits. How can having a pony cause someone to get bent?

Aaron

 

[Hoyden]

I think that the OP's problem - no trust in dive buddy - can be solved one of three ways.
1. Find a reliable, trustworthy buddy and do all dive travel with this buddy.
2. Get appropriate training to carry and use an appropriate redundant air source. I have traveled with an al30 with no real problems. Yes, the valve has to be removed. If this is the route that you choose, I'd recommend taking the SDI Solo Diver class from a good instructor.
3. Get more experince/training so that you are comfortable with your abilities to problem solve on the type of diving that you do. If you are doing recreational (non-deco, non-overhead) diving 90' and shallower, you should be able to manage most anything that will come up (including catastrophic gas loss) without a redundant air source or a buddy.

In a perfect world, you might consider all three.

Jackie Cooper
PADI MSDT, SDI Solo Diver, IANTD Trimix Rebreather Diver