Running your own line?

[Web Monkey]

First, I do wrecks, but not caves, so please try to keep the flames to a simmer . . .

I'd never even consider entering a wreck without running my own line from the outside. However every now and then, I'll read about a fatality in a cave where someone lost contact with an existing line.

Why do cave divers use existing lines that could contain gaps or traps instead of running a personal line on the way in and following it out? It would seem to be more reliable for the diver to run his own line, since it's known to be continuous and has a known safe exit point in open water. Why would a cave be different?

Thanks!

Terry

 

[Kevin Carlisle]

Existing lines are fine but the traps should be taken into consideration if you come across one. It is easy in some systems to get pretty far off the gold line or main line. And some divers have been known to do blind jumps. If you do either and the viz goes to zero you have created a problem. I will not do a blind jump and I will not go in a cave without having a primary tied off in open water.

 

[ianr33]

If 10 teams were each running a line 2000 feet back in a cave it would rapidly become a spiders web.
Wreck penetrations are going to be a LOT shorter than cave penetrations

 

[Cave Diver]

Ian pretty much nailed it. Cave divers usually run their own lines and tie into the mainline. This can be a short distance or several hundred feet depending on the system. There is a line protocol that most divers try and follow to keep tangles and interference with another team's line to a minimum.

Inside the cave, offshoot passages (jumps) typically have line run in them as well, and proper procedure calls for a diver to tie a line from the main line, to the jump and mark it. For one reason or another, many divers start doing "visual jumps" where they just look for the line and swim over to it.

In some instances, not all passages have lines and not all teams run them. Call it carelessness, apathy, or whatever, but this becomes one piece of the pie when things start going south.

 

[The Chairman]

Most wrecks don't have internal currents to vie with. It's a lot of work in comparison so the Gold Line works well and it keeps the spaghetti madness to a minimum.

 

[TSandM]

Generally, a very strong attempt is made to run permanent line free of line traps -- sometimes it doesn't work, or a tie comes off, and one can report the problem to the safety committee for the area, or to the organization which is maintaining the lines, to get it fixed.

Having each team run line, as has already been stated, would make some popular caves a real spiderweb. In addition, you're much slower and often use more gas running line, so you wouldn't get to see as much -- AND you might not know where the main cave runs (especially in MX, where the rooms can be enormous) and spend a lot of time wandering around trying to find going cave.

In addition, gold line is laid by pros, and it's tight and straight and heavier line than we carry in our reels. If I get silted out and have to exit on the line, I'd MUCH rather exit on gold line than on mine!

 

[Web Monkey]

Thanks guys!

Aside from the really popular sanitized wrecks like the Keystorm, most of the wrecks in the Great Lakes area aren't busy enough where other divers would be a problem. I hadn't considered that large numbers of other divers might be in any particular cave at the same time.

Terry

 

[GDI]

If I get silted out and have to exit on the line, I'd MUCH rather exit on gold line than on mine!

Would you care to expand on that statement Lynn. I know what your intent is to mean

The Gold Line only goes so far you still have to exit on your line

Keep in mind also caves are not visited as much by a wide variety of divers as wrecks are, better policing helps limit the risk. Wrecks like the Keystorm are subject to being seen by many divers who are experienced to varying levels (OW to Full Tech Wreck). By running your own line you have limited the penetration of lessor experienced divers. In place lines only invite divers who should not be there The idea behind gold line in caves is a conservation point as well as a control limiting cave trained divers. It would be alot of effort to run line to the same average as to the penetration limits of caves.

 

[TSandM]

Thanks, Rick; what I meant was I would like to minimize the amount of thin, temporary line that I have to use to exit. Stronger, tauter gold line is easier to follow. Obviously, if I'm exiting in persistent zero viz (a rarity) I will eventually be following my own line.

In MX, another consideration is the attempt to route traffic along the same paths, to minimize the damage that bubbles do to the ceiling, which is often decorated in very delicate soda straws that are broken by our exhaust.

 

[Atomic_Diver]

2 words Traffic Jam