Jim: That's pretty interesting, however, I'm confused about "Float" diving. I'm familiar with Live diving and Drift diving, but float diving is something new. Do you mean towing a float (id est with a flag), diving from a float like a raft? Or, diving amonst something that is floating?
lst Live Boat Drift Dive: Tips?
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jim T.
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Hi,
I meant towing a float and/or flag. I had done an internet search on drift dives/techniques before I asked my newbie questions here and saw descriptions of float drift dives in several locations and "figured" that must be the way it works everywhere...
You know what they say about assuming!
Refer to Charlie 99's post just above mine on pg. l of this thread and he mentions the flag and disadvantages of "float dives" in currents.
I meant towing a float and/or flag. I had done an internet search on drift dives/techniques before I asked my newbie questions here and saw descriptions of float drift dives in several locations and "figured" that must be the way it works everywhere...
You know what they say about assuming!
Refer to Charlie 99's post just above mine on pg. l of this thread and he mentions the flag and disadvantages of "float dives" in currents.
We used to use floats all the time when running current dives through agate Passage when running charters. Each team had appropriate lenght of polypro line on a pink "tit" float and a hand loop (not clipped to them or anything like that) to hold on to. This is very helpful for a) locating your teams if there is any wind on the water and b) allowing boaters to see "Something" is down there, as Agage Passage is often heavily traffic'd. We also used this technique for Deception pass, again, it helped us keep track of our divers. No one ever complained about having to tow it along, Drift dives are not a "Stop and chat" dive anyhow...
The loop was big enough that both divers would generally "hold" it... in fact, it tended to give them a sense (perhaps misguided) of security. Would we still do it this way in this age of SMB's and reels? Probably... no need to add task loading AND two floaty things with spaghetti line to pay attention to, when you are mainly supposed to be just sticking with your buddy and enjoying the dive.
All this changed if it was a team of highly experienced current divers and the current was flying at 5-6 knots.
The loop was big enough that both divers would generally "hold" it... in fact, it tended to give them a sense (perhaps misguided) of security. Would we still do it this way in this age of SMB's and reels? Probably... no need to add task loading AND two floaty things with spaghetti line to pay attention to, when you are mainly supposed to be just sticking with your buddy and enjoying the dive.
All this changed if it was a team of highly experienced current divers and the current was flying at 5-6 knots.
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