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AirOn - 1/06/2009 10:23 AM 
I think your blog is saying pretty much the same thing as I was?
Your perspective an instructor and doing deep and wreck dives too, I’d warrents the pony bottle.
I don’t think that need applies to the bulk of divers who only hold open water certificates though and shouldn’t be deeper then 60-ish feet per their certification agency guidlines. As you said you don’t use the pony bottle for dives under 60 feet.
Deep (advanced) and wreck dives are in my mind more tech diver items. Advanced divers do deep open dives so the redundant tanks or pony bottles are a good idea, it seems to me that many of them are doing nitrox (basicaly a full redundant rig) on the their deep dives now anyhow. Even on their advanced certification dives... At least with the people I’ve been around they have been.
When i first started diving and purchased my own equipment I’d looked at getting a BC that would allow me to do 2 full sucba cylinders. The shop guy I talked too said that I could buy one of their high end BCs and then add the addaptor later but that if I was going to 2 cylinders I’d probably be doing tech diving at that point and i’d probably want a completly differnt rig then I would for Recreational sport dives anyhow. He did tell me to buy the BC a little larger then I though I needed to start off, so that It would work for a dry suit.
The point was to figure out what you are going to do, then get equipment that is reasonable for that application that is normal. You don’t get a sports car if your looking at saftey, you don’t get a SUV if your looking to haul dirt and equipment.
If you dive a rig that is not "normal" then THAT is not as safe as diving something everyone is used too seeing and working with. For both YOU and the people you dive with.
For instance (I’ve blogged this here too) I have an Air 2 myself. Its on a back float (not as common) BC. If someone has to rescue me some day the Air 2 isn’t going to be the issue... my back float bladder will be. If you fully inflate the air bladder, you will NOT be able to turn me over and keep me floating on my back.
Translate this to the items we are talking about... If you have a pony bottle will you be farmiliar with it? Will your dive buddies? How about a spare air?
Now on the flip side I have had some funny instances of people wanting to come up behind me and steal air on dives... Without an Octo they couldn’t figure out how to steal air. If you translate that into a paniced diver it does put you back in control of the situation instead of them just ripping the octo loose.
After watching Navy diver training and seeing them simulate surf rolls on the guys, then pulling and knotting thier regs into their valves... an Air 2 would be too short for this and would appear to be a much safer way to recover...lol
At the end of the day I still say a buddy is the safest option, assuming you both are familiar with your own and your buddies equipment...
You point out that as an instructor you take extra air for your students, just in case... that also lends to a buddy being safer.
Just because you have a pony bottle, a full redundant system or the spare air... you still need to be in practice with your buddy for sharing air and everything related to that... :-)
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I would add here that I also dive with different gear configurations based upon the dive. I mostly use my doubles with my dry suit and therefore have a redundant supply and simplified equipment. With students I always begin the class with whatever their gear configuration is, most often a jacketed BCD. I normally change to a BP/W with little weight other than on the backplate. Again depending on the class it may of may not involve a pony but it provides others an opportunity to experience diving with someone that has another gear configuration different from what they may have. As far as rescue with a BP/W you just have to become familiar with the different equipment to become comfortable with handling any situation. When it happens for real looking back on what you learned will provide the needed foundation, another reason to introduce different equipment configurations that one may encounter in a rescue class.
While I have used and taught a few students with Air2 I do not own one. As for myself I normally hand off my primary and have my backup on a necklace.
Great discussion and thoughts but your right ya gotta put these into practice until they are second nature and good communication between you and your dive buddy is the #1 thing that can prevent a problem. I for one will admit to having been to complaisant in the past but a good dive buddy brought me back around.
Best Fishes!! [
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A pony bottle is the only true safe solution when it comes to a redundant backup. I own a 9cf pony bottle and usually use it on wreck dives. It is assuring to know that I have a redundant backup in the case of a tank valve or first stage failure, hose rupture, uncontrollable free flow of air, tank valve o-ring failure, overfill pressure burst disk failure, etc. As for the spare air, you are correct. 30 breaths may not be enough to keep you out of the chamber during an emergency ascent, but a conscious DCI diver in the water is much better that an unconscious DCI diver. I find that the benefit of the SpareAir is to buy you time to either get to your dive buddy or the surface. Many times, your buddy may be a short distance from you and the spare air would give you that extra minute to get a buddy’s attention. An added benefit of the spare air is the ability to hand it off to a diver in an emergency. As stated on the SpareAir website, the product is designed for the "if I only had one more breath" situations.
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AirOn - 1/16/2009 5:46 PM
So taking a newer diver (who would be asking this question) and telling them if they want to be safer they need more equipment to buy, maintain, manage and carry? Instead of learning the basics of air mamagment. Instead of sticking with their dive buddy. Instead of basic emergency skills. Instead of any other number of the basic things?
Most places the casual sports divers go and rent equipment they won’t have the pony bottle, spare air, etc... be farmiliar with what you will use. Most places wont let you fly with high pressure tanks to check in.
Even on local dives... Any bets on how often they forget to turn the pony bottle on, forget to practice getting to it, etc... More euqipment, more valves, more costs... that should help new divers getting into SCUBA... Most people they dive with won’t have pony bottles and spare air... You add more possible problems.
Whats safer? Just don’t do Scuba... Safer and cheaper!
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