....Stolen spool....

[Rich]

I'm sorry to say that a friend of mine Samuli, who's from Finland and has just finished Full Cave with Johnny had a stainless steel spool stolen from Devil's. The spool was run from the Mainline to the Rollercoaster and had about 50-75ft of line on it.....he actually discovered that it was stolen when he was trying to finish up a circuit via the Hill. Let's please try and get it back to him. If you know anything about this please PM me, run it by my shop or turn it into Ginnie's lost and found. By the way "SukellusLuola" is engraved around the hole in the spool (making it very recognizable) and it's got a brass double ender on it.

On a personal note this is absolute bullshit to pull someone's reel out of the cave, whoever's the culprit is knowingly putting someone else's life in danger.

Hopefully Samuli will get his spool back before he leaves next Saturday....

Safe diving,

Rich

[Tegg]

Welcome to today's society...
:(

No respect for anyone.

[Genesis]

That sucks; whoever did it needs a scooter tow sans gear - until they stop kicking :evil:

[Dwain]

Rich,

I met him this past weekend at Dive Outpost... Great person wouldn't mind diving with him.

On an additional note, any others reading this thread may have strong opinions on the subject; as do I. Let's not let it get out of hand. We are cave divers, a fraternity of divers that go beyond the norm. Let's look out for one another and return lost or found equipment.


Safe Caving,

[John L.]

This is the first I have heard of this happening. I have had stuff stolen from the back of my truck, and heard of other above ground things stolen by the local gene pool, but thats low and shitty to take someone's reel in the system like that. If it was in a low flow or silty area and a problem developed, it could cause a major catastrophe. Whoever did this needs to return it asap, and come clean.

[Caver95]

this is a bad thing to happen, when I first got into cave diving I liked it because it was so close. as joe said welcome to the american way of life. well, I think that is crap. I work very hard for everything I have, as all of you do. what goes threw some POS mind when doing something like this. If you need to steal gear to do this you not in the right sport, and you will get cought. there is one thing I like about the middle east, no crime well as far a stealing goes for the most part. and if you get cought, what do you need that hand foor anyways just to steal again? well, if a someone in the cave community was a known crook, I would not fill his or her tanks. Or let them on my boat.

[ARY]

If it wasn't someone's mistake i hardly imagine what motivation brings that person to cave. Don't know what can be worse: removed reel or stolen deco gas and what to expect next. I hope somebody just made a mistake not verifying initials on reel or something like that. You have similar to steel aluminum reels on your wall so may be some geek just messed up...


ARY
---
Kaljaa kylmana tyttoa kuumana

[Angie Reim]

I've never heard of someone deliberately stealing a 'set' spool either. Man! That's about as low-life as it gets. I've accidently grabbed wrong tanks and spools during dives but have always recognized my mistake at the time. Now I 'suppose' that someone who was fairly narced/CO2'd could make that mistake (it'd take a lot to mistake a SS for a Delrin spool!!) and should anonymously return the spool and then look into some 30/30 diving but 'shame on you' if you don't at least try to make it right!

Carrying line wrapped around a stick has got to be preferable to stealing a spool.....you'll ALWAYs know that it's not REALLY yours. :x

[Tegg]

Did anyone think to chec kwith the staff at Ginnie? All cavedivers "should" have signed in... you'd have a basic list to start from...

[HomoErectus]

Rich I hope your friend finds his reel, and I am glad, it did not cause a problem on your dive. Keep us posted, if that reel gets returned, and if it was an accident or actually was stolen, because if that is the case, I will be looking for a combination lock for my reels.

[Herbie]

is the title this individual has merited. I hope it was taken accidentally/mistakingly because the punishment for this offense is :
1) Tied up at the stop/warning sign at Devils with legs spread for 30 days.
2) Pummeled by all Ginnie visitors as often as one would like.
3) Ro-Sham-Bo anyone?
4) What remains hanging is turned over to Doc D.
5) Ashes scattered at Bretts Toiletbowl.
:twisted: :twisted: :twisted: :twisted: :twisted: :twisted: :twisted:

[eric_dhabliwala]

:evil: man that sux im sorry someone took that

[DM]

