Don't pull on my line!

[pdoege]

I was in LR Saturday and I had a new experience with people screwing with my line.

I was the only diver there, and the river is up a good 6 feet or so. I tied off to the steps in about 3 feet of water. Good enough that someone would have to get wet in order to mess with it.

My first dive was pretty aggressive, so I decided to do a nice short and shallow second dive.

The water was high enough that the metal spike is at 20', just right for a safety stop. When I was done, I undid the line and it immediately started playing out.

Big fish?

Alligator?

Small boat?

Nope, a good ol boy had rolled up his pants and waded down the steps in order to pull in the line and see what was on the other end.

Turns out there was a pissed off diver down there! Who knew? His buddies had a great laugh and then they all ran off.

I'm not sure how to defeat a sufficiently dedicated idiot. I am thinking of tying off deep enough that he'll have to get his underwear wet.

Does anyone have any suggestions or anti-tampering schemes? I am thinking of a tag that says NO! that I can attach to the line.

Peter

[Angie Reim]

I was in LR Saturday and I had a new experience with people screwing with my line.

I was the only diver there, and the river is up a good 6 feet or so. I tied off to the steps in about 3 feet of water. Good enough that someone would have to get wet in order to mess with it.

My first dive was pretty aggressive, so I decided to do a nice short and shallow second dive.

The water was high enough that the metal spike is at 20', just right for a safety stop. When I was done, I undid the line and it immediately started playing out.

Big fish?

Alligator?

Small boat?

Nope, a good ol boy had rolled up his pants and waded down the steps in order to pull in the line and see what was on the other end.

Turns out there was a pissed off diver down there! Who knew? His buddies had a great laugh and then they all ran off.

I'm not sure how to defeat a sufficiently dedicated idiot. I am thinking of tying off deep enough that he'll have to get his underwear wet.

Does anyone have any suggestions or anti-tampering schemes? I am thinking of a tag that says NO! that I can attach to the line.

Peter

Oh my God!!! That's hilarious. Okay, okay....as a cave diver I understand the annoyance but as a good 'ol gal I would've almost wet my pants laughing at the guy. The cave line tied to the steps looks like a bait bucket line. He probably wanted to see the catch of the day or what was in the bait bucket. Imagine his surprise!

I've tied off to those steps in the past but I've placed it low against the bottom where it's not so visible. All I can suggest is that you place a secure secondary tie off next time (which I assume you did to the stake) that can't be pulled off (like maybe the tree or another rock) and then perhaps a third at the stake. That way if a dedicated idiot breaks the line you still have your bearing toward shore. That's what I learned that the secondary tie off was for (dedicated idiots, etc) -- what a great story!

[Dave Lizdas]

sign will not work. Suggest extra tie off or two in open water, superglue cans of beer to walkway to confuse/distract curious onlookers long enough to complete dive.

How clear was LR?

[pdoege]

I have a pic, but do not know how to post...

The water is tannic until the metal stake. About 50 feet vis until the chimney, and then it clears right up. The flow is way down. I got monster swimming penetration on that first dive!

No one has been in the smaller, crappier shallow areas in a while and they are full of silt. I did my best to clean one of them out, but there is a lot of work to do

The tannic water is making for very cool and spooky effects at the 20' stop. All sorts of weird refraction effects, and there was a small "chimney" of clear water that reached close to the surface. A very Dante-esque scene.

Angie, I was thinking about a lower tie off. The line was visible from the surface and I think that is what attracted interest. I did not, at the time, equate interest with "let's pull on that!", but now I know.

Peter

[John L.]

Tie a job application to it, that will keep them from messing with it!

[NitroxWarrior]

Thats dangerous as hell, every time i go out to these places i see rednecks drinkin' beer at 7:30 in the morning, people need to stop being so stupid, curious and drunk.

[Genesis]

Torpedo hooked to the line should do the trick. Point and push button. BOOM!

[Aktun]

I have a pic, but do not know how to post...

Use this link, when get the URL of the pic, copy and paste(click on "Img" icon)

http://photobucket.com

[BillBowden]

This would really be funny if it wasn't so potentially dangerous.

Never underestimate the ability of someone to do something totally stupid. I once had someone cut my line to steal a gate clip from it. Which is why we don't use clips anymore.

[pdoege]

The line is just visible coming off of the steps. I'll hide it better next time...



Peter

PS. If the pic works then I owe it all to Frogman. Thanks!

<< Moderator Fixed >>
Nice Pic! It tells you a lot about Lil River's current condition.
You need to include the extension when uploading, which in this case, is .jpg