What do you consider dive safety equipment?

[Robert Phillips]

Carrying all that around could make you tired after a while, don't you think....

LOL... Not when you cut off his legs and stick him in a dry-bag!

 

[wcl]

's What I said, right? Taking an SMB on a dive in a small shallow lake isn't worth the cost (mine's an OMS six-footer).

Do most people who lug around the extra equipment know how to use it? I seriously doubt it sometimes.

Most divers don't even bother to do OOA drills on a regular basis, let alone practice the use of safety equipment. If that kind of diver ever gets into a situation where, say a signal mirror has to be used, I'll bet you any odds you choose the mirror will end up on the bottom.

PS: where I dive, lights aren't optional. If you don't take a light along, you'll be diving Riddick style. Pitch black.

The comment about knowing how to use the stuff does shake loose one other competing thought: It also helps to dive a consistent equipment setup more than not, which keeps the most important emergency item sharp (your brain).

One should take the gear along often enough to be used to it and practiced with it. If you only take it sometimes, you may lose that ... which is why my basic kit has grown over time. I do take those things out for a spin, because it would really suck if the day came when I really, really needed it and it didn't work (or I couldn't use it effectively).


Riddick diving ... good one! Heh. Done that a little here in Lake Michigan.

Cheers,
Walter