Can I really cut myself out?

[Gary D.]

Was wondering if anyone has had to get out of a weight intergratered BCD to get out of a tangle,? If so was the tendency of the diver to float up above the BCD ? I was thinking this through and thought that once it was off your back it may be very difficult to maintain any controllable bouancy. Would love to hear the correct method of doing this if it needs to be done.

Thanks all.

"Belt". At least the majority of your weight should be on it. As PSD's our primary weight is on the belt. Period.

During an entanglement where you need to remove your gear you need to move as little as possible.

Gary D.

 

[Gary D.]

A while back I started a thread where an imaginary two divers were separated and unable to act as buddies or a team. Some seemed to think that was impossible. I’m glad to see some better attitudes on this one.

These fishing nets are deadly when they are still attached to the boat. That danger is multiplied many times over when it is lost.

I would venture to say that 70% or better of the divers don’t have a clue as to how to handle getting caught in one. Can you get yourself out? Maybe yes, maybe not but knowing how to react will greatly increase your odds.

Some have said, Where I dive there are no entanglement issues. Would you bet your life on that? I won’t.

All it takes is one smart-*** kid, or adult looking for some excitement. They go to that impossible to be entangled quarry and toss in a wad of fishing line a few hundred feet long. Then they sit on a hill and wait for the action.

Don’t say it can’t happen. That same nut case is the same one that will toss out nails on a roadway and watch the flats happen.

For those few that think entanglement is impossible where they dive you need to rethink that statement. Not much is impossible when it comes to dying during diving.

Entanglement training in a pool is good but it doesn’t totally prepare one for entanglement in open water. Entanglement training needs to be done with a blacked out mask, strictly by feel and your body movement has to be minimal. This is one reason most PSD training points towards the old weight belts.

Always hit the water with the thought that you just might get caught up in something. Don’t fear it, just have it in the back of your mind.

Gary D.

 

[scubafool]

This thread has me thinking about that net that I saw in the boil area of a spring last fall. I removed the net, but..... if I hadn't, the spring in question reverses flow back into the cave if the river it drains into gets high enough. Interesting, huh?

 

[TSandM]

A good friend of mine was entangled in monofilament in a local underwater park where fishing is ostensibly not permitted. She was doing a garbage cleanup dive, and had become separated from her buddy. The buddy did not reappear, and my friend was unable to reach where she was caught. She ended up having to get out of her gear and cut the line, redon and surface with only 300 psi left. Her buddy did not follow the standard separation protocol and continued the dive, surfacing about 15 minutes later. No one would have known my friend was alone and tangled and running out of gas until the "buddy" came up alone.

This story is one of the reasons I try to be so compulsive about good buddy skills, and I would not dive alone.

 

[Gary D.]

A good friend of mine was entangled in monofilament in a local underwater park where fishing is ostensibly not permitted.

Edmonds?

I've gotten tangled up there myself by "fresh" line.

Gary D.

 

[Snowbear]

I was diving a couple of years ago with a diver from the PNW at one of the popular PNW shore diving sites.

While following the sloped bottom back to the exit point, he didn't notice a line (rope) at about 15' that was a couple of feet off the bottom. He swam under it. After snagging his snorkel, it hooked on the tank valve. When he realized he was hooked, he immediately tried to turn around to free himself with the expected result of further entangling himself, though the rope was not slack enough to allow him to turn around fully (thankfully :11: )

He would not respond to my stop or calm down signals, so I just got behind him, pulled him back and down enough to slack the line, unhooked it and shoved him toward shore. I followed him in at a more leisurely pace while still keeping him in sight.

Could he have freed himself? Probably... if he had calmed down enough to think things through

 

[D_B]

I think the common thing here is to do nothing without thinking first (even if reg is pulled out, yeah pretty hard to do then, I know) Or maybe even better, do nothing at all until buddy comes over to free you ... It's what I saw worked best in kelp (only thing I have come in contact with) I will hopefully keep in mind what I've learned here about entanglements ISHTF (a note here, Kelp breaks easily if bent sharply)

 

[Uncle Pug]

Remembering that the genesis of this thread had to do with solo diving... I will say that anyone who thinks that they can deal with a gillnet entanglement solo is just hanging hope on a long shot of luck (or divine intervention.)

That said, it behooves the solo diver to eschew entanglement... especially avoiding any place where it is possible to encounter a gillnet.

 

[RiverRat]

Good thread. A real eye opener! I remember getting entangled in monofilament fishing line during one of my Rescue training dives at a local lake. Vis here can be as good as 10 ffw but quite often can be 1-3 ffw especially when the training stirs it up. I forget the exact exercise, lost diver search patterns with a compass or something. My buddy was reading the compass and I was tagging along. We were off course and swam over a rock wall that runs from shore. I snagged a ball of line and was halted right there. Of course my buddy, engrossed in his compass and training, keeps on going. Wasn't long before he lost me for good in the poor vis. Goes to show you that a buddy dive, even starting with good intentions, can quickly turn into a solo dive. Doesn't take long, if you don't pay vigilant attention to your buddy, to get separated. In any event, I was able to "tear" the line and ball it up and free myself. I was amazed at the combined strength from getting knotted up in all that line. I calmy freed myself but it really woke me up! I chalked it up to part of my training. Even if I couldn't get out, I was at a pretty shallow depth and I'm sure the Instructor and my lost buddy (once he stopped looking for me) could have helped to free me. But what if I was truly alone? I would have ran out of air and drowned in 5 ffw.

 

[mdb]

With all the recent ScubaBoard hype about solo diving and solo divers, I've seen a few folks on here dismiss that entanglements are a hazard to solo divers. Stuff like "There's no fishing in the quarry, so there's no line or nets" or "The water's only 30' deep" or "I'll just get out of my gear and cut it if I can't reach it." Well, this thread's for you - from one solo diver to those tempted to solo dive - know the risks and be willing to accept the consequences of not being able to help yourself.
QUOTE]

Snowbear: You have started a very good thread re: entanglements. Over the years w/ 1200+ dives I have been entangled in heavy kelp and monifilament, never a gill net or something worse. I have managed to free myself by working to remain calm, not fighting, just going loose and limp and, in two cases, doffing gear to reach the snag. After reading your post, and some very good response posts, I'm out the door for my EMT scissors. Have always carried a good sharp 440 SS knife tucked in close. I have many solo dives, and I like it for the peace and the calm. Your comments bring up some of the hazards and some of the cures. Well done, thanks.