What do folks make of this one...

[rhwestfall]

and what exactly is a "Jersey upline"?

Diving Equipment Specialties

 

[Wookie]

"Live boat" means the boat is not anchored, and is free to follow divers.

And that is a Florida thing. Not typically done as much in CA and only rarely in the NorthEast. When we deal with currents as strong as a knot or 2, it's much easier to hit the mark by dropping divers up current of the target and have them drop like stones. The down side is that they could come up anywhere. Usually you assume they shoot their SMB as soon as they leave the wreck or decide that they have missed it. Some don't shoot until their first deco stop at 60 or 70 feet. I've seen bags pop like flowers in the spring. About a mile down current.

 

[dbulmer]

Frank,

What you do in Florida does not sound that much different to what Peter has described although we usually drop in at slack tide down a shot.
A buddy pair is expected to send up a DSMB and the skipper determines when that will be - typically at the end of the dive.

On very shallow dives an anchor might be dropped and normally the 1st pair is asked to move it to help other divers coming down- it depends on the site largely but it is very rare that you have to move it that far.

Ascents are nearly always done with a DSMB over here.

 

[Wookie]

Yes, it does. We certainly don't have a patent on the process, and it is often modified to meet local conditions. I had to learn from a number of Northeast wreck captains and divers how to do it. Then, I took a trip on a Pompano dive boat. I will pick folks up all day long. I do not like being picked up myself. And I do it with a 33 meter boat.

 

[RJP]

I will pick folks up all day long. I do not like being picked up myself. And I do it with a 33 meter boat.

Having had the pleasure of seeing Frank and his 33M boat bear down on me in the open ocean (and then having Mel haul my @ss on board) I can assure you it's a ton of fun!

 

[Hetland]

I can assure you it's a ton of fun!

Especially in 6ft seas.

 

[Wookie]

Especially in 6ft seas.

It was in 15's when RJP had his ton of fun....

 

[TSandM]

Virtually all charter boat diving in the PNW is live boat. It was a revelation to me, when we dove the oil rigs off LA, to discover that the captain made a big deal out of how to do a live drop and recovery, because many divers have never done it.

I really like live boating. It absolves me of the responsibility for getting back to the anchor . . .

 

[RJP]

It was in 15's when RJP had his ton of fun....

The boat looks a lot smaller... when you can't see it behind the swells!

 

[peterbj7]

I've always referred to that as a drifting entry/drift dive. Never heard "live boat" before, and I've just checked with a fellow Brit diver that she hasn't either. I'm very used to both techniques, but there are two reasons for choosing a drifting entry. In the context of this thread it would be that there's no provision for a moored entry or that logistics don't permit it. On really deep dives such as I've done off Miami and elsewhere there's no point in entering the water unless the dive boat is moored wrt the wreck, as you won't ever see it. I had a 90 minute 75mtr dive completely in blue water off Miami once when it turned out that the captain had misread his bottom finder. Expensive and pointless. So I'd rarely enter the water from a "live boat" in those circumstances.

I still don't know what a Jersey upline is - the URL above doesn't work for me.