Deepest solo yet

[Stoo]

A good Royal Aqua Master and a tank is all I need.

Until the shyte hits the fan... which admittedly it may very well never do...

I'm curious, do you carry a spare tire for your car?

Your argument for keeping a simple rig to reduce potential failure sights makes no sense. In saying so, you acknowledge that equipment might fail, but then don't take steps to allow for that contingency. I believe that this is the same approach an ostrich takes when it sticks its head in the sand!

Don't take this as me "judging" you. You are entitled to dive the way you want and the fact that you have been doing it for eons, as I have, says something about your ability, your sound judgement and to some extent, your luck. But to not take reasonable precautions and using what is, frankly, archaic equipment, makes no sense.

 

[Arcaporale]

155' On air in La Jolla submarine Canyon. Actually started off with a buddy but lost him at around 130' 10 min into the dive. The viz was awesome and I didn't want to let such an awesome dive go. We happened to be diving with our sets of doubles that day (steel 72's). I probably would have aborted the dive if I didn't have them at the time. Not my first solo dive, and certainly not my last.

 

[Ragnar]

. I don't use octos, multiple levels of failure prone complex redundancy. A good Royal Aqua Master and a tank is all I need.

Just curious, how deep are you generally going with no redundancy? I have a feeling your diving would scare the crap out of me!

 

[Kevrumbo]

57m/190' on Air Backgas, and 50% deco mix --a cargo hold and the engine room of the Nagano Maru in Truk Lagoon. Had to ascend back up to 45m/150' because of narcosis. . .

 

[Doc Harry]

Until the shyte hits the fan... which admittedly it may very well never do...

I'm curious, do you carry a spare tire for your car?

Your argument for keeping a simple rig to reduce potential failure sights makes no sense. In saying so, you acknowledge that equipment might fail, but then don't take steps to allow for that contingency. I believe that this is the same approach an ostrich takes when it sticks its head in the sand!

Don't take this as me "judging" you. You are entitled to dive the way you want and the fact that you have been doing it for eons, as I have, says something about your ability, your sound judgement and to some extent, your luck. But to not take reasonable precautions and using what is, frankly, archaic equipment, makes no sense.

<Hijack>

Sigh...... We've been down this road with Nemrod before. He's fixated on the belief that a simple system is less likely to fail so redundancy is not necessary. He's free to believe what ever he wants and solo dive how ever he wants. We're not going to change his mind, so let him be.... He's one of our blacksheep solo-diving bretheren....

</Hijack>

 

[Stoo]

Sigh...... We've been down this road with Nemrod before.

And as I mentioned, I am certainly not going to judge him... I have constantly been criticized for my solo diving for 25 years (all by people who long ago stopped diving I might add...)

His argument is flawed though. Mind you, in 3600 dives, I have never had a failure in a regulator or tank or valve that would threaten my safety. (I am not including freeze-ups in this... something which is a constant threat here... and which dictates redundancy even when buddy diving.)

I finally got back in the water here last weekend. My first dive was 115' in 36 degree water. I was christening a couple of new Apeks DS4/XTX50s (which performed beautifully incidentally). My "buddy" (he was in the boat while I dove, then vice versa) suffered a freeze-up the next day at 110, and he was glad to have a second reg and tank to use after shutting down his post...!

 

[pdelannoy]

Hey Leadturn,

Your quote from Dave Barry-Is this the Barry that climbs? I'm pretty sure I know a Dave Barry that climbs in the BH. I live up there and climbed for a long time.

PD

 

[LeadTurn_SD]

Hey Leadturn,

Your quote from Dave Barry-Is this the Barry that climbs? I'm pretty sure I know a Dave Barry that climbs in the BH. I live up there and climbed for a long time.

PD

Maybe But only if your friend is this Dave Barry, the humor columnist:

Dave Barry Official Website

My quote comes from this "tongue-in-cheek" article he wrote about his own introduction to diving:

http://homepage.mac.com/pauljlucas/personal/humor/blub_story.html

Funny stuff!


Best wishes

 

[pdelannoy]

No. Not the Barry I know. So do you live in the BH. And if so, where are you diving?

 

[LeadTurn_SD]

Hi pdelannoy,

I live in Hilo, Hawaii. I mostly shore dive, and most of my diving these days is close to home, at a spot on the outskirts of Hilo called Leleiwi. The entry is off low lava "bench" into chest-deep water, with a short surface swim out to the reef. Great diving, but since Hilo is on the windward side of the Big Island, the water can get rough, visibility is typically 40-60 feet (or less) versus Kona's 80-100+ foot viz. But still a great dive along a multilevel reef with good variety, ranging from 10' - 70' or so. When the conditions are calm, it is one of my favorite dives on the Island .... lots of sea turtles that ignore divers, reef fishes, nudibranchs, etc.

Best wishes.