Can you please explain what a Carolina line system is? And a Jersey upline? Both seem to be local terminology.
Ascending on a line?
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A common ocurrence save entanglement is having one to big that flops over on the surface and deflates, or having one the right size not inflating it enough and having it flop over on the surface and deflate.
You should not clip it to yourself in case a boat or gremlins take your smb away and you with it.
But hopefully your support boat will see you and follow for pickup, and other boats and gremlins and ward them away.
The free floating you holding onto smb is designed for various conditions
with knots tied in so you know your depth
and to HANG FROM
so you don't have to mess around with bouyancy in those varying conditions.
Perhaps the other guy was in a METRIC current.
There is no such thing as: A Little Knowledge. It is Little Knowledge
Those East Coast lines are tied in to something very substantial, like a wreck and require a diver to go down and set and unset them, anchor line and the sisal is very long that you tie in with an smb is for emergency, Jersey upline when you cant find the anchor line because if you have been at 185' for a while and have accumulated 1hr deco you will,
end up miles away.
Last edited:
manni-yunk
Contributor
SHIPWRECK DIVING Scuba Wreck Diving Equipment
This link from Dan Berg shows a pic of a Jersey upline or Jersey reel. He talks about a homemade version - but they are also commercially available now. NE Scuba has a few on their website and Gentile talks about it in his wreck diving books.
Here is a link to a Carolina line diagram
Carolina Anchor Line Rig | tortugacharters.net
Ive seen a few different systems - but they all do the same thing. Mine is similar to this, but we tweaked it for my boat using a mushroom anchor on the stern at 15 feet as well. Our hang bar then has a line that ties into the anchor line further down the anchor line on a shallow curve so that it basically forces us to come up slowly.
The whole rig takes 30 seconds to drop over. We hook the wreck - drop the rig over - then the tie in team heads down to secure the anchor. From the time we hook the wreck to lines deployed and confirmation of tie in might take 5 minutes tops.
OK, I think I understand. Let me explain what a "lazy shot" is, as I think it's better.
The shot line in UK terminology is a line typically weighted with lead shot or a large metal lump and dropped off the dive boat onto the wreck. This is an expert job, especially if there are currents varying in direction on the way down. Once the "shot" has found somewhere on the wreck to wedge the captain allows the dive boat to drift backwards with the current, locking the shot into the wreck. If instead it comes loose the whole process has to be repeated.
The first divers to enter the water take with them the end of another line, typically around 40-50ft long, with a large float at the top. They fasten the bottom of this line (called the lazy shot line) to the main shot line around 30ft down, generally using a loop put in the main line for that purpose. These lengths are variable, but the reason for them being roughly what they are will become apparent. The ideal is that there are 10-20ft of excess line on the lazy shot so it will be well separate from the main shot.
Having fastened the lazy shot (line) to the main shot (line) each diver fastens a personal token, usually a distinctive clip bearing the diver's name, to the lazy shot just by the join. They then continue to the bottom. Other divers following them go down the main shot line and clip off their tokens as they pass the junction with the lazy shot.
At the end of the dive each diver comes up the shot line as far as the junction, removes his personal token, and continues his ascent up the lazy shot. No-one goes up the upper part of the main shot. When a diver comes to the junction and sees that his is the only token left he knows that everyone has ascended ahead of him, and before he continues his ascent he unclips the lazy shot. The people above him have hitherto been decoing in a current, but they know when the line has been unclipped because suddenly the current ceases as they are now drifting with it, making for a far more comfortable deco period.
As soon as the boat captain sees the buoy at the top of the lazy shot start to separate from the boat he knows all divers are off the wreck and on the lazy shot. He can now drive the boat forward into the current and usually quite easily dislodge the shot from the wreck. Once he has done that and it is being recovered he can follow the lazy shot buoy until divers start to surface.
If a diver misses the upline from the wreck (as happened to me once) he immediately (or as soon as he can) deploys his red DSMB. The boat captain should see this and track it visually, though as other divers will be on the lazy shot which now has not been disconnected he will need to remain on station. In a severe current this can prompt a considerable safety hazard, so in those circumstances it is particularly important that every diver makes it back to the shot line. If there has been some sort of underwater emergency, or if there is in fact a severe current and there is a real risk of losing sight of the DSMB deployed by the "off line" diver, the captain can disconnect from the main shot (it also has a marker buoy on it) and head to the diver in trouble. The lazy shot will not be disconnected from the main shot as at least one diver didn't make it up that far so didn't remove his token, so the captain knows exactly where to return to to pick up the other divers.
This system works very well and I have never seen it fail. It's ideal for deep dives involving a lot of deco, because divers spend most of their deco in still water, yet the captain knows exactly where they are. I could have wished for this system in Miami waters when we were diving a 300ft wreck in strong currents that changed direction constantly on the way up.
