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Anthony - you are exactly right abuot the "keyhole" issues with argon bottles - great point - we do have places that I regularly get stuck in, that is why it can be released by those two velcro straps. Usually, the dive buddy can just guide it through, but if stuck, I can pull the straps, let it fall, and put it back on , or get my buddy to do it. If you put it on the left hip, which I do with a smaller bottle when doing short dives, you do that by using a peice of webbing like the light, but looser so that you can slide it on over top of the d-rings , and you loop a small piece of bungee into the backplate which holds the bottle back against tht plate (it is hust looped over the end of the bottle so can be renmoved easily. We use the 14 cu ft at 2015 bottle to be sure to have enough Argon for both a long dive and to transfuse buddy if he looses his argon. We never mix anything into the argon, and we just buy a new 300 cu ft bottle if the pressure gets below 1800 . We only put 2000 in the bottle so that the reg failures are non-existant, and we use a pressure relief valve on the fist stage so we do not lose the hose or the valve if the reg fails (just turn it off and on when we need it). As you know , in cave diving, you could go through a dep section and back up, so losing suit inflation at 200 and then having to go to 310 is impossible without a transfusion or an injury. The position of the argon on the tanks is just back into the slipstream already created by the tank - Lamar English and I verified this by testing all of these configs in haloclines with video, like haveing a tracer in a windtunnel - we are positive of the positioning of all of this gear, even though it may appear to be weird to the naked eye - we just look stupid, we are far from it. The stages must be exactly as we have them to get the speed, and that is all I will say about that, as nobody believes me anyway, yet nobody can oputrun me with stages on. Our gas management depends on speed, our speed depends on gear positioning. Exley tired running with me and Gavin with a stage on each side ONCE. He was riding one of my scooters, and could not keep up . I was carrying an extra safety bottle for him since he was not originally supposed to be on the dive, so I had three to his two - after that he was a firm believer. I showed this to another guy who wil remain nameless in the water where I switch scooters with him , out ran him again, and then kept taking one more of his bottles each time until he could keep up with me (after I had both of our stages and he was riding my scooter and I his. After that dive he reconfigured his gear. Some of the biggest mouths on here have been with me in a cave and been severly outrun and still do not get it. George M. Irvine III DIR WKPP Woodville Karst Plain Project 1400 SE 11 ST Ft Lauderdale, FL 33316 954-493-6655 FAX 6698 Email gmiiii@in*.co*
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