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On Wed, 24 Jul 2002 20:18:28 -0700, "Joe" <joe@po*.co*> wrote: (snips) Hi Joe, Understand please that my diving, as referred to here is done from a trailerable 6.6m (21.65 ft) glass trihull with twin 4 stroke outboards a little north of Sydney, Oz. We rarely experience currents and when we do they are usually surface currents. Certainly we have nothing like the Gulf Stream. We have ways, if we really need to, to countermeasure these currents. Usually, if they're more than one knot, we'd choose not to dive in these conditions. Equally it is pretty rare for a current (our style current, not your more extreme one) to come in once diving. Well, what I'm saying is that conditions here are usually pretty stable and our maximum depth is 50 msw (164 fsw). > The way we have been doing it here (So. Fla.) is to drop the team with two > men tending the line. We use a small grapple that is held by the first man > in. The 2nd man stays about 30 or so feet above him and gathers line to > feed the man with the grapple so it is not taught when he ties in. If the > current takes the line fast we use the grapple to snag the wreck. > Otherwise, we wrap the chain so the hook is easier to free at the end of the > dive. The rest of the team follows the lead of these two. We don't do this (bear in mind, our wrecks are babies compared to yours) we choose to hook the wreck and this is what is SOP in this neck of the woods. Rightly or wrongly. If we suspect a current, by whatever means, we use a transit line from the shot to the anchor line, if we choose to dive at all in those conditions. Our INVIOLATE rule is that we ALWAYS descend the anchor line and reascend it. Since the boat is always hooked, that seems sensible. Where WE, as in the group I dive with, differs is in how we act otherwise. Before the anchor line is deployed we attach to the top of the anchor chain of it a series of SS clips, one for each diver. Each of these has on it a wrist strap of yellow webbing. The rule is that when you reascend you take one of these off that anchor chain which means that there is a "count" of remaining divers down. It gives, usually, a pretty good idea of whether you can "unsecure" the anchor (which has been wrapped by the first diver down). I know, I know, lost divers. So far, touch wood, it has worked, for a whole two+ years. It helps that we're (pretty close to) the same team every time. Yes, I know, one of these days it won't but it's a damn sight better than not knowing at all whether you're the last one there and therefore can release the anchor. Unsure? Don't do it. Anchor rope is considerably cheaper than life and we permanently have a nice sharp knife in the anchor well. What's more, it can be buoyed and recovered. My whole point, really, is that this "clip" technique has not been published here before. Cheers, Christian -- Send mail for the `techdiver' mailing list to `techdiver@aquanaut.com'. Send subscribe/unsubscribe requests to `techdiver-request@aquanaut.com'.
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