I do believe in redundancy... up to a point. In your efforts to equip 
yourself to survive you have to draw a line. Where should the line be 
drawn? When I pick up something that I think I might need, I run through 
my mind the odds I would need that item vs. it's drawbacks vs. simpler 
solutions. 

In the case of a pony, you are balancing the advantage:

1. Another source of air.

Against the drawbacks-

1- One more thing to have to manage before and during and after your dive.
2- Difficult to guarantee it will work when you really need it.
3- Gives false sense of security which increases the likelyhood of a OOA 
emergency.
4- Knocks your whole rig out of balance.
5- Snags everything due to it's location.
6- Hard to unsnag due to it's location.
7- Increases likelyhood of getting stuck in a constriction due to it's 
location.
8- Increased hydrodynamic drag which make you huff more air.

Against a simpler solution:

1. Check your air, you idiot.
2. Don't get in situations you can't free ascent from.

I suppose if you really need a pony to deal with various phobias, it does 
not matter to me but I can't see the need for anything larger than a 
6cuft bottle which you can put on your belt.

   Jim

Sender: Rubrifolia@ao*.co*  Date: 1/14/99 12:51 PM

>In a message dated 1/14/99 10:10:28 AM Eastern Standard Time,
>cobber@ci*.co* writes:
>
><< 
> I have a problem with ponys. To me a pony is worse than independent 
> doubles. It gives the diver the feeling that he or she can do what a 
> doubles diver can do, i.e. penetrations and deco.
>  >>
>To me the point of a pony is having two redundant (redundant, redundant,
>redundant)  air supplies and getting used to that safety  concept.  If divers
>are using the pony as an excuse to dive longer or for penetration than they
>have to go back to one of the even earlier concepts of air supply management,
>ie the old days rule of thirds...I know, I know, now with gas, its not 
>thirds,
>but the concept is still the same....coming up on the boat with 500PSI is not
>a good thing....
>
>Just cause we are carrying all this air does not mean we use it all up....a
>big chunk of it is meant to be a safety reserve and if you dont get that you
>shouldnt be putting your head underwater....
>
>Redundancy is a vital  conceptual thread that needs to run through all of 
>ones
>diving.....equipment, planning, air supply....and here we go back again to
>time spent underwater....until someone has built up time underwater they will
>not get the profound need to respect very basic safety measures.....
>
>I agree totally that after a certain point in wreck diving everyone should be
>in doubles. Somewhere along the place where deco begins and definitely once
>folks begin thinking about any kind of penetration.    But I really hate
>seeing people come out with single tanks and octopus.....it seems to me 
>that a
>pony there is a huge safety factor...not thought of as 'oh boy, more bottom
>time' but simply a safety factor....a redundant air supply for when Murphy
>comes knocking......
>


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