Safeties
When do you think it is appropriate for an Open Circuit Diver to take a safety bottle?
Where would be the ideal place to drop it, or do you keep it with you?
How does this affect your gas management?
Do you think safeties are for kittens and there are already too many tanks in the caves?
we took one in on one dive this past trip, would have taken it more often if we weren't in a team of three.
Dive plan
JB to Kings canyon. 1 stage bottle plus third of mains. Buddy bottle was mainly for hypercapnia concerns and stage bottles being breathed to half plus 2, in a cave with this high flow it was probably overkill, but point still stands. Took stage bottles in, breathed to half plus 2 which is the main reason for the buddy bottle, brought the stages an extra hundred or so feet in, I generally carry my stage bottles a bit farther in anyway, and in this cave dropping them where the bottles run out is in a real nasty location. Buddy bottle was brought in a few hundred feet farther and dropped off, about the same distance as the stage would have gotten us, so at that depth, about 12 minutes of kick time in, in JB that was around the second T and was a convenient place to drop, then thirds of mains as normal.
I think if you're in a buddy pair and you're doing stages at half+2 it makes sense to take one in and drop it off when your backgas is at sixths or so just in case. We towed this one in behind on the crotch strap and it worked pretty well though in JB there isn't a whole lot of kicking going on in the first part of the cave without a DPV.
where the safeties go depends entirely on the cave and the particular dive you're doing
so many factors go into it there's no one easy cookie cutter answer
Safeties absolutely have their place in OC diving. If you plan on bringing the bottle in and out on the same dive, then breathe it as a stage and conserve extra gas in your main tanks. If you plan on keeping it in the cave beyond a single dive, then place them far enough apart from your next air source that you actually realize a safety benefit.Originally Posted by cavekrazi
In the example provided by tbone, it would provide a better safety benefit to breathe the bottle as a stage and then dive fourths on main tanks. This way your safety gas is always with you.
Kevin, sorry for the confusion, we had the one bottle between the 3 of us as a safety, not individual.
If I'm calling it a safety bottle, it doesn't affect my gas plan at all. It doesn't exist as far as gas planning goes.
As for your other questions, the get my standard cave diving answer: It depends.
I would bring one per diver. If one of you guys is having a bad time that means everyone is havin a bad time. One bottle with one reg means you guys have to ro-sham-bo over it.
When I dive at ginnie in the back (old) of the cave I like to leave a safety bottle at stage bottle rock that stays there for the duration of my stay. It does not play a role in my gas planning but serves as a minor element in my comfort level when diving both solo and with a buddy. Bill
"With regard to cave diving, the great thing is to be carried where you could not have imagined you would ever be, and then to come back alive."
"Wilderness. The word itself is music." Abbey, Desert Solitaire
Agreed that a safety bottle is above the gas plan Whether, Its an in then out swim he's a buddy bottle or when it's left there over the coarse of a project, he's a safety bottle. I do believe if you need to use them you should name them since their trying to save your butt. It only seems right. If its bad I use an Old Testament name like let's say "Oh God, Oh God, sweet Moses ghost save me." If it's a New Testament "It's more like" Sweet Jesus, Sweet Jesus, Matthew, Mark, Luke and John oh an Peter (you show never forget your Peter) pleeeease save my ass". And then the bargining begins
Www.artflowslikewater.com
Brendan's Law - "Know what you're breathing. Analyze your gas for O2 and Co. Analyze your gas each time, everytime, anywhere."
MA, you need a nap.
Whoever said money can't buy love never bought a puppy.
Posting Permissions
Reply With Quote
Bookmarks