Nice gallery...

[Bardo]

Found some quite nice photo galleries over at the Red Sea Explorers website including this one...

http://homepage.mac.com/echorowe/Und...toAlbum81.html

This photo, though, did made me chuckle...

http://homepage.mac.com/echorowe/.Pi...E4C67311D9.jpg

Now bearing in mind this was taken on a Tech-1 course, is that Poseidon regulators I see on the diver on the right hand side? They sure look like Cyklons to me...

[Clare Gledhill]

Christ... hump day ascent in water like that must make taking your mask off a lot more pleasant.

The vis on their experience dives makes swimming in poo like we did seem a bit rough...

...although it was certainly an "experience"

[EricF]

They sure do - I guess you can't always have the righ regs. The diver could sell 1 cylone and get two Apeks regs.

[Little Pete]

I also thought Poseidon were not accepted regs

Where is the line drawn on accepted equipment then, you could argue it was similar (though perhaps less significan) than having bungies on your wing...

[RichW]

Originally Posted by Little Pete

I also thought Poseidon were not accepted regs

Where is the line drawn on accepted equipment then, you could argue it was similar (though perhaps less significan) than having bungies on your wing...

I've checked the standards and it doesn't explicitly prohibit this regulator.

It does, however, state that the whether the equipment suffices remains at the instructors discretion.

Were I a Tech 1 instructor, I would not accept a Posideon regulator (second stage, anyway). I do let them slide on DIRF as I like to demonstrate to students exactly why we don't like them, rather than dictate.

Rich

[Little Pete]

Ah right, makes sense to me.

I wouldn't have thought too much of seeing it on a Fundies course as people often have a more mixed set of gear as they're often in transition of equipment.
Tech 1 and up is where I would have thought the standardisation became more critical though as you say it is up to the instructor

[Bardo]

Originally Posted by Little Pete

I also thought Poseidon were not accepted regs

Where is the line drawn on accepted equipment then, you could argue it was similar (though perhaps less significan) than having bungies on your wing...

Er... not quite. If anything, it's a more serious consideration.

In a nutshell, DIR has a number of 'issues' with Poseidon regulators...

1. They're of an 'upstream' design. The whole point is that when a regulator fails, it should fail in an 'open' position (ie. it freeflows) - with an upstream regulator, however, the theory is that they'll fail in a 'closed' position (ie. you get no gas).

2. They're not easy to strip underwater. Not so important in ocean diving, but in a cave you need to be able to remove the face plate and clear out any debris that may be clogging the thing up.

3. They use non-standard parts - specifically, hoses. Other than Apeks' stupid choice to use 1/2" ports on some models of first stages, regulators across the world use pretty much standard hose fittings. But not Poseidon - they insist on using custom hoses so you can't just pick up a cheapo standard hose from your LDS and stick it on your Poseidons. With equipment being a 'team resource', obviously this throws bit of a spanner in the works if one member of the team is using non-standard equipment.

4. Higher Interstage Pressure. This is mostly b*llocks these days as most Poseidon regs run at a very similar interstage pressure to everyone else but it's a factor worth bearing in mind if encounter older models of Poseidon.

Of course as any Cyklon owner will tell you, some of the issues raised above don't actually apply to the Cyklon - they're probably about as close as you can get to a 'DIR acceptable' Poseidon regulator! Unlike the abomination that is the Jetstream <ducks for cover>, the Cyklons are of a downstream design so they'll fail open like any other non-Poseidon regulator. Also, they can easily be stripped underwater which is why they tend to be a very popular choice with UK cave divers. Infact, the only thing that lets down the Cyklon is the non-standard hoses and the higher interstage pressure (11.5bar, apparently)...

That said, it's mostly boll*cks anyway as the Cyklons are excellent regulators imho - just ask the majority of UK cave divers which reg they choose to squeeze through a sump with...

[Mal Bridgeman]

Thanks for the link - some good pics for sure.

On the picture "Great Trim" the guy has his long hose stuffed in his belt due no light cannister I presume. Is the routing for the long hose correct?
Specifically:

a) should it still be behind the wing,
b) should it be in front of the wing as shown
c) it doesn't matter

TIA
Mal

[RichW]

Originally Posted by Mal Bridgeman

Thanks for the link - some good pics for sure.

On the picture "Great Trim" the guy has his long hose stuffed in his belt due no light cannister I presume. Is the routing for the long hose correct?
Specifically:

a) should it still be behind the wing,
b) should it be in front of the wing as shown
c) it doesn't matter

TIA
Mal

It is a bit of a knack to get the long hose behind the wing, but this is the place it should go. In theory, the buddy should give a hand and tidy this up if the diver misses it themselves, as often happens.

I'm surprised to see a diver withought a light on a tech 1.

Rich

[Little Pete]

I suppose it could be that he was just diving with them (possible the cameraman without the cam for a moment) and not being a student didn't require a light. Normally I think people would take one anyway (I paid £££ for this light so I'll d#mn well use it ) but maybe in that vis and conditions it's not a prob