Tangling my wreck reel!

I came down the line to a subway car off of Ocean City, holding a weight in my hand. I wasted no time getting to the floor of the car so that I could get the weight into my weight pocket. When I looked up, I realized that my activity must have silted out the car.

So I take out my Manta Jr. wreck reel, which I have used in training and have fooled around with on the surface about a hundred times. I anchored to a pole in the car, and proceeded through the wreck. Even in zero vis, I should have been able to know the profile of a subway car, but I figured it would be good practice.

My dive buddy called the dive, so I started to reel in the line. First of all, the line floated freely in the water, and apparently, the line was floating around the spool also. Secondly, the line fell down to wrap around the holding arm holding the handle to the spool, preventing it from turning. Third, I tangled up the line where I had anchored to one of the poles, and my buddy got impatient, so I cut it.

I have a reel that is supposed to never birdnest, and I not only got it birdnested, I tangled it!

I want to work on getting good at the wreck reel, and I now realize that it is harder than I thought. You can't really practice on the surface, because that did not prepare me for how the line behaves when it is floating in the water.

One of the techniques I will try is to keep tension on the line when I am reeling in, essentially reeling myself in like a fish. Also, I will look more closely at the spool to spot birdnesting, and I will take the time to work the tangle out.

Any other techniques to suggest would be appreciated. Also, I would like to hear about how you anchor the line in such a way that it does not get knotted up into a tangle.

RecDiver97:

I have a reel that is supposed to never birdnest, and I not only got it birdnested, I tangled it!

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Well... you've discovered one important thing, which is that no reel is tangle proof.

I want to work on getting good at the wreck reel, and I now realize that it is harder than I thought. You can't really practice on the surface, because that did not prepare me for how the line behaves when it is floating in the water.

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You'll find that in wreck and cave courses you practice with the reels on land first. Keeping tention on the line is important, as you've discovred.

R..

RecDiver97:

I have a reel that is supposed to never birdnest, and I not only got it birdnested, I tangled it!

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Yeah, hard to image how a reel with such an "elegant" design could get fouled...

RecDiver97:

My dive buddy called the dive, so I started to reel in the line. First of all, the line floated freely in the water, and apparently, the line was floating around the spool also. Secondly, the line fell down to wrap around the holding arm holding the handle to the spool, preventing it from turning. Third, I tangled up the line where I had anchored to one of the poles, and my buddy got impatient, so I cut it.

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Consider taking a wreck or cave class where they teach you techniques for working with lines. You'll gain information such as making tie offs and placements for ensuring that the line isn't floating around, causing potential entanglement hazards. In addition, you'll learn the procedures for how to properly cut and splice into a line if you end up having to cut yourself out of an entanglement.

The last thing you want to happen is find yourself tangled in a wreck, silted out, with your line cut and no idea which way is out.

Practicing in open water is only good if you know what the techniques are that you should be practicing.

For shorter distance, spools work very well and they are virtually jam proof.

RecDiver97:

One of the techniques I will try is to keep tension on the line when I am reeling in, essentially reeling myself in like a fish. Also, I will look more closely at the spool to spot birdnesting, and I will take the time to work the tangle out.

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"Reel fast, swim slow."

Also, be sure to use appropriate tie-off's and line wraps along the way. On exiting your buddy can unwrap the wraps and help keep a bit of tension on the line.

RJP:

"Reel fast, swim slow."

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I also like to be very slightly negative.

Also, be sure to use appropriate tie-off's and line wraps along the way. On exiting your buddy can unwrap the wraps and help keep a bit of tension on the line.

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It amazes me how many buddy teams I see these days that don't practice this method.

Cave Diver:

It amazes me how many buddy teams I see these days that don't practice this method.

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Alas, it's the only way I was taught!

RecDiver97:

My dive buddy called the dive, so I started to reel in the line. First of all, the line floated freely in the water, and apparently, the line was floating around the spool also. Secondly, the line fell down to wrap around the holding arm holding the handle to the spool, preventing it from turning. Third, I tangled up the line where I had anchored to one of the poles, and my buddy got impatient, so I cut it.

I have a reel that is supposed to never birdnest, and I not only got it birdnested, I tangled it!

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Don't feel too bad. If you have a molecule of slack in a line it will magically attach itself to whatever place on your person you can't see or reach. I did the same thing on my first wreck training dive.

This is one reason why it's important to have a good buddy and easily accessible cutting tools.

Terry

Well, you've already learned the biggest lesson -- loose line is dangerous. Line held under tension will wrap neatly onto the reel, and is easy for buddies to avoid, and rarely gets caught seriously on anything (it may catch, but is easily released). Loose line wraps around manifolds and fins and can tangle you up so that you have to cut it to get free.

Line should be run under tension, and tied off on something wherever it changes direction or inclination, in order to make sure it remains somewhere where you can follow it in zero viz on exit (the main reason for running line, right?) As previously stated, as you come out, you have your buddy take the tie-offs out, and control the resulting slack in the line until you can reel it up. You can almost "tow" yourself out of the wreck or cave with the reel, with very little finning, which will make sure you have good tension on the line at all times.

It's worth getting some coaching from somebody who knows how to do this, and doing some shallow practice on rocks or tree roots or something, until you have mastered the technique.

RJP:

Alas, it's the only way I was taught!

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Me too but I don't think these things are generally taught well in recreational settings.

I had been diving wrecks for many years before I took an IANTD ice course. All of the students in the course (I think) were previously trained for technical nitrox and our instructor took the approach that everything under the ice was like one big cave....and that's how we dove it. During the training dives was the first time time that I had been "drilled" on reel skills and I have to say that I learned a lot from it, even having had reasonable reels skills before that....

It was a 'reel' eye opener....

R..