Within Intro standards?

[ianr33]

I did some dives in Jackson Blue a couple of weeks ago. On one dive we were planning on doing the Horseshoe Circuit but my Buddies primary refused to strike so we scaled back the plan.

Poked around in the first 300 feet and had a great dive. (JB has some amazing fossils when you go look for them)

In a couple of places we ran a line off the gold line to go exploring. Is that technically within Intro standards?

In one sense it is a jump that is not completed (Not O.K)
In another it is practicing a lost buddy drill (O.K )

Just wondering.

 

[stairman]

Intro divers are not suppose to do any jumps.You should know your limitations.Im not saying not to do them,you already have,but if anything happened they could say you were diving past your certification level.Kinda like diving 6ths on doubles at intro/basic cave level.

 

[ianr33]

Intro divers are not suppose to do any jumps.You should know your limitations.Im not saying not to do them,you already have,but if anything happened they could say you were diving past your certification level.Kinda like diving 6ths on doubles at intro/basic cave level.

Err.........check my profile

Its a hypothetical.

 

[stairman]

Ok I see your thinking now.

 

[scubafool]

My understanding is that Intro is restricted to mainline dives only. Either the line that you start from your own reel in OW, or the permanent mainline that you tie your reel into. The reason that I was given for that is so that the diver will not be faced with directional decisions.

Anotherwords, the Intro diver has not been trained in proper procedures for marking and following lines that T into other lines. Jumps introduce that T situation, therefore jumps are not within limits for Intro divers.

Lost buddy searchs are somewhat of an exception to the rule, but lost buddy searchs should be very rare. If you have to search for your buddy more than once, you might want to reconsider SOMETHING about your diving.

 

[stairman]

A lost buddy off the line wouldnt be my buddy after the dive.I have had to turn around and see why one was lallygagging.But to deploy a safety to hunt one?only in training.

 

[TSandM]

I think the idea is that, when you come back to the main line, you have to make a navigational decision as to where your exit is, and an Intro diver hasn't been trained to do that. Yes, that's what you have to do in a lost buddy drill, but that's an emergency procedure, and not something you're expected to do routinely.

It's almost a more interesting question, to me, as to whether that would be permitted on my GUE Cave 1 cert, where I AM allowed one navigational decision (one T). Seems to me it probably violates the spirit but not the letter of the restriction

 

[OneBrightGator]

So all these Intro divers who find a T that was installed after they passed the jump are stuck until the team that put it in returns, thus removing the navigational decision?

btw... I checked Ian's profile. He drinks Corona. Disregard with fervor any of his advice.

 

[TSandM]

We actually discussed the situation of jumps put in by other teams when we were in class. If you pass a jump line installed by another team on the way in, it counts as your one navigational decision. (You may not follow it, but continuing on the main line counts. You mark the intersection on your exit side.) If you then proceed to a T, you must turn back.

If you are exiting and encounter a jump line installed by another team that WASN'T there on your entry, you should be able to remember that it wasn't there (since you didn't mark it) and also note that it is a jump line tied in. If you are in very low viz and can't tell which direction is the jump line, then you hope that if you pick the wrong branch, you'll shortly encounter a spool. It occurs to me that I don't have any idea what I would do as far as marking anything if I came to a situation like that, to make sure I didn't turn back into the cave when I came back to the mainline. I'd hope I'd remember which way I turned onto the jump line, but that seems like a weak thread if the viz were blown and I was pretty anxious and confused about encountering an intersection that wasn't there when I came in. Hmmm.

 

[Dive-aholic]

You know, the Horseshoe jump is close enough you could reel a primary in and tie off on that line and do swim the line. Of course, you'd have to turn around and swim it back so you better make sure everyone doing that dive has really good buoyancy control...

And, Ben, I agree with you. The empty Corona bottle seals the deal...