I was in Devil's this weekend, in the Rollercoaster to be exact, and I even used a stainless steel spool. I am familiar with the jump, but set the reel anyways. If I had come back and found my reel missing, I would be hunting a**holes in the parking lot. Don't people realize that lives may be at stake? A thousand plagues on vermin that remove other people's equipment from caves. We can expect this sort of behavior from the drooling flotsam that coat the run like so much pond scum, but from a trained cave diver? Is this the same individual who thinks it's funny to punch holes in claybanks and deface our caves? Grow up or get out of cave diving! There were not that many people there, so the potential culprit does not have a large crowd to hide in. I truly hope you are discovered and revealed for the dogsh*t you are.
Also, I wouldn't dishonor Brett's Toilet Bowl with this undesirable sneak's remains... think more like a truck stop bathroom. Sorry for the agitation, but this subject is something I feel strongly about.

[johnnyrichards]

I do my best not to post to these forums, but felt this subject warranted it.

My student and I set the spool as part of his Full cave course and was not able to complete the second leg of the Hill 400/Rollercoaster circuit. I assured Samuli there would be no problem in leaving the spool as we could come back in a few days to retrieve it- "cave divers don't remove other's equipment from the cave".

Much to my dismay- and embarassment for our cave community- I was proved wrong.

To the "diver" who stole the spool- please use it in our local caves and very soon. I will very much look forward to meeting you.

Yes, all divers were checked in and it is a very short list.

Samuli saw several examples of modern cave diving protocol- failure to yield right of way to exiting team, placement of another team's line over his (three separate crossovers), disturbance of his line by another team and, of course, sccoters blasting through our swim team. Welcome to American cave diving.

My reaction to these events probably could not be posted- I find this all to be a very discouraging comment on the evolution of what should be a precise and refined sport.

Oh well....

Excuse me, I must head into town with my brights on high, tailgating the car in front of me, flipping cigarette butts out my window and blowing my horn for no apparent reason.

Safe- and courteous- diving,

Johnny Richards

[DeWayne]

What is it about Ginnie that attracts all the miscreants? It seems like everything you hear about something of this nature, it took place at Ginnie.

Some have offerd the excuse that perhaps the spool was taken by accident. Is there really such a thing? I was taught that you always positively identify your own reels and spools by both sight and touch to avoid potential problems; only the person who set that line knows for sure where it leads to. Have the instructors quit teaching this to their students?

If the person who took the spool, or someone else who thinks that this is an easy way to acquire cool stuff, is by chance reading this then I make this offer. If you want something bad enough that you're willing to steal it thus putting lives in danger, then come see me and I will buy you one of your own. I live on a very tight budget these days but still see this as being preferable over theft. I for one would much rather be out a few dollars then to think about the alternative.

My guess is it was most likely some young, healthy punk who thinks nothing about parking in handicapped spots either :evil:

[MTS]

I do not know much about law, but wouldn't removing somebody else's line qualify as a criminal act: attempted murder or something like that? This person should go to jail. Just imagine what could've happenned if that was a different team, maybe less experienced or diving this cave for the first time. Somebody might've died there because of this person who either has absolutelly no imagination or is a criminal. And for what? A piece of metal with some string wrapped around it?

To me this is equivalent with tempering with somebody's car breaks, or lacing Tylenol with poison.

[John L.]

Well we all have a good discription of the spool, and like Johnny said, it will turn up. Let people like Cathy, or Renneker know to keep a watch out for it. If I see it placed in a jump somewhere, I damn sure am going to wait there my whole dive for the SOB to retrieve it, then the fun starts.

[rblackburn]

If the person who took the spool, or someone else who thinks that this is an easy way to acquire cool stuff, is by chance reading this then I make this offer. If you want something bad enough that you're willing to steal it thus putting lives in danger, then come see me and I will buy you one of your own. I live on a very tight budget these days but still see this as being preferable over theft. I for one would much rather be out a few dollars then to think about the alternative.


Let me know if you have any takers, I'll split the cost with you!

[DeWayne]

If the person who took the spool, or someone else who thinks that this is an easy way to acquire cool stuff, is by chance reading this then I make this offer. If you want something bad enough that you're willing to steal it thus putting lives in danger, then come see me and I will buy you one of your own. I live on a very tight budget these days but still see this as being preferable over theft. I for one would much rather be out a few dollars then to think about the alternative.


Let me know if you have any takers, I'll split the cost with you!

