Primary light won't light ...

[TSandM]

There's a little Mexico vs. Florida stuff going on here . . . At least in the Florida caves I've been in, there's a tunnel and a line in it. There are jumps into other tunnels with line in them.

In Mexico, you can have a broad, flat room with a lot of speleothems in it and some spiderwebby routes you could take through them. You could get a long way away from the line, and possibly lose track of it, without having to silt out to do so. They're just really different caves.

 

[OneBrightGator]

To me, a bit like starting a 400 mile car journey on one of those small-sized spare tires -- sure you could but why not get the main tire fixed first ?

I would not start a cave dive on a light like my 3W Heser backup even if it had a goodman handle as it doesn't seem bright enough to me, and definitely not as bright as the rest of the people I dive with.

Dude... not every cave dive has to be a 400 mile car expedition. I'd run to the grocery store around the corner on a donut anyday.

This whole "light matching" idea is bunk. If your buddy can't keep track of you without a 21w HID, then it ain't the brightness of your lights you need to be worried about.

 

[limeyx]

Dude... not every cave dive has to be a 400 mile car expedition. I'd run to the grocery store around the corner on a donut anyday.

This whole "light matching" idea is bunk. If your buddy can't keep track of you without a 21w HID, then it ain't the brightness of your lights you need to be worried about.

whatever you say mate.

I am not trying to tell anyone else what level of risk they should take as long as they aren't diving in the same team as me honsetly.

Dive however you like, I really don't care.

 

[jeandiver]

Sometimes , you know you are GLAD you stayed out of something
Well , back to cave diving for us non-professionals.

Jean
Fort White , Florida

P.S. I hope no-one calls my 10W HID a backup light.

 

[limeyx]

Sometimes , you know you are GLAD you stayed out of something
Well , back to cave diving for us non-professionals.

Jean
Fort White , Florida

You mean actually get in the water ???? why would I want to do that -- Internet diving is way easier.

 

[jeandiver]

You mean actually get in the water ???? why would I want to do that -- Internet diving is way easier.

Er , when you live 15 minutes from Ginnie , I beg to differ
Besides , Hovering over the keyboard isn't any fun.

Jean

 

[rjack321]

From there it's just a matter of personal preference, which means an obvious answer for some before they even consider the question, for the rest of us it's just a lower light cave dive.

Gee that sounds like fun, a dim cave dive.

 

[rjack321]

Okay, we're not on the same page here. The only reason I can think of for having to do a lost line/buddy drill is in a silt out. If I have enough visibility that my light is actually illuminating the cave, then I'm going to know where the line/my buddy is.

A few years ago a woman in a Cave class in MX found a new passage by losing bouyancy and ascending up into a hole while on a backup or in the dark (I can't remember which). She stubbled around in there for quite awhile. The instructor and the class were going out of their minds cause they could hear but not see her. Even after turning on their primary lights (when they realized she was missing). Eventually she came out the other end of the new unmapped parallel tunnel and survived.

So yes its quite possible to lose the line in circumstances other than a siltout. With decent awareness and a decent light you can just turn around and the line is probably there. With a lessor light you are just starting down the incident pit. Nowadays IMO lessor is <10W HID power and less burntime than the duration of your gas.

 

[Michael Schlink]

Are we saying that a primary has to be a HID with a goodman handle now?? I think OBG answered best. I wouldn't START a dive with a scout but I have finished a couple. If I had a descent light that I was comfortable starting a dive with but it wasn't a "high powered" HID can light with a goodman handle I'd make the dive. I have made dives without a HID with a goodman handle. There was a time when HID and goodman handles weren't the norm and at present my "buddy" still dives a halogen light (35-50watt?)
The 3 light rule doesn't get broken, ever. None of the "golden" rules of cave diving get broken, ever.

 

[OneBrightGator]

Gee that sounds like fun, a dim cave dive.

If you're not scared of the dark, it can be.

Not everybody has to bring a damn flood light bank to feel secure. Darkness is part of cave diving and you had better be comfortable with it. Scootering out on a backup after a primary light failure ain't gonna give you that warm-fuzzy.