A sausage is an inflatable tube that is maybe 3-4" in diameter and 48" long or so. They are brightly colored and can help you be seen over the crest of waves that would conceal your head. You would be astounded to see how hard to find a head is in the ocean.<br><br>Suicide clips are metal snap clips that require no more than pressure on the gate to "snap" the clip to a line. They are often used by divers to attach goody bags, lights, etc to their BC. The drawback is that you can get caught by fishing lines, wires, and cables and find it difficult to get loose.<br><br>Best choice is to not have things hanging from you that can become entangled on wreckage or other items on the bottom.<br><br>Have fun!!

It may be that it's been a while since I've done any diving (problem with equalizing my left ear!) or it could be a "canadian-ism", but I know spare air as "pony-bottles" and I am pretty sure it is what you are thinking about. They are handheld compressed air cylinders with the reg attached pretty much right to the bottle and attaches to your rig somewhere for emergency ascents.<br><br>Iron

I was wondering if anyone in here knew where to get the same type flares that are in the SAS Survival Guide. This looks like a very compact set-up, and would be easy to carry anywhere, even in a small emergency kit. Thanks!<br><br>John McIntire

Pony Bottles are pretty much the same idea as "Spare Air" or bailout bottles, but the Ponys are in the size range of 13 to 40 cubic feet of air and accept a standard SCUBA regulator. Bailout bottles are in the size range of 1.2 to 3 cubic feet of air, so it is a more compact, but less enduring supply of air.

It obviously depends on your rate of breathing, so i don't know if this can be answered, but:<br><br>How many breathes/much time can you get out of a certain amount air (cubic meters/feet, bars, etc)?

Number of breaths per cubic foot varies with depth. Consumption rate varies with stress and exertion level. It would be a complicated formula, but maybe it could be searched up on the internet if you were that interested. Some SCUBA divers calculate their average consumption rates in the 0.5 to 0.75 cubic feet per minute rate range and under stress, it could be 3 or 4 times that much.<br><br>As a rule of thumb, the spare air would probably not last much more than a minute or two at shallow depths. May not last even long enough to get to the surface from great depths (say 60+ feet) at safe ascent rates. But that minute or two could be the margin you would need to exit a submerged car or aircraft. I would consider it a very temporary air supply. <br><br>Pony bottles can provide a scuba diver with the ability to ascend from depth with a greater margin of safety.

You could put your PSK in an Otterbox model 1000. It has almost as much interior space as an altoids tin but is rated waterproof to 110 feet. It's very beefy for the price. May help if you make landfall. PIC

John,

The flares shown in the SAS Survival Guide are standard British Military issue. They are made by a company called Pains-Wessex. They produce a civilian version called the MIniflare 3. You will not be able to get people to ship these to you by mail generally, so you need a boat yard to visit. Some mountain shops sell them. They cost about £25 GB pounds. Try this website for details:
http://www.lifesupportintl.com/miniflare3SignalKit.htm
Several issues:
a. The flare doesn't burn long or fly very high (about 200 feet)
b. Relatively short shelf life, check out the expiry date before buying.
c. You'll generally only get red flares, although for the military there are white and green as well.
On a positive note:
a. they are reliable
b. easy to use
c. very compact

Hope this helps.

some knife considerations...
The blunt point is not for safety, but strength. One seems to do a LOT of prying with it. The blunt end works much better than any pointy kniife.

I prefer a double edged knife, one being serrated. Much of what you cut will be very fiberous. Old anchor lines, stringy matted vines that want to keep you down, things like that. The serrations make a big difference. The other edge, the normal smooth edge. for normal cutting.

Don't carry a shiny knife (or anything else shiny either) as many BIG fish will mistake it for a flashing small (food) fish. And their aim seems to be rather like a shotgun. They go after the flash and get your arm.

Strap it to your body. Not on your tank rig. You may entangle the tank rig and have to remove it. There goes your knife. I like it on my leg (inside left calf, I am left handed), but that is a personal choice. The thing is to make sure it can not catch the above mentioned vines or anchor rope. It can be like wearing a grapling hook on your leg if done wrong. And when it is afoul of weeds, you won't be able to un-sheath it to cut the weeds (catch 22?)

I did a lot of diving until a motorcycle accident (skull fracture) made diving impossible. Sure I had a few close calls diving, just as I have had close calls driving. But I sure miss diving. the best advice was given above. Do it by the numbers and pay attention to your instructors. It is not any more dangerous than many of the other things we do every day, but the environment is totally different and it takes awhile to become as knowledgable of the undersea world. Yep.. I sure miss it.

I haven't had time to review this whole thread since it was started a while ago. But I'm a wreck diver in the NE and spend most of my time on a boat this is what I carry while diving:

1.) Serated sheepfoot knife (UK Remora) in a sheath mounted on my harness waist strap
2.) EMT Shears mounted in a sheath next to the knife
3.) Wreck reel (Halcyon) w/ 400' of line
4.) Safty Spool w/ 250' of line clipped off in drysuit pocket
5.) 100 lb yellow lift bag/surface maker (Carter) (it looks like a big safty sausage it's about 10' tall)
6.) Back Up tables in wetnotes
7.) Storm Whistle cliped off in dry suit pocket
8.) Stainless Steel signal mirror clipped off in drysuit pocket
9.) 2 backup twist on lights w/ focusable lenses
10.) Compass w/ bezel
11.) All the normal scuba equipement plus what ever is needed for this particular dive.
12.) A GOOD BUDDY!

I would consider flares and marker dye if I was way offshore we dive a few wrecks which are 50+ miles out but flares and dye have limited value.

As for the "Spare Air" it's not a total waste of money but close <img src="images/graemlins/laugh.gif" alt="" /> - in the area I dive in we've nick named it "3 breaths 'till death". I'm not totally dismissing this a usefull piece of equipement but a pony tank setup or a set of doubles will give you a real back up instead of something that looks good.

You could carry other equipement but if you use a dependable dive boat for your trips EPIRB's and personal life rafts should not be needed. If your past due the boat should preform a search for you.

So how was your class?

You should visit this link, as it shows the basic scuba gear needed.

http://www.wkpp.org/articles/Gear/gearlist.htm