Using a spool to return to anchor on boat dive

[nereas]

Hi all -

There are times when I definitely want to return to the anchor line on a boat dive, for instance, when the diving combines low viz and a high surface current. I figure this would be a fine time to deploy my safety spool, but I've never actually done it and am interested in your feedback. For reference, I'm talking about diving within recreational limits, in cold California water.

First, do people actually do this? Even under strictly recreational conditions, occasionally there are dives on which I'm so preoccupied with the navigation (usually because I'm nervous about drifting down-current of the boat during our ascent, should we fail to return to the line) that I'm not really enjoying myself. (And for the sake of the question, let's assume I generally do my utmost to make a dive plan that keeps me up-current from the boat. In real life, I've blown that a few times. Usually that just means a tough swim back to the boat; but at least once I was generally afraid of being swept out of sight.) I figure, having a continuous guideline to open water allows me to enjoy cavern dives; having a continuous guideline back to the anchor might allow me to enjoy these OW dives.

Next, what do folks use for their primary placement? The anchor itself? And what about subsequent placements? In my limited experience with cavern diving, there were plenty of opportunities for placements; it seems like that'd also be true on your typical California reef, but what about when you're over plain old sand? And in the cavern, I don't worry about damaging fauna by accidentally making a placement on some living thing...

Finally, what about surge? In the cavern setting there was definitely flow -- but at least that doesn't change directions. Certainly surge would ratchet up the possibility for entanglement, but do folks generally find that this is manageable?

Of course, should I miss the anchor on a dive like this, I know I can always shoot my SMB to increase my visibility to the boat. But I think I'd find greater peace of mind in finding the anchor in the first place.

Thanks a lot for your thoughts! I'm posting this to the DIR forum because I think it's more likely that DIR divers would be bringing safety spools as emergency equipment on all dives. Mods, feel free to move the thread if you think there's a more appropriate place.

Best,
Steve

Spools are designed for uplines, and they work excellently for this.

Reels are designed for laying and retrieving cave line, and they work excellently for this.

One can serve excellently as a backup for the other, as in 2 of everything, however one should not be substituted for the other.

 

[TSandM]

We dove the Olympic wreck in Los Angeles, and had precisely the conditions you describe. Limited viz (probably 20 -30 feet), some current, anchored boat. We did not run a line, and everybody agreed afterwards that it would have been smart.

When I have run a line, I have tied off to the anchor line, simply because there was nothing within visual range of the anchor on which to make a tie. It's not a good choice, as observed above, because if the crew pulls up the anchor, or the boat drags it, you have problems. But if the anchor was dropped in a simple silt bottom, it may be all you have.

I've run a fair amount of line without making any additional ties. When we get to the wreck, I just lay the reel over some protruberance and dive the wreck. It has worked well.

If you're going to have to run more than about 50 feet of line, I'd use a reel. They're not that expensive, or that hard to learn to use, but it's SO much easier to reel up line than it is to rewind a spool as you're exiting.

 

[rjack321]

Ok I get it now. If the boat is a big cattle boat of 25-30 divers I almost never run line. In my limited experience on these types of charters (50-100 dives like this) they almost never ever drop you someplace where you must return to the upline. You may be jittery and feel like line would be a good idea (and I'm not there, maybe it is) but it generally isn't required.

If you do decide to use it, don't tie off to the anchor itself. They may pull it and that would be a mess.

Of course I guess I have a bit of a cavalier attitude since I have done 300+ dives off an anchored untended personal boat sometimes in places that the guidebooks tell me I'm nuts to not have a live boat. But I have the luxery of timing, guile, and strategy to work with or around pretty substantive currents. So take my suggestions with that mongo grain of salt water.

 

[astrofunk]

Alright, it seems like three themes have come to the fore:

1. Yup, people definitely run lines in order to return to the anchor.

2. It's a better bet to make a primary tie-off near the anchor, not on it.

3. Reels do this job better than spools, owing both to the amount of line they afford, and to the greater ease with which the line can be laid and taken up.

Does this sound like a fair summary?

 

[do it easy]

For recreational diving around here the typical protocol is to drop a shot ball with an upline on it and have a live boat (rather than hooking the wreck and anchoring the boat). Sometimes we would hook up the upline to the wreck, but still we're typically going to have a live boat.

I was diving with Lynne in this scenario, although I wasn't paying too much attention to what the crew was doing, other than knowing the descent line as at the stern and it would be a live pickup. We got down to the bottom and I saw that there was just 10 lbs of weight at the end of the line and I was wondering how the heck that little weight was going to hold the boat in place??? I later realized that the boat was achored at the bow and the shot line was at the stern.

Believe it or not, there are some rare days when Lake Michigan is calm enough that the captain will tie the mooring line to the stern- makes for a real short surface swim

 

[RJP]

I attatch directly to the anchor so in the event that the anchor does drag, my guideline will still take me to it.

Yeah, I wouldn't be doing that. If the tie-in to the wreck comes out, the boat is going to pull the line up, and I would not want to be tied to it as they do.

 

[RJP]

We dove the Olympic wreck in Los Angeles, and had precisely the conditions you describe. Limited viz, probably 20 -30 feet...

We call that UNLIMITED viz here in NJ!

 

[TSandM]

I know -- we do in Puget Sound, too, but for the LA people, that's like a thick fog!

 

[lamont]

When I have run a line, I have tied off to the anchor line, simply because there was nothing within visual range of the anchor on which to make a tie. It's not a good choice, as observed above, because if the crew pulls up the anchor, or the boat drags it, you have problems. But if the anchor was dropped in a simple silt bottom, it may be all you have.

Usually, on the dives I've been on where the boat has not been live the boat would not pull the anchor line but would simply let go of it if they had to go live.

And if the boat pulled the anchor line and you were tied off near it, you are now nowhere near the anchor line. If the boat pulled the anchor line and you were tied onto it and it snapped, you are no worse off. If the boat pulled the anchor line and you were tied onto it and it dragged your line with it, you've still got your exit.

 

[stiebs]

I would never even think about running a line off the boat anchor. I guess it just goes to show the different ways people dive off boats in different conditions. Pretty much all of our dive sites here in Melbourne (Aus, not Florida) is done off what I gather the rest of you refer to a "live boat".

When the site is located, a shot line is dropped, usually with a weight belt or other lead weight on the end. Strict instructions are to NOT HOLD ONTO THE LINE. Especially if the shot is dropped on top of a wall. If divers hold onto the line, its likely to drag the shot into open water.


As far as running a line off the anchor.. the OP mentioned a boat with 20-30 divers. What happens if every buddy pair runs a line? That's 10-15 lines coming off the anchor. Surely recipe for tangles!