spare air? i use one and i get laughed at

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I think an experienced rational diver would use the Spare Air to calmly get to one of his or her buddies who should be around the same depth and less than 45 feet away and commandeer their occy. This "race to the surface" mentality is just plain silly when there is a larger reliable air supply nearby.:rolleyes:


Not everyone dives with a partner. Majority of my dives are Solo, unless under instruction.
That being said, I understand the risks involved and have received the proper training, and use the required gear needed to safely dive Solo.

Even with a partner, they may be to far away to get to.
 
I think an experienced rational diver would use the Spare Air to calmly get to one of his or her buddies who should be around the same depth and less than 45 feet away and commandeer their occy. This "race to the surface" mentality is just plain silly when there is a larger reliable air supply nearby.:rolleyes:
You shouldn't need a RAS to get to your buddy's octopus. All you should need to do is tap or flash them, signal out of air, and have them pass you one of their second stages.

If you're "same day, same ocean" kind of buddies, then you're both solo diving, and should both be equipped for solo diving.
If you were separated by accident, follow the buddy separation protocol.
If you dive "same day, same ocean" without being equipped for solo diving, it's even more imperative that you head for the surface and not for your buddy. It's not like you were going to complete the dive plan on your buddy's octo, is it?

Let's dissect this example further, just as one possibility.
Chasing after your same-ocean buddy's octo on a spare air introduces several risks that weren't there before:
* In addition to stress, you begin exerting yourself, raising your oxygen consumption rate.
* The spare air might fail due to lack of maintenance, or run empty even sooner than expected.
* The spare air is held with your teeth, so it's possible to drop it and have it float away.
* Your oblivious buddy might swim away from you, adding too much distance to cover.
* The #1 reason for OOA being inattention to the SPG, your buddy might run dry just as you're managing a shared air ascent on their octo.
Having performed these exercises, as the few breaths from the spare air end, you risk being not only out of air, but also low on blood oxygen - worse off than at the beginning.

And what risks have you mitigated, should you succeed in chasing down your buddy?
* Skipping the safety stop slightly increases the extremely small risk of DCS. Rec diving is done within the NDL, specifically selected so that you can always ascend straight to the surface.
* If your buddy has enough air and you have and know to use your SMB, you'll have reduced a fairly important risk of being struck by a boat.

Having a spare air is always better than having nothing at all. But where it can be worse than nothing at all is in promoting the kind of thinking that relies on it. The only safe way to dive with a spare air is to dive as if you don't have it, until the last moment, when you're either out of danger or out of options.

A safer course of action would be to keep your regulator in your mouth, signal OOA to your buddy, and begin a slow methodical CESA. If your buddy can get to you quickly, use their octo. If they can't, signal them to shoot up their SMB and ascend. If you are still getting some air from a freeflow or from reduced ambient pressure, use it. If, approaching 20-30 feet, you still have some air, keep using your regulator, else use your Spare Air. If it works, breathe out into your SMB to deploy it, otherwise look for boats and ascend.

This isn't some universal procedure, of course. For instance, in rough waves, it may be better to keep the air reserve for the surface than for waiting. If there's very little boat traffic, or if you're not familiar enough with SMB deployment to do it under pressure, it goes down on the priority list. You always have to think. But what makes this plan acceptably safe is that it doesn't depend on any convergence of more things going right. If you get air from your buddy, time to deploy your marker, air from your spare, etc, you use them, and if not, you still get to the surface.
 
I can see that you are overthinking the "what if " scenarios which would be right at home in a numpty's paradise but not in the real word. The people I dive with have been doing it for too long to get anywhere near one of these " what if" predicaments.

People read too much into the word SPARE as common sense tells you that this is not a redundant air supply for when the SHTF. Perhaps the OP should have titled the thread " I CARRY one and I get laughed at"

As to all the solo divers feeling safe secure and fuzzy lugging their pony bottles around with them on every dive! "whatcha gonna do with it if you have a medical episode underwater"?
 
People read too much into the word SPARE as common sense tells you that this is not a redundant air supply for when the SHTF. Perhaps the OP should have titled the thread " I CARRY one and I get laughed at"

As to all the solo divers feeling safe secure and fuzzy lugging their pony bottles around with them on every dive! "whatcha gonna do with it if you have a medical episode underwater"?
As to medical episodes, they are a completely separate issue and related to solo diving in general, not to air sources.
As to the Spare Air, the difference is that isn't really a redundant air supply.

