Mailing List Archive Mailing List Archive
Anthony, Many good points, although i am aware of the origins of the rason for teathering, i feel that with proper gear and technique that much of this becomes unnesesary. with regards to the points... diving without gloves is something i consider a luxury, most of mu diving is done in cold water in a drysuit and just because the temperature is colder that is no excuse for not being able to maunpulate valves(practice practice practice) with regards to running reels a larger knob installed on the reel works wonders for the ice season(although jams really suck) with regards to freeflows generally usinf regs with environmental kist solves most of the free flow problems. I have found us divers arctic regs great during the ice season i have never had a freeflow when the air temperature was above -30 degrees CELCIUS athough i generally don't use them for other dives they have always worked great for the winter season. As for the AAAGGGGHHHH we started using AGAS (I KNOW WERE WIMPS) but it keeps the face much warmer and allows for com units if desired(although to be redundant a spare mask must be worn (have never had a free flow with the AGA EVER) In this case we use our long hoses as the spare rather that breathing off them on the left post as we do usually. >A few points that apply even to those of us with doubles and two regs and >caving skills and equipment are that: > > (a) wearing heavy three-finger gloves makes you clumsier, so it's > harder to handle a reel and lightweight line, or to turn valves [note > that Florida cave protocols assume no gloves] > > (b) if one reg freeflows under such cold conditions the other may not > be far behind > > (c) during the first five minutes of the dive, when your face hasn't > gone numb yet and you're going AAAAUUUUGHHHH, it's nice to not have > to think about possibly having to do any survival skills more complex > than pulling on a rope three times. I think you may be right about finding something inbetween but i also feel that the same principals can be used that are used in other overhead environment diving(lots of cold water wreck diving is done and i have never heard of anyone being teatherd) SAFE DIVING STEVE >Steve Schinke <tekdive@ho*.co*> writes: >> This person was in support of some of the large diving factions >> standards involving a five person team requiring the divers to be >> teathered and a teathered safety diver plus two line tenders. > >That style would be drawn from commercial diving protocols; that would >likely have been the readiest source when NAUI and friends were figuring >out how to ice dive and live. > >> my argument was that this seemed to be a little over excessive. I >> argued that Ice should be dove like any other overhead environment >> using reels, and gas management principles, and that teathering >> unnesessary. The divers should be competant enough with there skills >> that being roped together and to the surface is ridiculous. > >A lot of recreational divers only have a single (they look up at the >high-tech guys with pony bottles, if you can believe that) so the whole >idea of shutting off a valve when a reg freeflows is foreign to them. >They need to get back out before it can drain their tank, and having a >rope and a surface tender makes that possible. The recreational ice >diving protocol is deliberately as simple and foolproof as possible. > >> usually the way my buddy and i dive is with reels and ice screws in a >> two man team using thirds. > >A few points that apply even to those of us with doubles and two regs and >caving skills and equipment are that: > > (a) wearing heavy three-finger gloves makes you clumsier, so it's > harder to handle a reel and lightweight line, or to turn valves [note > that Florida cave protocols assume no gloves] > > (b) if one reg freeflows under such cold conditions the other may not > be far behind > > (c) during the first five minutes of the dive, when your face hasn't > gone numb yet and you're going AAAAUUUUGHHHH, it's nice to not have > to think about possibly having to do any survival skills more complex > than pulling on a rope three times. > >Because of those factors I don't think you can directly transfer cave >skills as if you were in Florida. I think the best technical-icedive >configuration lies somewhere between there and the full five-diver >tethered setup. I don't claim to have all the answers, and I'm keeping >an open mind. > >My best ice dive last season was after my buddy had to scrub due to a >predive freeflow; I was down solo, tethered. This I think comes a bit >closer to the original tethered commercial diver model, without a >second diver in the water to get ropes crossed. It worked really well, >and this can be done with two divers and a tender. > >With two divers each independently tethered to anchor points on the >surface, I can't see the real benefit of the safety diver, unless perhaps >less-experienced divers are going in the water and you want to be able to >put in somebody competent to help them. Still, I'm not going to change >the rules I was taught on my ice course until I'm certain I and my buddies >have a better system and we've gone through the contingencies and we're >sure it'll work. > >Note that it's generally only possible to get one dive per regulator; >postdive on a below-freezing day, a wet regulator will freeze up and >freeflow on any attempt at a second dive. If one diver is going in first >and then sitting safety for the other(s), having a dry spare regulator >would be useful. I'd never previously had that luxury, but having stage >bottles in summer means having extra regs in winter. The backup >regulator (left-post, if Hogarthian) should be okay, having a chance to >rise to the temperature of the water before being needed. > >Because of ice-up and freeflow issues (note also the LP inflator freeflow >discussion today) and the extreme cold, it probably goes without saying >that one stays in the no-decompression zone under the ice. > >Make sure your tether ropes are long enough; 50' ropes in 30' of water >when people miscalculate the wreck site by 40' adds up to the classic >3-4-5 triangle and means you can just barely reach out and touch the >nearest part. > >-- >Anthony DeBoer <adb@on*.ca*> > ______________________________________________________ Get Your Private, Free Email at http://www.hotmail.com -- Send mail for the `techdiver' mailing list to `techdiver@aquanaut.com'. Send subscribe/unsubscribe requests to `techdiver-request@aquanaut.com'.
Navigate by Author:
[Previous]
[Next]
[Author Search Index]
Navigate by Subject:
[Previous]
[Next]
[Subject Search Index]
[Send Reply] [Send Message with New Topic]
[Search Selection] [Mailing List Home] [Home]