It really can happen to anyone...

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DiverBuoy

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I finally lost (and fortunately found) my first piece of dive equipment. I was late for a dive this morning (alarm clock issues). The rule my buddies and I go by is wait 15 minutes then go, don't hang and get angry. When I arrived at the site their cars were locked and they were nowhere to be seen. I dressed and donned quickly and literally jogged down the "thousand steps", of course this is much easier diving on 12 LBS and with my PST 65cf (the bullet). As I rounded the bottom of the stairs I could see both of them on their backs swimming on the surface just past the surf zone.

Well going through my predive safety check in record time and with only 1-2 foot swells (as we say ... ankle biters) I just walked quickly through the surf. It was at this juncture that my dive light lanyard (with dive light attached) quietly and without warning slipped from my wrist and settled in the foam in about 3 feet of water. I should mention the light is my HID light cannon. I love to use it for all types of diving day or night. But retail it runs $199.00 so it isn't exactly chump change.

I met up with them, spent a minute swimming out to the drop point and spent a few minutes catching my breath. From pulling into the parking space street clothed to this point was under 20 minutes total - I was seriously winded. Between breaths I commented on their conversation and thanked them for moving a bit more slowly this morning. We went down and swam along the reef a ways and they both paused pulled out their day lights and began looking at a rather large moray eel - surrounded by cleaner shrimp. I was going to do my usual impression of the sun underwater and shed some real light on this event. Ahh what, hey, where in the heck is my divelight? I'm looking around frantically. I signal them both and sign that I'm going to look for my light. They decide to join me. Well, what a search it was. We spent AN HOUR looking. Retraced all of our steps. On the surface again both of them insisted seeing me with the light in hand when we descended. Visibility wasn't stellar at 15 feet but not exactly molasses either. We executed every method of searching they eventually went down as a buddy pair and did expanding squares. I eventually ended up with fins in hand walking through waves. In the furthest edge of the beach within a foot of the reef in 3 feet of water there it was! I was so relieved, mainly that our arduous search ended happily. But later when talking about it, we realized that if I had indeed lost the light at the point of entry into the water - surge had moved the relatively negatively buoyant light over 25 meters from where I went in.

It was a great lesson in search and recovery - something so small, in what previously didn't seem to be so vast a space, acted upon by changing forces and time, becomes a chance moment of success or failure. I was just about ready to give up as I made those last few steps in the surf, the foam was thick and vis poor at that spot, and I was thinking to myself "why are you looking here when you were absolutely no where near this place!"

That means this particular dive light has set two unique firsts for me - my first flood and my first loss (and found). Makes me wonder what new and exciting adventures this little black brick of plastic and magical light has in store for our future? Whatever happens I will be far more sympathetic for the next poor soul who tells his sob story that didn't end as pleasantly.
 
Glad to see you found your light.That would be an expensive piece of gear to lose.Thats what is nice about owning a cannister light.The sucker is very securely attached to my waist strap with the light head clipped to my d-ring.
 
I was picking up my brand new scubapro jet fins (x-large) tonight and the shop I bought them from is a total tec shop. They had 5 different cannister offerings. I was comparing 3 variations on the gel celled OMS canister (looked more like 3 inch PVC piping with stickers actually). OMS had a variable head, HID, and halogen model. They were all in the $600.00 retail range. Yikes! Also the professor that runs the shop said only 4 hours battery life - recharger built-in though. But man, that's not much - I get almost 6 hours out of C-cells. And I didn't pay retail for my UK either. My wallet isn't quite ready yet. But I agree with you - a much more secure mounting.

That points out something I left out of my story ... I'd never be entering the surf zone (normally) with gear hanging from my wrists and parts unknown. It was the rush to catch up that forced these compromises and we all know where that got me...
 
lal7176 once bubbled...
Glad to see you found your light.That would be an expensive piece of gear to lose.Thats what is nice about owning a cannister light.The sucker is very securely attached to my waist strap with the light head clipped to my d-ring.
Possibly the wrong forum, but the posts reminded me...

How securely attached *should* bits and bobs of gear be? On one hand, I don't want to lose it (once i get around to buying things like lights, knives, lift bags, etc) but on the other hand I'd hate to have an uncuttable, rusted-shut shackle or clip prevent me from ditching equipment that's tangled in something. Where's the happy medium? Hand-breakable line/ clips, cuttable line/clips or metal?

Where's the best place for the bits of gear? Opinions seem to vary (knife in pocket/ pouch? Knife in leg sheath? Waist strap? Hidden pocket universe attached to BC?) Thanks - just another newbie seeking the (no doubt heavily divided) opinions of the experienced BEFORE buying equipment. cat
 
My general rules are:

No all metal joins. Piston clips are joined to my torch, for example, using nylon cord. This could be cut if the clip jams but it wont break.

If it joined somewhere else (eg Pressure guage, unused regs) then I use an oring as a breakaway join. If it accidentally breaks I wont lose it.
 
I merely put my light in my BC pocket. While it's possible to lose it, it's highly unlikely. When your light fits in your BC pocket, it has the added benefit of not being an "impression of the sun underwater."
 
We have dropped tons of gear during rescue classes. To date we've found every single thing except for one watch that was on a velcro band.
 
I've seen a lot of stuff lost over the years, lost some myself. But one piece of gear has an interesting history.
One of my buddies found a very nice Scubapro mask in the Gulf, all encrusted with barnacles. He cleaned it up and found it was still in good shape under the crud, and so started using it. He'd had it for less than six months when it deserted him in Lake Martin one day at the end of a dive. We searched all over for that thing with no luck. A year later, I found it again about a hundred yards from where it had been lost, all crudded up again. He's cleaned it up again and is using it again, but we fear it has a mind of its own and will bail again at the earliest opportunity.
Rick
 
Glad to see you found your light. Searching can be very frustrating if you know you took your light in, but don't see it anywhere that you were. Also glad to see you can hunker down and be in the water in less than 20 minutes flat...that certainly means you're not doddling around, but leaves a lot of room for error. I would be thankful that the lost light was your only concern on the dive.
 
Big-t-2538 once bubbled...
Glad to see you found your light. Searching can be very frustrating if you know you took your light in, but don't see it anywhere that you were. Also glad to see you can hunker down and be in the water in less than 20 minutes flat...that certainly means you're not doddling around, but leaves a lot of room for error. I would be thankful that the lost light was your only concern on the dive.


ooooo....low blow
 
https://www.shearwater.com/products/teric/

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