I can almost hear the coral screaming. The diver in front of me has left his pressure gauge hanging, and I can see it scraping across the coral while he enjoys his dive, oblivious to the damage he is causing the reef. One of my greatest pet peeves in diving is seeing danglies -- gauges, regulators, and dive accessories -- trailing below or behind a diver.
What Qualifies as a Dangly?:
A dangly is any piece of dive equipment that hangs more than a few inches below a diver's body.
Common danglies include pressure gauges, alternate air source regulators, surface marker buoys, cameras, and dive lights.
Why Are Danglies Bad?:
1. Danglies Cause Damage to the Environment
Any contact that dive gear makes with coral, sea life, a wreck, or any other part of the underwater environment can cause damage. Equipment that touches the reef can injure or even kill delicate coral polyps. Danglies leave marks in the pristine sediment of caves and caverns, and can bang into underwater artifacts. Most divers don't intend to leave gear hanging freely, but neglecting to secure dive gear in an appropriate manner is unacceptable.
2. Damage to Dive Gear
Not only can a danglie cause damage, it can be damaged by the environment. A dangling alternate air source may become clogged with sand, rendering it non-functional. Gauges and delicate gear such as underwater photography or videography equipment can be scratched or broken when banged into a reef or rock.
3. Entanglement
Danglies can also lead to entanglement when they become jammed in tight places or caught on protrusions.
Common examples are pieces of dive gear getting trapped between coral heads, tangled with parts of a shipwreck, stuck in seaweed, or ensnared in a dive line. Danglies can even become snagged on the dive boat, and have been known to cause falls or complicate water entries.
4. Ease of Access
Dangling dive gear is much harder to access than neatly stowed dive gear. An alternate air source regulator that floats freely behind a diver will be difficult to locate in an emergency. Unattached pressure gauges tend to float out to the side of the diver, making them difficult to reach and check. Finding any piece of dive gear is much more difficult if you don't know where to look for it!
5. Drag
Gear that is not placed in a streamlined, tucked in position will increase a diver's drag underwater. Even a small object, such as a pressure gauge, may affect a diver's ability to move through the water efficiently.
Tips and Hints for Better Diving:• Preventing Heel and Ankle Blisters
• 5 Hairstyles for Scuba Diving
• How to Clean Dive Slates and Wetnotes
• Tips for Getting Into a Wetsuit Easily
Suggestions for Avoiding Danglies:
Clips and Connectors
A variety of methods can be used to avoid danglies. Divers may use bolt snaps, double ended clips, or even carabiners to attach dive gear to their buoyancy compensators. Retractor clips have a long string that unwinds when the diver pulls on his gauge or accessory, and retracts once he releases it. Telephone cord-style coiled lanyards may also be used to attach dive gear to a BC. Ochos and other quick-release connectors are available for alternate air sources.
When clipping a piece of dive gear to a BC, divers can attach the clip to a d-ring on their chest, waist, or butt (in the case of a back-plate/wing/harness set up with a crotch strap). Any of these locations is acceptable, provided that the gear does not hang more than a few inches below the diver's body when he swims horizontally.
Pockets
Many BCs have accessory pockets to store gear. The pockets keep stowed gear tucked tightly against the diver's body for optimal streamlining. Good items to store in a pocket are back-up masks, wetnotes, slates, and surface marker buoys/spools. It is better to clip off pressure gauges as they tend to spring out of pockets underwater. Alternate air sources should never be stowed in a pocket, they should be attached to the diver between his chin and the lower corners of his rib cage using a quick-release system.
Whenever possible, attach a clip to all dive accessories, even those to be stowed in pocket. Many BCs have d-rings sewn inside the pockets so that gear may be clipped in place to avoid accidentally dropping a piece of gear when removing it from the pocket.
Tucking Gear In
Pressure gauges, in particular, may be tucked into the cummerbund of a vest-style BC. Be sure to tuck a pressure gauge underneath the lower edge of the cummerbund, and then pull it up past the top of the cummerbund so that the gauge faces the diver and does not dangle. Larger divers may also tuck the gauge through the shoulder of the BC. This method only works for divers who have a large enough torso that excess hose does not loop above or behind him.
The Take Home-Message About Danglies and Scuba Diving:
Danglies damage the environment, create entanglement hazards, and make accessing dive gear difficult. Always stow your dive gear properly so that it hangs no more than a few inches below your body as you swim.