I've struggled at times with how to keep my kit tied down on a rocking boat.  Either the knot that I tie with the little piece of rope that the skipper provides comes undone ad the boat rocks from side to side or it gets tighter and tighter meaning that I can't undo it when we get to the dive site.  

Too often I see people's sets crash down, damaging kit and meaning that they miss dives so I went in serach of a knot that we could all learn which could be tied easily, would hold fast yet be undone with ease.  the final criteria is that it had to be able to be tied when one end of the rope was attached to the boat as that is how we find many dive boats in the UK.

The Constrictor knot is one of the most effective binding knots. Simple and secure, it is a harsh knot which can be difficult or impossible to untie once tightened. It is made similarly to a clove hitch but with one end passed under the other, forming an overhand knot under a riding turn. The Double constrictor knot is an even more robust variation having two riding turns.

A well fitting harness should be adjusted so that it is not really tight (you need to be able to get out of it easily) but not so loose that the set rolls around on your back which would be really uncomfortable.  I’ve drafted out some instructions to help you get it right for you.

A diver's harness should be rigged from one piece of webbing and should have no quick-release buckles or other failure points. Though plastic quick-release buckles seem to simplify the process of getting into and out of one's dive gear, these “savings” are illusory, putting a diver at greater risk that s/he would be without it. In many cases this could prove fatal as the diver clings to tanks whose negative tendency stands in stark contrast to his/her own positive tendency. In cases where the loosened or dislodged quick release does not cause a diver to lose their tanks it can easily cause a dangerously significant shift in weight, throwing the diver off balance.

A very talented and expressive GUE diver from Italy described our light as our underwater voice – a very concise, descriptive and accurate explanation of how useful our light can be if used correctly.  

Rather than a tool to light up the fish, good use of a light can act as a tool to communicate both passive and active signals. The mere presence of your buddy’s light beam tells you he is there. It starts to flash from side to side slowly, he wants you to look around. It starts to move with urgency there is a problem – look to him immediately and be ready to share gas.

It was the principle of a long hose which first made me think about hogarthian kit set up - and later DIR. Having tried to make an out of gas ascent whilst in a pool whilst training I realised how uncomfortable this was when happy and unstressed and didn't want to imagine how difficult it would be on a shot line with a long ascent to do.

The standard way of using a 2nd stage regulator on a normal length hose plus an “octopus” regulator on a slightly longer hose clipped somewhere in sight ready to share with an out of gas buddy may not be the best way to arrange things - yet most take it for granted and don't give it any serious thought.  Stowing the “octopus” is another challenge - although not as great as the challenge that I had trying to keep it stowed in the various clips and bungies that I bought for the purpose when I learned to dive.  Looking at divers on dives sites or swimming about underwater, their octopus is often trailing merrily behind them - hidden from view and picking up all sorts of silt and sand.  Not the best thing to give someone who probably needs air quite fast in an emergency.

Your regulator is the most important part of your equipment, after your brain and your buddies. Regulators should be regarded life-support equipment and as they should be chosen and maintained with care.

Your choice in regulator is one of the most important decisions you will make in buying diving equipment. You should first of all look for something that is tried and tested. New products may look good and the advertising may highlight many unique features, but this gives no indication of how it holds up to time and use.

Avoid regulators with special fittings or non-standard parts. In the event of a problem, non-standard hoses or parts can be difficult to get hold of – especially if diving abroad. Some have unusual sized ports that make swapping things over difficult (e.g. larger (1/2 inch) LP ports rather than the standard 3/8ths inch), others have the ports arranged so closely that it is very hard to get a spanner in to screw/unscrew them.

In simple terms, there are 2 types of dry-suit: the membrane dry-suit and the neoprene dry-suit.   Both will keep you dry - so which is right for you?

The disadvantage of a neoprene dry-suit is that the spongy neoprene behaves in the same way as it does with wetsuits: buoyancy and warmth are lost at depth as the neoprene is compressed.

Although more undergarments can be worn to counter this, this means that you are bulkier and more buoyant at the surface. This in turn means that you have to use more lead weight in order to get down. However, as stated above, much of this buoyancy is lost at depth so one has to put more air into your wing. This increases drag and makes buoyancy control more difficult and a wing failure would leave you severely exposed as you would now have to swim up this excess weight.

Because the trilaminate material of a membrane suit is non-compressible, loss of buoyancy and insulation is not an issue.

DIR divers are quite easily spotted on a dive boat or dive site. Their kit is standard, and even small deviations from the norm are unusual in those who adhere strictly to the system. Why is this?

There is a lot to be said for diving with the same system as other people PROVIDED this system has been painstakingly thought out and extensively tested. The main advantage of standard kit is the ability to interchange/swap between your own equipment. An example would be having the same size and type of direct feed on all your gear. The ability to interchange and swap between yours and someone else’s equipment is very helpful. Being able to borrow kit from a friend if they are not diving can be very helpful indeed. In an emergency situation, you will know their gear as well as your own. “Buddy checks” will never make you as familiar with their set-up as you are with yours.

Another vital piece of equipment that every diver needs is a contents gauge (Submersible Pressure Gauge - SPG)

Most people learned to dive with a console that contained the SPG, a compass & perhaps a computer or depth gauge as well. Whilst this seems a good idea superficially (keep all those handy things in one place), it does have some serious drawbacks:

They are large, cumbersome and get in the way and drag along the bottom or catch on wrecks. How often have you seen a console get dragged along - diving in silty overhead environments with such consoles stirs up silt – only to be nowhere to be seen when the diver wishes to check how much gas they have remaining.

Although dive manufacturers release more new fin designs every year than just about any other piece of equipment, with fancy water jet styling, channelling, splits you name it - no fin is better suited for wreck, cave or technical diving than the Scubapro Jet Fin.

Based on a design that is at least 30 years old, the Jet Fin is a perfect example of a low-tech solution to better gear design. Jet Fins are manufactured out of negatively buoyant black rubber. You can therefore get rid of any need for ankle weights.

Using a wing and backplate system brings many benefits – some of which I will go through here.

The first and most obvious difference in a backplate set up with a one piece harness is that the chest and front of diver is clear. This means that the diver is more comfortable, more streamlined, there is easy access to the dry-suit inflate button, the corrugated hose and the backup regulator.

The buoyancy is behind the diver and does not restrict the diver’s breathing even when fully inflated. Most people find this particularly liberating after a standard BC. The other benefit of having buoyancy is right next to the cylinders, is that the centre of buoyancy is very close to the centre of gravity. This means that you are more manoeuvrable underwater. With a stab jacket, most of the buoyancy is around the lower abdomen area and the majority of the weight at the back where the cylinder(s) are. This means that the centre of buoyancy and gravity are much further apart which results in less manoeuvrability and a tendency to exaggerate a roll if you roll slightly.