[Mark Chase]

Having the stage turned off works as long as you remember to turn it off and are not using it as suit inflation. experiance has taught me that you set up the reg for a gas switch at the stop below the switch depth. You gas on and have the reg to hand. You ascend to the switch, switch gas (in my case switch the gas on the computer) then check the mix.

When things are going well this is no probelm. But if you read my trip report for a 60m dive on the Duke a few weeks ago you will se that sometimes things dont go well.

Every once of concentration was used up with very basic stuff like holding a stop. Visual referance to my depth gauge was a major issue and normal safety routens went out the window all this caused by a simple migrane headache. At times like that you feel glad that you use a simple method of everything because simple is all you can cope with.

I use rich right, leen left. I also have a full mouth guard on the rich mix. Its bright yellow. To stick a rich mix in my mouth I have to first select right instead of left. I have to remove the full mouth guard before I can breath it and I have to turn the gas on. (travel mix is used for suit inflation so is on all the time). Even with a migrane I cant see that hapening.

All deco tanks on the left is hard work in terms of trim and gas management. I cant see any benifit apart from allowing normal deployment of the hog loop. Nobody falls for the streemlined argument do they?

ATB

Mark Chase