FIXXERVI6
Contributor
if I had any cave dives planned for the home made rig I've been diving in the lakes, the answer was yes, and here is the report:
March 21 -
Jug hole with Kurt, dove the home made sidemounts with a stage and deco gas, the plan was to show Kurt the cave then go check out the only jump in the system on the way out. I made the jump and discovered that the jump line went about 20 or 30 feet before it pinched down to a very serious restriction. Checked my gas, was ok on gas, Kurt was hanging out and was good so I figured I'd test it. Started to wiggle in and was quickly stopped by my bladder and light. Backed out, took my light off, then took my bladder off. FORGOT to totally empty my bladder and had to catch it then hold it like a ballon so I could pull in down and empty it
. Turned on my mask light (love it by they way) then removed both cylinders and pushed them in front of me and, squeeze, no go. Exhale, push forward like another half inch and nothing. I back out and try it from a few different angles and the same story, I hit top and bottom and thats it. I got pissed, I kept telling myself I'm not too fat, I'm not too fat, I can't be this fat I know I can get in here Finally found the right spot and I wiggled in, if it was ANY smaller I wouldn't get in, I need to lay off the deco cookies. I pushed in to about my knees and at this point I knew I could keep going. It took me quite some time to get all my gear off and find a method to get in so I backed out and asked Kurt how he was on gas. He told me he was close to turn so I said I would go in just a little bit to check it out, ok - ok off I go. I wiggle back in with both tanks in front, I had to fight them as the flow wanted to push them up or to the side, I had to turn my head sideways to go in, yes, it really is that tight I am NOT exagerating I went in, not too far to what would be what I call the first "room" its not really a room, it just had a little more "room" I looked behind me and I could see that the passage behind was pretty stired up from the dim glow of kurts light in the hole, seeing as how we were close to turn I figured this was good enough for now. I went to back out and nadda, wouldn't go, had to go foward again into the "room" and managed to get turned around, the exit was easier as when my butt clogged the hole the flow assisted with my exit Put my gear back on and exited.
87 feet, 80 minutes
March 22nd -
This time Kurt said he was leading, I said alrighty and we were off, breathed a stage straight to the jump, this time I used drop weights so I didn't have to swim with full lungs this time. Kurt did a much better job getting in than I did (watched me thats why!!!). The idea was to leap frog it so we were not on top of each other just in case we had to back out, he'd go to the first room, when he was there I would get in the first tight spot, then he would leave the first "room" and then stop when he got to another good spot, when he was moving the vis was blown so I just sat waiting, when he quit moving the vis cleared, so I knew I could move forward. This time when I went in I kept my left cylinder on and just removed my right cylinder, much better entry, I got to the first room and waiting as the vis dropped to inches, I knew kurt was moving. I also clipped backup light to the line, and slid the the light down the line as I crawled foward as I wanted two lights in front of me, getting to my pockets in some spots would have been a bear, and having the light clipped off to the line allowed me to know where the line was when things went "brown" if I were to come off of it, I could see a brown glow a few inches off to my right After a few minutes the vis cleard and I started to move foward, real tight squeeze onto a bedding plane right there, had to turn my head sideways to get through and off I went. Came up on Kurt in another "room" with a T, I popped in, put my tank back on, Kurt was putting his back on too. Dropped a cookie then I went a couple feet to the right and saw that the line went down into a "rabbit hole" after a few feet, I thought super cool, went back to the T and Kurt was moving foward again. LOTS of clay down here but the cave was a little bigger, easily sidemounted at this point. The larger cave here made me want more light than my 2 watt LED's were giving me (when I say larger, it wasn't large by any means but I didn't have to turn my head sideways) Kurt hit the end of the line and it was pinching down again, turn pressure hit time to leave. On the way out there is not much to tell, as I stired it up the silt came with me which reduced visibility, then kurt was behind me and the stuff he stired up combined with my stuff, line exit all the way out, 0 vis right until the first hole. I got to the first hole, and my brain said ok just remove right cylinder and yoru good, I took it off and chucked it through the hole, then tried to exit and bonk, OOPS backed up took the left tank off then pushed through, I should have removed left cylinder, not right the nice bright glow of the 35 watt HID's we left behind was a warm welcome after using a 2 watt LED. The tight stuff is in the deepest part, problem is we can't pump some 108's to a cave fill and take them with us so gas logistics are getting interesting as we only are using 8lbs of lift and have serious restrictions to navigate, but we have some ideas to take care of that
92 feet 82 minutes
More to come, but the rig has proven its worth!
