Standard #24 cave line vs low-stretch/hi-viz for primary reel

[dorsal]

String be string. Some of it's stretchy, some of it's slick. It takes nano seconds to figure out how it lays and/or binds on a tie off. Most reels have too much line on them. That's my real bitch.

I’m just getting into wreck and running lines. Pete, with too much line, can be you suggest how much should be on the reel? My dive rite 140’ has right about 140.

 

[The Chairman]

@dorsal You should be able to easily put your double ender or loop in the hole without fighting, if it's a spool. A 1/4" to 3/8" seems to be fine for reels. You'll reduce the number and severity of bird nests if you do. Another tip is to alternate the direction of winding a spool in order to reduce twisting. Highly twisty line has a mind of its own. 10 CW followed by 10 CCW works for me.

 

[Trace Malinowski]

String be string. Some of it's stretchy, some of it's slick. It takes nano seconds to figure out how it lays and/or binds on a tie off. Most reels have too much line on them. That's my real bitch.

Manufacturers tend to provide customer service by giving you all the line that can fit on a spool or reel. You may need to cut some off. I tell my students to spool the line out to make sure it is tied. Then, measure the line so you know how much line each spool or reel contains and write that on the spool or reel along with initials or name. Or, they can go the extra step and have them engraved or cut out. You don't want to grab a 75 foot jump spool when you want a 150 foot safety. Next, I want them to mark the spool or reel so they can identify it by feel in silt or with the lights out. Thanks to the popularity of Shearwater computers, the faint glow provides enough illumination to verify a spool or reel is yours in a lights out situation, but you may find yourself exiting in zero visibility like what happened to our team in Madison Blue. The river rose while we were in the cave and we exited in zero visibility in touch contact on the line.

I've found my favorite tie-off's over the years and my back-up's and their back-up's. I was surprised how poorly Dacron gripped to certain types of nubs.

 

[PfcAJ]

Stretchy line > static line

Buddy helping pull tie-offs is situation and buddy dependent. I generally like it, but my main diving bro doesn't. Sometimes it doesn't help the situation to pull tie-offs, sometimes it does.