Am I wrong, or are you planning to do your first "real" wreck penetration dive solo?
If so, that definitely increases the risk factor of the dive. There are 5 Rules of Accident Analysis in cave diving that equally apply to wreck diving + a possible 6th rule. In fact, most of us who dive both caves and wrecks share that belief that wreck diving is more dangerous for several reasons, but much of which is related to far more entanglement hazards and degredation of the interior structures creating possibility for sil-outs and this would include wrecks like the Hilma Hooker and not just the Andrea Doria. In fact, wrecks like the Hooker may lure a diver into a false sense of security, and therfore, are more hazardous because they are not treated with the respect they deserve. Never underestimate a wreck.
5 Rules of Accident Analysis:
1. Be trained.
2. Always reserve 2/3 of your gas for exit
3. Always carry at least 3 lights
4. Don't dive deeper than 130 feet on air
5. Always run a continuous guideline to open water
6th Rule (if it were to be added): Don't dive solo!
These rules may need to be better modified for wreck diving.
1. Be (fully) trained. If you are going to dive solo, it is important that you have training in solo diving in a wreck environment. I developed the PDIC Solo Diver course because I felt that most people receiving solo cards weren't being adequately prepared. I took an SDI solo course with my NACD/TDI/SDI cave instructor in caves! We sort of added it on to my cave training and it opened a whole different world. As a wreck diver, I realized that divers who find themselves inside a wreck solo will need to have the ability to QUICKLY remove and replace their gear. This is due to the fact that gas goes fast at deeper depths, and if alone and entangled, a diver needs to sort that out efficiently so that gas reserves aren't compromised. Any diver diving wrecks solo should be able to remove and replace his/her entire equipment configuration including all accessory items while hovering just off the bottom without stirring up silt, while hovering in mid-water within a 3 to 5 foot window to simulate the need to remove gear if entangled in something that may be difficult to cut that halted your ascent in blue water without a line, and finally at the surface. The first three solo students I had, I had a divemaster who floated all the way to the surface from 30 feet trying to get back in his recreational rig and then I had two cave trained divers in DIR rigs take over 50 minutes to put their steel double tanks back on in drysuits and they needed use the bottom. I can remove my DIR rig in a drysuit with stages and maintain a 2 foot bouyancy window in blue water and get everything off and back on in a minute. How? Practice! If I haven't done the skill in a while, I'll be embarrassed at my performance, but if I practice it regularly it's a breeze. If you are going to solo dive, you need the ability to be self-sufficient in every possible scenario.
2. Reserve 2/3 of the gas for exit. The "exit" is the surface of the water. Cave divers often exit into shallow water, but wreck divers may have another 100, 130, or 150 feet to ascend before reaching the surface. There is absolutely no reason why two divers cannot make a gas sharing exit from max penetration, and have enough gas for all deco or safety stops and a slow ascent rate. Gas management is slightly modified for a solo diver, but one needs enough gas for the dive, for emergencies, and for a safe ascent. A Spare Air or a 30 cubic foot pony bottle won't help. Those of us who solo dive in caves, carry a "buddy bottle" which is usually an AL80 which will give us about 77 cubic feet of gas for the exit. Or, that can be reversed and the 80 used for the dive leaving all the back gas for the exit. When I wreck dive alone, I use an 80 as my bottom stage, I do my gas switches to my 50% or my 100% bottles during the ascent and I leave the gas in my twin AL80's untouched. If I lose bottom or deco gases, I have 154 cubic feet of gas left for exit and ascent. Gas management on the fly is every important. You need to know how time, psi, cubic feet, RMV and SAC are related. When I look at my pressure gauge and see something like 1500 psi at 130 feet. I know that I have approximately 75 cubic feet of gas left and 15 minutes of time factoring in a proper "reserve". I can do this instantly looking at the gauge and doing simple battlefield calculations in my head for tank size/pressure factor X psi (tossing out zeros) = cubic feet = 1 minute per each cubic foot at surface X ATA's = TIME. I intentionally made that vague because I don't want divers utilizing this trick without proper training, but I wanted to illustrate that all those "complex" SAC formulas can be done in one's head.
3. Carry 3 lights. You should have one good primary cannister light that can be worn on the back of the hand and 2 rserve lights that are dependable. You should check the integrity of your lights in the water and as you descend. Twist-on lights (often preferred) can activate as pressure increases and you want to check to see if this has happened as you go deeper and turn them off if they've turned on. For wreck diving add 3 knives and something that can cut cables, wires, spiderwire, etc.
4. Don't dive deeper than 130 feet on air. Hmmm ... I'd make that 100 feet or even 80 feet. Nitrox, Triox and Trimix are better choices, but using gases, having a buddy is a must!
5. Always run a continuous guideline to open water. You also must know what to do if you lose the line, if it breaks, and the procedures for lost line, lost buddy and how to solve becoming lost off the line or lost on the line solo as well.
