Do cave divers need wreck training?

[boulderjohn]

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Your cave procedures can get you killed in or at a wreck!

Here is a tiny fact: a compass won't work inside a wreck, but it will in a cave!

Although some people do teach compass use in a cave, it is really not part of most cave diving, so there really is not much difference there. Cave divers rely primarily upon having a properly marked, continuous guideline to the surface for return navigation.

If you are using deco bottles, you should have deco dive training. Making a decision about whether to carry or stage a deco bottle is part of all decompression dive training I know of. It is therefore a part of the training for both wreck and cave decompression diving.

So what are the cave procedures that will get you killed in a wreck?

 

[MXGratefulDiver]

Here is a tiny fact: a compass won't work inside a wreck, but it will in a cave!!

... fat lot of good it'll do you if you don't have a continuous line to the entrance ... following a compass in a cave is a dandy way to find yourself moving in the right direction down a tunnel that won't lead you out of the cave.

... Bob (Grateful Diver)

 

[MXGratefulDiver]

I think it is accepted that a diver enters a wreck where it is not accepted that a diver enters a cave without training.

By whom? I've only been to Ginnie Springs a handful of times, and every time I was there I heard complaints about untrained people inside the caves ...

... Bob (Grateful Diver)

 

[Miyaru]

It's a good thing that there are no shipwrecks inside caves. This thread would explode......

 

[PfcAJ]

... fat lot of good it'll do you if you don't have a continuous line to the entrance ... following a compass in a cave is a dandy way to find yourself moving in the right direction down a tunnel that won't lead you out of the cave.

... Bob (Grateful Diver)

Compass is a great tool for finding the line should you lose it.

If you’re in a north/south tunnel and the vis is reduced, searching east/west (perpendicular to the line) will help you find it faster.

 

[MXGratefulDiver]

Compass is a great tool for finding the line should you lose it.

If you’re in a north/south tunnel and the vis is reduced, searching east/west (perpendicular to the line) will help you find it faster.

... unless you accidentally, in that reduced vis, swim down a side-entrance without realizing it.

No thanks ... I'll stick to tying off a line and doing a sweep search. At least that way I won't wander even farther off the line than I might otherwise ... and I'll have a way to get back to my starting point if that should prove unsuccessful ...

... Bob (Grateful Diver)

 

[PfcAJ]

... unless you accidentally, in that reduced vis, swim down a side-entrance without realizing it.

No thanks ... I'll stick to tying off a line and doing a sweep search. At least that way I won't wander even farther off the line than I might otherwise ... and I'll have a way to get back to my starting point if that should prove unsuccessful ...

... Bob (Grateful Diver)

Still tie off if that’s the best move. There are conditions where going perpendicular to the cave passage makes for super fast and easy line finding.

It’s all about the situation.

 

[MXGratefulDiver]

Agreed ... and you're a lot more experienced in caves than I am. But I've never been in a situation in a cave where I thought to myself "sure wish I had a compass" ...

... Bob (Grateful Diver)

 

[boulderjohn]

Although there are times when I suppose a compass would be helpful, I am trying to imagine how many times I would use it in a typical cave system. Here is one such system. The ones in Mexico are much more complicated than this.

 

[PfcAJ]

Agreed ... and you're a lot more experienced in caves than I am. But I've never been in a situation in a cave where I thought to myself "sure wish I had a compass" ...

... Bob (Grateful Diver)

I’ve used it exactly as I describe very recently in some uhh... “challenging” conditions.

Also helpful during exploration to decide where to go and where to look.

It’s just another tool in the toolbox. Certainly not the end all be all, but can be helpful.