Calling all ponies

[Bonairetrip]

Realistic?

On my second training dive, the instructor forgot to turn my gas back on during a simulated OOA. So, at the end of the exercise I put in my reg and no air. It took me about 1/2 second to understand what happened, another second to give an OOO signal, and another couple for the instructor to realize his mistake and turn my valve back open. At the most 5 seconds total to be breathing air. And no panic either.

Nicely done! That is a very good indicator of your diving skills. Any idea what your SAC rate was then?

On the one hand, you were a brand new diver so your average SAC was probably higher then that it is now. OTOH, the circumstances were not as bad they might have been. You were doing a simulated OOA drill so you were already in the mindset a bit. You were with an instructor. And your instructor was probably in arm's reach.

You were probably fairly shallow and not at 120 FSW (Dhuskins first picked that depth and the 3 cft SA).

Why would my SAC triple, I know I've got enough air on board to find my buddy or CESA? In fact, I'd say SA might be worth it if for no other reason than to prevent or stall a panic attack in people otherwise prone to such events.

Others have explained the why/how. Someone I respect a great deal (Walt from RecTek Scuba on Bonaire) argues that a stressed SAC increases can be five to nine times your relaxed SAC rate.

I've seen a whole range of these "realistic scenarios" that aren't realistic at all in these various threads.

At least not for typical rec divers.

That is where I disagree. Start at 120 FSW, leave a bit of time to stabilize the situation and a realistic SAC and ascent rate. Then show us the math...

Now I may very well be wrong, SA 3.0/H2O 6.0 might be useless crud, but no one has presented a logical reason why so far. Please show me where my logic is wrong, I can still return mine

It's OK, people told me I did not need the high end leathers, body armor, and helmets when I raced motorcycles semi-professionally. They were mostly right, I didn't need them until some bozo laid his bike down in front of mine at about 125mph.

I wouldn't regard a SA as either worthless crud or the high end leathers, armor and helmets you reference. It is a tool and one must understand the limitations of any tool.

 

[Water Monkey]

SpareAir is a wonderfully unique piece of gear - it's the only piece of scuba equipment that can enable a diver to run out of air TWICE on the SAME DIVE!

That’s great And very true.
Lots of good suggestions here.
You can sit on the couch and theorize all you want but until it happens you just don’t know how it’s going to play out. I was doing a night dive years ago using a Cochran hoseless computer. I had been checking my pressure regularly and but then I looked at my computer and it said that I had less than a hundred psi and I was in 103 feet of water. So I started my accent still using my back gas. My plan was to suck my back gas dry and then switch over to my 13 cft pony. I never made the switch because the computer was wrong and I still had 1500psi back at the surface, but I can tell you with certainty that I was sucking way more gas than I would have calculated sitting on the boat. And at the time I had plenty of dives under my belt.
Another thing is that, I use to use the button gauges but now I just can’t see them anymore, especially in low light situations , which is generally the case around here. So I use a long spg if I’m using a back mounted pony, usually a 13, or a short spg if I’m slinging one.
And by the way that was the last time I dove a Cochran computer or any other hoseless computer for that matter.

 

[Bonairetrip]

My math? It was based on sucking a SA dry on the surface. It took over 11 minutes. 11 minutes and 46 seconds.

You sir have an amazing SAC (sitting in a chair) -- that works out to around 0.25. What would you estimate your stressed and non-stressed SAC rates to be (while diving)?

 

[dhuskins]

You sir have an amazing SAC (sitting in a chair) -- that works out to around 0.25. What would you estimate your stressed and non-stressed SAC rates to be (while diving)?

My non-stressed diving is around 0.35. Thanks to all the Japanese tea ceremony, zen, martial arts, etc I have done. Stressed is untested, but I expect it to be around 80 cubic feet per minute.

 

[Water Monkey]

You do need a separate reg for the slung bottle. But you do not need two second stages on it. Only one and an SPG. I would also advise you to get with an instructor or mentor who will teach you to properly rig the bottle and sling it. As well as taking you on a couple dives with it where you actually deploy and use it. I teach this in my AOW class. A redundant air source is worthless if you have not been shown how to use it and also requires regular practice. You still need your long hose and back up on a bungee. The pony reg will have a 40 inch hose on the second stage and a 6 inch on the SPG. You secure the 40inch with bungee or inner tube and when it is deployed you clip off the long hose and bring the pony around the neck and into your mouth just like the long hose reg.

And the holidays do suck when you are alone. My wife is in ICU and I can;t stay at the hospital with her. My son is somewhere in the Mideast and my daughter is with her mom 150 miles away. Spent a few hours this evening with the inlaws but with my wife not there it was not very festive for me. Thank you for your service and God Bless.

Sorry, this is a little off topic but I’m not familiar with SEI. Does the SEI AOW curriculum include slinging ponies?