I do see myself Wreck Diving.... and eventually (a year or so, when I am ready) starting to look into doubles and tec basics.
Safe wreck diving (penetration) tends to require gas redundancy. You can start with a pony, but your end state will ideally be doubles.
Do you think that I would be smart to ditch the jacket and start using a wing or bp\w? Or continue to use the Jacket until I am more skilled and ready for that kind of diving that requires that gear?
One of the biggest obstacles facing students on higher level courses is having ingrained equipment skills. When they transition into new equipment at the same time as learning new diving skills it does tend to cause an overload. New dive skills + new dive equipment = gross task loading.
IMHO, if you continue using a Jacket BCD, you will only develop ingrained equipment familiarity in that configuration. Why postpone the inevitable to a date when you're bound to be otherwise highly preoccupied with the development of new skills.
Having extensive experience in your equipment is a recipe for success in advanced scuba training. If you know your long term plans, then start developing equipment specific experience at the soonest possible date.
My LDS carries some Hollis gear as well as Sherwood BCD's and I was looking at a few options, mainly the Sherwood Axis and a Hollis BP\W combo (They have the ride, but not sure if that is a good every day BC?).
If they stock Hollis, ask them to show you the SMS50 and SMS100 sidemount systems. Sidemount gets you diving doubles quickly. It is relatively inexpensive compared to equipping for back-mount doubles and is very intuitive to learn if you have a competent sidemount instructor. It is becoming much more mainstream now.... and will continue to popularize within recreational diving over the coming few years. Sidemount (recreational) courses are available through most agencies, including PADI, and many are accessible at OW level.
Secondly - Do you recommend a BP\W versus a Wing for any particular reason, and if so why and what gear do you enjoy?
I dove BP&W for more than a decade - both single tank and doubles. You can adopt a consistent configuration between the two (doubles and singles) which aids the development of muscle memory, equipment familiarization and ingrained skills in either rig. Basically, the time you spend in single-tank BP&W contributes to your readiness to dive double-tank BP&W.
I did switch primarily to sidemount in the last few years - for both recreational and technical diving. Again, the same benefit of equipment consistency applies. ALL my dives, even recreational ones, contribute to my comfort and fluidity in my technical rig. If unfamiliar with sidemount, check out my article:
Sidemount Diving | Course Notes | Advanced Scuba
