Drift Diving VS Anchor line

[flw]

This is a very dangerous thing to do on a drift dive. Never swim horizontally at a very shallow depth without a surface marker protecting you. You need to stay under your bubbles when anywhere near the surface, this gives the boat operator a fighting chance not to run you over. I have seen near death incidents where a diver THINKS the boat operator sees him and decises to casual swim just below the surface toward the boat. You are not under your bubbles and the operator can very easily kill you.

If you ever have to ascend without a float and you suspect a boat may be near, another technique to increase your odds for survival is to purge the reg for a little at 6 feet sending a huge plume of bubbles up immediately before you ascend in the middle of it.

Which is why a basic openwater skill,taught very early on is the deployment of a dsmb,in shallow dives as all early dives are, from the wreck as you leave is fine,on deeper dives releasing it mid-water on ascent from 20-30m is the ideal. Every diver should be carrying a dsmb, and know how to use it-there is no excuse for not being marked.
Locally we have sites there is not a chance you'd ever hang onto a line for the ascent, the slack water period is just not long enough-equally the wrecks in the Flow are very large, and sometimes I simply choose not to bother going back to the line, as I want to have a better look at something a distance from the line.

 

[dbulmer]

Flw,
If you have a buddy who's a bit anxious about the boat not being there, deploying the long hose gives the other diver something to focus on. I'm not suggesting this is best practice or anything -- just an option. I'm comfy on the surface but not everyone is in rough seas - yes a bit of banter can achieve the same thing. I had a buddy a bit anxious last year on a dive on the Kyarra - I had a full suit flood and the seas were very heavy and he was not comfy.

The boat on that occasion was late picking us up as there had been an incident on another boat - the whirly bird had been called out and AFAIK there was concern about a missing diver which ended up being a false alarm.

 

[flw]

Fair point, I'd never thoughtabout it - I'd just hold onto them if I thoughtthere might be a problem,but it's never been an issueso far.
I wasvery soggy last weekend, and struggled to get back in the rib due to water
sloshing around my legs off Dunnet Head - much to the amusement of my buddy.

 

[dbulmer]

I'm supposed to be diving in Swanage today - blown out - tomorrow looks even worse.
The frustrations of UK Diving

Ah buddies - you get bugger all sympathy !

 

[Splitlip]

Is that you ??

No. One of the DM's from the Scuba Club of Palm Beach, "Diamond Dave". I pulled the photo (by JD Duff) from their dive report. Thought it was relevant (actually a cool pic )