Ginnie - She's always changin'
- Thread starter InkDiver
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yea I'm pretty much the most famous diver in the world.
I'm kind of a big deal
LMAO...ummm excuse me....I know cave diving is serious and all......I just can't help myself..you guys crack me up.
3 of us made a trip up there this weekend and had a great time. The ear looked exactly like InkDiver's pictures. We sat on the log for a good 15 mintues just watching the colors above. The manatee was awesome. Unfortunately none of my pictures of the Devil System came out.
Flightlead
Contributor
question about the gear config. please don't take this as a criticism, it is a question, I'm a relative novice at technical diving. I notice that the diver in the first post has his light head on the left hand, but the light cord does not appear to be tucked underneath the LP hose for the primary regulator. doesn't this trap the reg hose when donating?
SparticleBrane
Contributor
Yes and no.
Technically the 7ft hose on the primary reg is underneath the light cord. However, when donating, the cord can easily be donated to the OOG diver. Once the OOG diver has a reliable breathing source, the emergency is over and you can take all the time you need to sort things out.
Take a second to make sure everyone is ok.
The OOG diver should hold the reg in their mouth to make sure it won't get yanked out.
The light cord is then pass under the long hose, back into the left hand, and then the long hose is pulled out from under the canister to the full 7ft length.
Sounds complicated but it is easily performed after a practice run or two. This is something my teammates and I do before each cave dive (either this full S-drill, or a modified S-drill on the surface to show that all the hoses are in the right places). It is a nice way to get your head in the game before the dive and to show each other that yes we can donate gas, and yes no hoses are trapped or hindering the donating process.
I heard a person has to have balls to be a Cave Diver, but this is a bit ridicilous!
I got some shots this weekend as well. This one is probably one of the better shots, although one of my dive buddies probably should have clipped the reel off to his left hip d-ring instead of his butt d-ring, because it definitely looks like...well...you get the idea.
ucfdiver
Contributor
Everything SparticleBrane stated I agree with. I recently JUST asked this same question to a buddy who's done a few GUE classes and is great at answering "why do you do this" questions, and didn't really buy into the answer until I had my first experience carrying an extra tank, then the system began to make sense...
To expand a little from what's already been said-
If the light is on the left hand, when he donates gas, he will not blind the diver being donated to, who could possibly be in a panic.
Now, as to why the light cord is not UNDER the long hose. I read about this and couldn't for the life of me figure out the logic of it. I asked a few people, and the idea just never sunk in my head, so I routed it under the long hose. THEN, I was asked to help a buddy do a setup dive and drop a stage for a dive him and a buddy were doing the next day and it started to make sense.
When you drop/pickup a stage or o2 bottle, you'll clip the light head off to your right chest D-ring (left is cluttered with the bottle you're working with) so that it shines down on the stage that you're clipping off to the line and not in your hand giving frantic light signals. If the light cord is under the long hose, when you clip it off to your chest, you trap the long hose to where it can't be donated fully (you could still do it). Since gas switches are the most common OOA situation (this is what I hear...I've never experienced a real OOA emergency, and with doubles, I don't see how it's even possible to have an EMERGENCY), this is a bad time to trap the long hose.
It didn't make sense for me until I helped carrying a stage bottle. If you search, you'll find that even the DIR practitioners section had debates about this.
One problem, is we were in some lower, silty passage this weekend, and I had to keep a close eye on my light cord to make sure it stayed out of the clay. I found grabbing the slack with my thumb temporary helped fix this problem.
Edit- Here's an example video.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KjdAS6Id_4A&feature=related
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Flightlead
Contributor
gotcha. I am currently RHS light and carrying deco left and right. I will be moving more to LHS light and tanks, esp as I see a scooter in my future...if I can find a job soon anyway
As I practice I've been threading the light cord underneath the hose. thanks
SparticleBrane
Contributor
Note that whenever the light gets clipped off (dead light, no need for it, etc), I automatically tuck the cord under both the long hose and my waist strap.
This means that:
This means that:
- The cord doesn't dangle and isn't an entanglement hazard. As an addition to this, it also means the cord has a much lower chance of getting damaged by being caught on something.
- Doesn't trap the long hose at all -- if someone needs gas, all we have to do is donate. No need to move the light cord around.
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