Preparing For A Total Silt Out

[DA Aquamaster]

When we start going there, we are playing fast and loose with the standards. For example we could have intro level divers going an awful lot of places outside the intent of the intro certification and the skills possessed at that level if they just start taking along a 1200' primary reel to maintain a single continuous guide line from OW.

You can play fast and loose with the technicalities, but the intro certification in essence means staying on the main line, not laying your own well past the light zone and the start of the main line, and a continuous guidline from OW to the catacombs does not in and of itself make it a good idea for an intro level diver.

I'd rather have an intro level diver intentionally stretch or break the limits and do so after careful and thoughtful consideration of the potential risks and consequences than I would have them push the "legal" limits to ridiculous extremes while deluding themselves that they are still within the limits of their certification and abilities just because they are still on a continuous line from OW. It is that kind of faulty thinking and rationalization that gets divers killed at any certification level.

 

[LiteHedded]

I did the catacombs in my intro class...

 

[InkDiver]

Not too beat you up over it, but the catacombs is off the main line and is not an Intro level dive - mostly so other Intro Level divers are clear on that.

As others have stated, the Catacombs are absolutely available to Intro level divers as long as they are running the continuous line from OW. There are cave systems that don't have a gold line 5 feet from the surface and the primary may need to be run a long way to that gold line (300', 400'). A place like the catacombs is a great place to practice line skills.

Many instructors include the Catacombs as part of their Intro class for this very reason.

 

[kidsdream]

After further thought and battles2a5's positive comments I removed my post.

 

[battles2a5]

Let's not turn this into a cave diving standards debate. I was just trying to share a "ignorance is bliss" intro diver moment that got me into an interesting situation (per the original topic of the thread). It seems that most of us agree it was within standards, for those that don't let's just agree to disagree and move on.

 

[Doc Harry]

I have some reservoirs near my house with really silty bottoms. A few "well paced" kicks and I can generate a complete open-water silt-out.

I have been toying with the idea of doing lost line drills this way. Is that wise? I could do this in 10 feet of water.

 

[battles2a5]

I would say that being able to simulate a no-vis situation without an overhead would be a good thing. Just make sure the other folks in the water with you are in on it!

 

[karstdvr]

I have found that one of the best ways to be prepared for a silt out is learn the cave. All too often people are interested in distance of penetration,which means they have covered a lot of cave without learning it,and then exit in a siltout is slow and tedious (which leads to high SAC rate). I think the wreck divers have it right when they do progressive penetration,because they learn areas in segments which makes an emergency more like an inconvenience. I was pushing a small tunnel in Hart once and there is a fissure crack that you have to be lined up just perfect to get through. Because of the silty nature of the passage,and restrictions,I had taken 5 dives to get a couple 100 feet in this tunnel,and when I had to negotiate this restriction in a silt out,learning it made it much simpler. I hear many cave divers say that if you are in a high flow cave the silt out will clear up quickly. That doesn't always hold true. I experienced a collapse back in JB,and it blew out everything,including the basin. I was so thankful that I had swam each leg of the dive and knew it well,because it just was a slow exit,not an emergency.

 

[DA Aquamaster]

I have some reservoirs near my house with really silty bottoms. A few "well paced" kicks and I can generate a complete open-water silt-out.

I have been toying with the idea of doing lost line drills this way. Is that wise? I could do this in 10 feet of water.

I agree with Ryan - do it in an area where your roto tilling is not going to impact the whole lake and the other divers in it.

In terms of a lost line drill however, it is only two dimensional rather than a much more three dimensional cave environment.

And, are you really gaining anything over just closing your eyes? No.

 

[GLENFWB]

Could you elaborate a little more on the collapse at JB? Was it a result of someone running in to something, or was it just part of the normal life cycle of a cave?

That doesn't always hold true. I experienced a collapse back in JB,and it blew out everything,including the basin. I was so thankful that I had swam each leg of the dive and knew it well,because it just was a slow exit,not an emergency.