What are some of your worst entanglement experiences?

[Nitrox_DiverNY]

Nearly 1000 dives and I've gotten entangled a couple of times. On monofilament fishing line. Fortunately it only hooked a fin on one occasion and the other it got hung up on a stage bottle swimming through vegetation. EEzy Cut to the rescue. I saw a couple of post about people going under lines, ropes, etc. NEVER go under a line if you can avoid it.
I also do a workshop on entanglements to illustrate the dangers and also show them that many times, by the time you realize you are entangled, it's almost too late. It's not as if it always results in you suddenly coming to a halt. You may swim for a ways before you realize it and when you do seem to be dragging something, people will often turn suddenly and wrap themselves up.
Situational awareness will prevent many issues. If I'm diving where fishing takes place, I assume there will be numerous places to get hung up so I slow down even more and keep my eyes open to as much as I can.
Another item to consider is picking your sites and buddies so that you don't raise the risk and if it happens, your buddy can help you out of it.

Awesome points, I am definitely getting a easy cut today. I never thought about not going under a line but it makes so much sense now that I think about it. Thanks for the input!

 

[garyh]

Never had a major one myself, couple of line marker keepers sliding out of my pocket and getting hooked on the line no big deal. Amassing how many cookie/arrow slots that line can work itself into in a very short timeframe. One that I did witness was on my 1st cave trip to MX. So large group probably 6 divers plus the guide. Cant remember the name of the system (20 years ago) south to Tulum hang a right a bit past Grand Cenote on the left side of the road, for you older cave guys there was a female cave instructor who hung herself in the cavern maybe a few days b4 we got there. Get in the water cave is beautiful, stalactites and stalagmites like I've never seen I'm in heaven. I was second from the back in the line. Guy behind me starts freaking out lights waving bla bla. Turns out he had his 150' safety spool clipped to his butt D ring it came unclipped and the whole thing unspooled behind him, he didn't notice. Long story short took me 15 mins to unwind him and his spool from from all the decorations it was wrapped around, the rest of the team just kept on going. Dive was done by the time I got him sorted. A year latter i was booked for a similar trip, had to cancel at the last minute due to some date screw ups. On that trip there was a triple fatality. Last large group trip I ever booked!

 

[Norwegian Cave Diver]

Past Grand could be Car Wash - Aktun ha perhaps.

 

[gqllc007]

I guess that would be why other divers have been calling though carbiners "suicide" clips. Thanks for the real life is example.

That is exactly why.

 

[garyh]

Not Carwash, pretty remote, no benches/tables we dressed on tarps on the ground.
Aktun Ha looking at pics probably not, unless they have done major work on it.
Would love to know the name of this system.

 

[Joris Vd]

I've gotten hooked three times in my life.

Once was a pretty scare experience to me:
I had rogue fishing line entangle on my valves and yank me back. The vis was max 1 foot, so I had no way to see the fishing line up front.

I was not able to untangle myself untill I took off my complete set. It did prove the worth of the trylobite line cutter to me .
But this very entanglement is the reason I've been thinking of adding one quick release on a shoulder strap to get out of my stuff in a simpler manner. I've not done it yet since it's so frowned upon nowadays... Should probably just ignore popular opinion and do it though.


and two other occasions I was caught in Lobster pots twice in really stupid manners. Twice a boltsnap got caught in the line on different occasions
It was probably my fault for diving too close to the lobster traps. It was this old style of boltsnaps (picture below), but no biggie, just checked where I was stuck and pulled the line from the boltsnap hook. Good thing about modern boltsnaps is that they don't have these ****** hooks anymore

Here where I live they don't use hard cages but soft shell lobster pods

(a version of this that will basically be 10 meters long)

It might be an unpopular opinion, but it is also one of the main reasons I don't really care about the boltsnaps vs carabiners arguement anymore. If the line is slacky enough anything metal can get hooked on line. I've never had issues disentangling myself, but I can see with alot of narcosis, it could cause an issue. I still use boltsnaps exclusively just because I see no reason for the extra weight and bulk.

