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Jim, Thanks for the email. I don't disagree with your comments. As I say I'm not entirely committed to the whole Y/H valve thing. I've made many gear choices over the years, some good some bad (among other things I've owned Spare Airs, pony bottles, SP Air II's and all sorts of other nonsense). In all cases though I've gained some insight (which I occasionally try and share, and then usually get to hear others perspectives). One problem I've found with a single first stage is the need for an overly short backup hose or to pass the backup under the arm (neither option I particularly like). With the H valves I use standard DIR hose lengths and the routing is cleaner (no hoses sticking out the sides). The presentation of H valves as an option for recreational divers on the GUE web site and elsewhere and advice from other list members was certainly encouraging too. If the timing suits I'm hoping to take a GUE course in Sydney next year, hopefully this and other issues can be resolved there. FWIW I don't use the H valve to give me access to overhead environments (unless you count swim thru's, overhangs, etc, technically yes but then you may as well include swimming under a boat (a metre or two either way and you've got unobstructed access to the surface)). Ok I have been through more substantial oceanic caves in the past (pre-H valve BTW) but then I've done a lot of silly things in the past. In most of the diving I do I take on a leadership role (usually as a DM) so I generally have plenty of "redundant" air supplies close at hand (and when I don't I'm more picky about my buddies). Cheers, At 12:31 6/07/2001 -0400, you wrote: >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. > > Jim > ------------------------------------------------------------------- > Learn About Trimix at http://www.cisatlantic.com/trimix/ Simon Simon L Hartley RSM Website Coordinator\First Year Course Coordinator Associate Lecturer School of Environmental Science and Management Southern Cross University P.O. Box 157 Lismore NSW, Australia 2480 Ph: (02) 66203251 or (61 66) 203 251 Fax:(02) 66212669 E-mail: shartley@sc*.ed*.au* http://www.scu.edu.au/schools/esm/staff/pages/shartley/ http://www.scu.edu.au/schools/esm/ -- Send mail for the `techdiver' mailing list to `techdiver@aquanaut.com'. Send subscribe/unsubscribe requests to `techdiver-request@aquanaut.com'.
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