STUCK?

[bullfrog]

Maybe this should be in the sidemount forum, maybe not. Have any of you ever been stuck? For how long? How did you get out? The JB thread got me to thinking about this, as well as diving in Jug hole.

[DA Aquamaster]

I'm not sure I'd call it "stuck" but I've wedged myself in and then hung up a tank cam band. It took a little wiggling to get free and was not a big deal, but it drove a couple changes in configuration:

1. I changed where the buckle on a cam band lives - if I use them at all, as I tend to gravitate more toward hose clamps now.

2. I lengthened the tails on my tanks slightly. The resulting profiel is not as flat as the tanks hang a little lower, but the whole rig is a lot more flexible, can be adapted to fit the cave better and allows a little more room and movement to fix any problems.

In general I tend to focus on avoidance of getting stuck.

[JahJahwarrior]

Several times.

I’ve learned a few things….

1. Don’t try to survey silty cave that’s mostly sidemount, in backmount. I call this lesson “line traps turn into head scrapes when the silt hits the fan.”
2. If you move rocks to fit through a hole, they might move themselves to keep you there. I call this lesson “is it really worth it? And if so, where is your shovel?” hint: sidemount/nomount needs to be flexible so you can move your kit out of the way to move said rocks.
3. Sometimes you have to take off everything to fit. Sometimes when you do that, you drop stuff. Backup lights are your friend and don’t ever end up with both tanks unclipped from something. I call this lesson “it’s not an entrance because nobody fits, silly”
4. Sometimes you have to reconfigure your gear to fit. Sometimes even with that you have to exhale to fit. Sometimes even with that, you end up in funky positions to fit. I call this lesson “you can always try again later” and alternatively “don’t you dare think about what would happen if a dump truck drove on top of this section of cave right now”
5. Sometimes you end up sideways and your mask floods and your reg breathes wet. I call this lesson “cough cough cough this next room better be worth it!”

You have to know when to call it quits. You have to know where every piece of gear is, and be able to visualize it in your mind. But most of all you have to remember that there is nothing worth dying for, there are plenty of holes you can’t fit through, and nobody cares if you do or don’t fit through. Always keep your pride in check, and always always always plan how you can get out before you go in. Nothing has ever scared me as badly in diving as when I’ve realized the silt is hitting the fan, and I don’t know exactly how to get myself out. A line to the surface isn’t enough when you can’t see behind you, or in front of you, and you are reduced to wriggling.

[LiteHedded]

i've been stuck a few times. it happens.

[Sludge]

JahJah, is your computer retarded or is it mine?

[OFG-1]

JahJah, is your computer retarded or is it mine?

Too much fiber, it has a case of the "squo;t"'s.

[dogwatch]

a few times
i can tell you that stuck at 210' on air in zero vis sucks

[SuPrBuGmAn]

I plugged a spring up once real good... eventually the pressure increased enough to shoot the cork(me) out to the surface.



OK, well maybe not that dramatic.

The spring restriction had filled in considerably since my previous dives at the location. Normally, I'd have to take a tank off to enter. On this particular day, both tanks had to come off and I really oughto have shed the nomad as well, as I still had to wedge, dig, fight, scrape my way in... without tanks. The rest of the dive was a fun balancing act of keeping my regulators from freeflowing and orally inflating/dumping my wing since it would auto-inflate with power. Its amazing how nasty sand can be to our gear. On the way out, after all the digging, scraping, and my buddy also making passage through twice, the entrance was considerably larger(and by that, I still mean small). Anyway, I had the bright idea that maybe I didn't need to take my tanks off on the way out, wrong. Got wedged real good, after 5 minutes of being pinned(and laughing at myself for drowning in 20' of water - which was going to take forever since I had plenty of gas left) I was finally able to get a hand back to unclip one tank and drag it up in front of me... freeing me for an ascent. I came out of this knowing that I need to just pull the tanks, instead of trying to grind through...

[MORGAN]

I've never been really stuck on a cave dive, but I have wedged for a few moments a couple of times. Letting all the air out of my Nomad and/or repositioning my body and/or a tank has solved the problem. I dive sidemount, but am not what I'd think of as a "real" sidemount diver.

I got stuck in a dry cave, years ago when my chest rather than my belly was my limiting diameter. In a tight squeeze tube, on my back, arms over my head, head turned to the side, chest compressed to the point of not being able to take a full breath. Fortunately I had someone ahead of me and someone behind me, and the tight spot is only a few feet long. The guy ahead of me put his boot where I could reach it, and the guy behind me put his hands where I could push against them with my feet. I exhaled maximally, pushed, pulled, and wriggled, then took as much of a breath as I could. This got me about an inch of progress. So I repeated it until I was through. It took about 15 minutes, but it didn't seem longer than a couple of days. On the way out, I took off my wool shirt and sweater, leaving on just my long underwear top & bottom, wool pants, and coveralls, (Vermont caves are cold!) and slid right through. My buddy who was ahead of me in the cave remarked that he was starting to wonder how long it would take him to cut my body out of the way with his Swiss Army knife.

[alanf]

Yes, and I now i have a new rule. I remove only one tank going in so I have the option of removing two tanks going out. This means that I will never reach the ranks of the truly hardcore, but I am way more comfortable and can avoid anxiety. The other thing I highly recommend is immediately going back through a new tricky restriction, again to avoid anxiety, which has the nasty habit of inflating you like a puffer fish.

Something else I recently became aware of through dry caving is avoiding going downhill into a restriction headfirst. Always feet first. It makes a huge difference.