Sport KISS - A Dive Report

Sport Kiss - A Dive Report
By Peter Heseltine



So, how does it dive? We went off to PseudoTech '05 ;-) This is an annual event of Rebreather divers (my first time) and a greater bunch of nicer, experienced - mostly professional divers - could not be found. Amazing stories: one raised a B-17 from under the ice; another ran the SeaLab project; another swam around Catalina on an RB for charity! I was obviously an (old) newbie but learned more stuff just watching these guys rig their gear than I could have in a month of diving. There were Prisms, Inspirations, Megaladon, Mk15, Classic KISS and one other Sport KISS - oh and one poor guy on doubles. The weather was perfect, we dived the spectacular Farnsworth Banks on the backside of Catalina Is from Bobbie Kennedy's King Neptune. It's a great and very comfortable boat. Bobbie, who with his wife Tina run Catalina ScubaLuv, could not have done more to make the weekend rebreather friendly. From late night reg rebuilding to foodsaver vacuum packed loads of scrubber (great idea for travelling), they are the best. He's keen to do more RB trips.

The Sport KISS performed perfectly. I rigged small tanks (14cf low pressure O2 and 18cf dil) which attach to either side of the case by a built-in mounting system - nice thought, Gordon. I swapped in two ultralight regs (I managed to get the weight under 30lbs without scrubber for travel). Weights: I used a 2lb weight on each tank and wore 2x 5lbs in my BCD (Transpac + Rec wing) and was neutral in a 5+7mm semi-dry. I skipped in and out of the water compared to the guys on their much larger/heavier rigs. Not the least my buddy, using one of my MK15.


Without my drysuit, I was cold after only an hour, so I accumulated very little deco time and did not use any of the helium I brought. First thing, I noticed swimming to the anchor line was how easy it was to swim and to breathe. The mk15 is a *great* machine, but not swimming on the surface. It sucks at shallow depths. After many years, I typically go straight down to 20-40 fsw and swim under any group I am diving with until they are ready to descend. That's not an option at Farnsworth. Miss the mount, you get swept off and you are in x1000fsw! Going head first down the line - yes, I was trying to stress it - the Sport KISS ADV worked well. Sure, 190psi from 3/8" SS pipes in my mk15 adds more, but the extra weight isn't worth it for this kind of diving. Even so, I suspect that with a little experience on this rig, I could probably accomplish a Scamahorn Slide. At depth, I immediately noted there was no major breathing difference whatever position I swam. Even on my back, minimal chipmunking. Likely, this is due to less dead space in the loop, despite the overall placement of the counterlungs - a little lower down the back than the mk15. I could bottom out the counterlung, sink a little and then add gas either by breathing in against the ADV or cracking the OC reg. Streamlining/drag, even with the Rec wing was excellent. The rig has a much lower profile due to the compact size. WOB was excellent. I compare it very favourably to the mk15 and much better than some other rigs I have tried.

The KISS valve performed so well that I added O2 only a short puff manually every 5-7 mins to maintain a pO2 of 1.2 I was never below 1.2. The addition was required not as often as I routinely check the pO2 meters anyway, so was not a hardship. I had swapped out one of the O2 meters for a lumberg connector to a Vr3, so I had integrated deco. Nice, but I am largely unconvinced that this is adds a great deal if you maintain your pO2 reasonably within parameters (another rant at another time).

Coming up the line and hanging was excellent. Little drag in the slight current. Again, perhaps because of the smaller deadspace in the loop (oh yes, I use the shorter hoses), very little burping and bubbling and easy breathing in the head-up position; perfect in the horizontal.

Overall, I would say that this is a truly excellent rig, with some design innovations and great convenience in weight and maintenance and cost.



Also see Peter Heseltine's review of the assembly and first experiences of the Sport KISS HERE