Gotta love that Pony

[formula1mb@aol.com]

I think you can add a fourth reason too, diving in poor conditions with limited visibility where loosing your buddy is very possible no matter how great of a buddy you are:


1. When solo diving in a single cylinder beyond CESA depths

2. When diving with new buddies

3. When diving cold water in a single cylinder, where the possibility of freezing a reg exists

4. Diving in poor conditions (i.e. very limited or no viz, strong surge, etc. ) where losing your
buddy can easily happen if you look away for even a couple of seconds

 

[bamamedic]

I kind of think, that if you're diving in water with visibility so poor that losing your buddy that quickly is a possibility, then either:

A. You're really just "same ocean" solo diving, and need your own redundancy anyways

or

B. You need to really, really, really work at keeping the team together!

 

[Sas]

I think you can add a fourth reason too, diving in poor conditions with limited visibility where loosing your buddy is very possible no matter how great of a buddy you are:

How limited are we talking? I have dived a fair few times in viz 0.5-1m and have had little trouble keeping with my buddy (well I did when I was new but I have gotten a lot better at this over time and regular buddies help especially).

Anything less than that I have rarely dived in (maybe half a dozen times in real life but a few more times in courses), we keep in physical contact such as one holding the other's arm. If I did not do that it would be difficult.

I mean I'm not saying this to say it is not a good reason to wear a pony, but I don't think it should be hard for buddies to stay together even with bad viz.

 

[formula1mb@aol.com]

It's not impossible to stay together in very low viz, say 1 ft, but it does make it much more likely with very limited viz to lose your buddy, esp if the other person is more inexperienced. Combined with strong surge too, where you might be holding on looking at something and your buddy isn't holding on to anything, strong surge comes and when you turn to look he's gone. At night not too bad if you see the glow of his light but in a day dive, not impossible.

 

[garethscottnet]

Might be worth pointing out that if you loose your buddy in poor viz you don't need to pull out your pony. In situations where you can see your buddy, but you don't think you can reach them in time, is when your happy you use a pony.

Consider this: Your coming to the end of your dive. You and your buddy are low on air. Your regulator starts to free flow and then runs dry. You manage to fin over to your buddy who provides an alternative air source, you start breath normally.
A quick calculation is required because your computer ain't gonna tell ya. Does your buddy have enough air left for both of you to get to the surface safely?
What do you do if your buddy's remaining air can't get you both to the surface safely?
What is your buddy going to do when they realise they don't have enough air for you both?

How about you pull out a pony and safely make your own way safely to the surface?

This thread should not be about counting all of the good reasons why you should carry a pony. We can all work out the benefits of having a completely seperate air source that can be used in an emergency.

I recommend you take a pony with you.
I also hope you never need to use it.

Plan the dive and dive the plan.

 

[bamamedic]

Theoretically, you really should have calculated the gas requirements for the dive prior to splashing...so you know that even with an increased SAC rate due to an emergency situation, you'll have enough gas to get you and your buddy to the surface from the deepest portion of your dive.

I worry that people use pony bottles to substitute for proper gas planning. It's nice insurance in case of buddy separation, to provide redundancy for solo diving, and in case of diving with new divers or unknown buddies. At least personally, if I'm diving with a diver I know and trust, I don't carry a pony bottle, because my redundancy is my buddy.

 

[TechBlue]

By your definition, if I use a set of doubles on a recreational dive, one of them is just a very big pony.

I sling a stage, a deco bottle, & on the very rare occasions I use a pony, I sling that too.

I use a stage to extend bottom time. I use a deco bottle to accelerate deco. I use a pony for those times when it all go's to pot on a recreational dive & I need a personal emergency gas supply. It's not how I mount it, it's about how I plan to use it, that changes the definition of the same slung bottle.

In a word, bollocks

 

[bamamedic]

Bullock

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia


http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bullock#searchInput

• Bullocks (in British English), castrated male cattle
• Bullocks (in North America), young bulls (uncastrated male cattle)

Is that like saying, bullpoopie?

 

[RJP]

Please tell me why sky divers need a reserve parachute?

Because a CEPD (Controlled Emergency Plummeting Descent) is not an option, nor is turning to your buddy and giving him the "out of parachute, share parachute" sign.



For some ridiculous reason people seem to think that skydiving is a good analogy to use to make comparison to scuba diving.

Other than the word "dive" the two have pretty much NOTHING in common.

 

[oldflounder]

I carry it just like I do a deco bottle, with the regulator charged, but the valve off, and I'm religous about checking it several times during the dive to make sure the regulator is still charged.

I did that when I first started carrying a pony because some people suggest having it charged but off so that you don't loose air without knowing it. I used to practice turning it on and using it during the dive.

Until I turned the wrong knob and loosened my first stage.

I know - I'm a dummy - totally my fault

Now I dive with it always on - there are a lot of things in scuba that are a gamble.

DIR tries to eliminate the gamble part of it but I am not there yet.