Take an example from aviation, the source for most safety procedures. An airliner (twin) is perfectly capable of flying on just one of its engines - not quite as far, but far enough to reach an airport. It can even take off on one engine, try to land, abort the landing at unsuccessful touchdown, and climb again for another go. That's what redundancy is.

A diver in a twinset or independent twins, following the rule of thirds, can lose half his remaining air at any moment and still turn back and reach the exit. Their redundant air source is as good as their primary source. It's as secure, as well-maintained, breathes as well, and is as capable at life support.

There's also such a thing as an emergency power unit on some aircraft. It's a small turbine powered by a hydrazine bottle, just good enough to power the electrics and hydraulics for a while. Or, less egregiously, a not-so-small APU or a ram air turbine on civilian planes. You can't use it to fly, even the kinds that provide a bit of thrust, just avoid a hard crash.

And that's what a Spare Air is equivalent to. Small emergency air source, in case you lost your air on exhale with depleted blood oxygen. Another emergency option would be rebreathing your BC, which is worse than CESA and not to be recommended. Emergency sources are a tool to be used in buddy diving, as a second to last resort if buddy air is unreachable.

Solo diving requires a fully capable redundant air source, not just an emergency one. A redundant source that isn't easily lost, is sufficient for solving problems in a calm manner, and is sufficient for returning to the planned dive exit point, calmly deploying the SMB, ascending, and reaching the boat even in rough weather, with some air still left.
 
Solo diving requires a fully capable redundant air source, not just an emergency one. A redundant source that isn't easily lost, is sufficient for solving problems in a calm manner, and is sufficient for returning to the planned dive exit point, calmly deploying the SMB, ascending, and reaching the boat even in rough weather, with some air still left.

If that's the case, why are doubles not requires in solo training? As I remember, one or both training agencies accept Spare Air as an alternate supply.

I have no issues with Spare Air, except it was not robust enough for the conditions I encountered solo diving, so I went back to using the surface for my redundancy. A bit more than a decade later I picked up a 19 cuft pony for deeper dives, as I realize I am getting older and not up for the excitement I once was. Some say that is still not big enough.

The problem is with the divers that do not take the time to figure what size tank they should choose, and believe a small tank will magicly give them all the air they need in an emergency. This is not the fault of the gear, Spare Air is just another ( insert size here ) cuft bottle.


Bob
 
I can see that you are overthinking the "what if " scenarios which would be right at home in a numpty's paradise but not in the real word. The people I dive with have been doing it for too long to get anywhere near one of these " what if" predicaments.

People read too much into the word SPARE as common sense tells you that this is not a redundant air supply for when the SHTF. Perhaps the OP should have titled the thread " I CARRY one and I get laughed at"

As to all the solo divers feeling safe secure and fuzzy lugging their pony bottles around with them on every dive! "whatcha gonna do with it if you have a medical episode underwater"?


It always defaults to the medical emergency underwater episode scare tactic.

Lets see,

I drive a Truck "Solo" for a living, that means no Co-Driver.

I practice Bushcraft "Solo", and sometimes stay out on my own for 3 or 4 days.

I track a hunt feral hogs, on my own up to 24hrs.

I drive my car t to go diving, to get pizza, by myself..

When I was on Active Duty, I operated, depending on the mission, Solo.

By your logic, I have to have a partner, for all of the above, because I'm "Solo" and could have a "Medical Emergency".

Anyone can have a Medical Emergency at any time, regardless of activity. I don't worry about what might or what may happen.
Scuba Diving is no exception. Get proper training, and use the correct gear for the type of diving you are doing, and know your limitations, and get a physical if need be..

Happy "Solo'" Diving...
 
I solo back packed in very remote areas of the Sierras in California for many years, before GPS, satellite phones, etc. I would imagine this was at least, if not risker than the solo diving I do today.
 
I solo back packed in very remote areas of the Sierras in California for many years, before GPS, satellite phones, etc. I would imagine this was at least, if not risker that the solo diving I do today.


I did my survival training out there, Bridgeport, CA.
It's no joke, back in those mountains..
 
I did my survival training out there, Bridgeport, CA.
It's no joke, back in those mountains..
I ended up doing most of the Sierra High Route in addition to the John Muir Trail and usual locations. Some of the best times of my life, I was young and healthy :). Now, I mostly dive...solo diving, some of the same feelings, just shorter and less strenuous
 
It's too bad there's not a cliff notes version of this thread
Other than the first post, which posts are best?
 
https://www.shearwater.com/products/perdix-ai/

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