Home improvement store clips vs bolt snaps

[FinnMom]

I understood the term to mean any snap that opens when pressure is applied to the latch, i.e. any type that can inadvertently become attached.

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Replying to post #39 (all 3 paragraphs)
Someone (implying 1 person) coined the name after someone (implying 1 person)...
I rather doubt that.

I have heard them called that (in real life, not the www) by persons of at least 6 different nationalities. I have also read the slang in books and magazines. It does probably all originate from 1 or 2 books that amazingly many of us have read, and it is a silly over-dramatic name, but it is NOT unique to Scubaboard.

Search Google:
"suicide clips" diving -scubaboard
You will get quite a few hits.

 

[Bob DBF]

So you actually got hooked ???

Yeah, I figure three of the hooks had me before I knew what happened and a few more while trying to extricate myself. The kelp itself was not a problem except the mono was wrapped around it as well as me. Finding the spots to cut the mono to clear it and not pick up more hooks was the challenge. Staying calm was a challenge as well.

As for kelp, I have never needed to cut or damage any. Normally the surge will wrap the kelp around your leg, if you don't pull and wait calmly, the surge will untangle it. Kelp is a mind game, if you are impatient and frustrated it will make your life a living hell. Of course I don't have crap on my kit that the kelp gets caught on and I don't fight the ocean, it always wins. The first SCUBA training dive in OW ended with a 200 yard surface swim through kelp, if you are ready it is a pita, but not a problem. To this day I will shortcut over kelp on a surface swim to the dive site becuse it's faster than going around.


Bob

 

[Kharon]

... He had a tool belt with a bunch of them and multiple hooks got wires hooked in them. Then as he tried to release himself more got hooked. ...

Guess I'm niave. Why the &%## would you have a belt full of those? And why not just drop the belt? And why would you be diving in the middle of multiple wires? Sounds like no prep and panic.

 

[Kharon]

I have heard them called that (in real life, not the www) by persons of at least 6 different nationalities. I have also read the slang in books and magazines. It does probably all originate from 1 or 2 books that amazingly many of us have read, and it is a silly over-dramatic name, but it is NOT unique to Scubaboard.

Never intended to imply it was limited to Scubaboard. It is widespread. That doesn't make it true.

 

[Kharon]

Bob, never dove in kelp. Don't plan to - ever. Maybe having someone try to drown me in my mid-teens made me a bit more leary to venture anywhere that might trap me underwater.

Beware the ankle-biters - they grab on, hold you down, and gnaw on your ankles till your feet fall off (lol). I still can't even snorkle into a boat house without a shiver. No overhead restrictions for me. I know my tolerances and limitations.

 

[FinnMom]

Never intended to imply it was limited to Scubaboard. It is widespread. That doesn't make it true.

Sorry not to have been more clear, on that point I was still replying to #39 - not to you. I hopefully have now clarified that by editing my post.

 

[Bob DBF]

Bob, never dove in kelp. Don't plan to - ever

It's not as bad a some make it sound. Below the surface it is like being in a forest an there is little chance of entanglement, so you start outside the kelp forest and enter and exit underwater there is no problem. Dealing with kelp is a matter of technique and easily learned, the kelp is not actually out to get you. When there I think it is better than Disneyland. If you get out this way I'll show you.


Bob

 

[KevinNM]

Guess I'm niave. Why the &%## would you have a belt full of those? And why not just drop the belt? And why would you be diving in the middle of multiple wires? Sounds like no prep and panic.

He was a very experienced NE wreck diver. At the time they usually solo dived. He had a bunch of tools to help him extract things from the wreck on his belt. He apparently had a habit of doing high speed negative descents into the wreck and the last time he ended up in a bunch of cabling in some sort of machinery room in the Doria. They had to bring bolt cutters to recover the body iirc.

 

[CT-Rich]

I've had the little plastic snap on my BCD bungee clip on to my float line was not a big deal. If they aren't visible and you snag on something, you might have a time figuring it out. Proper clips cost the same and work fine. Green recreational divers are the ones who are most likely to have a problem that gets out of hand because of lack of experience, so I think this isn't a bad topic for basic.

Perhaps not rising to the danger level of splits..... but you can never be too careful.....

 

[Kharon]

He was a very experienced NE wreck diver. At the time they usually solo dived. He had a bunch of tools to help him extract things from the wreck on his belt. He apparently had a habit of doing high speed negative descents into the wreck and the last time he ended up in a bunch of cabling in some sort of machinery room in the Doria. They had to bring bolt cutters to recover the body iirc.

Wow. Sad. As a solo diver I wouldn't think a bunch of tools, high speed negative descents, and penetration would be prudent. SDI Solo Diver course absolutely "prohibits" (can't think of the right word) penetration dives. He might have been very experienced, but it sounds like he was an accident waiting to happen.

I agree! That diving envirnment is no place for anything that can happen on it's own without the definite intent of the diver. But my point is that there are very few if any rec divers that would ever be in that environment.

It's like the argument that everyone must carry an 40cf-80cf pony. Yep, some should. Others can do with a 6cf just fine. It totally depends on the parameters of the dive. I get vexed at absolutes - especially when they are marginal, at best.