Entanglement??

[ucfdiver]

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.

That's funny, tight spaces in cave diving is one of the few times a good case can be made for solo diving being required.

 

[b1gcountry]

If you get rid of the knife on your ankle you will reduce the chance of getting entangled in the first place.

Best way to deal with entanglement is to not let it happen .

I was going to post this until you beat me to it. If you are entangled enough to not be able to get to your primary knife, one on your ankle isn't going to do any good either. Put it somewhere else.

...and amen to all the other posts, that was not a smart penetration in any conditions. I wouldn't do that in any situation.

BTW, doffing your BC isn't really an option if your diving dry.

Tom

 

[Stoo]

When they started pulling it cinched the knots and pulled my feet together trapping my knife at the ankle....

LMAO... Sorry.. Just had a vision of you being dragged down the road behind the wrecker all trussed up in a ball of mono!

 

[jkling17]

Yikes . . . that is SCARY solo diving. So your job requires some of that?

 

[budgy]

Entanglement is a hazard that many of us have had or are likely to encounter. I've been hung up a few times. I'd advise never trying to snap the line as when I tried it its only got tighter. With floating line, I advice you try to gently waft and slide, sometimes you'll get free, after that the option is cutting and or taking your kit off.

I think its good to have some confidence based on prior practical experience through training that you can remove and replace your kit underwater without assistance. My basic training included a pool exercise taking off fins bcd weightbelt and mask underwater and putting them back on. When you got good at it, we did it again taking the mask off first and putting it back on last. One of our open water assessments was removing your bcd, finning with it and then replacing it.

 

[Standingbear56]

Here's my .02 for what it's worth. Since my front yard is a lake, I get a chance to do a lot of solo diving. From my own experience, it's generally the tank valves/regulators that get snared most of the time. You could either reach back with a knife (being VERY careful) or shears and cut your way out, OR you did a remove, clear the snag and replace of the scuba unit. Since my back injury, I've been diving side mount doubles. The unexpected plus of doing this is that entanglements happen only occasionally now, and when it does, the valves/regulators are right where I can easily reach them. Clearing the snag off of them is no hassle. Worst case situation - I can un clip the snared tank and then clear it. Plus it gives you a redundancy that I never had in a conventional set up. Side mounting takes a little getting used to, but it really does take care of many of the entanglement issues, which is one of the increased risk factors with solo diving. Note - I'm NOT saying that if you side mount that it's OK to go into entanglement situations, I'm just saying that if you find your way into one, it's much easier to deal with.
Dive Safe,
George
PADI MSDT 33859
Prime Scuba

 

[Mambo Dave]

The entanglement issue, while solo, is the sole reason I keep the long-hose (and the weight-belt). It's not there for a buddy anymore, it's there for me to undo my Hog-rig and be able to turn around / maneuver to address an entanglement issue.