My first oil rig dive

[Rainer]

Yeah, drifting this one was the last thing we wanted to do (three HUGE cargo ships had already passed by on our SI). I just did the switch right handed (holding the line with my left hand). Worked well enough. Some truly ripping currents Saturday.

I was actually thinking about this, as we did our first staged decompression dives yesterday. We had significant current on the second one, and the plan was to drift our deco, but as luck would have it, we actually drifted TO the anchor line, and I thought about putting us on it, but I was a little worried about how I'd manage a gas switch while hanging on desperately with one hand, so we drifted instead. I came up with the idea of trying to hook the line with an elbow. Anybody have any better ideas?

 

[Blackwood]

I agree with the implications of Rainer's post: it's situational.

If you have a live boat (ours didn't know that the anchor was free, though I imagine if we'd popped a bag they'd have taken the hint), drifting deco is a reasonable plan unless you're in an area of heavy surface traffic (and probably other things I'm not considering).

In a more ordinary situation, we'd probably just scooter into the current, but Rainer had questions about his charge, and having it cut out would have forced us to drift the deco if he didn't immediately grab the line.

If you dive with a jon line (i.e. don't leave it in the parking lot...), you could connect yourself to the anchor. I don't like the idea of a hard connection, but my jon line is just a 3/8" rope with a loop at each end, so I could have put it around the chain and stuck my arm through the loops or temporarily clipped in. (Of course this isn't the "DIR Answer," but we aren't in that forum. If you regularly dive in heavy current, it may be a good idea. If you don't need it, leave it in your pocket. No harm)

Only having one bottle made it a lot easier. I'd initially planned to dive with 50% + O2, but thought better of having the additional drag. We went through the proper switch protocol, but it wasn't critical.

 

[Rainer]

In a more ordinary situation, we'd probably just scooter into the current, but Rainer had questions about his charge, and having it cut out would have forced us to drift the deco if he didn't immediately grab the line.

The vis between 110' and 30' was terrible (probably less than 3-4'; a never ending rain of "sea snot"). If we had scootered (ignoring the suspect charge issue), there's a good chance we'd have lost that line in no time (especially at the 70' switch). Hanging on was the correct choice given the shipping lane, current, and vis. [But yes, in a "more ordinary situation", we'd do as usual, and just scooter it.]

Only having one bottle made it a lot easier. I'd initially planned to dive with 50% + O2, but thought better of having the additional drag. We went through the proper switch protocol, but it wasn't critical.

One bottle or not, we run the switch protocol. Still want to verify you didn't grab the O2 bottle by mistake when you first jumped in. Taking only one bottle was a huge plus.

 

[Kevrumbo]

<snip>
If you dive with a jon line (i.e. don't leave it in the parking lot...), you could connect yourself to the anchor. I don't like the idea of a hard connection, but my jon line is just a 3/8" rope with a loop at each end, so I could have put it around the chain and stuck my arm through the loops or temporarily clipped in. (Of course this isn't the "DIR Answer," but we aren't in that forum. If you regularly dive in heavy current, it may be a good idea. If you don't need it, leave it in your pocket. No harm)<snip>.

In a pinch, lock-down the X-Scooter and loop the D-ring "nose leash" of the scooter around the anchorline/up-line, and stay connected to the scooter's towline . . .voila! Instant jon-line thru the X-Scooter, with hands-free to do your deco gas switches. (There's also the technique of using your spool as a jon-line as well too).

And the Eureka Oil-rig here in SoCal for myself is the most challenging and intimidating dive site I've ever been on, compared to most other worldwide divesites that I've traveled to so far in my experience. . . it can be a wild "washing-machine" down there, difficult to hold your O2 stop at 20'/6m because of the surge & swell which can vary your depth as much as plus or minus 10'/3m if you don't pay attention. . .

 

[Blackwood]

In a pinch, lock-down the X-Scooter and loop the D-ring "nose leash" of the scooter around the anchorline/up-line, and stay connected to the scooter's towline . . .voila! Instant jon-line thru the X-Scooter

That would work. I currently have a double-ender on my the nose of my scooter, but I'll have a proper leash soon (just gotta get to home depot or west marine to buy some rope). The double-ender works, but it can be rather cumbersome to clip off with a scooter attached 4" away.

One bottle or not... still want to verify you didn't grab the O2 bottle by mistake...

Agreed. You never want to skip the MOD check. I was referring to the rest of the procedure (purge charged, purge valve open to verify the reg you're holding is attached to the bottle you think it is) which becomes superfluous if you only have one bottle but is certainly a good idea to keep up with for those times you have two or more.

 

[captain]

A great part of my diving has been on the Gulf of Mexico rigs off the Louisiana coast. Because of the Mississippi river and the Gulf loop current there are time when currents can be quite strong and going different directions at different depths.
Here we are allowed to tie up to the rigs and dive directly beneath them within the jacket (the part of the rig from the bottom to the surface).
Also most times because of the Mississippi river there is a 10' to 20' layer of low vis water (1' to 5' vis) on the surface you must penetrate. Below the murk layer as it is called the vis opens up to as much as 100' on the deeper farther offshore rigs.

 

[fnfalman]

Shame on the boat for not carrying enough water for the divers. There's no excuse for that.

But the OP definitely sounded like he was seriously dehydrated, what's with the dark yellow urine and all. I've made it a point to drink until I pee repeatedly and with clear coloration during the dives. Even then the next day I would still feel dehydrated.

I've only done two SoCal oil rig dives. One of it was great and the other was hell with current & upswelling.

 

[CompuDude]

What boat were you on, the Sea Bass? That's the only boat I can think of that's small enough to possibly run out of water.

 

[leabre]

What boat were you on, the Sea Bass? That's the only boat I can think of that's small enough to possibly run out of water.

It was the bottom scratcher. Buddy of mine dove the saturday before, and said the same thing about running out of water. Leaving just soda and beer. Next time, I'll just bring 3x as much as I did, I should be fine at that point.

 

[CompuDude]

It was the bottom scratcher. Buddy of mine dove the saturday before, and said the same thing about running out of water. Leaving just soda and beer. Next time, I'll just bring 3x as much as I did, I should be fine at that point.

Wow. A boat the size of the Bottom Scratcher has no business running out of drinking water.

Yet another reason why the Bottom Scratcher isn't on my list of preferred boats.