Right this minute I have less than 60 dives on my log. I'm hoping to have my 100th around the end of the year so I can do the certification no later than early 2009. I'm treating the SDI solo cert and the 100-dive minimum as something I should work for, something I should strive to earn. I'm treating the certification process itself to be just a confirmation and validation of my established practices. I'm not treating the cert as any kind of "justification" for solo diving, just as a responsible step. I realize solo diving can be risky, therefore I also want to treat it as responsibly as I can. Besides, it gives me a target, a tangible goal, something to focus on.
So I'm reading up, learning, building good habits, acquiring decent gear, and practicing skills that responsible solo divers should have.
Practically, here's what I'm doing: I figure the main thing I need to get very used to as a solo diver is a pony rig. Like the spare tire on your car, it's just a basic necessity that you need to have and keep filled with air, even if you never need to use it.
But after reading here on ScubaBoard about the myriad configurations for a pony - slung, tank-mounted, cross-mounted, bagged, upright, inverted, valve-on, valve-off, hose left, hose right, reg bungied, reg necklaced, etc. - I knew that I would first have to try these and figure out what the best, most useful and intuitive configuration would be FOR ME.
To that end, a techie dive buddy of mine was kind enough to lend me the 13cf pony from his rebreather rig (which he doesn't much use nowadays). So I got to try it in all kinds of configurations. What I determined works best for me is a bagged, upright, hose left, valve-on, necklaced-reg configuration.
Once determined, I went off to purchase my own pony rig and have just now taken posession of it. It's a thing of beauty to be sure! A 19cf aluminum tank, with a
Zeagle Razor combination valve/first stage for compactness and simplicity, OMS button gauge, and an
XS AirWave reg on a short yellow Miflex hose (I needed a reg with a left-hand hose feed due to the way I'm wearing it). The tank is in an XS bottle bag, which velcro-mounts to my cam band, with straps around the primary tank, mostly to keep it from wobbling.
I went with the 19cf for the extra margin it gives me on my normal depths (40'-90'), the fact that it
should even be able to get me back from 130' even with a safety stop and breathing rather hard (assume a SAC of 1.0 - I have a plan to test this capability as well), the excellent buoyancy characteristics of the Luxfer 19 (-1.4 pounds full, just barely buoyant empty), and the fact that it shouldn't really be much more trouble carrying a 19cf over a 13cf. Using the borrowed 13cf, I know I can at least ascend from 75' on that with safety stop, breathing normally, since I tested that a couple of times.
So, my next post will be about my first experience diving with my own new pony rig. If possible, I'm hoping to take it out this Sunday.
>*< Fritz