Shooting bags ... and other ways to look like a fool

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jeckyll

jeckyll

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So we decided to go out today and practice deploying SMB's from depth.

At the end of a nice first dive at about 20 fsw on the sand I setup, got ready to oral inflate (cheap SMB, must be 'blown up') and once I got a good solid breath into it I realize that I didn't hook up the spool yet.

YIKES :rofl3:

So as I'm now floating towards the surface and have gone up about 10 feet I finally get the line attached (I dropped the spool as my buddy was below laughing to himself and watching it but hung onto the loop :D ). Got back down and clipped the double ender to the spool and all is well.

Now my buddy goes to inflate his, but the little valve is not making it easy for him. He can't get any air into it. My turn to laugh :eyebrow:

After he tries a couple of times I give it a go and manage to remember to attach the spool first, blow it up, let it go, got the nice 'spool spinny action' happening and clip the double ender to it.

Needless to say we got some more practice in on the next dive and everything went much smoother. We also deployed them from 40 fsw. :)

Anyways, I hope some of you got a laugh out of it, we sure did :D

Bjorn
 
It's always fun to watch or be watched when deploying SMB's. :)
 
Very fun time learning hw to use them , i cant wait to get and try my new H giant SMB
 
On my first time I remembered to attach the spool, but I forgot something else pretty important.

I learned how in my padi AOW class. My smb is a 35 lb six footer, so my instructor had me do it from 50 feet (to make it easier on me). He told me to give it a puff of air to get the smb manageable, then attach the spool, inflate and let it go.

So I put a puff of air in, and bested my Dive Rite waist pocket (it has a mile of velcro) with one hand to get the spool out, attached the spool, and let it go... forgetting to inflate the smb. It got to the surface on my puff of air, and proceeded to flop over on the surface.

I felt very, well, unmanly, but at least it gave my instructor a good laugh.
 
Best to practice when not needed and look silly, than not be able to perform when needed.
 
I'm no expert, however I find it helpful to put a little bit of air into the bag and make sure everything is under control before shooting it up. If its out of control, better it than you :)

Just let it go man... just let it go :)

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Good advice
 
I have shot bags a 15-20 times now and dont usually have a problem. Except yesterday.
I use a 1kg of lead and spool about 20meters of line around it. I find this usefull as an anchor for my SMB when Ive found a good spot that I want to GPS. Yesterday I managed to drop the weight as I was hooking the line to my SMB. then I managed to drop my double ended clip 3 times!! I had just clipped it to the line but for some reason it slipped off. Since it was only in 8meters of water it didnt really matter but I still felt a bit foolish.
 
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