You Can Be My Buddy But I'm Watching My Own Back


Yesterday I order a custom redundant air delivery system for scuba. At the heart of scuba diving is the buddy system where one closely watches for the welfare of another person while diving and makes himself available to assist with breathing if your buddy runs out of air or has equipment trouble. All standard scuba regulators come with a primary and secondary breather just for this.

I on the other hand I adhere to the fundamentals of the buddy system, but prefer having a complete backup system of my own. So I have carried around a small backup breathing device since diving and it has been the bain of my existence. I have endured ridicule by more experienced divers whenever they see it.

I left the back up system down on the island and yesterday purchased a more effective and higher capacity system of backup that in the case of an emergency should give me ample time to surface even if I am at the maximum depth of 130 feet.

So now instead of having an 80 CF primary tank and a 3 CF backup, I now have a complete backup with a 30 CF capacity. It has a real regulator and pressure gauge. It straps to my primary tank.

I know now the ridicule will continue and I will be accused of being a tech diver wannabe. But you know, I feel safer and have an option that most divers ignore.


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5 comments:

Ken said...

Not a damn thing wrong with being ready for anything.

terri said...

I can't imagine you could enjoy yourself if you didn't feel safe, so let others laugh. You know you've got your bases covered in the event of an emergency.

Unknown said...

In the immaoratal words of one John Lennon: "Whatever gets you through the night..."

MELackey said...

no ridicule from me. Different "safety system", but I sometimes carry 2 concealed handguns and always take 2 rifles to the ranch for hunting trips. Always have a back-up handy if your primary craps out.

matshorts said...

ahhhhhh hahahaha pointing finger