Surface Marker Buoy Needed in Prescott Divers Playground?

[Groundhog246]

Kevin Ripley once bubbled...
Lock 21 is a shore dive in the Long Sault area. There are a couple of reasons that it is not moored by SOS. One is that the guidelines that are already on it are constantly breaking under the strain from the weeds that collect on the lines from the current and a buoy would only stay afloat for a few days unless constantly cleared.

We did Lock 21 last week. I can't comment on the ropes breaking under the strain. The remains of the 1/2" white poly entry rope tied around the tree were very obviously cut with a sharp knife. The piece left at the buoyed end was just long enough to reach the surface. The yellow exit rope looked to have broken under strain. However, it might have been caused by the shore end being attached to the winch on a boat trailer backed up against the tree it was tied up too, with a length of 1/2" white poly rope used as the link. If there had been any contact info for S.O.S., I'd have tried calling/reporting my suspicions.

Aside from a surface swim to the upstream buoy and a shorter surface swim back, it was quite an interesting dive.

 

[Kevin R]

You cannot trust any of the lines on that site to end upo where the map on shore says they will. Most of the posts on the east railing are now laying on the bottom with the lines still attached. On the west side (opposite sid of the canal from the weir) the lines start and end up broken and flapping in the current.

I wouldn't use any of the lines to pull myself against the current. as I posted before, many of them are about to break. Also, much of the concrete has deteriorated and the posts and rails on the site could go at any time under diver impact as well.

Kevin Ripley