The 'DIR militants' on the message board will have you
believe that a guy NEEDS to have a backplate and wing to be a good diver. You'll hear all kinds of arguments about it being 'modular' and offering quick change-outs from singles to twins or less costly to upgrade, etc.
Lets consider the diver may be a novice and only diving to less than the normal recreational limit - 120 ft, or less. I have watched those 'techies' execute a beach entry dive to a depth of a mere 20 ft fully laden in a drysuit, 7 ft hose, twins, manifold, HIH light, etc. Vast overkill. Its all part of divers TRYING to emulate the hero's and be like them. Its part of the mindset that IF I buy that the gear, I'll instantly be emulsified into a super tech diver, capable of great feats and deep dives! Its because some says if you don't do it THIS way, your a stroke or a loser. Talk about an exclusive 'club' or 'click.' Jim Jones comes to mind when I hear this type of smack. Sadly, I too once fell into this mindset.
What they don't mention to is what goes along with that gear is expensive Nitrox fills, computers, stage bottles, drysuits, pee valves, annual tank inspections, HID lights, long hoses.
I have a buddy who got certified about when I did in 2002. He now owns twin OMS 98's, a HID light, two backup lights, a drysuit, two pairs of drysuit undies, a pee valve, two complete Poseidon regs. He called me to tell me yesterday that the last 4 times out on the boat he has been SO seasick and suffers from anxiety so bad that he hasn't been able to dive! Now he say's "I thinks getting into twins at this stage of my diving career with less than 50 dives was overkill. But all my buddies are diving twins. What if I wanna do a shallow beach or shore dive for just fun with a single tank? I don't even own a single AL80 any longer."
This is whats happening all over the industry with divers. A $500 BC is better than a $250 BC. A drysuit will allow me to dive 12 months a year even if I'm NOT interested in diving 12 months a year. Nothing about what a pain a drysuit can be in 75 degree summer weather or while standing around chatting while doing your surface intervals w/o suspenders. Oops, now I NEED suspenders added and gaiters so I remain upright, and additional pockets on the sides of my drysuit!
I personally have read all the (+) and (-) arguments of the Great BC and Wing debate that SeaJay began long ago.
I personally have had nothing but problems with wings and backplates from Day One. Halcyon, OMS. Weighting, trim, buoyancy issues. This guys says 'Bungee wings are BWOD! This guys says you HAVE to have a Halcyon wing to dive correctly!:
The VERY thing that these pieces of gear were SUPPOSED to correct or prevent from happening was happening to me constantly!
I (and a dive partner from work) actually dove BETTER with our
fairly inexpensive Mares Syncro Power Tech jacket inflation BC's. It took me JUST one dive to correctly weight myself with that BC and I was diving like a champ. Then, I decided, I NEEDED a tech rig to dive better, deeper and carry more gear - you know, AL40 pony bottles, etc. because it 'looks cool' and now I have redundancy!
Along the way I began to contemplate "What constitutes 'fun' in diving?" A deep dive? A reef dive? A shallow dive?
Was the diver with 100# of gear doing a 90 minute to 70 ft non-have more fun than a guy doing a 25 ft reef dive? Was a deco dive or a Trimix dive more fun? or diving with twins?
I have had a lot more fun doing a dive to 50 ft
and enjoying the water, the sights, sounds, my friends etc. and not be inflating/deflating my BC or drysuit every 5 minutes.
I don't know about anyone else, but I'm gonna be in my jacket BC with my Healthways double hose reg and out having fun!
Ahh, just like Cousteau or Sea Hunt! And, I can service that single stage double hose regulator in about a full 20 minutes when it needs parts replaced!
Now these vintage divers look like THEY are having FUN!
