Spools and deploying SMBs

[Rick Inman]

I found a logical order to learning these skills:

1. Clip management

2. Shoot a bag

IOW, I should learn to control and manage my double enders before moving on to shooting a bag. I have double enders on my pocket stuff - spare mask, wet notes - and on my HID light handle, as well as my smb. Clipping a double ender off on the right shoulder D ring has become second nature. Not to say I haven't dropped a double ender - I have! But it was always while futzing around at the beginning or end of the dive or something, not during the actual clip-off. And, should I lose one, I can always borrow one from something else in my pocket (like my spare mask) for the remainder of the dive.

I, personally, wouldn't leave my double ender on the line during deployment, ever. I once took a ride to the surface when the clip on my LH reg got caught on the bag line and it took me up with the bag. Now I understand why it's best to keep things as clean as possible, and stow everything not absolutely needed - which is just the bag, spool and my lips. I like keeping it clean.

 

[Flightlead]

now I know to clip the spool and line into the one clip of the double-ender - I guess the other end then is just used to clip the spool onto a d-ring etc.?

The issue of what to do with the double ender when deploying still bothers me a bit.

I clip the double ender to a chest d ring while manipulating the bag/spool. never clip the bag/line to you even when it is fully deployed.

I blow the bag using a finger spool. then when the bag is at the surface clip one end of the double-ender over the line, give it a few twists, then run that end through a hole in the spool from the inside out. iow this puts the bolt of the snap on the outside. Now I take the other end of the double-ender and snap that around the line, keeping the double-ender parallel with the line. before I started doing that last step I had problems with the thing unclipping.

my spool is set up with a large loop tied in the end. to attach to the bag simply pass the line through the loop on the bag then pass the line loop over the spool. there is another small loop ~1" tied in the end of the big loop. for storage I poke this little loop through a hole in the spool then use the double ender to clip to RHS hip d-ring. if you wind the spool with more of the line on one side than the other, this little loop and knot can help in getting the first part of the line off the spool when getting set up.