March 21 -
Jug hole with Kurt, dove the home made sidemounts with a stage and deco gas, the plan was to show Kurt the cave then go check out the only jump in the system on the way out. I made the jump and discovered that the jump line went about 20 or 30 feet before it pinched down to a very serious restriction. Checked my gas, was ok on gas, Kurt was hanging out and was good so I figured I'd test it. Started to wiggle in and was quickly stopped by my bladder and light. Backed out, took my light off, then took my bladder off. FORGOT to totally empty my bladder and had to catch it then hold it like a ballon so I could pull in down and empty it
. Turned on my mask light (love it by they way) then removed both cylinders and pushed them in front of me and, squeeze, no go. Exhale, push forward like another half inch and nothing. I back out and try it from a few different angles and the same story, I hit top and bottom and thats it. I got pissed, I kept telling myself I'm not too fat, I'm not too fat, I can't be this fat I know I can get in here Finally found the right spot and I wiggled in, if it was ANY smaller I wouldn't get in, I need to lay off the deco cookies. I pushed in to about my knees and at this point I knew I could keep going. It took me quite some time to get all my gear off and find a method to get in so I backed out and asked Kurt how he was on gas. He told me he was close to turn so I said I would go in just a little bit to check it out, ok - ok off I go. I wiggle back in with both tanks in front, I had to fight them as the flow wanted to push them up or to the side, I had to turn my head sideways to go in, yes, it really is that tight I am NOT exagerating I went in, not too far to what would be what I call the first "room" its not really a room, it just had a little more "room" I looked behind me and I could see that the passage behind was pretty stired up from the dim glow of kurts light in the hole, seeing as how we were close to turn I figured this was good enough for now. I went to back out and nadda, wouldn't go, had to go foward again into the "room" and managed to get turned around, the exit was easier as when my butt clogged the hole the flow assisted with my exit Put my gear back on and exited.87 feet, 80 minutes
March 22nd -
This time Kurt said he was leading, I said alrighty and we were off, breathed a stage straight to the jump, this time I used drop weights so I didn't have to swim with full lungs this time. Kurt did a much better job getting in than I did (watched me thats why!!!). The idea was to leap frog it so we were not on top of each other just in case we had to back out, he'd go to the first room, when he was there I would get in the first tight spot, then he would leave the first "room" and then stop when he got to another good spot, when he was moving the vis was blown so I just sat waiting, when he quit moving the vis cleared, so I knew I could move forward. This time when I went in I kept my left cylinder on and just removed my right cylinder, much better entry, I got to the first room and waiting as the vis dropped to inches, I knew kurt was moving. I also clipped backup light to the line, and slid the the light down the line as I crawled foward as I wanted two lights in front of me, getting to my pockets in some spots would have been a bear, and having the light clipped off to the line allowed me to know where the line was when things went "brown" if I were to come off of it, I could see a brown glow a few inches off to my right
After a few minutes the vis cleard and I started to move foward, real tight squeeze onto a bedding plane right there, had to turn my head sideways to get through and off I went. Came up on Kurt in another "room" with a T, I popped in, put my tank back on, Kurt was putting his back on too. Dropped a cookie then I went a couple feet to the right and saw that the line went down into a "rabbit hole" after a few feet, I thought super cool, went back to the T and Kurt was moving foward again. LOTS of clay down here but the cave was a little bigger, easily sidemounted at this point. The larger cave here made me want more light than my 2 watt LED's were giving me (when I say larger, it wasn't large by any means but I didn't have to turn my head sideways) Kurt hit the end of the line and it was pinching down again, turn pressure hit time to leave. On the way out there is not much to tell, as I stired it up the silt came with me which reduced visibility, then kurt was behind me and the stuff he stired up combined with my stuff, line exit all the way out, 0 vis right until the first hole. I got to the first hole, and my brain said ok just remove right cylinder and yoru good, I took it off and chucked it through the hole, then tried to exit and bonk, OOPS backed up took the left tank off then pushed through, I should have removed left cylinder, not right the nice bright glow of the 35 watt HID's we left behind was a warm welcome after using a 2 watt LED. The tight stuff is in the deepest part, problem is we can't pump some 108's to a cave fill and take them with us so gas logistics are getting interesting as we only are using 8lbs of lift and have serious restrictions to navigate, but we have some ideas to take care of that 92 feet 82 minutes
More to come, but the rig has proven its worth!
