Scuba mask with tanks

[Spectre]

Originally posted by Jarhead
When was the 3 minute "safety" stop established?

Ok. Here's my take on this comment, which sort of takes us off in a different direction, but what the hell.

You've got to be down near your best air consumption to be able to ascend with enough air. Now one key part of decompressing is actually breathing. If your breathing at a slower rate then you were at depth, you're not off-gassing as efficiently as you were when you were on-gassing, and the off-gassing resulting from hanging out at elevated pressures is more important. So the slower you breathe to conserve what little gas you have left, the more you could use that added insurance of a safety stop.

[Edit Note: Originally written thinking Jarhead was advocating skipping the safety stop].

 

[Goldminer]

I hope that I had made it clear to everyone that I agree about a Spare Air not being the best choice. A pony seems to me to be a much more versatile and safer solution at very little extra cost.

I was just just trying to point out the level of denigration, hyperbole and exageration that accompanies a post about one. I left alt.rec.scuba because it started to get silly, pedantic and even sometimes abusive. Some of the DIR religious fundamentalists there can be extraordinarily annoying even when they are right (frequently). I 'd hate to see this board reach that point. A logical explanation of the advantages of one system over another seems to me to be the best way to go.

 

[danceswithoctopus]

Scuba mask with tanks
Ive seen some people with these masks that cover thier mouths only and have mini tanks attatched to them. I dont think its ment for serious diving bcause it probably only holds 15-30 min. of air. Does anyone know what these are and if they sell them anywhere online?

Unfortunately the general populous gets exposed [pun intended] to improbable TV programs or films like "Baywatch" that show people diving with Spare Airs as if they were REAL air sources.
Frankly, I'm not surprised that there was a posting operating on this assumption.

In my original reply to GreyFox06's inquiry I asked if s/he was a SCUBA diver. I think Submariner picked up on the same thing I did. I was concerned that s/he had seen someone (on Babewatch or Star Wars Episode I or something like that) diving with a Spare Air as though it was the only air supply necessary and was thinking about going online and buying one, then heading off to the nearest source of water and killing him/herself. Note also that GreyFox06 has only one post.

I think we all agree that some air is better than no air, that the no air situation is avoidable, that it's better to be properly prepared rather than to be partially prepared, and that if GreyFox06 is not certified s/he should take a class and get certified before messing about with compressed air under water.

2cents