DIR Ascent Protocol for Drift Dives in Heavy Current?

[JeffG]

#1 isn't DIR, right?

When in Rome...

 

[rjack321]

When in Rome...

What do you do on the bottom, crawl?

 

[JeffG]

What do you do on the bottom, crawl?

Some dive sites on the St Lawrence, you have to do the pull and glide.

For the Daryaw, the current is less on the bottom, plus you can hide under/in the wreck.

 

[Reg Braithwaite]

How is this measured? Can you provide empirical evidence of this, beyond someone "Gosh that seems fast, I bet it's 3.5 knots AT LEAST!"

Are you rolling on the floor, laughing because you dive the wrecks in the thousand islands and believe this number to be excessive?

p.s. A quick Google search reveals several pages describing the current as "strong" or "swift" as well as this one that specifically says "2-3 knots at the surface but weakening at depth:" http://d295866.staging40.dsonehosting.com/?doc=BROCKVILLE. That does not mean that the current is not 3.5 knots, however I can say with certainty that I am not going to be able to hold my position against even one knot while attempting to rest in a shallow safety stop.

 

[Rainer]

What do you do on the bottom, crawl?

It was often pull and glide, at least out in the open. You tried to always find relief. Was much easier once you got on the wrecks.

 

[Reg Braithwaite]

What do you do on the bottom, crawl?

For example, the Lillie Parsons has what I would consider a strong current. There's a chain running parallel to the wreck, so the usual practice is to drift onto the wreck or work you way down an anchor line from shore, pull yourself upriver on the chain, and drift downriver. You can hide in the lee of the wreck and swim to the chain, where you repeat the process. You then fly over the top of the wreck on your third drift and carry on drifting off the wreck, either doing a drift ascent to be picked up downstream or you hit another shore line after a minute's drift and pull yourself up and into a sheltered cove.

So yes, you crawl.

 

[JeffG]

It was often pull and glide, at least out in the open. You tried to always find relief. Was much easier once you got on the wrecks.

Is there an echo here?

 

[Rainer]

Is there an echo here?

Echo?



Sorry, was typing while you posted...

 

[JeffG]

Echo?



Sorry, was typing while you posted...

I think of it as "Great minds think alike" or was that grate?

 

[Reg Braithwaite]

You can't drift it, you'll wind up in a shipping channel.

Options I can see in this kind of current given the large freighters and the coast guard's dislike of drift deco in the shipping channel are:

1 hang onto the mooring line

2 use a scooter if you have one

3 don't do the dive, find another location where you can drift without getting into the shipping channel

#1 isn't DIR, right?

So.. are you saying that if you don't have a scooter, a dive where drifting with the current is inappropriate is not a DIR option at all?

I'm not saying this is wrong. I can see the argument going, "What happens if you can't make it back onto the mooring line for some reason." This has happened to me when a large group silted out the bottom and I couldn't find the mooring block.

I deployed my SMB and drifted my ascent, and the boat did pick me up with no harm done. So you could argue that on every such dive drifting is a possibility whether you like it or not.

But I'm asking the question to understand what is and isn't proper DIR practice. Is there a DIR sanctioned protocol for a dive onto a moored wreck where a drift ascent is discouraged/prohibited/a bad idea?