I thought I would share this experiment. I was watching some non-tech recreational divers struggling to deploy an SMB from about 50'. I think it is fair to say that it takes more skill than most new or casual/infrequent divers have. Throw in cold water, gloves, kelp, and a little current and it gets somewhere between entertaining and ugly.
Granted, they generally dont need to shoot an SMB for a safety stop but at least these divers seemed compelled to. The riskiest part is filling the bag, orally or from a regulator, and handling the spool without getting tangled and dragged to the surface. I started to consider a simpler method for divers who will never see a 20'/6M decompression stop.
I removed the 100' of small line from a spool and replaced it with 25'/7½M of 1/8"/3mm line. Instead of letting the line un-spool as the bag shoots the surface, I came up to the 15-20' range and let the spool fall toward the bottom while holding the bag. At that point, I orally inflated the bag and let the line slide through my fingers as it surfaced. That worked except the bag was about half full.
The next test was to repeat without holding the line at all. The current was low-to-moderate. I had no trouble staying next to the line and grabbing it after the bag surfaced. Visibility was 20-30' not sure if I would try it in 5' vis.
The third test was not holding the line and power-inflate the bag from my regulator. The 5' bag has about 25 Lbs of lift and was blowing excess gas out the OPV before breaking surface I dont think I ever filled a bag so aggressively.
So far at least, I find it easier to manage the shorter and larger line. It tangles less and re-spools really fast. Others have probably thought of this, but I havent seen it mentioned. I agree that it would be nice if everyone had and maintained the skill to shoot a bag but they dont. This exercise makes me question if most divers really need to.
Granted, they generally dont need to shoot an SMB for a safety stop but at least these divers seemed compelled to. The riskiest part is filling the bag, orally or from a regulator, and handling the spool without getting tangled and dragged to the surface. I started to consider a simpler method for divers who will never see a 20'/6M decompression stop.
I removed the 100' of small line from a spool and replaced it with 25'/7½M of 1/8"/3mm line. Instead of letting the line un-spool as the bag shoots the surface, I came up to the 15-20' range and let the spool fall toward the bottom while holding the bag. At that point, I orally inflated the bag and let the line slide through my fingers as it surfaced. That worked except the bag was about half full.
The next test was to repeat without holding the line at all. The current was low-to-moderate. I had no trouble staying next to the line and grabbing it after the bag surfaced. Visibility was 20-30' not sure if I would try it in 5' vis.
The third test was not holding the line and power-inflate the bag from my regulator. The 5' bag has about 25 Lbs of lift and was blowing excess gas out the OPV before breaking surface I dont think I ever filled a bag so aggressively.
So far at least, I find it easier to manage the shorter and larger line. It tangles less and re-spools really fast. Others have probably thought of this, but I havent seen it mentioned. I agree that it would be nice if everyone had and maintained the skill to shoot a bag but they dont. This exercise makes me question if most divers really need to.