cave diver missing in TN

[twaldo]

twaldo,
I have not been in this cave so I'm relating experience from other similar types of systems. Though it is a short cave, it is not necessarily easy to route find. A fairly straight passage can be very wide and the way forward not obvious. Throw in percilation and stirred up silt with difficult low jagged passage and you have an extremely difficult time route finding. It is not a negative reflection on the divers that couldn't find him, trust me if they could they would have, it was likely just more difficult than their experience. Good on them not creating another fatality in the rescue attempt.

I sort of get what your saying.... Little River from the Chimney to the stop sign would be a great example. It is very wide and passable, without a gold line would be VERY easy to get "lost" in similar passage with low viz even with high flow(might actually make it worse with flow). Still waiting for the rest of the story though. I am so interested in this particular story because sump diving is why I became interested in cave diving in general....always hated being in a "dry" cave and having to stop because of a water choked passage.

Thanks for the response though.

Tim

[twaldo]

twaldo,
I have not been in this cave so I'm relating experience from other similar types of systems. Though it is a short cave, it is not necessarily easy to route find. A fairly straight passage can be very wide and the way forward not obvious.

On that note, I do hope to get to dive this cave at least up to the 18" bedding plane... sorry that is just to tight for me I would love to see it up to that point though.

[FW]

...Britain Josh Bratchley was diving with four other British cave divers in the Mill Pond cave in Gainesboro, TN on 16 APR 2019 when his guideline broke. ....

The line didn't actually break. The British cave divers don't like the US thin nylon line. They were in the process of relining the cave. They first removed the original nylon line, then another diver started from the surface laying larger polypro line. Because of the restriction, and zero visibility, he was unable to get to Josh. FWIW, I went up there yesterday, and got this directly from the divers involved.

[FW]

On that note, I do hope to get to dive this cave at least up to the 18" bedding plane... sorry that is just to tight for me I would love to see it up to that point though.

Not much chance of that now, the landowner has closed the cave for fear of lawsuits.

[twaldo]

The line didn't actually break. The British cave divers don't like the US thin nylon line. They were in the process of relining the cave. They first removed the original nylon line, then another diver started from the surface laying larger polypro line. Because of the restriction, and zero visibility, he was unable to get to Josh. FWIW, I went up there yesterday, and got this directly from the divers involved.

Thank you Forrest, THAT is what I was looking for. Just curious, do you know at what point Edd tied into their line? before or after the bedding plane?

[twaldo]

Not much chance of that now, the landowner has closed the cave for fear of lawsuits.

Sad to hear, though I feel confident it will eventually be re-opened.

[MarkR]

Sad to hear, though I feel confident it will eventually be re-opened.

Why would you think that?

This is now another “incident” making the national/international news, perpetuating the belief that cave diving is extremely dangerous. I know landowners that don’t want people on (or in) their property for fear of law suits. And the media attention makes it more likely that some ambulance chaser will sign up to go after someone’s life savings.

[Michael F]

They were in the process of relining the cave. They first removed the original nylon line, then another diver started from the surface laying larger polypro line.

Is that a standard protocol when relining a cave, especially an extensive low and silty area? I would have thought that is not in compliance with the SOP of maintaining a continuous line to the surface.

I'm only a Cave tourist and have had no involvement in relining other than open water sites in the local river and some short tours on a jump line.

[cmint]

Is that a standard protocol when relining a cave,.

I've only been in one relining project, Little River, under the guidance of Kensuf, and we took line out as we put new line in and always had a continuous line to the surface.


It was actually pretty fun, and I learned a lot. If you get a chance to volunteer on something like that, do it.


We got to dive LR at night. It's a lot darker in the cave then, lol

[rddvet]

The line didn't actually break. The British cave divers don't like the US thin nylon line. They were in the process of relining the cave. They first removed the original nylon line, then another diver started from the surface laying larger polypro line. Because of the restriction, and zero visibility, he was unable to get to Josh. FWIW, I went up there yesterday, and got this directly from the divers involved.

So under what direction were they relining the cave? Were they asked by a committee or local divers, or were they just doing it on their own because they didn't like the line?