Do you actually see people diving with pony bottles?

[Marie13]

How much counter weight do you need to add to get this 100psig 2L coke bottle to be neutrally buoyant?

Who are you asking?

 

[RayfromTX]

5.4 pounds

 

[Marie13]

With my 30cft pony, I don't tweak my weighting at all.

And on the topic of back mounted ponies causing incidents, not sure if this was one of the accidents mentioned earlier.

Diving accident on the Cedarville

I wonder if the pony reg was on a necklace. Personal preference, but I want my pony at my side, and reg clearly different from both back tank second stages.

 

[The Chairman]

Personal preference, but I want my pony at my side, and reg clearly different from both back tank second stages.

It's the only way I'll dive one.

 

[Moor3061]

I went to local quarry today. After dive, I rose by the beach and had somebody ask me if I was diving a rebreather. I was confused by the question, he said what is that, and pointed to my pony. I told him what it was and explained why I always have it....he was a diver also.

 

[Marie13]

Dang.

 

[2airishuman]

With my 30cft pony, I don't tweak my weighting at all.

And on the topic of back mounted ponies causing incidents, not sure if this was one of the accidents mentioned earlier.

Diving accident on the Cedarville

I wonder if the pony reg was on a necklace. Personal preference, but I want my pony at my side, and reg clearly different from both back tank second stages.

That would be one of the two accidents I mentioned.

I'm unsure of the exact relationships among the people involved, but the accident had an enormous mental impact on the divers in a club that I have connections to. The victim in the accident may have been a club member or at least frequently dived with some of the club members. There are no technical divers in the club and they are not involved in Scubaboard and have not, I think, had the sort of discussion involving divers from around the world to help understand what went wrong and what to do differently. Many of them used to dive back-mounted ponies. They all pretty much stopped after the accident, that is, they just don't dive ponies any more. The accident discussion came up when I was getting my pony cylinder filled at the club. I described a slung pony to them and it was pretty clear that they had never seen or heard of such a configuration; they allowed as how it perhaps sounded somewhat safer than what they had been doing.

 

[lowviz]

That is a hard story to read. I can only imagine. Diver went OOG and had the presence of mind to go to his pony. Only problem was, he was diving his pony.

IMHO, a pony secondary has absolutely no business being directly attached to your person. A pony is, and always will be for me, a totally independent life support system that can be cut away with a line cutter in two strokes. (No pun intended)

It is my last ditch go-to. (unless I'm stealing from it to shoot a bag with an inflator nozzle, never said that I was perfect...)

And for those who haven't tried it, you thread the nozzle up into the bag and use your thumb to push the nozzle off-center. You won't waste a bubble...

 

[Roger Hobden]

And on the topic of back mounted ponies causing incidents, not sure if this was one of the accidents mentioned earlier.
Diving accident on the Cedarville

Very sad story.

The following comment at the end of the thread may contain more then a little truth, unfortunately:

'" The big problem with SCUBA is that the entire class is important, however the "skills" are all seen by students as an annoyance or a test, while they are actually what is required to keep you alive.

Because SCUBA is sold as a warm-and-fuzzy and safe recreational activity, few instructors are willing to say things like "These skills are the only things keeping you alive. If you can't remember them or don't know when to use them or can't perform them as-needed and correctly, and don't practice them regularly, you're going to die." "

 

[CuzzA]

I back mount my pony with a Highland mount. Slinging would be better, but not for my diving. I necklace my pony reg and have an Air2. The Air2 is for the purpose of eliminating a reg that could lead to confusion. My pony reg has a yellow mouthpiece and of course a length of bungee attached and all of my pony tanks have vindicator knobs. I would have to be extremely negligent to start a dive on my pony and since I always test breath every reg before splashing I should never start a dive with any tank off.

After reading the story, IMO, the diver simply didn't put much forethought into his set up. That's one of the great things about ScubaBoard and those that participate... I think we're all thinking ahead and trying to figure out the best way to do things in an environment that is always trying to kill us.