6. Don't dive alone. The next action that costs lives of cave divers is solo diving. While this hasn't made it into the rules and I STRONGLY believe it should be a diver's personal choice whether to solo dive or not, it still needs to be given the proper attention it deserves.
In every cave death, at least 1 of the 5 or 6 rules had been violated.
I'm a strong supporter of the use of a reel + progressive penetration when wreck diving. It pays to recon a wreck and then use a reel but only venture inside in small doses until you can become familar with what is going on inside the rate of decay, possible hazards, etc.
Wreck penetration is technical diving for sure and solo technical diving is definitely not condoned and can be hazardous. Diving with a buddy is safer IF the divers can work together as a cohesive team and are familiar with procedures, skills, etc. It's funny how we have no problem thinking about practicing team sports such as football, baseball, basketball, hockey and lacrosse, doubles tennis, two man bobsled etc., but divers rarely practice. This is less true in the technical community, but practicing for dives is important. My group practices before every dive that is outside our normal diving parameters.
One student in my solo class took a recreational level boot camp I run to "tech up" their recreational diving so they learn the concepts the "real pros" use and can make their diving safer. Then she took, intro to tech which I ran like GUE fundies, then advanced nitrox & deco, and finally solo. She was used to being beaten, shark attacked, and challenged in failures based classes. The last dive of her solo course, I had her set up a solo wreck dive. She thought her world was going to explode lioke the first few minutes of Saving Private Ryan based on past experience. Instead, I just followed her staying above her tanks or hiding when the wreck interiors didn't allow me to use her blindspot to stay unseen. She kept waiting for me to mess with her, but I didn't. She said waiting for the defecation to hit the oscillation was far worse than having it actually hit. I laughed and told her that whenever she solo dives and finds herself complacent, I want her to remember that dive and then pretend I'm lurking somewhere so her mind could focus and remain ready and aware.
If doing this dive, the least I would recommend is carrying an AL80 as stage tank and testing it in water prior to descent. It would be better to become familiar with carrying an 80 prior to doing penetration. It's better not to stage tanks outside a wreck. Read the story of Chris and Chrissy Rouse for that. Carry your gas with you all the time. Cave divers can leave gas staged in a cave because the way out is often the only way out and if you can't figure out where you left it, you probably are not going to be getting out of the cave. There are too many ways out of a wreck and too much time can be wasted searching for where you may have left your gas.
For a better time, you might want to see if Benji can dive with you. You'll probably be impressed, learn a lot and it may change your life.
Hope this gives you some food for thought.
Let me know what the Hooker looks like. I haven't been in it since 1990.
If so, that definitely increases the risk factor of the dive. There are 5 Rules of Accident Analysis in cave diving that equally apply to wreck diving + a possible 6th rule. In fact, most of us who dive both caves and wrecks share that belief that wreck diving is more dangerous for several reasons, but much of which is related to far more entanglement hazards and degredation of the interior structures creating possibility for sil-outs and this would include wrecks like the Hilma Hooker and not just the Andrea Doria. In fact, wrecks like the Hooker may lure a diver into a false sense of security, and therfore, are more hazardous because they are not treated with the respect they deserve. Never underestimate a wreck.
5 Rules of Accident Analysis:
1. Be trained.
2. Always reserve 2/3 of your gas for exit
3. Always carry at least 3 lights
4. Don't dive deeper than 130 feet on air
5. Always run a continuous guideline to open water
6th Rule (if it were to be added): Don't dive solo!
These rules may need to be better modified for wreck diving.
1. Be (fully) trained. If you are going to dive solo, it is important that you have training in solo diving in a wreck environment. I developed the PDIC Solo Diver course because I felt that most people receiving solo cards weren't being adequately prepared. I took an SDI solo course with my NACD/TDI/SDI cave instructor in caves! We sort of added it on to my cave training and it opened a whole different world. As a wreck diver, I realized that divers who find themselves inside a wreck solo will need to have the ability to QUICKLY remove and replace their gear. This is due to the fact that gas goes fast at deeper depths, and if alone and entangled, a diver needs to sort that out efficiently so that gas reserves aren't compromised. Any diver diving wrecks solo should be able to remove and replace his/her entire equipment configuration including all accessory items while hovering just off the bottom without stirring up silt, while hovering in mid-water within a 3 to 5 foot window to simulate the need to remove gear if entangled in something that may be difficult to cut that halted your ascent in blue water without a line, and finally at the surface. The first three solo students I had, I had a divemaster who floated all the way to the surface from 30 feet trying to get back in his recreational rig and then I had two cave trained divers in DIR rigs take over 50 minutes to put their steel double tanks back on in drysuits and they needed use the bottom. I can remove my DIR rig in a drysuit with stages and maintain a 2 foot bouyancy window in blue water and get everything off and back on in a minute. How? Practice! If I haven't done the skill in a while, I'll be embarrassed at my performance, but if I practice it regularly it's a breeze. If you are going to solo dive, you need the ability to be self-sufficient in every possible scenario.
