Scooter etiquette

[JCDdiver]

Some people should be more aware of the impact they have on the cave and the other divers in the cave.

A buddy and I dove Madison on Sunday 1/2/11. We arrived when the park opened and were the first team in the water. Everything went well with the dive. The vis. on the way in was awesome! Unfortunately, the vis. on the way out wasn't nearly as good. We encountered a team on scooters in Potter's Delight when we were on our way out. Their scooter etiquette and skills left much to be desired. They didn't get off the trigger until they were fairly close to us (my buddy was in front of me) and they were dusting up the tunnel pretty badly. Once I was parallel with the lead diver they got back on the trigger. When they did, their scooter was about a foot off of the floor of the passage with the shroud pointed down toward the floor. Needless to say this caused the vis. to go to zero in that section off the cave. Naturally, I was pretty irritated by this scenario and upon returning to the gold line I left a cookie with a simple note, "Poor scooter skills...Thanks." on their jump line. I wanted to write poor scooter etiquette, but ran out of room on the cookie. I wanted to stick around and discuss my frustration with the drivers but my buddy just wanted to go home. I expected that they might contact me on the forum to apologize but that hasn’t happened so I thought I’d post this so they’re aware of their poor etiquette.

Also, if you want to leave my cookie at Wayne’s I’ll get it when I come down next. If not keep it as a reminder that you aren't the only ones in the cave. Thanks.

[LiteHedded]

what's the deal with scootering at madison anyway? some kind of permit deal?

[JCDdiver]

what's the deal with scootering at madison anyway? some kind of permit deal?

Yes. You have to be part of the survey team.

[gasdiver]

When I was there in the middle of Dec, we met a couple of guys coming out on scooters. We were on the way in almost at the half hitch and they were on the way out. Since we had already done the Godzilla circuit, recalculated thirds and headed up the main line, we turned the dive just on the other side of the hitch. It was a No-D dive so we beat them out of the water. When they exited I asked them about the DPV's and they said they had a permit. They retrieved some sort of water sampling devices. It was cold as rip, so we did not discuss the subject very long, just jumped in the truck and headed home.

We did not notice any more silt than can be expected from dragging a couple of big scooters through the half hitch. Nice guys, did not seem the type that would blow someone out.

[Tegg]

Just post who it was. I am sure you have an idea... it's not like there are 50 people on the permit...

[gasdiver]

Joe, I don't remember the gentleman's name, although we did introductions. He said the permit was on the dash of his vehicle, but I did not look at it. My point in posting was related to the fact that one needs a permit to scooter MB, not that they were the ones who were so rude to JC.

[JCDdiver]

Just post who it was. I am sure you have an idea... it's not like there are 50 people on the permit...

I know exactly who it was. If they want to come forward they can.

The intent of my post was to point out that DPV divers need to be aware of their surroundings, especially in smaller passages, and the fact that regardless of who they may be they do not own the cave.

[CAVDVR]

Perhaps this team was not the same team WITH the permit!

[jj1987]

Perhaps we could have contacted the permit holder directly, rather than airing this issue in public and costing everyone access. Personally I appreciate the detailed map and don't want to see that ruined, even though I don't like the fact that I can't scooter Madison WITHOUT a permit.

[JahJahwarrior]

If everyone started a thread everytime someone was inconsiderate or stupid underwater, I think CDF's servers would crash.

Problems like this are best handled in person, or underwater. That's how I handled two lines run in Peacock recently. Both were run so poorly, I laughed throughout my entire deco stop. One was an entanglement hazard, the other managed to be tied to BOTH goldlines in the biggest fustercluck of a primary line run I've ever seen. Atleast one of the lines belonged to a class, and I lost some respect for that instructor after seeing how his students ran lines, and how he let them get away with it.

But I didn't start a thread, I just amused myself underwater with the situation

I'm not familiar with the exact situation you describe, but I do know that scootering often kicks up some silt. It's a fact of life, when you are scootering in smaller, siltier cave. The diver could have used better form to kick up less silt, but as a trained cave diver I'm sure you know how to handle a siltout, and were put in no danger by their goof.

The best remedy here would have been to leave your used catheter on their antenna.