Visual reference on anchor line

[Wibble]

Agreed. But the normal protocols on the south coast are up under a bag; most skippers wanting one bag per diver NOT per "team".

Of course the depth and bottom time determines the amount of deco. If 'recreational' then the bag pops up and then a diver within 5 mins or so. If it's deeper and with a runtime of 2 hours, then the bag may pop up after an hour on the wreck with the diver drifting downstream for an hour.

If doing "ocean" diving, there's big swells to take into account which makes following SMBs far more difficult. The south coast in normal diving conditions (F4 max) result in short waves; anything higher than a couple of feet (60cm) make recovering divers quite difficult.

 

[rob.mwpropane]

Just to pick this one up again.

Fishermen come in different guises. The commercial fishermen who trawl/drag for a living don't go near wrecks -- or need divers to remove their nets when snagged on wrecks. Often those fishermen are the ones that know where all the wrecks are. These fishermen know the sea protocols and a dive boat with divers below will be avoided; the dive boat should have identified itself as in diving operations using AIS; also flying a flag.

Recreational fishermen, as in rods and lines from a boat, have to work with divers; it's one or the other on a wreck, whichever boat got their first gets that wreck. Them's the rules. Obviously with the UK south coast there's more wrecks than boats (as in thousands of wrecks), so we/they would divert to another wreck if the target wreck is "taken".

Example of wrecks on a 30 nautical mile stretch of UK south coast:

View attachment 787013

WRECK WRAK EPAVE WRACK PECIO

wreck, wreck database

www.wrecksite.eu

In my experience it's the same here, 1st come 1st serve. I have been heading to a wreck only for us to find a fishing vessel on it, so we switched to a nearby wreck. I have never heard of a dive boat asking a fishing boat to move or vice versa.

What happens if you're making an ascent on an smb / bag and drift into a shipping lane? We might not have as many wrecks as the UK does, but we also have to contend with large vessels coming in and out along with the fishing boats. Everything in pink is a shipping lane. What happens when you cause a freighter to have to change course? I would think that a mob of smb's floating into a shipping lane would become a huge clusterfck.

Everyone here is expected to carry both an smb and lift bag and know how to use it, but that's if all else fails and you can't get back to the anchor line. Even with ~ 16+ divers in the water I've never felt "clustered" coming up the line. I rarely see anyone under water, just a few on the line.

It's interesting learning how other areas do it... like I said plenty of ways to skin a cat.

 

[Celt]

In my experience it's the same here, 1st come 1st serve. I have been heading to a wreck only for us to find a fishing vessel on it, so we switched to a nearby wreck. I have never heard of a dive boat asking a fishing boat to move or vice versa.

What happens if you're making an ascent on an smb / bag and drift into a shipping lane? We might not have as many wrecks as the UK does, but we also have to contend with large vessels coming in and out along with the fishing boats. Everything in pink is a shipping lane. What happens when you cause a freighter to have to change course? I would think that a mob of smb's floating into a shipping lane would become a huge clusterfck.

Everyone here is expected to carry both an smb and lift bag and know how to use it, but that's if all else fails and you can't get back to the anchor line. Even with ~ 16+ divers in the water I've never felt "clustered" coming up the line. I rarely see anyone under water, just a few on the line.

It's interesting learning how other areas do it... like I said plenty of ways to skin a cat.






View attachment 787051

Definitely wouldn’t be sending up an SMB in that lot. It wouldn’t be nice to hear the thump thump of a freighter as you drift along on your deco.

 

[Wibble]

Definitely wouldn’t be sending up an SMB in that lot. It wouldn’t be nice to hear the thump thump of a freighter as you drift along on your deco.

Try Dover — almost deafening underwater with all the ships motoring past!

 

[Nick_Radov]

In poor surface visibility conditions, such as fog, a skipper may demand that everyone comes back up the shotline. Often this command is accompanied by a strong recommendation that everyone lines off from the shotline (tie off a reel or spool from the grapnel anchor and run around the wreck, sometimes back and forth to the shot). Most wreck divers take a spool or reel with them anyway.