2. Reserve 2/3 of the gas for exit. The "exit" is the surface of the water. Cave divers often exit into shallow water, but wreck divers may have another 100, 130, or 150 feet to ascend before reaching the surface. There is absolutely no reason why two divers cannot make a gas sharing exit from max penetration, and have enough gas for all deco or safety stops and a slow ascent rate. Gas management is slightly modified for a solo diver, but one needs enough gas for the dive, for emergencies, and for a safe ascent. A Spare Air or a 30 cubic foot pony bottle won't help. Those of us who solo dive in caves, carry a "buddy bottle" which is usually an AL80 which will give us about 77 cubic feet of gas for the exit. Or, that can be reversed and the 80 used for the dive leaving all the back gas for the exit. When I wreck dive alone, I use an 80 as my bottom stage, I do my gas switches to my 50% or my 100% bottles during the ascent and I leave the gas in my twin AL80's untouched. If I lose bottom or deco gases, I have 154 cubic feet of gas left for exit and ascent. Gas management on the fly is every important. You need to know how time, psi, cubic feet, RMV and SAC are related. When I look at my pressure gauge and see something like 1500 psi at 130 feet. I know that I have approximately 75 cubic feet of gas left and 15 minutes of time factoring in a proper "reserve". I can do this instantly looking at the gauge and doing simple battlefield calculations in my head for tank size/pressure factor X psi (tossing out zeros) = cubic feet = 1 minute per each cubic foot at surface X ATA's = TIME. I intentionally made that vague because I don't want divers utilizing this trick without proper training, but I wanted to illustrate that all those "complex" SAC formulas can be done in one's head.
3. Carry 3 lights. You should have one good primary cannister light that can be worn on the back of the hand and 2 rserve lights that are dependable. You should check the integrity of your lights in the water and as you descend. Twist-on lights (often preferred) can activate as pressure increases and you want to check to see if this has happened as you go deeper and turn them off if they've turned on. For wreck diving add 3 knives and something that can cut cables, wires, spiderwire, etc.
4. Don't dive deeper than 130 feet on air. Hmmm ... I'd make that 100 feet or even 80 feet. Nitrox, Triox and Trimix are better choices, but using gases, having a buddy is a must!
5. Always run a continuous guideline to open water. You also must know what to do if you lose the line, if it breaks, and the procedures for lost line, lost buddy and how to solve becoming lost off the line or lost on the line solo as well.
6. Don't dive alone. The next action that costs lives of cave divers is solo diving. While this hasn't made it into the rules and I STRONGLY believe it should be a diver's personal choice whether to solo dive or not, it still needs to be given the proper attention it deserves.
In every cave death, at least 1 of the 5 or 6 rules had been violated.
I'm a strong supporter of the use of a reel + progressive penetration when wreck diving. It pays to recon a wreck and then use a reel but only venture inside in small doses until you can become familar with what is going on inside the rate of decay, possible hazards, etc.
Wreck penetration is technical diving for sure and solo technical diving is definitely not condoned and can be hazardous. Diving with a buddy is safer IF the divers can work together as a cohesive team and are familiar with procedures, skills, etc. It's funny how we have no problem thinking about practicing team sports such as football, baseball, basketball, hockey and lacrosse, doubles tennis, two man bobsled etc., but divers rarely practice. This is less true in the technical community, but practicing for dives is important. My group practices before every dive that is outside our normal diving parameters.
One student in my solo class took a recreational level boot camp I run to "tech up" their recreational diving so they learn the concepts the "real pros" use and can make their diving safer. Then she took, intro to tech which I ran like GUE fundies, then advanced nitrox & deco, and finally solo. She was used to being beaten, shark attacked, and challenged in failures based classes. The last dive of her solo course, I had her set up a solo wreck dive. She thought her world was going to explode lioke the first few minutes of Saving Private Ryan based on past experience. Instead, I just followed her staying above her tanks or hiding when the wreck interiors didn't allow me to use her blindspot to stay unseen. She kept waiting for me to mess with her, but I didn't. She said waiting for the defecation to hit the oscillation was far worse than having it actually hit. I laughed and told her that whenever she solo dives and finds herself complacent, I want her to remember that dive and then pretend I'm lurking somewhere so her mind could focus and remain ready and aware.
If doing this dive, the least I would recommend is carrying an AL80 as stage tank and testing it in water prior to descent. It would be better to become familiar with carrying an 80 prior to doing penetration. It's better not to stage tanks outside a wreck. Read the story of Chris and Chrissy Rouse for that. Carry your gas with you all the time. Cave divers can leave gas staged in a cave because the way out is often the only way out and if you can't figure out where you left it, you probably are not going to be getting out of the cave. There are too many ways out of a wreck and too much time can be wasted searching for where you may have left your gas.
For a better time, you might want to see if Benji can dive with you. You'll probably be impressed, learn a lot and it may change your life.
Hope this gives you some food for thought.
Let me know what the Hooker looks like. I haven't been in it since 1990.
