What's in your pocket?

[GCParris]

Okay, probably been done before but....

I'm just venturing into twinset diving after some 300 dives with a single and pony. I'm still weighing up what wing/backplate/harness to get but my question today is... "What's in your pocket?"

I'm also interested in going (a bit) DIR hence the reason for posting here.

Basically I am trying to work out where stuff is going to go in my pockets. My O3 dry suit has two, one extra large and one normal sized. When I get a wing I was going to get two utility pockets.

I was thinking about the following items in my pockets...

Right Wing Pocket: Spare Mask.

Right Drysuit Pocket: Pocket Mask, Locator Beacon.

Left Wing Pocket: Dive Tables, dive slate, yellow smb, backup torch.

Left Drysuit Pocket: Red SMBi and Reel.


Any advice on that would be appreciated...

Gareth.

[Mal Bridgeman]

There has recently been some discussion on this and an attempt to "standardise" this from a GUE perspective.

AIUI the philosophy is that the left pocket contains the routine things you know you are going to use and the right hand pocket contains the back up/ emergency things that you don't plan to use unless something goes wrong.

I think for ocean diving that means ...

Left hand pocket - Main dSMB, spool and spare spool

Right Hand pocket - Spare mask, wetnotes, backup dSMB & backup spool

The rationale proffered is that with stages carried on the left, the right side would be easier to access....which is what you'd want in an "emergency"

HTH
Mal

[Ahmed Adly]

Hi Gareth,

I would totally stay away from pockets that are connected to your wing or back plate in any way. Stay with the thigh pockets that are sewn onto your suite.

You can easily store: a back-up smb connected to a spool, back up double ender, p-valve screw in one pocket and: spare mask and wet notes in the other. Then you can stow the main smb in the backplate pocket.

[RichW]

Gareth,

Mal is pretty much right here. We keep things that we know we're going to use in the left hand pocket, and those occasional/emergency things on the right.

On the justificastion behind it, the one I think we're most comfortasble with is the scooter one. A scooter is held and driven with the right hand, so this leaves the left hand free to ferret in pockets for whatever you need. I think it would take some skill to pull out and deploy an SMB though ;-) In cave, a cookie or pin would be easy enough though.

The point about the stages I've not heard, but it does make some sense. It can be tricky to work around/through multiple stages to get to a pocket, so practicing the skill is useful, while leaving the easy pocket open in case of emergency makes some sense.

While these things only become important it quite an advanced level of diving, DIR aims to create a system that will work from a simple reef dive through to however far you want to take it. Consequently, we don't want to have to re-learn skills, equipment locations etc. halfway through our dive career.

Hope that helps,

Rich

[milldog]

this is what i have in my pockets

L/H side

Spare Mask
Small torch
Wet notes/tables
spare spool 30m
water dye tablets

R/H
Orange SMB and 30m spool
Yellow SMB and 30m spool
Spare spool 30M

both pockets have a bungee loop so i could pull everything out at once

backup torch is clipped to R/H chest D ring

In backplate pocket Large Yellow SMB and Spool 30m with ERP attached

[Bardo]

Agree with pretty much everything that's been said so far. One thing I would add, however, relates specifically to the O'three pockets. DUI/Halcyon/DIRZone et all pockets all feature a loop (or loops) of cord or bungee secured to the inside of the pocket that allow you to 'clip off' stuff when it's in your pocket. Now although the O'three pockets lack this, they do offer a little stainless steel d-ring (well, my O'three bellows pockets do anyway) which you can use to secure a bungee loop to. This makes clipping and unclipped stuff much, much easier! A bit like this...



BTW - Best not ask what Woz has in his pockets. A rolled up copy of Razzle and a dildo is not standard kit no matter what he tells you!...

[Rob Dobson]

Originally Posted by GCParris

Right Wing Pocket: Spare Mask.

Right Drysuit Pocket: Pocket Mask, Locator Beacon.

Left Wing Pocket: Dive Tables, dive slate, yellow smb, backup torch.

Left Drysuit Pocket: Red SMBi and Reel.

I'd stay away from wing pockets and just use your drysuit pockets.

Pocket mask and locator beacon - why? Do you really need these things?

I'd replace the slate with wetnotes and add any tables you need to the wetnotes.

Move the backup torch to your harness shoulder straps (attach with a boltsnap to the chest D-ring and then hold in place with a snoopy loop).

Should have enough space in your drysuit pockets now for the stuff you need.

[stewbie]

Nothing - cos I haven't had the chance to christen my new drysuit yet (GRRR!!) and the previous one had the useless northern diver flat pockets