[Brian of Aquanauts]

Did you read the post i am talking about multi tank deep dives involving decompresion commitment. Single tank rigs can be finned up and weight belts droped. Deco divers dont have the option to fin up or drop weight belts.

In 2003 at a depth of 100m outside the blue hole in Dahab a diver pulled the inflater straight off his wing type bcd. He sunk to 120odd m before Jo Davin (TDI Instructor) managed to catch him and lift him back to his first deco stop.

In 2004 my friend Pete had his elbow to the inflater hose snap off because the plastic had perished. Fortunately it happened during cleaning

In 2006 Clare Gledhall pulled the inflater off her Halcyon wing in Vobster

In 2006 Burney decended to 65m and then hit the inflate button on his BCD. It failed no gas got through to the wing. He had to pull his twin 18s of air back up the shot.

In May 2007 anther DIR diver pulled the inflater hose off the Halcyon wing and his report on DIRX lead to others reporting similar problems. Halcyon have apparently redesigned the elbow and some retailers have done modification to prevent it occurring but there are still a lot of wings out there unmodified.

And these are just the cases i know about.

Sure if you have the option of an anchor line ascent then its doable but I have done plenty of wet suit diving in the red sea with no anchor line ascents. My two deepest dives in the Red Sea on CCR were 91 and 105m both were free ascents.

When I dived with Poseidon Divers in Dahab you were not allowed to do technical diving depths without a double bladder wing or a wing and a dry suit.

This rule was apparently the result of two incidents where buoyancy was lost over 1000+m of water.

ATB

Mark Chase

Well there's certainly no substitute for correct weighting and solid training.

I wish it were true that every technical diver out there could manage their diving quite easily using drysuit for buoyancy, requires practice and a horizontal ascent to achieve this easily with multitanks.

If you can't then some would say use a twin bladder, I'd go for the train more option before continuing with that sort of diving. But unfortunately the majority of divers think kit will solve all their problems.

 

[Brian of Aquanauts]

I agree, divers are just using BC D's to cover up for a lack of diving skill. My father didn't use a dry suit or a BCD just a wet suit tank and webbing harness. He had no problems and dived like it for years.

Second regulators are another thing he never used they were taught to do proper buddy breathing ascents none of this "lack of skill" long hose or octo crap.

Divers today are too quick to cover up an obvious lack of diving skill with crap like back up regs, BCD's and twin bladder wings.

That Kevin Gurr fella now hes reeeeeelllyyy crap. I mean he uses back up regs, a dry suit AND a duel bladder wing then theres Mark Ellyatt theres another double wing numptie diver. Kevin and Mark should really just own up to being crap divers, tear up their dozen or so instructors certs and get some proper training.

ATB

Mark Chase

Yep tquite right... in fact why bother with regs at all, if you were really good you could hold your breath.

Don't knock it though, i spent a couple of weeks a few years ago doing scuby diving in a drysuit and backplate just to see what my dad was going on about. It was quite nice really, much like my single wing setup but with less drag, and much better than my old fenzy and wetsuit setup.

Anyway, to clarify somethings can be solved with practice, some can be solved with kit. maybe one shouldn't substitute kit to solve a problem that training and practice can solve better.

 

[Brian of Aquanauts]

I think I read somewhere that RBs were used in the first world war but I might have that completely wrong, so am prepared to be sternly corrected

If Cousteau weren't such an excellent publicist, rebreathers would have been the only option - so by now they'd probably be quite safe

 

[Brian of Aquanauts]

This week I think... can't knock the bags of death either till i try one out, hopefully it wqon't kill me if Pauls looking after it. If you fancy a laugh come watch.

B

 

[Brian of Aquanauts]

I might just do that. Pool or sea?

Don't you worry, I'm a Rescue Diver - I'll save you

Prob in the sea, i don't like pools.

Anyway Kirst what d'ya reckon about the lad and his drysuit, i reckon he was over weighted or had a loose neck seal. The double bladder wouldn't have really saved his arse anyway, as it's recomended that the 2nd bladder not be connected due to the higher chance of a runaway inflation.

Most that dive double bladder and drysuit have the 2nd bladder inflation mounted alongside the drysuit hose coming from the right. In the event of need the 2nd bladder one disconnects the drysuit and plugs it into the 2nd inflation unit. At the surface this would be plain stoopid, as you have 1 working form of buoyancy - the drysuit, and to disconnect this during an emergency leaving you with NO Buoyancy while you hook up the 2nd bladder is pretty much suicide.

So in my opinion the only answer is to make sure your drysuit can float your sorry arse in the event that you need to use it. I know mine does.

 

[Brian of Aquanauts]

In stock at

Underwater Explorers Portland Dorset &
DIR Direct - Halcyon Agir Brokk DUI

Oi Pimp! that's my sale.

In stock at :

Aquanauts Dive Centre, Plymouth, PADI Diving Courses & Diver Charters - Home
and Ocean Explorers The DIR & GUE Dive Centre - Home (not quite live yet)

But we chatted about that yesterday on the boat anyway.

Cheers Graham

ps i thought your surname was Applin???

 

[Brian of Aquanauts]

Got married - took liisas name as she was attached to it? I didn't think it was that unusual at the time..........

:teeth:

one of our instructors did the same last year... must be in fashion or something