What gear changes when you go to solo diving

[skdvr]

Originally Posted by Jack Hammer

Bigman, you really should get together with someone experienced and talk in person with them. I'm not intending to flame or attack you in any way, the statement in your last post , to me, clearly implies that you really don't yet understand what is done and why for solo diving and what is needed and why it is needed. It is more involved than just getting some extra gear. Having all the right gear doesn't prepare you for how to use it when the time comes. The internet is not the place to learn solo skills, there is great info here, but without practical application you can get yourself in real trouble should a real world problem arise. When you start diving more you should be able to find a mentor/instructor to guide you.

Jack

I would have to agree with Jack here... I am sure that you will find plenty of experienced divers in your area to talk to dive with and learn from... Many people think that diving is super easy and nothing to worry about when in effect there is quite a bit that can go wrong with gear, or just being in the wrong place at the wrong time can get you into trouble...

So dive for a few years and get a bunch of hours underwater and then explore how you may feel about solo diving... If you end up only diving a handfull of times per year you really will not have the necessary skills to do solo diving... If you can knock out 50 or 100 quality dives per year then you will be on the right track...

Phil

[bigman241]

I agree I just can not wait to dive. But i think solo diving is something far down the road.

[Flatliner]

Bigman,

There are a number of thing I would like to say to you. Don't take any offense, if ANY of this comes off offensive it isn't meant that way. PM me and I would even be willing to talk to you live.

1.) As a nurse who worked with Gastric Bypass pts, your recovery MAY not be as quick as you assume. Be sure not to push it too hard or too fast. You are making a great choice but be careful and make sure your doc ok's everything you want to do.

2.) Like you I was REALLY into diving before I even got certified. I spent time asking some of the same types of questions you are asking with the same level of excitement. I HATED my first several dives but I wouldn't admit it publically and kept pushing on until all of a sudden everything clicked and I started loving it. I promise it will take a lot more than a "few" dives to get your boyency dialed in and feel comfortable as a basic OW diver. Take it easy and enjoy diving as diving rather than a "mission".

3.) I bought my gear quickly and with Tech in mind BUT I have bought several things I am not sure I would have bought if I had it to do over. You can go either way here.

4.) I wouldn't even THINK solo in the future if I was you. The best thing you can do is as others have suggested, THINK I'm going to find some good buddies who like to dive a lot and go with them. You will learn things about diving AND you will be encouraged to be fit and active which will help with your medical recovery.

[navyhmc]

Ah, the wisdom of Flatliner!

I have to agree with both Jack and Flat. Take it easy, take it slow.

[Grin]

I say get a different cheaper reg for the pony. (I use a Zeagle reg for my main tank and a old Sherwood Magnum for my pony). That way you definatly know when the reg in your mouth is attached to the pony. That's a mistake(thinking your brething one tank when your actually breathing off another) that has killed people.
I wouldn't get too worried about the word solo. Most solo divers decide to comit to solo because they find themselves accidentally solo diving to begin with. That's what happened to me. I would go diving and my buddy finds a lobster, I'm not sitting there watching him catch it, I want one myself! so I move a few feet down the ledge looking back every now and then, and next thing you know, where did he go? OOPs your solo! Many people dive solo without pony tanks. Some people would never think of diving and not being more than 10 ft from their buddy. And everything inbetween. That's diving! It's a extreme sport or recreation, depending on what you make it. And noone can make that decision except you. That's one of the best things about diving is noone will save you from yourself, so you are the one who needs to make smart decisions for yourself.

[Jack Hammer]

Originally Posted by Grin

I say get a different cheaper reg for the pony...

Considering that when you need to deploy that backup its likely to be in an emergency when there is a problem with your primary, do you really want to trust your backup life support to a cheap reg? Or maybe would you want something bombproof with a very easy WOB considering you are likely to start hoovering at this point?

Jack

[ianr33]

Originally Posted by Jack Hammer

Considering that when you need to deploy that backup its likely to be in an emergency when there is a problem with your primary, do you really want to trust your backup life support to a cheap reg? Or maybe would you want something bombproof with a very easy WOB considering you are likely to start hoovering at this point?

Jack

Totally agree with that.

[bigman241]

True every much. My plan is buy a top of the line reg. Properly the zeagle flathead or the delta Iv from oceanic properly going to be the oceanic. Buy a good octo for my setup. Then in a month or two buy a pony and another reg just like my main reg. Use that setup for 50to100 dive or to the point i feel comfortable diving solo. I do not to wait till it is solo time to buy my pony then figure out how i want it setup where and so on. At that time i will properly go do my AOW and go doubles aswell.

Originally Posted by ianr33

Totally agree with that.