We shouldn't do boat dives in poor surface visibility conditions in the first place. If there's fog over the dive site then wait for it to clear, or come back another day. Don't get into a situation where a single mistake or navigational error could leave you with no safe options. Running a guideline reel can help, but I've seen lines break or get cut due to things like zebra mussels (sharp shells).
At a minimum at least please don't do tech dives with deco obligations in the fog. Stay within NDL so that if you fail to ascend on the anchor line or shot line you can make a direct ascent to the surface and expect to pop up right next to the boat.

 

[Nick_Radov]

What happens if you're making an ascent on an smb / bag and drift into a shipping lane? We might not have as many wrecks as the UK does, but we also have to contend with large vessels coming in and out along with the fishing boats. Everything in pink is a shipping lane. What happens when you cause a freighter to have to change course? I would think that a mob of smb's floating into a shipping lane would become a huge clusterfck.

If you want to dive in or near (within drifting range) a designated shipping lane then contact the Coast Guard (or local equivalent) and obtain formal approval for your plan first. They will issue a notice to mariners and vessel traffic services will route other vessels around the designated diving operations area. Don't just show up there and anchor; even if it might technically be legal in some areas it's going to piss everyone off and create unnecessary risks that could have been avoided with proper advance planning.

 

[rjack321]

I hear these stories of "3 pairs of divers", "fog", "tied off in a shipping lane", "no scooter" "vis is too bad" blah blah blah. There are better, I suppose less macho, ways of doing these kind of dives which avoid hanging on anchor lines for dear life.

 

[rob.mwpropane]

If you want to dive in or near (within drifting range) a designated shipping lane then contact the Coast Guard (or local equivalent) and obtain formal approval for your plan first. They will issue a notice to mariners and vessel traffic services will route other vessels around the designated diving operations area. Don't just show up there and anchor; even if it might technically be legal in some areas it's going to piss everyone off and create unnecessary risks that could have been avoided with proper advance planning.

I pay good money to not own a boat, not call the coast guard, and not be the captain. If I had to do all the stuff you just mentioned (which I'm sure they do given their safety record navigating the convoluted mess of a shipping channel that we have), I might as well just buy a boat? I pay to not do that.

I hear these stories of "3 pairs of divers", "fog", "tied off in a shipping lane", "no scooter" "vis is too bad" blah blah blah. There are better, I suppose less macho, ways of doing these kind of dives which avoid hanging on anchor lines for dear life.

I don't think anyone is trying to be "macho" (well, probably some), but if we all waited for near perfect conditions we would never dive. Diving when it's a little sporty or diving in less than stellar viz still beats not diving at all. And you really don't know until you get out and down. No one plans to be whipped like a flag, but sh!t happens!

 

[Celt]

Learning to handle poor conditions is how to progress in your diving, and being able to change tactics to suit changing conditions is an asset not a draw back. Choosing to stay in your comfort zone will do nothing for you. Id ignore the naysayers and learn new ways and not get stuck on any single way of doing things. Sometimes hanging on an anchor line for a bit of deco can have unforeseen treats.
https://youtu.be/mnx-SAMyuyY

 

[ginti]

Learning to handle poor conditions is how to progress in your diving, and being able to change tactics to suit changing conditions is an asset not a draw back.

The main point, at least for me, is NOT to "always do the deco in a specific way." It is to learn how to do it without reference, so to be able to manage problems (like ascents far from the line due to accidents), and then do whatever one wants as long as skills are kept at a sufficiently high level, and the new practices are safe.

Personally, I cannot imagine a single advantage of being tied to a line, but if you like the idea, if you do it safely, and if you can manage an ascent without any reference - where would be the problem? The problem just does not exist, so do as you like.

But this is a very different scenario from the one described in the opening post, with the OP finding it hard to do the ascent and, therefore, trying shortcuts to make it easy - this is a no-go for me; however, I am no scuba police And, by the way, this is totally in line with what you posted above, isn't it?

Choosing to stay in your comfort zone will do nothing for you.

Agree

Id ignore the naysayers and learn new ways and not get stuck on any single way of doing things.

Good point!

Sometimes hanging on an anchor line for a bit of deco can have unforeseen treats.
https://youtu.be/mnx-SAMyuyY

I can't see why this would not be possible without being attached to the anchor line, but it should have been a cool dive this one! I envy you