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Hi guys, I am always interested in finding out about safer or better ways to dive. So I read this list and have learned a hell of a lot. The personalities are "interesting", but the information contained and the contacts available are simply outstanding. Several months ago I read about the recommendation to use spools in lieu of reels when putting up lift bags. It seemed like a hell of an idea. A friend had brought several black plastic (delron, I think) spools down to Akumal a while ago and I had been using them as extra jump reels in the caves here. They are the kind with six or eight holes in each side of the reel through which we hook double ended brass snaps to hold the reel. But I had never thought of using them with a lift bag. Now I have to say that I've been quite happy with my Dive Rite reels both in the caves and when diving deep in open water. At first I had the same problems with them as all beginners have had in jamming and snarling. But I have not had any difficulty in putting up a lift bag on my last say, 40 or 60 tries, so I guess I have learned how. [Yes, grasshopper, when you can do it, you will have learned.] But the spools were being recommended so strongly that I decided to try them. After figuring out how to hold the spool while the bag went up, I decided to try it in some shallow water, Carwash cenote at 15 feet deep. And it worked fine for the 10 or 12 times I practiced it. Next were several practice trials in Akumal bay at around 30 feet and these too went well. So I figured I was ready to use the spools in earnest. My very first try was during a trimix training dive in Angelita cenote. The dive plan was for a maximum depth of 200 feet (which in Angelita is pretty simple since it is only around 198 feet deep). On the way up, we had inserted a 1 min. stop at 90 feet after we came up through the hydrogen sulfide layer, to put away our lights and get buoyancy control in the fresh water. Then the plan called for a 3 minute stop at 60 feet to deploy lift bags and then deco at 40,30,20, and 10 feet. Of course we had a 130 foot down line tied to a tree at the edge of the cenote (with an oxygen bottle hanging at 20 feet), but the dive plan was to only use it in case something went wrong. Now I had emphasized to my two students the importance of being sure of your actions when deploying a bag and of LETTING GO if something went wrong. The bag and reel may be worth more than a hundred bucks, but your life is worth considerably more. I watched as each student put up his bag and it went very well. No problems. Then, as I normally do during training dives, I also practiced putting up a bag. This time with the spool instead of my trusty Dive Rite reel. And I once again proved the validity of the age old adage that "It is virtually impossible to make anything absolutely foolproof because fools can be so inventive." I don't quite know how, but somehow in unclipping the spool from my harness I must have broken the plastic between the hole in the side of the spool and the rim of the spool. So the hole extended all the way to the edge of the rim of the spool. And although I had checked all my equipment (including the spool) before the dive, I didn't notice it had broken while preparing to shoot the bag. And as Murphy's law would dictate, after a few revolutions of the spool while putting up the lift bag, the line caught in the broken hole. And I felt a feeling I have not felt for quite a while as I was starting to be pulled upward by the ascending lift bag. So I had to let go, much to the amusement and jibes coming from my students. Not a good day. Fortunately I was using an OMS self sealing lift bag (with which I am absolutely in love, by the way) so the bag together with my reel were waiting on the surface after the dive. So this whole story just goes to prove that even the best of ideas can turn to brown goo real fast if I don't know what I'm doing. And it establishes once again the eternal truth of one of the favorite sayings of my instructor trainer, Al Pertner, that there may be a significant difference between what I know and what I think I know. (And in technical diving, this difference can possibly be fatal.) Take care and safe diving, Scott -- Send mail for the `techdiver' mailing list to `techdiver@aquanaut.com'. Send subscribe/unsubscribe requests to `techdiver-request@aquanaut.com'.
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