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At 09:27 AM 1/19/99 -0500, Wrolf Courtney wrote:
>But when I am travelling, the pony is part of my gear.  I have only twice
had dive
>environments that while travelling that required doubles.

In the past, when travelling to tropical dive locations (including south
Florida)
to engage in purely recreational dives, I have taken a pony bottle (a 20
cf). I've now decided its an unnecessary burden in additional weight. I'll
keep the long hose, and
follow team protocols (I take my buddy with me).

Other environments make different demands; for North Carolina wreck diving or
Florida cave diving its doubles, period.

>I continue to be astonished at how many times while travelling I get asked
what
>the pony is for.

Last February I was on the Belize Aggressor III .... I was sure we'd be the
only divers with pony bottles, but I was wrong. Another couple from NJ was
on board that week. They also brought their backplate/wings/harness and
30 cf (!) pony bottles (a 30 there REALLY seemed like overkill, considering
that most of of the time I used around that much gas for an entire dive).

I have NEVER been berated, ridiculed or otherwise harrassed when showing
up for a recreational dive with a pony. I even present it for its first fill
at my destination with the valve off and ask if they want to VIP it before
filling. The answer has always been no (after they look at the sticker to see
if the VIP is current) and the pony fills have always been free.

>Once you know the security of equipment redundancy, you never want to go
back.

No one is arguing that redundancy is a bad thing. We are wrestling over
what constitutes sufficient gas supply redundancy.

Art Greenberg
artg@ec*.ne*

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