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I was taught by the best, run your own line from outside the cave, if
necessary from the surface. I dive Jackson every other weekend or so, check
out the right side of the cave as you go in. That is from open water
divers. Jackson's line is set back about 100 feet or so, Scott could tell
the exact distance, but that doesn't matter, far enough that OW divers
shouldn't find it. The only problem there is the sign is on top of the
line. Are we supposed to cater to OW diver safty inside the cave now, I
don't think so. If they can't find the line, maybe they won't dive it. If
a cave diver dies becuase he can't find the perminate line when entering the
cave, he shouldn't have been cave diving! The world is better off without
him! The fact of the matter is that 250 feet is not that far to have to run
a reel. The original post was about instructors not teaching their student
to run reels, putting 30 feet of line in doesn't teach you anything. I
agree that running a reel inside the cave is a good idea, but once you get
poeple off the main line, they will start to tear the cave up there. I'm
sure you've been in Cow and see the handprints there. As much as I hate to
say it, there are a lot of instructors out there that just don't give a
shit.
Rob
----- Original Message -----
From: <rchrds@gr*.ne*>
To: <cavers@cavers.com>
Sent: Wednesday, October 18, 2000 8:48 PM
Subject: Re: cave lines
> Someone wrote:
>
> >George, you don't have Open Water divers in Leon Sinks every weekend.
>
> That doesn't matter. How many open water divers (or new cave divers, for
> that matter) have died shallow in the cave in relatively simple systems
> that had no permanent line to the surface? (Little River, Ginnie, Alachua,
> etc...) Cutting the line back is a protective measure for the caves, not
> for the divers, and its a poor practice.
>
> Now, I agree that new divers (and old ones) must know how to lay line, and
> I will also agree that among a few instructors it seems to be becoming a
> lost art. However, because a diver needs training is a poor excuse to cut
> back a safety tool to a less than usefull position. There are better
places
> and conditions to teach a person how to properly lay line- Just for an
> example- take your students to Manatee and make them find tieoffs on the
> opposite of the passage from the main line- and then make them clean it up
> again. Do it in the MIDDLE of the dive- perhaps they will get the hang of
> laying exploration line with some time pressure, and when it comes to
> really laying line, they wont be so excited that they put the line in
every
> trap they can get around.
>
> Doing this the diver still gets his essential training, and as a
byproduct,
> no other divers are endangered by not having the line going all the way to
> open water/surface which ever is appropriate.
>
> Open water divers will follow the line in. There is no way to get around
> this. Open water divers will also go get walmart fishing reels and find
the
> cut-back main line. I saw this at Emerald. The guy was cruising around in
> the deep passage with a damn zebco fishing reel. Of course, that is the
> extreme.
>
> The issue of cutting back lines from the surface needs to be seriously
> reconsidered for the tourist caves- Beyond that it isint much of an issue,
> caves with less than pristine viz and active exploration almost always
have
> the line to or very near the surface.
>
> While we're arguing about lines- lets talk about the whole jump thing. Bad
> business. The majority of the line laid in Jackson blue should be used as
> an example of great line management- no jumps, just WELL MARKED T's. I
have
> yet to hear a good explanation for T's beyond poor skills. If a person
gets
> lost in somewhere marked like JB, they are too far too fast, and its their
> own and their instructors fault.
>
>
> Jason Richards
> rchrds@gr*.ne*
> NSS 41539
>
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