The shot line in UK terminology is a line typically weighted with lead shot or a large metal lump and dropped off the dive boat onto the wreck. This is an expert job, especially if there are currents varying in direction on the way down. Once the "shot" has found somewhere on the wreck to wedge the captain allows the dive boat to drift backwards with the current, locking the shot into the wreck. If instead it comes loose the whole process has to be repeated.
The first divers to enter the water take with them the end of another line, typically around 40-50ft long, with a large float at the top. They fasten the bottom of this line (called the lazy shot line) to the main shot line around 30ft down, generally using a loop put in the main line for that purpose. These lengths are variable, but the reason for them being roughly what they are will become apparent. The ideal is that there are 10-20ft of excess line on the lazy shot so it will be well separate from the main shot.
Having fastened the lazy shot (line) to the main shot (line) each diver fastens a personal token, usually a distinctive clip bearing the diver's name, to the lazy shot just by the join. They then continue to the bottom. Other divers following them go down the main shot line and clip off their tokens as they pass the junction with the lazy shot.
At the end of the dive each diver comes up the shot line as far as the junction, removes his personal token, and continues his ascent up the lazy shot. No-one goes up the upper part of the main shot. When a diver comes to the junction and sees that his is the only token left he knows that everyone has ascended ahead of him, and before he continues his ascent he unclips the lazy shot. The people above him have hitherto been decoing in a current, but they know when the line has been unclipped because suddenly the current ceases as they are now drifting with it, making for a far more comfortable deco period.
As soon as the boat captain sees the buoy at the top of the lazy shot start to separate from the boat he knows all divers are off the wreck and on the lazy shot. He can now drive the boat forward into the current and usually quite easily dislodge the shot from the wreck. Once he has done that and it is being recovered he can follow the lazy shot buoy until divers start to surface.
If a diver misses the upline from the wreck (as happened to me once) he immediately (or as soon as he can) deploys his red DSMB. The boat captain should see this and track it visually, though as other divers will be on the lazy shot which now has not been disconnected he will need to remain on station. In a severe current this can prompt a considerable safety hazard, so in those circumstances it is particularly important that every diver makes it back to the shot line. If there has been some sort of underwater emergency, or if there is in fact a severe current and there is a real risk of losing sight of the DSMB deployed by the "off line" diver, the captain can disconnect from the main shot (it also has a marker buoy on it) and head to the diver in trouble. The lazy shot will not be disconnected from the main shot as at least one diver didn't make it up that far so didn't remove his token, so the captain knows exactly where to return to to pick up the other divers.
This system works very well and I have never seen it fail. It's ideal for deep dives involving a lot of deco, because divers spend most of their deco in still water, yet the captain knows exactly where they are. I could have wished for this system in Miami waters when we were diving a 300ft wreck in strong currents that changed direction constantly on the way up.
DevonDiver
N/A
The lazy shot is perfect for deep wreck dives. It can also be combined with the 'Carolina' system (not heard it called that before)... where the first diver takes down and ties off the main descent/ascent rope that leads up to a deco bar under the boat.
I only mentioned 'Jersey line', because it seems that one poster here was attempting to apply that principle, using an SMB and reel, to reef diving... where it would be entirely inapproriate.
I only mentioned 'Jersey line', because it seems that one poster here was attempting to apply that principle, using an SMB and reel, to reef diving... where it would be entirely inapproriate.
The majority of my dives are in a local lake with 5 ft or less visability and max depth of 65 ft. Because of the low viz and frequent boat traffic, I use a line and smb if I have to make an open water ascent. I have a knot in the line at 15 ft for reference. There have been a couple of times that due to extremely poor viz, I've surfaced to get my bearings (not the best scenerio). In this situation, I'll either have my buddy hold the reel on the bottom while I surface, and then follow the line back down to him. If solo, I'll secure the reel to the bottom, surface, and then descend back down to the reel.
fnfalman
Contributor
Rainer
Contributor
That's the difference between a boy and a sossage.
A boy is for hanging from or drifting with perhaps involving deco, deployed from below and for people to see, that you allow to deflate when you reach the surface if the boat is there, on a line that you reel in as you ascend.
A sossage is just a sossage that peples do with as fnfalman suggests they do with their gears and usually belong to the peples that surface a few times a dive which is against all principles taught because they have lost a pier or a boat that that will still be there if they get back which is greatly assisted by looking at things and compassing, certainly between two peples.
A boy is for hanging from or drifting with perhaps involving deco, deployed from below and for people to see, that you allow to deflate when you reach the surface if the boat is there, on a line that you reel in as you ascend.
A sossage is just a sossage that peples do with as fnfalman suggests they do with their gears and usually belong to the peples that surface a few times a dive which is against all principles taught because they have lost a pier or a boat that that will still be there if they get back which is greatly assisted by looking at things and compassing, certainly between two peples.
I vote for the ascent line. easy to use when its there.... but get into practice of just working on the buoyancy for when its not there.
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