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Mark:

You don't seem to consider that it's possible to hold a reel AND be aware
of your surroundings at the same time. This isn't an either-or proposition.
I guarantee, competent cavers pay at least as much attention to their
environment as you do to the wreck you're diving, especially if it's a
complex cave system. They study maps, they watch tapes, they keep notes,
they survey...they LEARN the place.

But they still use the line. 

>I don't know how I would apply lines to caving,
>my experience does not lie there, but I would
>feel pretty vulnerable with just a line to find my
>way home. 

Only an idiot would go into a cave or a wreck with *just* a line.

A line is not a substitute for awareness; and awareness is not a substitute
for a line. They both are--or should be--essential elements of diving
discipline in any environment that has zero-viz potential and no immediate
way out. 

>My sometimes unpopular belief that no penetration lines
>should be run into a wreck stems from my feeling that
>you should not count on that line being there to guide
>you out.

Then don't count on the line, if it makes you happy. Pretend it doesn't
matter. Just use the damn thing. 

And if you refuse to use it, stop telling people that it is optional
equipment, because that is a lie, and it is going to somebody. 

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