As open water divers, you are trained to take that safety device called
asnorkel with you on every dive. It becomes a personal decision whether to
take it or not.

Jim, to telling someone that they do not any longer need it and that it is
"a useless appendage" is assuming a certain level of liability for them. Do
I agree that for me on certain types of dives, it is not a needed piece of
safety equipment, the answer is YES. Are there other dives it should be
present, agian the answer is yes. Should it be available in the dive bag
with the with the light other associated gear when you leave the dock, again
the answer is yes.

Other times that you may need it, surface rescues, assisting stressed divers
on surface, waiting for you buddy enter the water and you are on the
surface, on the tag line waiting to get on the boat, etc.

One must evaluate the conditions, dive, and the possible needs for the
equipment on the dive. Lights, slates, knives, etc. anyone?

-----Original Message-----
From: Jim Cobb [mailto:cobber@ci*.co*]
Sent: Saturday, May 30, 1998 2:28 PM
To: Steve Orrell; Tech Diver
Subject: Re: Snorkels


Hi, Steve-

When I was trained as a scuba diver, I think that trainers expect that a
certain amount of time would be spent floundering around on the surface
with no air in your tank. Thus the use of a snorkle with scuba is heavily
promoted in the training process.

But as you get better at managing your air, being in an totally out of
air situation becomes quite rare so that a snorkle becomes a useless
appendage. The fact is that you keep your reg in your mouth from the
moment you step into the water until you are sitting on the dive platform
on the back of the boat, and you don't run your air down to nothing.

I might also point out that with wings the correct way to move on the
surface is on your back where a snorkel is useless anyway.

In extended diving a snorkel could be considered dangerous, it can snag
in wreck reel lines, fishing lines or on wreckage. There are some
situations where loosing your mask or getting tangled up could be a death
sentence.

I remember when I decided not to use a snorkel, due to my training it was
*hard* to leave it behind. But you do a couple of dives without the damn
thing and you won't look back. In the diving that I tend to do, you look
around the boat at the other hard-core types and there is not a snorkel
to be seen anywhere.

You need to weight what gear you bring along with the likelihood of
whether you will use it or not vs. the CF potential that gear might
invoke. And a snorkel cannot justify it's existence. No matter where you
put one (believe me, talking from experience on this) it is a snag
magnet. The only thing they are good for is to snorkel around on the
surface between dives.

 Jim


On 5/30/98 10:30 AM Steve Orrell wrote:

>Hi Jim Cobb
>
>On Fri, 29 May 1998 20:35:06 -0400, you wrote:
>
>
>> And yes I am an atlantic wreck diver not a caver, hogarth works in salt
>> water as well as fresh.
>
>Hi Jim,
>
>I thought I'd drop you a quick line; I'm relatively new to diving (sea and
>freshwater, no cave) and am trying to incorporate "hogarthian" ideas into
my
>kit configuration as I go along. At present I'm pondering the pros and cons
>of the long hose and am curious as to the fate of the snorkel.
>
>I would have thought that using a long hose would preclude it being mounted
>on the side of the mask so my question is where does it go? Or is it
>something that is omitted totally in an Hogarthian setup?  (I would imagine
>the snorkel is redundant anyway in a cave environment ;-)  I don't like the
>idea of strapping it, or anything else to the leg but is this the only
>option, along with not carrying it at all?
>
>I'd appreciate your opinion.
>
>Cheers,
>
>
>
>
>
>Steve...
>


 -------------------------------------------------------------------
 Learn About Trimix At http://www.cisatlantic.com/trimix/trimix.html


--
Send mail for the `techdiver' mailing list to `techdiver@aquanaut.com'.
Send subscribe/unsubscribe requests to `techdiver-request@aquanaut.com'.

--
Send mail for the `techdiver' mailing list to `techdiver@aquanaut.com'.
Send subscribe/unsubscribe requests to `techdiver-request@aquanaut.com'.

Navigate by Author: [Previous] [Next] [Author Search Index]
Navigate by Subject: [Previous] [Next] [Subject Search Index]

[Send Reply] [Send Message with New Topic]

[Search Selection] [Mailing List Home] [Home]