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In a message dated 7/6/01 4:01:30 PM Eastern Daylight Time, 
cobber@ci*.co* writes:

> IMHO, if you are not diving doubles then you should not be getting in
>  virtual or real overhead conditions (i.e. caves, wrecks or deco) so you
>  might as well be a rec diver. Being a rec diver means being able to head to
>  the surface under any emergency condition. Your failure mode for most if 
not
>  all issues is a controlled ascent to the surface.
>  
>  Other than that you are fooling yourself using H, Y or whatever systems. If
>  anything it could make matter worse by introducing CF factors into a simple
>  rec rig.
>  
>  My reasoning on this is to have enough gas to deal with a problem on the
>  bottom even after isolating the valve with the problem, impossible to do
>  with a H or Y valve.
>  
>  Doubles vs. Singles is more an issue of convenience and logistics. You 
can't
>  make a silk purse out of a sows ear so if your gonna do it, do it right.
>  Don't overhead dive without doubles.


BS!  "Doing it right" means only dragging along that equipment necessary for 
the dive at hand.  If the dive can be executed using a single tank, staying 
with the proper rules of gas management, then flying doubles would be "doing 
it wrong."

The cave diving community has long used dual outlet valves on single tanks 
for "Intro" level cave and cavern dives with great success.  Most likely 
thousands and likely more accurately tens of thousands of wreck divers are 
executed along the US East Coast using single tanks equipped with dual outlet 
valves each year.

With practice it takes but a few seconds to isolate a free-flowing regulator 
using a H valve.  The amount of gas lost in such situations should be 
insignificant assuming proper gas management techniques are being applied.  
In a worst case scenario the teamate's (buddy's) reserve gas supply serves to 
provide the required redundancy.

What's next, an endorsement for carrying bail-out bottles diving single tanks?

Bob D.
www.SportDiverHQ.com
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