[Crimediver]

I've been solo diving for many years because I did not have people in my area to dive with. I started scuba in 1967 and the number of divers were a lot less in those days. I got a solo diver c-card about ten years ago from SDI just to keep dive operators from hassling me. Redundancy is important but you need to think about everything you do as to how it can affect you.

I also do a bit of free diving if I can and I like it as much as scuba. I also free dive solo but am very conservative, keeping most of my dives about a minute or less. I am beginning to re-think the wisdom of solo freediving.

Even being consevative Murphy's Law is alive and well. I have gotten in trouble once in a while but having extra air allows you to work it out.
Freediving is a bit more risky I think.

I have been slow to reach this conclusion but not too long ago I decided to check a location where I work as a cop. This location is a popular place for gangsters to toss guns and I have been very successful in recovering dozens of them over the years at this spot.

Due to the tide I was in fairly shallow water, about 10-12 feet.I decided to snorkel due to the shallow depths andto avoid the drag from scuba gear as the tide was running pretty good. I came across a piece of 6" aluminum pipe about 10 feet long. It was clogged up with rocks, gravel and sand. On end had a slight curve to it a few feet from the end. The other end had the pipe opening mashed down into an oval shape. I guestimated the weight of the pipe without the gravel to be approxiately 25 pounds. I decided to shake the gravel out of it and swim it to shore to turn into a recycling center and buy some beer or pizza with the spare change.

It took several dive trying to up-end the pipe and shake out the contents. It was heavy and the gravel and rocks were hanging up. I was banging one end on the river bottom and silting up everything. After several dives I was getting a bit winded. I dove down and sat the curved end of the pipe on a boulder and reached my hand in the oval end to dislodge some rocks.

I have heard of a monkey trap that consist of a hollow gourd with a hole in it just big enough for a monkey to put his fist into and inside this gourd there is a rock. The monkey grabs the rock but cannot remove his hand with the rock in it. The trapper then captures the monkey because it won't let go of the rock. You probably see where this going..

Well I grabbed a rock just a tad smaller than the pipe opening that had gotten bent inwards. As I pulled some more gravel slid down around my hand and kept me from being able to let go of the rock. I tried to swim up and allow everthing to slide down to the opposite end. No good and my hand was wedged. I kicked up to the top, trying to get some air but no luck. My snorkel was about a foot from the surface but i was unable to grab a breath. I decided to not panic, get back to the bottom and try to take it easy and get loose. I was not having much luck so I pulled as hard as I could and eventually got loose before I passed out. I was actually choking on water when I hit the top. It was not until much later I saw how skinned up my knucles were, especially the one on my pinkie. It was more like a knuckle avulsion. But I could have cared less. I was going to be OK. I eventually got the pipe emptied out and got it to shore but it was an eye opener for me. With a pony bottle I would have sorted this situation out easily but breath hold diving it was serious. A buddy would have been useful and would have kept a serious situation from getting worse. Think long and hard before you go solo and don't take chances. There is an old frontier saying that goes "Scared prospectors live the longest" So do scared solo divers.

FWIW, I got $ 9.85 for the pipe. It bought me a 12 pack of Coors. I needed them.

[emt]

From Crimediver: "I also free dive solo but am very conservative, keeping most of my dives about a minute or less. I am beginning to re-think the wisdom of solo freediving."

My 23 yr old & I often free dive spearfishing/lobstering and I too believe higher odds of disaster exist for our free dives solo vs. our tank dives solo. I agree with all that having a buddy is safer but with spearfishing/lobstering, we usually become separated.


Back to scuba diving risks:
This evening a friend told me his pneumothorax story while tank diving 5 yrs ago. He was on one side of a sunken boat at 70 ft and had just speared a large grouper that he was unable to pull out of the ship. His friend was spear fishing on the other side and he waved to his friend that he was going up to get a powerhead & return for the fish as he was down to 700 lbs air. He jabbed his knife into the hull and tied off the speared fish to the knife and headed up. He immediately noticed he was tangled on line around his tank. He tried to loosen it but decided to ditch his tank and slowly ascend to the surface without his tank & bc as the air was almost out and he had done this on a previous dive trip. He now started up slowly expelling air from his lungs without his tank/reg. and about 12 - 15 feet later he stopped again. Another unseen line was around the ankel of one leg. Immediately he tried to remove it and threw away his fin and then loosened it enough for him to ascend. He was feeling faint and concerned of blackout at this point and only expelled air part of the way to the surface. He noticed no pain until reaching the surface when the pain of the ruptured lung hit him. He's ok today. He was rushed to the hospital and treated.
Weird things can and unfortunately do often happen.

P.S. he said he has used occasionaly a pony bottle, but not on that trip. I did not want to torment him with the why question.