I started to add that there were most likely others who felt the same, but did not want to risk speaking out of place. 8) Thanks 8)

[rblackburn]

I started to add that there were most likely others who felt the same, but did not want to risk speaking out of place. 8) Thanks 8)

I made a similar offer here at work when people were "stealing" lunch out of the frig... I sent a message to everyone at the lab (300+ people) that said:

"If you can not afford lunch, and thought you needed to eat someones elses, please stop by my desk & I'll give you $5 to run to a fast food joint..."

No one ever came by, but the "stealing" of lunches stopped :)

[Puttzer]

I can't locate one of these reels for purchase in the US(other than Rennakers and he's sold out.) Now I'm wondering if I want to risk having/using something that attracts these stupid thiefs. BTW: If I find this reel tied off in a cave, should I remove it immediately? :-)

[cavdiver2]

No, don't remove it then you bring yourself down to that persons level. I would just wait for them to return and be waiting with friends. Happy holidays

[mfascuba]

Yes, all divers were checked in and it is a very short list.

Johnny Richards

The place was a Ghost Town Saturday morning. If it was the same Sunday, it shouldn't be too difficult to figure it out.

Mark

[Rich]

Well, just thought everyone should know that Samuli now has his reel back :D

It was left "anonymously" at the Ginnie gate with a note attached, saying something along the lines of....they were told to pull a reel and pulled the wrong one......

Anyways, I think it's a nice reflection on the cave community that the reel was returned.......Thanks!!

Safe diving,

Rich

[fun2dive]

Thank you to the person that returned the reel. Whatever the reason for taking it in the first place (intentional or unintentional) it was probably tough to return for fear of being seen and reamed! Hopefully someone will learn from this; not to take items that don't belong to them!

[Moonfuzzy]

I think that it is an interesting comment on us..

Immediatly we assumed the worst of whoever 'stole' the reel, talking about how aweful people are in general, degrading the people who swim and camp at Ginnie, and complaining about how bad the community has become.

With all the posting of beating the person to death, there was no mention that it could simply have been a mistake (yes, a bad mistake) and unintentional. We simply assumed the worst of people.

Maybe next time our first reaction won't be to bring out the night sticks and form a hunting party? Perhaps we are part of the problem?


PS - thank you to the person who returned the reel.

[DeWayne]

Actually, it was suggested both here and elsewhere that perhaps it was taken by mistake. While I did not deny such a possibility, I still stand firm that it is still no excuse. I hope that in the future divers will think twice if someone asks them to pull a reel or spool for them while there down. Is the small bit of inconveince to go back in and pull your own line really worth the possible outcome? If you did not install it, do not remove it.

[John L.]

You are right Kathleen. I, and others i'm sure were ready to open up a can of whoop ass. You've made me think of looking at the whole picture now. Thanks to whomever returned the reel. That was a big thing to do.

[Rich]

Perhaps we are part of the problem?


If people would refrain from pulling stuff out of the cave that they didn't put in there, there would be no problem....

...and I don't buy the mistake thing one bit.....if there were multiple reels like we've seen at the Hill 400 jump I could see it happening, but to "accidentally" remove a handmade SS spool from a jump that you didn't even run in the first place.....I mean come on :roll:

Safe diving,

Rich

[jammer]

I agree with the arse whooping cause if I send you in or ask you to pull my reel when you go in I have my name on it and all over it so then I go into explaining what my reel looks like and tell you my name is on it and what color the name is written in and so on as to make sure you don't pull a reel with no name on it or a Red dive rite reel or something like that. So I think they just got a guilty conscience and knew if they showed up somewhere with it they would get the arse wooping. So no I do not buy there story or bulls**t so why didn't they sign there name to the note. And give there number to someone to pass it on to the owner of the reel so they could tell them they are sorry personaly. I would if it was an honest mistake I would take it to them personaly and tell them I was realy sorry and it was an mistake and a bad one at that but I wanted them to know that I am a man and stand up to my wrongs and I was truly sorry. I call coward and Bulls**t end of story.

[cavdiver2]

I stand with what Dewayne said 100% If your not sure don't touch it, there could have been a tragedy and we all know we've had too many already this year.

Mike

[DeWayne]

Plus, if it was an honest mistake then why did it take so long to turn it in? I agree with Jammer on this one, the guilty party must have realized that they would never be able to use that spool without being recognized so took the easy road and turned it in annonymously hoping all the clamour would go away.