Remove Accidental Glory Marker near Olsen Please?

[FW]

I did not know that.

--
Art

That would be like me saying " I didn't know Art dove a rebreather"

[TraceMalin]

What marker you place on a line (or choose not to place) depends upon the situation, the conditions of the cave (high or low flow), how heavily traveled the cave is, the condition and placement of the line, and what information one hopes to gain by placing a marker.

For example, if a team of three decides to employ the DIR method of placing a cookie for each team member on the outbound side of directional changes in a cave where few others use the same strategy, those markers become an asset to the team. However, I just worked with a class from PSAI Poland. They had 5 cave students, 3 cave instructors, and a total of 14 divers in the group. While teams attempted to stay out of one another's way or stagger their entry and exit times to reduce the number of divers in the same tunnels, there were places in Peacock where there were cookies after cookies after cookies whenever the arrows flipped. Since every team intended to exit at P1 rather than Pothole or Olsen, team markers would have greatly reduced the ridiculous number of cookies on the line at jumps or half way points. Having to return in the dark on the line would have felt like negotiating the back of a stegosaurus. Since none of the cookies were marked by feel, team cookies IMO would have done a better job of reducing clutter and reinforcing the homeward side of arrow flips.

In a lost buddy situation an arrow is more beneficial than a cookie, but a cookie and arrow together will convey more information. By placing an arrow pointing towards the exit and a cookie on the outbound side, a team member who finds the markers will know which way is out, but also that you are still searching for him while your cookie is in place. If you abandon the search, pull your cookie leaving an arrow to tell your buddy you have exited if the buddy finds the arrow minutes later. If the buddy doesn't return the arrow will mark the last known location during a recovery operation and may aid the recovery team during the silt that might accompany a body extraction.

In the Bahamas where I was only one of three or four cave divers on the island with arrows at every T, dropping clothespins was preferable to placing cookies simply because I might make up to 70 directional changes per dive. You could spend 10 to 20 minutes of a dive on marker deployment/retrieval alone. No one was going to be in there to knock them off. Even if they were missing, the exit was clearly marked by arrows. Clothespins just reinforced the outbound side for speed of exit when you could see, because in the dark you wouldn't be at all confused. But, turning corners during a quick swim pace could put you on the wrong line.

Some lines were so old it was best not to touch them. Imagine the fallout if I replaced an old worn line by someone famous!

Personally, I believe that in a lights out situation a clean line with arrows pointing in the direction of exit is the best and least stressful. Keeping you on the correct line is all that is really needed.

[TraceMalin]

Never got back to Peacock so JEF's cookie is still there unless someone pulled it.