Entanglement??

[Sasquatch]

Care to elaborate on the nature of that entanglement? Would love to learn.

Sure. I was 40 feet down and 20 off the bottom in really good viz for Puget Sound, maybe 25 feet horizontally. Saw a buoy anchor chain a few feet away and steered clear of it...or so I thought. They put a loop in the chain so when the tide goes in and out the float stays on the surface. Maybe there was some surface movement but at one point I realized I wasn't moving anymore. I fiqured it was fishing line so I reached around to where I felt the snag must be and felt the chain wrapped around my first stage.

I considered all my options, assessed my gas supply at that depth - fine for about 25 minutes if I kept my breathing under control - and tried to reverse course to no avail. I hung there for a minute then went step by step through what I was going to do and slowly went through the process of slipping out of the scuba unit leaving one arm committted to my air and BC. Everything was nuetral when I spun around and saw the chain. It was an easy fix and back into the unit. The rest of the dive was uneventful and as, for some reason, I was getting a little low on air I was done a little earlier than usual.

 

[texdiveguy]

Maybe it's because I'm still new to solo diving, but for now I have resolved to go by the rules I learned: no solo night, no solo overheads. Period.

You have to live by the rules that work for you!!

I persl. have no issues doing a solo dive either at night or in an 'overhead' environment as both these settings I conduct these same dives in buddy teams, its really no different for me being solo. Many of your cave,,deep gas and wreck divers prefer to dive solo.

 

[grazie42]

I think everyone should set their own limits and abide by them...

I don´t have an issue with overhead but I won´t do penetration that includes gear-removal without planning for it on the surface and I don´t think I´d plan for it if I was solo. If I end up in an unplanned CF I should have margins both in gas and time to be able to un-CF myself, otherwise I´ve made an error in judgement or it´s "just one of those things" and I´ll have to accept the consequences of my choices...

Like texdiveguy said, a lot of technical instructors preach self-sufficiency, if you accept that idea then you should be able to execute most of those dives confidently solo as well...

 

[MalteseMonster]

Very good point's all the way around... I've become complacent with my pre "dive planning" because the depth I dive (under 30') and the bottom time for a deco stop (205 min.).. I would have to come up for air before I would NEED to do a deco stop... Save some air for a safety stop, Come up S.I, Start over.. Diving for my job has very limited pre dive planning, and more on the fly dive planning... I guess that carry's over for my rec diving as well... I passed the boat up the first time and hit it 'Fresh' on the second... Planned... No not really, but more like timing.. I saw the boat, had plenty of air, and felt completely comfortable with the situation... So I hit it... Anyway lets hear some more ideas on "Avoiding" Entanglement... Interesting enough, I was doing a "Regular" car in the water gig involving a stolen car for the sheriffs department a couple of years back.... The car had been in the water for about three years, so every kind of fishing line known to man was entangled all over this rig.. When the wrecker started out with the car I went with... For the 20 minutes or so I treaded water waiting for the wrecker to go, unbeknown to me, I tied several millions of not's and loops around my fins.. When they started pulling it cinched the knots and pulled my feet together trapping my knife at the ankle.... It didn't take long to cut free of the car(after I acquired a cutting utensil) but I pulled fishing line out of my gear for hours.. Since then I added the knife to my vest and retained the ankle rig with no more problems... Thanks All

 

[reeldive]

Where I dive fishing line is inevitable! the wrecks and brige spans off PC are covered with the stuff and as how most of by dive partners are spearos every dive is in effect solo. Knife and srears are essimtial as well as doff and don skills. My BC of the integrated type where I carry half my lead, the other half I wear on a belt. Works for me Worst kind of fishing line IMO is the new super braids.

 

[AbyssalPlains]

Just wondering, where did you learn those rules? I'm not saying you're wrong by any means but I do know (not personally) there are plenty who solo cave and/or night.

Wes

The instructor I took my SDI solo diver course with told us that night and overheads were out of the question for solo divers. I'm not sure if that was just his opinion or some official SDI rule. Good question.... I guess it made sense to me personally, so I'll go by it, at least for now.

 

[AbyssalPlains]

Sure. I was 40 feet down and 20 off the bottom in really good viz for Puget Sound, maybe 25 feet horizontally. Saw a buoy anchor chain a few feet away and steered clear of it...or so I thought. They put a loop in the chain so when the tide goes in and out the float stays on the surface. Maybe there was some surface movement but at one point I realized I wasn't moving anymore. I fiqured it was fishing line so I reached around to where I felt the snag must be and felt the chain wrapped around my first stage.

I considered all my options, assessed my gas supply at that depth - fine for about 25 minutes if I kept my breathing under control - and tried to reverse course to no avail. I hung there for a minute then went step by step through what I was going to do and slowly went through the process of slipping out of the scuba unit leaving one arm committted to my air and BC. Everything was nuetral when I spun around and saw the chain. It was an easy fix and back into the unit. The rest of the dive was uneventful and as, for some reason, I was getting a little low on air I was done a little earlier than usual.

Hmm. An interesting and very likely scenario many may encounter at some point, I think. Thanks for sharing. Glad everything went well.

 

[TheWetRookie]

The instructor I took my SDI solo diver course with told us that night and overheads were out of the question for solo divers. I'm not sure if that was just his opinion or some official SDI rule. Good question.... I guess it made sense to me personally, so I'll go by it, at least for now.

Oops I enjoy a good solo night dive. Granted these are sites that I dive regularily and know them.

 

[Stoo]

I think everyone should set their own limits and abide by them...

This is sound advice, whether diving solo or otherwise. I log about 60 -70 solo wreck dives in the Great Lakes each season, almost all greater than 100'. I have only gotten myself tangled once (in someone else's abandoned penetration line...) when the line snagged on my manifold. To complicate things, I was in a fairly tight area. I was able to cut myself out by backing up until the line was over my head where I could reach it.

I was surprised at how "basic" the tangle was when I finished my dive. The line really wasn't much more than looped a couple of times around my isolator knob, but I was well and thoroughly stuck at the time. I should mention that I cut the line out and removed it from the wreck as I left....

I'm not sure I learned anything from that experience other than, as others have pointed out, it's hell of a lot easier to avoid getting stuck in the first place. But in a low-light situation, where the hazard is covered in silt and slime, that isn't always easy.

So, I continue to carry a blade, a "zip-knife" and if appropriate, shears...

 

[mrtechbench]

Just wondering, where did you learn those rules? I'm not saying you're wrong by any means but I do know (not personally) there are plenty who solo cave and/or night.

SDI Solo Diving Manual from 2007, pg. 19 recommends against decompression dives, overhead environments, pinnacle dives, and technical diving.