 

[tarponchik]

Nothing serious so far, but a month ago at St Andrews jetties it was really irritating. The rocks there became so entangled with fishing lines with hooks and lead weights I had to cut myself out of this web twice.

 

[Nitrox_DiverNY]

Absolutely. There's a concept I've heard, which is something like "Stop, Think, Decide, Act (and repeat)" In scuba, there is almost NEVER a reason to rush, panic, or act quickly.

For example, in even in perhaps the only "rush" scenario, being out-of-air , you're usually worse off if you immediately jump into action. You start burning through air faster, increase your natural propensity to panic, risk making the wrong move, and risk causing additional problems with frantic or imprecise movements (like entanglement, losing a mask, etc).


This video is a little long, but about half way through, the diver describes how he told himself (paraphrased) "I'm not going to make any movements, unless that movement has a specific purpose." The scenario he described was arguably more dangerous in any moment, than if you added up the danger divers are likely to face in hundreds of dives added together. Lost fin, lost regulator, lost buddy, lost visibility, lost guideline, and more.


If you've got a backup plan, such as near the surface, you might as well. It's more like a safety-drill at that point.


When diving zero-visibility, I often use a 2ft aluminum pointer to feel ahead. It certainly helps, but doesn't make me immune to entanglements or occasionally bumping into something.


I'd add, do it in the shallow-end, where they can drag your head above water, in the worst-case scenario. A really bad entanglement could theoretically make air-share impossible or impractical.

A shallow non-rocky beach with little-to-no current or waves is also a good alternative to a pool.


This is especially true with backmount (standard) configuration. Everything appears larger underwater, There are number of times where I thought I had more than enough room to swim under something, only to have my tank or regulators bump into the overhead object. I generally avoid any overhead environments, but when I do I always make sure I have plenty of exits, and go very slow.

Swimming under any sort of rope/line/cable is a no-go for me.

hey thanks for all the good pointers, I will try my best to drill the don't panic into my head before something like bad entanglement actually happens to me. The aluminum pointer is a great idea, and I will consider practicing in a pool setting, thanks for the help

 

[Nitrox_DiverNY]

I've gotten hooked three times in my life.

Once was a pretty scare experience to me:
I had rogue fishing line entangle on my valves and yank me back. The vis was max 1 foot, so I had no way to see the fishing line up front.

I was not able to untangle myself untill I took off my complete set. It did prove the worth of the trylobite line cutter to me .
But this very entanglement is the reason I've been thinking of adding one quick release on a shoulder strap to get out of my stuff in a simpler manner. I've not done it yet since it's so frowned upon nowadays... Should probably just ignore popular opinion and do it though.


and two other occasions I was caught in Lobster pots twice in really stupid manners. Twice a boltsnap got caught in the line on different occasions
It was probably my fault for diving too close to the lobster traps. It was this old style of boltsnaps (picture below), but no biggie, just checked where I was stuck and pulled the line from the boltsnap hook. Good thing about modern boltsnaps is that they don't have these ****** hooks anymore
View attachment 670715
Here where I live they don't use hard cages but soft shell lobster pods
View attachment 670718
(a version of this that will basically be 10 meters long)

It might be an unpopular opinion, but it is also one of the main reasons I don't really care about the boltsnaps vs carabiners arguement anymore. If the line is slacky enough anything metal can get hooked on line. I've never had issues disentangling myself, but I can see with alot of narcosis, it could cause an issue. I still use boltsnaps exclusively just because I see no reason for the extra weight and bulk.

thanks for sharing, and being tangled up like that in 1ft viz would honestly scare the **** out of me. Taking off the kit is one thing in 50ft tropical viz compaired to 1ft. Tons of people mentioned that line cutter, and im glad it got you out. At least you didn't have a angry lobster bite a finger off!

 

[Nitrox_DiverNY]

wait so bolt snaps are safer then carabinders?