ponys

[Kate R]

Originally Posted by [b

Quote[/b] (Mark Chase @ Dec. 02 2003,08:43)]infact you may drop dead at any second

wow, cheerful  

i carry a pony on all dives except 6m pootles cos i don't like the idea of not having a redundant air supply in case it all goes tits-up. don't dive much below 35m

now i've got my twins i doubt i'll use it much, but i am thinking of sidemounting it with deco gas when i go to scapa. waste not want not!

[MATTBIN]

I would never dive (in the UK) without it if on a single tank.

Matt

[And]

<font color='#000080'>Hi

Sold my pony a while back. Stopped using it. I've never seen one used in anger although I have heard of two club members who have breathed them by accident and run out of air thinking they were breathing their main gas, one of which shot to the surface and never dived again. My buddy has my reserve and if I lose my buddy, I ascend, as I was taught. I use good quality regs.

However I now use a twinset for most UK diving (anything except BSAC courses) although I keep thinking about just using my singles rig when on shallower dives (less than 30mtrs). They are so nice and light after carrying a twinset around.

Once you start using a twinset though you tend to just use them all the time. I even use them in the pool to wash them off every now and again.

Just my tuppence worth

Andy

[Dominic]

Glad I'm not the only one who gets the occasional pang of nostalgia for the days when it was &quot;cylinder on BC, reg on cylinder, splash&quot;

Twins &amp; a hog rig are simpler in many ways than the 'standard rig, but they're not quite so quick to put together as an utterly minimal rig..

But then I remember the octopus clip, the pony necklace, the pony bag, the adjusting of shoulder straps, the lantern clip, the backup torch clip, the spg clip, the pony spg clip, the knife straps, the fin straps... and I realise that it was only when I was a novice in club kit that I was ever more minimal than I currently am

[MATTBIN]

Originally Posted by [b

Quote[/b] ]My buddy has my reserve and if I lose my buddy, I ascend, as I was taught. I use good quality regs.

lets hope you dont get a free-flow/failure on your single tank at that point then, especially if the dive is almost finished and you need to do a saftey/deco stop.

You're at 30m, you lose your buddy, you start your 1 min search, 30 seconds in you lose your main(only) tank, you need 3 mins to get to the surface, more if you would like to do a safety stop. So how long is a lung full going to last of that 3 1/2 mins. Your regs are high quality, properly serviced, the service technician didnt make a cock-up, you know that for absolute fact, so much so he gave you a written guarantee that if they go belly up your widow/family can sue?

Why are you so damn self-righteous!!!! You're almost as bad as that Septic whose given it the elbow. Jeez, you ought to carry a bloody health warning!

Matt

[CotoChris]

<font color='#0000FF'>Maybe or maybe not this comes as a surprise to you. In the 7 or 8 years of diving from Honduras, Spain &amp; Portugal, Gozo (+ 4 dives in Ulster) I have yet to see somenone using a pony let alone a twinset!!
One thing that I have learnt from joinning YD is the importance of alternative air source. It won't be for christmas but for sping I'll be looking into buying a pony, currently I am not happy not using one.
OK most of my dives are below 20m and rarely is viz worse than 1m but even when going to 30m or deeper I havn't seen anyone with a pony. I think it will be weird one day to show up with one -I don't care what pther people think- Maybe they think it is an overkill but then let them think that if they run out of air

[Noel Johnson]

Originally Posted by [b

Quote[/b] ]I would never dive (in the UK) without it if on a single tank.

Matt

Neither do I, for that matter I dont dive without a pony at all. I like the knowledge that I can ascend from 30 metres on a pony and still do a safety stop if necessary.

Now a few people I know have said that they'll use one in the UK only - why would being abroad stop you using a pony bottle or any other redundant air supply? Water is water at the end of the day and you can't breathe it.

[skener]

i havent got one yet but definately going to very soon (santa willing), what i would like to know, is do they make any difference to your balance etc when diving, and slightly off topic, going to be getting a new bcd, and just wondered what people thought of the buddy ones with the spair air are they worth having or a waste of time ?

[And]

<font color='#000080'>

Originally Posted by [b

Quote[/b] (MATTBIN @ Dec. 02 2003,12:04)]Why are you so damn self-righteous!!!!

Matt

Hi

I don't think thats really fair Matt, just because you don't agree with me. There was nothing self righteous in my views at all. I explained my reasons, thats all.

If you are going to start the 'lets have multiple failures till it gets ridiculous and I win' type argument lets try this.

You lose your buddy, carry on the dive (you have a pony) and get tangled and cannot free yourself. You have a pony. Big deal!

We can always imagine things going wrong no matter what the config although in fact they rarely do. As the manufacturers are producing better and more reliable regulators free flows occur less frequently, even on the coldest days.

And lastly, buddy diving. I was taught buddy diving as was every other diver (as it is on every OW course taught by every agency), its something our BSAC club firmly endorses and is conducted on every branch dive, no exception. I was never taught a 1 min search, simply to do a 360 and if you don't see them, ascend. Its not righteous and has little to do with DIR which perhaps you are implying, its just a procedure, the same as retrieving a reg or donating air. You would I am sure do the same when buddying your son.

Wind your neck in, take a chill pill or something, there was no offence meant in my post and you are just looking for a fight, which I don't understand, and won't take part in.

Andy

PS Seems you've edited your post in the interim. My posts should come with a health warning! Are you implying then by reading them people are endangering their lives? interesting views you have Matt. Total bollocks, but interesting all the same.

[MATTBIN]

Noel
quite agree but blue water diving does at least mean you have less chance of loosing a buddy and having nobody else around to scrounge some gas off. Also its about being able to get hold of a pony at a holiday resort. Did take mine to France, some very strange looks from the locals.

Skener,
mine doesnt seem to affect my balance. Spare Air - crap, not enough gas to get you to the surface. Buddy bcd's are OK though.

Matt