Ice diver's rope snapped - Cold Stream Pond, Maine

[rx7diver]

Standards, we don’t need no stinking standards

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Farmer John 7mm wet suit and the “new” Scubapro stab jacket, no more horse collar. We didn’t use a harness back then, just tied it into your tank/bc. Most of our ice working dives centered on recovering vehicles that tried to drive across lakes and didn’t make it. Some folks ran doubles but I was a young college student so money was a bit tighter back then.

My first ice dive took place in the winter of 1988, a couple of months after I received my open water cert. We had learned how during my [YMCA/NAUI semester-long, univ] open water course. My friends and I drove from central MO the two hours east to dive under the ice in Lake St Louis. My gear was similar to what you show in your picture. I used a SP Mk10 + BA reg (which I still own and still dive), a 2nd- or 3rd-gen SP orange SSJ, a 1/4" farmer John and step-in long-sleeved shorty, and three-finger mitts.

Fun times!

rx7diver

 

[DAJ]

If you had one of these when they came out in the 70s, you thought you really had something. Almost as impressive as owning the black US Divers wet suit with the yellow stripe. I even eventually purchased one of those three-cylinder setups that was enclosed in that plastic case like they used on The Undersea World of Jacques Cousteau. He spent a lot of time on the island where my wife grew up in the Azores.

 

[Tracy]

If you had one of these when they came out in the 70s, you thought you really had something. Almost as impressive as owning the black US Divers wet suit with the yellow stripe. I even eventually purchased one of those three-cylinder setups that was enclosed in that plastic case like they used on The Undersea World of Jacques Cousteau. He spent a lot of time on the island where my wife grew up in the Azores.
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I can't deny they were well made. I have one hanging in my tank room that still operates as new. Holds air forever.

 

[Jared0425]

Several years ago our group had a close call under the ice. Some @sshole ice fisherman cut our guide line at a local lake. Luckily we know the lake, it's bottom feature near the hole, and visibility was outstanding to see the hole. Had an ugly confrontation with him right after. Things are a pain in the ass when things go wrong under the ice.

 

[BoltSnap]

I had many an argument with him over many a subject over a number of years. In one argument about this specific topic, he said most divers will someday have to tie a one-handed bowline while wearing a 3-fingered mitten, and when they absolutely needed to do it is not the time to wish they had that skill. I replied that the only 3-fingered mittens I had seen on my life were on a shelf in a scuba shop storage room, and I was not sure I had ever seen a diver tie a knot of any kind in the water outside of training. He was not impressed with my experience. I had obviously had a very sheltered diving life.

I miss your arguments with him. That was the best part about SB then. Too bad that most of the greats have left SB.

 

[BoltSnap]

Ok. In that case it is just dumb.

You just don't know who you are talking about at all. He is definitely a lot smarter than you are and much more capable, accomplished diver and an explorer than you for certain.

He is one of the absolute smartest people I have met in diving and oceanography.

 

[BoltSnap]

If you had one of these when they came out in the 70s, you thought you really had something. Almost as impressive as owning the black US Divers wet suit with the yellow stripe. I even eventually purchased one of those three-cylinder setups that was enclosed in that plastic case like they used on The Undersea World of Jacques Cousteau. He spent a lot of time on the island where my wife grew up in the Azores.
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Best BC out there. I still have mine since 20 years ago.

 

[BoltSnap]

I can't deny they were well made. I have one hanging in my tank room that still operates as new. Holds air forever.

At least we agree on something. You are correct 100%.

 

[GiraffeMarineSalvage]

NAUI standards allowed hm to add what he wanted to the courses.

Amen. No instructor ever should feel training agency pressure to pass a student that they don't personally feel confident in... (Caveat all instructors should work with their students to achieve desired proficiency, and not add arbitrary bs, but on my opinion tying a knot that actually works or any number of other things someone should ideally already know how to do in life is totally fair to require before signing off on a cert...). (Note: no judgement at all on anyone that doesn't know how to tie a bowline, but if you dive or have any other activities that may require tying a knot you can truly trust please both learn to tie a bowline and never ever try to pass off tying a requested knot to someone if you don't know how...)
A person could happily dive warm water their entire life without ever dealing with challenges of tying a knot with thick gloves (and other potential challenges of diving in low vis cold water), or a warm water certified diver can choose to dive "the rest of their life" in a low vis cold water foreign environment which is so different their warm water certification should have been ignored as irrelevant... Fully admit I'm not an instructor (the risk rewards ratio is way too skewed in my opinion..), but nowadays the non-technical skill of "common" sense and basic survival instincts are as important to signing off on a cert as the actual technical skills required to check off all the required boxes...

 

[tursiops]

You just don't know who you are talking about at all. He is definitely a lot smarter than you are and much more capable, accomplished diver and an explorer than you for certain.

He is one of the absolute smartest people I have met in diving and oceanography.

I did not say HE was dumb; I said "the ability to tie a bowline with one hand while wearing a 3-finger mitten" was dumb as a requirement for OW students.