Visual Jumps

[Sas]

I was cave diving in Florida recently, and got into a lot of discussions with some other divers there about visual jumps. My training was continuous guideline to the surface and that is what I do, and will continue to do in future on every cave dive. However, some others that I met were quite insistent that they do this often with no hassles in caves they are very familiar with.

I know this is one of the big no-nos in cave diving and I am of the opinion that it is stupid to do visual jumps, however like many things in diving, what people say they do and what they actually do can be quite different so made an (anonymous!) poll to see how common this is and people's thoughts in general.

 

[Wormil]

As you know, I won't visual jump.

 

[Sas]

As you know, I won't visual jump.

I know That's one of the reasons I like diving with you!

 

[Dive-aholic]

Absolutely not. In fact, one of the drills I put my full cave students through is a mock visual jump in which when they return to it visibility is blown out and they have to find the main line. About 1/2 don't find it. And I do this in a place where people commonly do visual jumps because it's "so familiar". Yes, I do maintain a continuous guideline during this drill.

 

[Wormil]

Absolutely not. In fact, one of the drills I put my full cave students through is a mock visual jump in which when they return to it visibility is blown out and they have to find the main line. About 1/2 don't find it. And I do this in a place where people commonly do visual jumps because it's "so familiar". Yes, I do maintain a continuous guideline during this drill.

The argument was 'lulz, caves are blown out for 30 seconds, so your argument is invalid'.

This is why I won't do a visual jump. Cave looks different from each direction to me.

 

[Tortuga68]

Absolutely not. In fact, one of the drills I put my full cave students through is a mock visual jump in which when they return to it visibility is blown out and they have to find the main line. About 1/2 don't find it

What distance is the jump?

 

[Dive-aholic]

The argument was 'lulz, caves are blown out for 30 seconds, so your argument is invalid'.

This is why I won't do a visual jump. Cave looks different from each direction to me.

Hmmmmm, when Devil's was blown out a couple years back, I recall it being for more than 30 seconds...

And I only bring up Devil's because it's high flow.

What distance is the jump?

Does it matter??

 

[Cave Diver]

No. I never do visual jumps.

I'm lazy. I admit it. My reasoning behind not doing visual jumps is that once I find a way to justify doing a visual jump for an "easy dive" I'll start finding ways to justify my laziness on more difficult ones. The best time to break the incident chain is before it ever gets started.

In fact, I tend to go the opposite direction and always mark intersections, including the gold line T's like at JB and Little River. That's something I've seldom seen another team do.

 

[Sas]

Dive-aholic, that sounds like a good thing to include in a class. I guess for some people they need more than being told not to do something so being shown how difficult it can be in bad viz to find the line again might be more beneficial for some.

I have been through a few siltouts and even returning half an hour later things can be still murky, at least in the caves I dive in, so I don't think things necessarily clear up that fast.

The argument was 'lulz, caves are blown out for 30 seconds, so your argument is invalid'.

Don't forget 'don't you know how much extra gas it takes to put in a jump? You guys will never get to the back of the cave at this rate!'

 

[ucfdiver]

Hmmmmm, when Devil's was blown out a couple years back, I recall it being for more than 30 seconds...

And I only bring up Devil's because it's high flow.

When was Devils blown out a few years ago?