Morgan Spring, July26

[UCFKnightDiver]

Sounds like a fun time! We need to go diving at some point, so I can get my ass back in the water!

 

[ucfdiver]

at least your scooter got to make the trip

Now if my scooter could only make the traverse from AJ's apartment back to my garage where it belongs, we'd be set!

 

[LiteHedded]

Now if my scooter could only make the traverse from AJ's apartment back to my garage where it belongs, we'd be set!

lol that's one of those tricky shallow traverses you were talking about

 

[TSandM]

Wow, that looks like a really lovely site.

Love the story . . . It so beautifully illustrates that good judgment is as important (and may be more so) than exquisite skills, when it comes to more adventurous cave diving.

 

[TommyB]

Great report. What is the diving like at Morgan in the cavern or cave1 range? Looks like a nice place, 10 bucks seems like a great deal.

Really not a cavern zone to speak of.
Good swim basin to cool off, but to dive it your profile would look something like

 

[coldsmoke]

[snip] This is where DIR diving really pays off. I was on one side of the restriction, laden with two stages and a tow scooter, and my bud was on the otherside of a siltout. I stayed put and waited for a minute or two (which felt like a lot longer, let me tell you) as my stage approached drop pressure.

There is something special about 200’ in zero vis. Litehedded knew that two divers in a zero vis restriction with a ton of gear was not a good idea. I came back through, on the line using the Ray Charles method and found him switching stages, lightening his load to come through. This is the sign of a real pro who thinks the situation through completely. [snip]

I have a couple of procedural questions - both I'm sure are covered in advanced cave training, but since I have none please humor me.

Assuming Litehedded was switching stages in preparation for pushing through the silted out restriction -

1. What is the standard if something like this happens - Does the lead guy return or do those on the other side push through? I could see time being wasted with people on either side waiting to see what the other will do. Is it something covered in the predive or is there always one thing that is done?

2. Litehedded was switching to a full stage presumably because he didn't want to be in a silted out restriction on a bottle that has limited gas. Would it not have been even better in this case to switch to back gas? Seems to me it would be preferable as the gas supply is greater, but more so because he would be able to donate the long hose in the event that he ran into an OOG teammate in the restriction.

Thanks,

Hunter

PS - Thanks for the report!

 

[ucfdiver]

I have a couple of procedural questions - both I'm sure are covered in advanced cave training, but since I have none please humor me.

Assuming Litehedded was switching stages in preparation for pushing through the silted out restriction -

1. What is the standard if something like this happens - Does the lead guy return or do those on the other side push through? I could see time being wasted with people on either side waiting to see what the other will do. Is it something covered in the predive or is there always one thing that is done?

2. Litehedded was switching to a full stage presumably because he didn't want to be in a silted out restriction on a bottle that has limited gas. Would it not have been even better in this case to switch to back gas? Seems to me it would be preferable as the gas supply is greater, but more so because he would be able to donate the long hose in the event that he ran into an OOG teammate in the restriction.

Thanks,

Hunter

PS - Thanks for the report!

I'll let pfcaj answer for himself, but to give 2 viewpoints, here's how I see it:

1) You should always get closer to exit when issues come up. Sometimes holding tight is the best solution. No need getting 3 scooters 4 stages and 2 people all in one restriction. Brian should have waited at the start of the restriction, and AJ came back to him (I think this is close to what happened).
2) You should always use stage bottles first, since they can't be shared like backgas, plus they can be ditched so that you can move faster when/if you need to. Remember that it takes about 5-10 minutes to drain a tank from a reg free flow at 200ft, AJ/Brian both had 2 fully isolated gas sources in the stage/backgas at this point, and burst disk failure is near impossible since they're all double disc'ed around here, so OOG isn't ever going to be sudden in this situation.

 

[coldsmoke]

1. That's what I would assume, but based on the report I implied that Litehedded was preparing to push through the restriction.

2. All valid points, but what if you have to donate? I realize that an OOG is unlikely.... but now you are in a silted out restriction with a buddy on your stage. Buddy has multiple stages so passing the bottle is likely difficult compounded by the restriction and the viz.

In the above scenario the team could pass the restriction and get back on stages, but the dive is likely over at that point so backgas could just be used for the exit.

Hunter

 

[ucfdiver]

All valid points, but what if you have to donate? Now you are in a silted out restriction with a buddy on your stage. Buddy has multiple stages so passing the bottle is likely difficult compounded by the restriction and the viz.

In the above scenario the team could pass the restriction and get back on stages, but the dive is likely over at that point so backgas could just be used for the exit.

Hunter

Let's approach this a bit differently....

Why would you have to donate? AJ has a full stage, Brian has a full stage, and they each have full back gas.

(I'm asking you to stir discussion and make people think through this stuff, please don't take my post as rude)

 

[coldsmoke]

Thinking....