Little River Question.

[Luxrok]

I am sitting in the airport ready to fly home and some questions came to mind. Had a great two days of diving. Joe, thanks for the great dives. Pat, Bob and Joe, thanks for a great dive. Always, thanks to the folks in Luraville who do a stellar job. What a great trip, got into Telford for the first time and got into Little River for the first time. wow.....

Now to the quesitons:

1. I dove little river on Saturday morning; how hard is it flowing right now comparatively? Does it get much stronger? And compared to other high flow places in the area, how does Little River compare in its current state? It was an awesome dive, it is amazing in there.

2. Maybe this has been covered but where does most of the water come from in Peacock 1? From the Peanut tunnel or Pot Hole?

Thanks,
Hans

[Kelly Jessop]

#1 I was at LR today. I recall LR about 10 years ago when it flowed so strong that it would keep the basin clear during a flood, and the Florida Room was a myth only seen by a few. I would say the flow was moderate,but far from its capabilities.

#2 There are several water sources in Peacock. Three larger sources are from the distance tunnel, woody room tunnel, and the source tunnel; but there are several tannic vents which receive water from the Suwannee.

[jjsteffen]

Hans, glad you had a good time. Hope the workshop in Orlando went OK. Will give you a yell next time I head down. l

[Luxrok]

More questions:

When you dive a cave like LR or LR itself, in the condition it is in now, how do you make your way around? Do you pull and glide? Do you kick your brains out?

How about in caves like Telford that seem to have moderate flow?

It made sense to me to pull and glide down there but I feel the wrath of the cave conservators coming.

Hans

[Angie Reim]

Pull and glide where appropriate. Play the current where you can. Don't pull on anything that doesn't look like it's already been pulled on or might break. That will avoid unnecessary marks and breakage. It's pretty obvious where the typical hand holds are in that system.

Strange place. When I started diving it, during training. Pull and glide wasn't needed except at entry. Guess those days are gone........

[Kelly Jessop]

More questions:

When you dive a cave like LR or LR itself, in the condition it is in now, how do you make your way around? Do you pull and glide? Do you kick your brains out?

How about in caves like Telford that seem to have moderate flow?

It made sense to me to pull and glide down there but I feel the wrath of the cave conservators coming.

Hans

Kudos to you for asking this question!!!

I think Angie answered it best in her comment in this thread. I think the term pull and glide is incorrect,we should define the situation where this propulsion technique is used as pull and pull. Pull and glide is used in low flow caves where it is inappropriate,but somewhere like Little River with high flow,pulling usually doesn't result in a glide.

I find somewhere like Telford that pulling is unnecessary,just reading the cave and learning the areas of lowest flow will work well

[Angie Reim]

Kudos to you for asking this question!!!

I think Angie answered it best in her comment in this thread. I think the term pull and glide is incorrect,we should define the situation where this propulsion technique is used as pull and pull. Pull and glide is used in low flow caves where it is inappropriate,but somewhere like Little River with high flow,pulling usually doesn't result in a glide.

I find somewhere like Telford that pulling is unnecessary,just reading the cave and learning the areas of lowest flow will work well

Dear Super Froglegs (that is a compliment)

Well it's true. Low flow caves don't need pull & glide. If you glide, you might not need pull. I recently found some 'sweet spots' in Telford and discovered that pull wasn't needed so much anymore - though there are still a few spots that I'll chose pull over overexertion. Playing the current becomes a fun game. 8)

LR is definitely pull & pull right now.

Playing the current becomes a fun game.

That reminds me of an analogy my instructor told us: How can you enjoy diving the same cave over and over? It's like a golfer playing the same course over and over. If I had played a fairway wood from that spot, maybe I could have made the green in two. If I had swam in that nook instead of pulling in the flow, maybe I would have used less gas. Next time I'll try that.

[Luxrok]

Very cool..... I was good about what I pulled on. And it was pull and pull. Some times when there was nothing to grab it was pull, kick like hell, pull. I thought it was terrible fun, but I could see how some might not enjoy it so much.

Rereading this post one could really get the wrong idea.

Thanks for the guidance.

hck