Perhaps you could explain to the rest of us why you would ever want to ditch a tank and regulator? With the possible exception of it becoming entangled, it's kind of important stuff to hang on to when you're underwater.
You have some interesting views on your "relationship" with your gear! But then what do I know... I've only logged about 5000 dives in the past 38 years...
Yeah, I don't know anything for certain about scuba, so that's a trick invitation to put more of my personal opinions in type, right?
So, I'll just explain it from my personal point of view with an upfront warning that I don't know... I just know what works for me. And yeah, I noticed in less than an hour when I first started reading the boards here that I'm way, way different than most of the people posting in the way I see myself vs. my equipment which is an extension of my own abilities. Not some magic carpet that is going to do all the work and never fail ...
Things I NEED to survive while scuba diving - My tank / My regulator. And those only if they are functional. If they aren't functional and they are hindering my ability to surface in any way - bye bye. It's a game of percentages. If I need the weight to keep from popping a lung - they stay. If I don't and there is nothing useful going on - they go.
Things I don't need but they sure make things nice - My fins, my mask, any weight in excess of that required to counterweight my wetsuits buoyancy and all of that other stuff I don't need if I'm heading to the surface because of any kind of survival necessitating that I leave it behind. It's just nice knowing what isn't required.
5000 dives is an encyclopedic knowledge base to work with. I don't have that. I have books, a few friends that know a lot, a lot of friends that don't know a damn thing and the known limits of my own body (without all this gear)
And the way my mind views this is that less is always going to be better if the more is not doing anything to extend my life. When I get the basic formulas for life support down I'll start enhancing my life with more crap. The only enhancing I do right now is playing around anywhere from 15 to 50', doing drills and getting used to the difference in breathing compressed air and breath holding. It's enormous, that difference.
I practice ditching my scuba gear for this reason: if you depend on it to the exclusion of all else you could easily drown in 6' of water. Another one of the things that struck me as totally weird during my OW training was the dependence on a stupid mask!! The training centered around how to properly fit it, wear it, clear it and not PANIC if it was removed. You don't even NEED a mask to scuba.
It's a convenience. I didn't say anything but I'm still convinced this is a backwards approach that teaches dependence on an optional piece of equipment. I'm exploring my personal options, is all. I think about the weird stuff and try it out to see if it works the same in practice as it does in my brain. Everything I'm doing I recommend only for myself. I don't even usually talk about it with anyone but the divers I know who do have your kind of experience. After watching the pool training .... I'm kind of surprised some people don't work on diving with JUST a weighted tank and a regulator to familiarize themselves with the water and what they are capable of (themselves and not the equipment) before they strap a sh*tload of gear on their shoulders and sink away!
I'd be interested to know why you think I shouldn't absolutely know how to ditch all of my gear if needed? And not only know because I read it in a book or read someone talking about someone who died in 30' of water because they couldn't get out of their gear and they had NO air left, and their buddy left them there ... Seriously? Who taught this guy to be so afraid to ditch all of his gear that he couldn't even think for himself?
