Little River Line

[Dwain]

Just past or around table rock the line is worn through and will need to be replaced very soon.

[OFG-1]

Greetings. I don't like the placement in portions of the strech from the entrance to the Florida Room. Portions are so far back under a ledge that I think it would be tough to come out in the dark, back mounted, and maintain contact.
Anyone else notice this?

[Dwain]

It used to be out in the open more... I'll bet it's up under the ledges from portion wearing through and instead of replacing that section of line it is pulled together and tied.

[Daedalus]

In the section going from the top of chimney back to the start there are sections where it is about 2 feet under ledges (line traps?), it has been this way for the 5 intro dives I have done in this system.

I only started diving in Little River a couple weeks ago and do not know if that is the way it is "supposed" to be or if it has come off its wraps/placements, so I have not touched it. My buddy mentioned it to me at the surface so I figured I would post our concerns here...

[PoorCop]

Who need a stinkin line...just tuck and roll, you should pop out soon enough. No really someone who knows what they are doing needs to see to the main line.

[cavedivingwoman]

Who need a stinkin line...just tuck and roll, you should pop out soon enough. No really someone who knows what they are doing needs to see to the main line.

Don't count on it---especially outside of the mainstream caves. There's a cave in Mexico where the line ducks out of sight and appears to re-emerge. But it's a different line and will lead you where you don't want to go. We ducked under and checked it. The line was T'd in a place where it never should have been T'd.

The teaching caves in FL have gold "freeway" lines, plus current in most of them, so you can pretty much see where you are. In other places and other countries, things can go to hell pretty fast, especially with old white nylon line, multiple Ts, little flow, and low vis.

Best,
Barbara

[DA Aquamaster]

Greetings. I don't like the placement in portions of the strech from the entrance to the Florida Room. Portions are so far back under a ledge that I think it would be tough to come out in the dark, back mounted, and maintain contact.
Anyone else notice this?

I did a couple of dives there during my Intro course and the last one was a lights out air share through that section. In doing that you really notice the line traps and on a couple of them you have to pull the line out a significant distance to get past in back mount.

On the one hand it is an excellent training situation to illustrate how you do not want to lay line, the potential to lose the line when getting past a line trap and for the experience and confidence that comes from getting past similar line traps in zero viz. That was I suspect the instructor's point in doing it there and it had the side effect of making the drills in full cave look like a review rather than something new.

That said, I'm not sure it is a great idea to have those line traps there in such a heavily traveled cave because it could be more challenging than it should be in a real emergency.

[JahJahwarrior]

That was one of the first things my buddy and I noticed when we dove there, that and the lack of arrows. We were told that the person who maintains the lines doesn't like arrows because knowing how far back you are is too much information, and good cave divers don't need to know that.


LR would be a much more enjoyable cave to dive if the line was run right, and if there were distance markers every so often. Oh, and if there was slightly less flow. I think the well there is one of the most interesting things, and if there was less flow I could get to it easier and with less deco...

[SuPrBuGmAn]

Original post was in '05 and the last post before todays post was over a year ago.

[DA Aquamaster]

The issue being discussed stopped being worn line and instead became an issue of line placement.

That has not changed significantly and is I think still worth discussion. Perhaps a mod can split it out and place it in a new thread.