Winding up reel / spool on deco ascents

[tomfcrist]

Sucks when you drop a spool from 5m that you have wound up from 50. Ask me how I know.....

Spoiler: 50m of line on the deck of a small boat is WAY less fun than it sounds...

Yup...don’t drop your stuff...it’s bad form. Lol

 

[RyanT]

50m of line on the deck of a small boat is WAY less fun than it sounds...

I re-spooled 30m on the boat once. If I had 50, I think I would have balled it up and thrown it away.

 

[RainPilot]

Yup...don’t drop your stuff...it’s bad form. Lol

NOW you tell me, I could have saved so much time!

 

[RainPilot]

Something else to consider: Its pretty important to have the reel or spool deployed in a way that it can be jettisoned easily. One of the reasons is, for example, a boat going over the bag and dragging you up (I believe it was @boulderjohn that had an incident with some yahoo pulling his float out of the water and trying to abscond with it while he was on the other end?)

In that case, a double ender and 20 feet of line below you whizzing up fast is IMO very likely to ruin your day.

 

[RyanT]

(I believe it was @boulderjohn that had an incident with some yahoo pulling his float out of the water and trying to abscond with it while he was on the other end?)

Same thing happened to a friend of mine when some yahoo on a jetski pulled this stunt in the St. Lawrence river.

 

[_Ralph]

The method you describe is a great way to recover a dropped spool.

*something happens* ‘d’oh!’ ... did anyone else notice? Yup, crap.

Wait! Time to show them a neat trick! Pull out your double ender that was supposed to lock the spool, or worst case, the spare you have.

Grab the flailing line and put the double ender on it above where you grabbed. Start polling up on the line (causing the double ender to go down in the loop of slack.

Grab the spool, and start to wind it up in shame.

Grab the double ender and lock it, or move up in the water column as required.

No fuss on the boat and you get to show off a trick.

The double ender keeps the slack from birdnesting and getting caught up as easily in something or someone.

_R

 

[RyanT]

@_Ralph, it took me a minute to figure out your explanation, but I got it. This is a great idea, thanks for sharing!

 

[lermontov]

can just imagine a group of divers all moving at different points in the water column with loops dangling down on each other

 

[tursiops]

can just imagine a group of divers all moving at different points in the water column with loops dangling down on each other

That is what Team diving is all about: screwing up together.

 

[tomfcrist]

That is what Team diving is all about: screwing up together.

That being said I have rarely seen a team use 1 lift bag per person on a drifting deco. It’s easy enough to stay together while one person handles the bag.