How many spools and reels...

[Ulfhedinn]

Was looking at some vids of cave diving and noticed that some people have quite the bundle and others not so much. So when you dive in caves. What do you bring along? I notice most classes seem to want a reel of 400', 150' Spool, and 1-3 100' spools. Is that the average? I realize that distance, location, goals will change the amount but...

 

[Whitrzac]

distance, location, goals will change the amount

This...

Normal loadout is 2x 50ft and 1x 100ft spools. + a primary if im putting it in
I have 400ft, 200ft, and cookie spools depending on the dive

 

[Manatee Diver]

I keep one safety spool in my pocket, and a safety reel on my butt as my standard load out. Lately I've been keeping a cookie spool in my pocket.

But I just take what I might need plus one more. So primary if I plan to run a primary, and as many jump spools/reels as I think I might need plus one more.

 

[Jack Hammer]

Where you are diving and your plan really decide what you need to bring. Typically at minimum in my pocket I keep a 250' reel, and 3-4 100' spools, plus a safety spool plus I'll have a 400' primary if I'm leading. My buddy carries a similar quantity and will hand spools over if needed. When I was in Mexico we carried just about everything we had. Some people (me) try to keep everything tidy in a pocket. I've seen other divers looking like a Christmas Tree with spools for decoration.

 

[Scott]

Sounds about right for a class. If I recall I had to carry a primary, 2-100's, one emergency and a couple gaps.

I use whatever the site requires depending on destination within the cave.
Touring the mainline? Primary, 100', 25'-50' gap and emergency.
Off mainline depends on how many jumps, gaps plus a couple extra of each and emergency.

 

[tbone1004]

Was looking at some vids of cave diving and noticed that some people have quite the bundle and others not so much. So when you dive in caves. What do you bring along? I notice most classes seem to want a reel of 400', 150' Spool, and 1-3 100' spools. Is that the average? I realize that distance, location, goals will change the amount but...

"it depends"

Bare minimum
1 Primary reel for the team of appropriate length for the cave in question. Typically a 400ft reel, though can be bigger or smaller depending on where you're going/what you're doing
1 Safety Reel per diver, typically 150ft. I don't know if a minimum is specified by all of the agencies or not.
Recommended 1 spare safety

If you are a cavern or intro level diver, this is all you need since you aren't allowed to do jumps. I don't ever get in without at least 1 jump reel, though depending on the dive that could be up to about 4 which is the most that I like to practically carry. If you're doing really complex dives that may need more then each diver will carry a couple and you can either leap-frog the leader once they're out of spools or after the last jump you hand the leader the next set of spools. When I have that many I will put all of them on an extra stage leash so they're all together instead of trying to rifle around in pockets.

 

[macado]

Take only what you need plus maybe one more. It is always funny seeing people go into Ginnie or Peacock with like 7-8 reels clipped off to their ass when I know they're maybe only using 1 or 2 of them. Yes I know they could be doing some super complicated circuit but most aren't.

Minimum would be a primary reel (~400'), a safety spool/reel (~150-250') and I typically have at least two jump spools (50-100') in my pocket. A primary reel can be shared between the team so not everyone needs to carry one.

Even if you're not doing jumps I think it's important to note that a reel can jam but a spool cannot. In a real (or is it reel emergency if I jam a reel I'm not going to spend time trying to unfoul it; I'm simply going to switch to another spool in my pocket.

I personally don't like having tons of reels clipped to my ass so I tend to keep everything in my pockets until I need them. This is just an old habit but I tend to butt clip my safety reel. That is literally the only reel I have clipped off so I can get to it very quickly in an emergency without having to stop and rummage through my drysuit pockets.

If I'm doing 2 planned jumps then I will usually have 3 jump spools in my pockets, if I'm doing 3 planned jumps I might have 4 jump spools in my pocket. I expect my team mates to do something similar.

About 100' or so before a planned jump I'll start pulling a spool out of my pocket while swimming so I have it ready when I arrive at the jump so I'm not wasting time digging into my pockets if that makes sense?

 

[tbone1004]

following with what @macado said, I have a drop d-ring that I have up against the right side of my backplate like this one

DGX Offset S/S Rigid D-Ring

The rigid, offset D-ring attaches to the shoulder harness and extends out from behind rebreather counterlungs for easier attachment of bailout bottles.

www.divegearexpress.com

Safety lives on there plus any spools that I intend to use on that dive along with my cookie leash. I will also clip the primary off to it if I'm running it.

 

[PfcAJ]

I shoot for “N+1” spools where N is the number I plan to use.

Always a dedicated safety spool as well (150-200ft).

Spools always in a pocket.

Reel I’ll take it the dive calls for it.

 

[Wstern5]

I do 2 150’ min safety spools in the right pocket and all the jump spools I plan on using plus one extra in my left. I’ll use either a 400’ or 200’ primary reel depending on how far I need to go. Most of my jump spools are 100’ but I have a couple of 50’ as well that take up less space in the pocket but are a little awkward to deal with. Occasionally I’ll butt clip the 200’ reel if I know I’m going to be doing a really long jump. If I’m going to be doing a lot of jumps (+4) I may forego the spare jump spool with the confidence that there are extras within the team. Usually only the lead diver runs the primary and puts in the jumps, but on some dives we will reorder the team and need to swap the spools around. I almost exclusively dive with same people and we are good at anticipating each other‘s needs and everyone knows what everyone has.