Streamlining your gear is important. Way too many divers seem to jump into to the water with half the dive shop hanging from the bazillion d-rings that are put onto bcds these days. The drawback of doing this is that your gear can catch on the reef, be dragged through the mud, and otherwise suffer wear and tear that just isnt necessary.
The cave and wreck divers have streamlined their set up so that stuff doesnt get caught and so that they can move through the water efficiently. For a rec. diver many of these principles can be applied with the some of the same reasoning.
A couple of days ago, Uncle Pug and myself were diving off the Olympic Peninsula in Washington. We found ourselves diving through these sculpted channels that at times were barely wider than our shoulders. Many of these channels were choked with kelp that was anchored to the bottom. At times not only did we have to thread our way through the rock, but also through the kelp. There were times when kelp stalks would get caught on a wrist gauge or come across our chests. Each time we would have to disengage ourselves. I kept thinking about how glad I was that all my gear was streamlined and that I didnt have any danglies. I was glad that my knife was small and on my waist instead of down on my calf where it would have been much harder to untangle it. I was glad that my backup light was clipped off and not hanging. The same was true with my spg and bungeed secondary. I was glad that I didnt have a snorkel that could have got caught and then pulled my mask off. There were times that the kelp would get caught on my pockets of my dry suit, but moving my legs would take care of that. For the most part though we were able to thread our way through the maze of rock and kelp with impunity.
Here we were on a rec dive where our max depth was 71 and because we had adopted a single tank tech set up, we never got tangled. Even though going through some of this kelp was difficult at times, my SAC never really changed from a dive where I didnt have obstructions. Because I wasnt always untangling myself, I never got nervous and was able to thoroughly enjoy the dive. It never got to the point where it was such a pain that I wanted to call it and make for the surface.
Bottom line us rec. divers have a lot to be thankful of our more technically oriented friends. We can apply many of their lessons and gear configurations to make our dives safer and more fun. So before you put down these folks and say that tech doesnt apply in rec. look carefully at the sort of diving that you do. I agree that doubles, multiple gasses along with deco bottles are not necessary if you are planning on staying in NDL. If you are practicing or learning how to dive where you need this sort of gear then by all means bring it on. If all you want to do though is rec diving then for no other reason streamlining will help lower your SAC rate and that unto itself is worthy.
The cave and wreck divers have streamlined their set up so that stuff doesnt get caught and so that they can move through the water efficiently. For a rec. diver many of these principles can be applied with the some of the same reasoning.
A couple of days ago, Uncle Pug and myself were diving off the Olympic Peninsula in Washington. We found ourselves diving through these sculpted channels that at times were barely wider than our shoulders. Many of these channels were choked with kelp that was anchored to the bottom. At times not only did we have to thread our way through the rock, but also through the kelp. There were times when kelp stalks would get caught on a wrist gauge or come across our chests. Each time we would have to disengage ourselves. I kept thinking about how glad I was that all my gear was streamlined and that I didnt have any danglies. I was glad that my knife was small and on my waist instead of down on my calf where it would have been much harder to untangle it. I was glad that my backup light was clipped off and not hanging. The same was true with my spg and bungeed secondary. I was glad that I didnt have a snorkel that could have got caught and then pulled my mask off. There were times that the kelp would get caught on my pockets of my dry suit, but moving my legs would take care of that. For the most part though we were able to thread our way through the maze of rock and kelp with impunity.
Here we were on a rec dive where our max depth was 71 and because we had adopted a single tank tech set up, we never got tangled. Even though going through some of this kelp was difficult at times, my SAC never really changed from a dive where I didnt have obstructions. Because I wasnt always untangling myself, I never got nervous and was able to thoroughly enjoy the dive. It never got to the point where it was such a pain that I wanted to call it and make for the surface.
Bottom line us rec. divers have a lot to be thankful of our more technically oriented friends. We can apply many of their lessons and gear configurations to make our dives safer and more fun. So before you put down these folks and say that tech doesnt apply in rec. look carefully at the sort of diving that you do. I agree that doubles, multiple gasses along with deco bottles are not necessary if you are planning on staying in NDL. If you are practicing or learning how to dive where you need this sort of gear then by all means bring it on. If all you want to do though is rec diving then for no other reason streamlining will help lower your SAC rate and that unto itself is worthy.
