Have you ever lost the line? And if so how many minutes did it take to find it?

[LiteHedded]

That's the thing that worries me more, losing the line when there ISN'T limestone touching me on all sides, but bigger passage where you can go around groping for way too long. Though, most of the time you wouldn't have zero vis such that you couldn't see anything in big passage. But that scenario has intimidated me such that I have slowly worked up to being happy in zero vis.

I could just keep practicing by following you in Dos Coronas!

in big passages it's normally not too bad. I'll typically anchor someone on a wall and go look

[LCF]

Diving in Mexico, getting lost is the biggest fear I have. Many lines run through the middle of extremely wide spaces with lots of decorations, where if you got off the line, it could be difficult to find it or even to quickly identify where the exit route is. Many jump lines start VERY close to the mainline, as well, so a "lost line" search might well land you on a line that isn't headed for the exit at all, something you wouldn't know until you got to the next arrow -- which can be a very long way. And flow is a poor help in MX. So I'm pretty careful to keep an eye on the line, and I don't go very far from it. (Which is a good idea there, anyway, as the ceilings are often covered in pipestraws which are damaged by bubbles, so we try to keep all that damage in one area by staying on the line.)

[FW]

Forest what choices would you add? And I have to agree the last one will not be seen by anyone here. It might take me a bit to add them but will do so tonight when I get home.

There are many ways to do it, but I would put ranges, like:
Under 1 minute
1 to 2 minutes
2-5 minutes
5-10 minutes
over 10 minutes
Have you lost the line more than one time?
Have you ever lost the line in zero viz?
Have you ever lost the line in big tunnel?

FWIW, the lower the viz, the closer I stay to the line, and if the viz gets below 2', I never let it go. If you lost it in zero viz, it would only be pure luck to find it again

[Taucher-Tom]

I´m glad you know that your last sentence isn´t true Forrest!

[FW]

I´m glad you know that your last sentence isn´t true Forrest!

A lost line search is very difficult, if not impossible in truly zero viz. You can't read a compass, and it is even hard to find something to tie the line on, to even start a search. So yes, it is luck if you do find it. By "zero visibility" I mean the kind where you can't see your light, until it touches the glass on your mask.

[Taucher-Tom]

As a photographer I´ve lost the line a couple of times, but I always had someone who was responsible to keep both under control, the line AND me!

Besides that I once lost the line in a sidemount cave. The first thing that happened was a regulator failure and believe it or not, before I could signal my buddy who was in front of me, my primary died. At that moment I already expected to not see the line after shutting down the valve and taking my backup light. Not sure if it was from bad trim during the emergency procedures or percolation from the blowing reg, but the viz was close to zero when I turned on the light. As I knew I couldn´t be far from the line and the cave was low profile I used one fin as centre and started a 360 turn until I finally reached the line again. Then I decided to make a left to get back to the entrance only to find that the passage narrowed down to nomount shortly after. When I started to push me backward again I noticed someone touching my fin. Scott had found me beeing on the wrong line. Not sure how long this took, but it seemed to be much longer.

[Jim Wyatt]

I lost the line in a cave about 35 years ago...never again.

Burn me once shame on you, burn me twice shame on me.

Forrest: We teach lost line all the time, everybody finds it. You are welcome to come sit/swim through a lost line exercise with me anytime.

[Taucher-Tom]

From my point of view the most important thing is to not panic and stay calm. You should have enough gas to be able to search for "a while"...

[Jim Wyatt]

From my point of view the most important thing is to not panic and stay calm. You should have enough gas to be able to search for "a while"...

Or ..wait until you are on a CCR to lose it, then you have hours to find it, not just minutes.

[Taucher-Tom]

yep, this should work, even if you are on a home depot sm rebreather...