Using a spool to return to anchor on boat dive

[lamont]

I dont think there really is a great solution except to drop a shot (where possible) and only dive with "experienced" divers at those spots. Then it's all about trying to decide what the acceptable risks and contingencies are.

That is what my point about "cattleboats aren't DIR" is trying to get at...

You're making choices in going on those charters which cause all kinds of subsequent issues...

 

[Gombessa]

That is what my point about "cattleboats aren't DIR" is trying to get at...

You're making choices in going on those charters which cause all kinds of subsequent issues...

I don't know if this affects anything, but since the discussion has moved along this tangent, I'm pretty sure the situation the OP is talking about encompasses liveaboards, not a typical tourist cattle boat.

Maybe the analysis and result are the same, but IMO you're a bit more limited in terms of # of divers on board and choices of charter in such a situation.

 

[KMD]

Kevin I have a great deal of respect for you and your posts, and usually I agree with them...but I'm calling BS on this.

What exactly do you figure is BS? I am thinking this is an east coast west coast experience thing. Very similar to how rjack corrected me in my over simplification of Puget sound boating.

The pacific has a huge surface area to generate wave energy and Monterey has no outer islands to help shelter it.

As one captain explained it to me regarding his boat, When the wave height is greater than the period, its time to stay in.

 

[KMD]

That is what my point about "cattleboats aren't DIR" is trying to get at...

You're making choices in going on those charters which cause all kinds of subsequent issues...

"Cattleboats aren't DIR" was a blanket statement that to me just reinforces the negative steriotype that has been present for a while.

Doing it Right is about taking a honest look at your present conditions, doing a risk analysis and adjusting your plans accordingly. Depending on your dive plan this could mean, making no change, shallowing the dive, or canceling the dive.

 

[SparticleBrane]

What exactly do you figure is BS? I am thinking this is an east coast west coast experience thing. Very similar to how rjack corrected me in my over simplification of Puget sound boating.

You are most likely correct. No one here runs boats in >6ft seas. Usually anything more than that is a small craft advisory, and 16ft would probably be suicide for a small dive boat...

Last time I was out in 6ft seas I spent 90% of the boat ride throwing up. Before diving, between diving, and after diving, I had my head over the side. The boat was getting pounded. I'd hate to go out in anything more.

 

[lamont]

Doing it Right is about taking a honest look at your present conditions, doing a risk analysis and adjusting your plans accordingly. Depending on your dive plan this could mean, making no change, shallowing the dive, or canceling the dive.

Yeah, that could mean diving deep air, CCR rebreathers, solo diving, etc. Where do you draw the line at the compromises that you're willing to make?

Like rjack said, on a boat with 25 divers, it had better be a low current dive, good visibility, fixed moorings, etc or you'll have divers blown all over the place. You've gotten so far afield that discussing running a reel no longer makes a lot of sense. You also shouldn't be technical diving or doing wreck penetration.

That doesn't mean you don't do the dive, but it means it isn't DIR and discussing how to make it more DIR in a DIR forum doesn't make a whole lot of sense. I went diving in Kauaii last year where there's no DIR operators and I just found a 6-pack boat and dealt with not diving DIR -- but I didn't post on DIR boards asking how to make my compromises more DIR...

 

[limeyx]

That doesn't mean you don't do the dive, but it means it isn't DIR and discussing how to make it more DIR in a DIR forum doesn't make a whole lot of sense. I went diving in Kauaii last year where there's no DIR operators and I just found a 6-pack boat and dealt with not diving DIR -- but I didn't post on DIR boards asking how to make my compromises more DIR...

Well, I guess I just have to consign myself to not being DIR then ... oh well, we're all a bunch of strokes down here anyway.

 

[limeyx]

Excellent summary!
since the scooter gives you tremendous range and speed, and more efficient RMV/SCR as well, to enable finding a boat again more easily when you reverse course and head back.

You have to be exceptionally careful with this line of thinking...unless you stay as close to the boat on the DPV as you would swimming, then if the scooter dies it's a long swim home, and you'd better have planned to have enough battery time for a buddy to tow you (and hope whoever is doing the towing knows how to get "home" !)

 

[KMD]

Yeah, that could mean diving deep air, CCR rebreathers, solo diving, etc. Where do you draw the line at the compromises that you're willing to make?

Like rjack said, on a boat with 25 divers, it had better be a low current dive, good visibility, fixed moorings, etc or you'll have divers blown all over the place. You've gotten so far afield that discussing running a reel no longer makes a lot of sense. You also shouldn't be technical diving or doing wreck penetration.

That doesn't mean you don't do the dive, but it means it isn't DIR and discussing how to make it more DIR in a DIR forum doesn't make a whole lot of sense. I went diving in Kauaii last year where there's no DIR operators and I just found a 6-pack boat and dealt with not diving DIR -- but I didn't post on DIR boards asking how to make my compromises more DIR...

I really don't get where you are coming from here? Where was I saying you make compromises? Where did I bring in solo diving, deep air or any of the other crud you mentioned into the converstation?

Does the boat captain need a fundamentals card to be DIR? If so then I guess we have one of the few DIR boat captains around? Do all the divers (including the ones you arn't diving with) need to be fundies qualified? Tech 1? Cave 2?

To say that if I and my (cave 1 qualified)buddy who jump on an open boat with other divers and after working through all the potential issues with suface support and planning a swim NDL dive to 60' has somehow broken the mystical wall of "DIRness" is simply a falacy.


As dives get more complex with deco or more challenging conditions the need for better control over the population of the boat increases, sure... but lets not say that just because someone doesnt follow DIR procedures that it automatically makes the boat, yourself, and your diving NON-DIR.

This is like saying that when shore diving at our Breakwater (your cove 2) isnt a DIR dive because there non dir people shore diving as well.

 

[Randy43068]

For crying out loud guys. Just go diving!