Running your own line?

[Atomic_Diver]

well its at least another reason

 

[DA Aquamaster]

+1 about routing traffic. Cow springs is a good example. The walls are very dark and the upstream portion of the cave is restricted to divers with Full cave certification to limit damage and try to keep it as pristine as possible. In fact, in areas where divers have for what ever misguoded reason felt the need to go off the line, the damage caused is very evident as even a small nick on a wall or ciling shows as stark white on the otherwise near black surface.

Caves in mexico have had dry periods in their history and are highly decorated, and again if you had divers charting their own courses in them, the degree of damage would be much higher and much more wide spread.

Consequently, in addition to the navigational challenges, permanent lines limit damage.

And there are exceptions....lines running through windows when larger passages are available (the window in the Olsen tunnel for example) tend to promote damage to the window and are a bad idea from a conservation standpoint.

 

[Rhone Man]

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

I had heard that in some of the more popular artificial wrecks in the US, permanent lines were starting to be installed - is that just an urban myth?

 

[SuPrBuGmAn]

I had heard that in some of the more popular artificial wrecks in the US, permanent lines were starting to be installed - is that just an urban myth?

Not an urban myth

 

[Web Monkey]

I had heard that in some of the more popular artificial wrecks in the US, permanent lines were starting to be installed - is that just an urban myth?

Haven't seen any, but we don't have many artificial wrecks inland. Most were the result of poor navigation, bad weather, fire or war.

Terry

 

[Dive-aholic]

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

Explorer reel with 900' of line (not to scale):

Primary reel with 400' of line (not to scale):

Even if I'm the only one in the system, I'd have to have a minimum of 2 explorer reels with me on most of my dives. To do the Grand Traverse at Peacock, I'd have to have 6 explorer reels. And unlike wrecks, caves have areas in passages that can cause line traps and they aren't as simple as looking for doors to the next room, so it would take a lot longer to run a line with the proper tie-offs in a cave.

 

[TSandM]

Not to mention that, in Florida, it is frequently not that easy to find good places to tie off, and I'm glad somebody else had to do the big wraps and so on that are sometimes required!

 

[ucfdiver]

And you'd seriously mess up the cave if EVERYONE chose a different tie off.

 

[Web Monkey]

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

No kidding. There are places on the Keystorm that just aren't good to go into. And his looks like someone already cleaned it. It had been worse.

I won't do the engine room. It falls into the category of "I promised my wife I won't get killed".

Terry

 

[GDI]

No kidding. There are places on the Keystorm that just aren't good to go into. And his looks like someone already cleaned it. It had been worse.

I won't do the engine room. It falls into the category of "I promised my wife I won't get killed".

Terry

Good, keep that promise and get training in both disciplines. I am up in Canada all the time around Kingston , Brockville and area if you'd like to get together and try some of the training techniques let me know. It will give a good indication as why we run lines in both environments and the differences. Still plenty of season left.