Runaway reels

[Big Blue One]

Myself and a dive buddy have each experienced the following.

After entering the water our reels have been seen plummeting off into the deep trailing line which is thankfully still attached to double ender and BCD. Looking at the mechanics it seems that it's possible that the impact of entry can press open the double ender attached to the reel by pushingt he reel against the latch.

It appears the thread stays captive (and hence you have a way of retrieving the reel thankfully) as the spring closes quickly before the thread escapes.

I originally thought my incident was caused by having clipped to the side/rear ring of my Halcyon as well as the cord already attached to the SMB tucked up in the back pocket. However the other incident was a simple front ring attachment with no other attachments.

Is there any surefire way of preventing this as it does tend to muck up the first part of the dive or is it just something you have to be careful of when entering the water?

[hermosadive]

If your are refering to a spool vs. a reel, it happens all the time when you clip off directly to the holes on the spool. I get around it by threading the loop through the spool, inside to outside, and then clip off on the loop end, not directly through the spool holes.

[fdog]

I keep the spool in my pocket with its double ender. It's not that tough to hook the lift bag to the line, and the spool is available for other uses.

All the best, James

[Ben_ca]

Myself and a dive buddy have each experienced the following.

After entering the water our reels have been seen plummeting off into the deep trailing line which is thankfully still attached to double ender and BCD. Looking at the mechanics it seems that it's possible that the impact of entry can press open the double ender attached to the reel by pushingt he reel against the latch.

It appears the thread stays captive (and hence you have a way of retrieving the reel thankfully) as the spring closes quickly before the thread escapes.

I originally thought my incident was caused by having clipped to the side/rear ring of my Halcyon as well as the cord already attached to the SMB tucked up in the back pocket. However the other incident was a simple front ring attachment with no other attachments.

Is there any surefire way of preventing this as it does tend to muck up the first part of the dive or is it just something you have to be careful of when entering the water?

If you play with your reel and swing the double ender toward the latch you can force it open (same thing with a spool) The reel can be fixed by putting a loop of bungie there and then clipping to that. IMHO the spool is better kept in the pocket.

[Lil' Irish Temper]

I put my reel on my rear crotch strap D-ring and my finger spool on my front crotch D-ring and I have never had one pop open yet on me.

But then again maybe I'm just lucky.