I have a feeling that if my buddy signaled "I am writing" in true siltout/lights out , I would pull out the reel, tie off, land buddy to the tie-off (to write the note), and possibly even go do the first sweep - and then come and try to see if I can read the note![]()
I find it hard to write legibly (well, I can read it but buddy maybe not) without seeing. I also think concentrating on writing on wetnotes in no-viz is high risk for losing buddy (should stay in touch contact no doubt, and not start playing with reel - so in previous tongue-in-cheek example anchor first, then pull notes).
It is not a silt out if you can see the slate. in a good silt out you will have a very hard time even seeing the readout on your computer. if you are with a buddy and lost off a line, how are you going to stay in contact while writing a note ? and if it is a true lights out how are you going to see it? I know that 6 bad lights and lost line would be near impossible but....
touch contact in silt out and lost line are difficult to deal with. chances are that after making touch contact communicating who will do lost line drill and who will wait will be even more difficult. My guess is that both or all three divers will begin by pulling a spool or reel and trying to shove it into someone's hand as a signal that I've got a reel/spool for the drill, but the buddy will not know if you mean he/she should take your reel or what... so maybe after you have them touch your spool/reel, then move his/her hand to your shoulder strap or lower leg and firmly hold it there for a second or two to indicate that they should hang on for now. then you deploy the line, tie it off, while they continue in touch contact with you. I'm also thinking that if my buddy then takes the reel from me, that's his/her way of saying they are doing the drill. If they put a reel in my hand and get me to take it, that's saying they want me to do the drill.
and then...you can place their hand from you to the tie off location where they can now hold the line, while you do the search.
I'm also thinking it may not be too bad to have them stay in touch contact during the search....My wife and I was searching a muddy bottom for lost wallet, silted it out of course cause there was no other way to search. We wound up in touch contact (my wife holding my arm) while we searched, moving in pendulum swings off a line tied to an anchor, and it was fairly easy to do.
I am not so sure that having the team stay on the tie-off point while one searches is the best plan. having two or even three in touch contact, or contact with the line that you are using to find the mainline, seems as good or better to me. This eliminates the question of how long to wait for a buddy to come back, and if there's a gas problem, entanglement, etc., during the lost line search at least you are together.
And by the way, I am using a line arrow, not a cookie (it's very easy to come back to a cookie in a silt out, get disoriented, and then wonder which way was the way you went and which way is the "new" way to try. If I later figure out I went the wrong way, I'll turn the arrow around when I get back to it. If someone came along behind me, I'll meet them on my way back to the backward arrow and we make the correction together.
-skip
"Learning the techniques of others does not interfere with the discovery of techniques of one's own." B.F. Skinner, 1970.
A friend and I made an unknown visual jump once. I followed him on to a new line and then we had the silt stirred up pretty bad. After calling the dive, and heading back, we came to a dead end at which point I realized what we had done ( he thought the line had broke). I deployed a reel and he stayed put. When I found the line I wrapped the reel around the line two wraps and went back and got him and we went in what we thought was the right direction together. We soon found a line arrow and exited leaving the reel to be picked up the next day. We did have enough vis that he saw I was deploying a reel. I didn't consider looking for a line arrow before I went back for him, but I was pretty sure I knew which way was out.
Hi all,first post here.
Depending on the height of the cave and availability of tie off points it might be a good idea to tie the line onto your buddy. Buddy can get positive and pin himself to the ceiling.
I got the idea from this post
http://www.cavediver.net/forum/showthread.php?t=5534
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