Who said anything about technical diving? I was diving last weekend in Cornwall
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Please read it again, especially the part that starts with the word or. Maybe this additional emphasis will help:
This does not apply to technical divers that do spend considerable periods of time on stops deeper than 20' or divers that need to [-]be[/-] mark objects on the bottom. That requires a spool of some sort...
I never wrote that people who are comfortable using reels should stop. I never wrote that this was a superior solution in every case. It is more compact, faster to deploy, requires less skill, can be made ready to fill one-handed, and is much easier to re-stow.
You may not feel the line is snagged unless the diver snagged in it is pulling on it. What if they swim into it just as you launch? You may not have had time to feel or see their bubbles....
Not true. Having actually used this rig I can honestly say that you even feel it rubbing against kelp. A 20' piece of 1" webbing with a bolt-snap on the end is far less of an entanglement risk than blowing a bag from the bottom under other divers.
Using your logic, blowing a bag on a reel from the bottom is dangerous when you cant see all the way to the surface
oh wait; divers on DPVs might run into your bag on its way up! A boat might wiz past, get your line wrapped in the prop, and yank you off the bottom at 1500/minute. I see your point now, Reels, SMBs, and lift bags must be outlawed immediately for the safety of all mankind. Too sarcastic?
How do you know nobody is on a rebreather below you? Rebreathers are becoming more common, even in recreational circles. There are plenty of sites worldwide where you can pick your depth (wall dives etc) it is not infeasible that there may be other divers doing deeper profiles. Some of us also use our rebreathers in recreational depths as it maximises our NDL times and keeps our skills sharp.....
The vast majority of recreational dives off boats have at least 20' of visibility. You know that nobody is entangled because you can feel the slightest contact and see the end of the webbing. You are stretching reality here.
I expect them to be taught properly to begin with...
That would be nice
but theyre not. Far too many certified divers can barely swim, cant manage their buoyancy, or have an effective understanding of the gas laws. A great many only have the opportunity or inclination to dive on holidays once or twice a year. They can be certified in a ridiculously short time, stand a good chance of drowning if their BC fails, are clueless how their regulator works, cant read tables, and barely know how to use their computers. Somehow blowing a bag is pretty low on the list of things they should know, but dont.
However, they can all charter a space on a boat, make drift dives, and swim off in the wrong direction where being able to deploy a SMB without training and drills would be beneficial.