is all too common of the GUE "one true way" kool-aid nonsense.
Kane, you know better. You've conveniently ignored the very reasonable (and realistic) scenarios under which some (myself included) have presented the case for a pony, how we rig them, and why.
You claim that the solution is to dive as a "unified team." What you really mean is that we shouldn't spearfish, and absolutely should not spearfish where BOTH divers are persuing the taking of fish at the same time. Nor should we EVER find ourselves buddy-absent. Its very nice for you to pronounce that in an open water environment where buddy separation CAN happen, that we'll simply say "don't do that" and ignore the risk that it both can and does.
Gee, how about if we say "oh no, you can't dive in a cave, because that requires extra care and gear, and well, that's just too damn dangerous. Dive in non-overhead environments only and the problem goes away."
That's offensive, no? So how come what you're saying doesn't carry the same obligation and view?
Doubles are not "difficult" to use or learn, but they do bring MASS to the table, and that mass is inescapable. You've been engaged on this point several times, but you keep ignoring the very real fact that not even GI3 - or you - can repeal the laws of physics, and the most important one in play here is the basic principle of inertia. Rather than address it, you just ignore it.
The mass penalty for a set of doubles is substantial. In a non-overhead environment, but one where you are too deep to make a safe CESA, a pony bottle brings the REQUIRED redundancy to make a safe ascent, while NOT bringing with it extra mass that serves no purpose other than to decrease your efficiency underwater and increase entanglement risk. Never mind that its a royal PITA getting back on a heaving dive boat with a set of doubles on your back, as opposed to the far lower mass of a single.
Now if you NEED the backgas of a set of doubles, then by all means take them.
It amazes some, myself included, that you would garf about someone slinging a bottle for bailout while at the same time you'd sling a bottle for deco. Gee, you COULD decompress on backgas for dives in which that gas would not be hypoxic, no?
Yeah, it would take longer, and you might have to cut your bottom time shorter, but remember, the GUE mantra you're espousing here is that you never take any UNNECESSARY gear. That is, gear taken for convenience, or to address a contingency is improper, right?
So nice your double standard is.
