Kelp should be vertical

[Rainer]

Agree.

This wasn't a "near miss" ... it was a learning experience.

Do you think the three teams needing pick up would have planned/executed the dive differently if there had *not* been a chase boat available?

 

[Blow.Fish]

Do you think the three teams needing pick up would have planned/executed the dive differently if there had *not* been a chase boat available?

Like decide to sit this one out ?

 

[Rainer]

Sit it out, bring scooters, actually descend the anchor line and stick close to it, kick back in the direction of the boat during the ascent, cut the ascent shorter, run line, etc.

Currents on the bottom in the kelp beds aren't unheard of, but it's not always the case you'll have a chase boat, so plans need to account for the resources at hand.

Like decide to sit this one out ?

 

[MXGratefulDiver]

I think we'd have decided to bring scooters ...

... Bob (Grateful Diver)

 

[dumpsterDiver]

How can you make that statement? You weren't there!

And you're wrong. We had no trouble either ascending mid-water or maintaining contact. In fact, our ascent was very controlled, and we surfaced right next to each other ... as we should.



We weren't behind the boat ... we were about 200 feet off to the starboard side, and a bit in front of the bow when we surfaced. Had I shot the bag, given the surface conditions, we'd have been 200 feet off to the starboard side and well behind the boat.

I was there, you were not ... I was in a better position than you to judge the best course of action to take.

I am comfortable with my decision.

... Bob (Grateful Diver)

Sorry I didn't realize you came up in front of the boat. I thought you ended up behind the boat and had to be recovered by a chase boat.

As I tried to explain in my post, if you are sure you can make a safe ascent and come up in front of the boat and be in a position to "make the boat" whether that is a floating trail line or the stern itself, then delaying the deployment of the SMB until you surface is probably the best way to handle the situation.

 

[dumpsterDiver]

In 25-30 kts of wind, as we had that day, nothing you do will make a bag stand up ... particularly not a tall one. The wind just knocks it down ...

... Bob (Grateful Diver)

I would agree with you, however a 1 foot diameter 9 foot long float laying on it's side might be easier to see in rough conditions than a 3 ft long marker than has a radius of 2 inches. Based on personal expereince, it is sometimes easier to stay submerged at a depth of 10 ft and pull down as hard as possible on a SMB, compared to floating on the surface, fighting whitecaps and seas and attempting to hold the marker up.

If you choose to dive from an anchored boat in 30 kt winds in the open ocean (maybe this site was protected?) there will be whitecaps everywhere and the seas will be over 3 feet almost instantly.

Don't want to argue every issue, but in my experience (and i've done thousands of drift dives) it is easier to see a big rather than a little marker.

 

[TSandM]

I don't think I would dive in high winds, waves and potential current without a chase boat. Maybe with a scooter, but quite possibly not. I make that decision regularly with respect to our own boat -- I won't dive off it unattended except in the most benign of circumstances. (No current, no wind, tied to a permanent buoy.)

I have to say that I did not PLAN to be picked up by the skiff, and I was embarrassed that it happened. But the current was far more than the captain had briefed, and I wasn't smart enough to pick up the cue from the kelp. That was one of the big learning experiences from this dive -- horizontal kelp is bad news.

 

[Mr Carcharodon]

Would running a line from the anchor line have been helpful in getting back to the boat? Sometimes the anchor ends up deeper than you want to go, but you can still tie off up the line.

 

[gsk3]

There's always the Jersey solution: tie off near the anchor line when you're on the bottom, follow the line back, then use a jon line on the way up to prevent getting blown off, or if you can't make it back use a Jersey up-line. There, I said it. Now Bob can revoke my C-card ;-)

 

[Mr Carcharodon]

then use a "Jersey up-line" on the way up to prevent getting blown off. There, I said it.

Since I am from California I have to ask what a Jersey up-line is.

Whenever I head over the Betsy Ross Bridge into Jersey I always think the Jersey roads are a tangled mess. Maybe the Jersey up line is like that!