Rebreather Pro

Shopping for SCUBA Tanks

 

Shopping for tanks? Carefully consider the size, but also buoyancy characteristics before making your decision. Here is a great chart from HURON SCUBA to see the differences.

Lessons From My Worst Cave Dive: Conclusion

 

Lesson Nine: Don’t Give Up
At moments like this the brain screams for air. I heard my buddy’s respirations ramp up and heard her yelling to me in the blackness as I tried to release her from the web of tangled line. I tried to meditate and send the relaxed vibes to her through the water, holding her hand and carving signals in her palm. At one point, I felt a different squeeze, a limp resolution through her flesh. I yelled, “don’t you give up! Don’t you give up!” I released the last bit of entrapment and we moved forward into uncertainty. I tied into the bitter end of the spaghetti, closed my eyes and searched by feel. Gooey silt and clay was jamming into every bit of my gear. I backtracked and shuffled forward time and time again until I broke into larger space. Pulling, pushing and unsticking her from the ceiling protrusions along the way. I finally found another ball of spaghetti and tied into the mess. I carefully retied and stowed my reel, knowing I would probably need it again. At times she held my hand and at others times she was an octopus with eight arms on all parts of my body, holding on to anything for life. Luckily she did not give up. I don’t know what was going through her mind, but once she found good line, she raced for the exit. I’m totally okay with that. I would never want someone to stay beyond their comfort or air to help or search. In the end you have to save yourself. Sacrifice is not heroic. We all enter the cave after making our own risk assessments. If you do this long enough that might include not coming home one day. It is a numbers game. But the decision belongs to the individual and the pact they have with their loved ones and dependents. Every time I go diving I make the best decisions I can for my husband and myself. The only one responsible for my life is me. The descents are optional. The ascents mandatory. I put myself in the cave and must be responsible for my own survival.

My buddy surfaced and called out to dive support who set in motion an amazing chain of friends and experts. While I was still searching the back of the cave, my closet friends and colleagues were in their cars racing to the site. By my calculations, I still had over two hours of gas left. They would have reached me if I was still stuck. Her decision to leave could have saved my life.

When I swam out to see her waiting in the entrance of the cave, it was the most beautiful sight I have ever seen. I was expecting to call 911 and return to search for her. I had also decided to exit on my own, feeling that I had searched the cave as thoroughly as I could in the current conditions. Just because she was out first did not constitute abandonment. She set in place an important action plan.

Lesson ten: Old Line is Hazardous
I’m donating heavy line to fix up the cave. Even if the place is not open to the public for diving, the old line in there constitutes a hazard. If they will let me, I plan on relining the place with proper silt stakes and a warning sign. Old line has to get cleaned up in many caves in Florida. If you know of a place that needs help, contact the NACD and NSS-CDS Safety Committees.

If you have been reading along this past week, I appreciate your attention and consideration.  -  Jill Heinerth

Today: Eric Taylor Concert - Join Us!

Taking a break from the "Lessons Learned" posts, I'd like to invite all cave diviers who may be in High Springs area to join us this afternoon for a real musical treat: ERIC TAYLOR in a special concert at our friend Mike Gianikis' house, at 3pm.

Download .pdf with info:  Download Eric(2)

Jill Heinerth: Worst Cave Dive Lessons 7 and 8

Lesson Seven: If You are Stuck: Stop
PADI divers will recall the mantra “Stop, Think, Act.” The same should be said for getting stuck. Don’t continue to fight something that is holding you. In a cave you may be snagged on the line. Pulling will only yank the line away from safe passage and cause eventual breakage. You think it is bad now. It gets worse. Fighting a snag on a rock may be driving you further into a situation that leaves you badly pinned.

Lesson Eight: This lesson is specific to a particular gear modification. I’m not one to tell anyone how to wear their equipment. I believe there are many solutions for many different people in different diving scenarios. I’m not DIR. I’m a total DIC. Do It Clean. Streamlining is important and an open mind is critical. Question everything. Why am I doing it this way? How can it get me into trouble? What can I learn from others?

So, here is my particular beef... Recently, some people have chosen to route the inflator on their side mount wing from the bottom up. They reason that it is more streamlined. If the diver needs to dump gas they can use a shoulder pull dump or the inflator dump that comes up from the bottom. Now, here is the rub. Literally. My buddy was stuck in a restriction with too much gas in the wing, supporting her negative bottles. In her body position the shoulder dump would not release the gas. The inflator dump did not either. That left me behind her, seeing a full wing lodged in the ceiling with no way to assist. There was no outlet at the bottom of the wing. No pull dump. In the slightly butt up position there was no getting gas out of that thing. I was preparing to cut it when I managed to squeeze my hand on top and force the air forward, leaving me with a few cuts on the back of my hand where it had been pressed against the rocky ceiling. Not fun. How did that routing benefit her?

Things above the nipple line are much easier to control and reach and rarely snag. You might not be able to reach things lower down, but your buddy can help.
Again, don’t mistake this for a back and white statement. I just can’t see one dive in my history where that configuration would have helped me and I do see one dive where it might have cost us big. 

The final lessons on Monday!  -  Jill Heinerth

Lesson Six: Training versus Experience

 
My buddy was extremely well trained by an excellent Florida cave instructor, but no amount of training will fully prepare you for the “oh shit” moment.

For me, my first “oh shit” moment in life was fighting off a burglar that had broken in to my home. He came after me, so I attacked him with an Xacto blade, a paring knife and a drafting table light, the only weapons I could pull together at 2:00 am on a cold Toronto night. What I learned from that experience was how to cope with stress in its highest form. Over the years I have calmed an accident victim with bones sticking out of her legs trapped in a burning car. I have done CPR to several corpses and one happy survivor and been involved at countless recovery sites for dives not unlike the one I just experienced. Through those experiences, I learned how to turn off the responses that won’t serve me.  The adrenaline fight/flight response is useful for fighting off a burglar, but it has no place inside a cave during a crisis.

I’ve been accused of having cold water running through my veins, but if a racing heart won’t serve me, then I choose to reserve the fear, grief and introspection for later. After the job is done. If it won’t serve you now, send it back to where ever it came from and choose to survive and perform. Be here now.

Did I lure a newer diver into a bad situation? Was her experience up to her training? Was she seasoned enough in life to have already experienced an “oh shit?” Her recent dives seemed up to the task. Our first two dives of the day were stellar. She’s tough as nails. I’ll have to dig deep and ask myself if I did a proper and full pre-assessment, but I know one thing for sure: she has now had her “oh shit” and will gain years of wisdom from this experience. Its what we do with the lessons that count in the end.

Perhaps I could have had her lead the dive? It is a tough decision. By following, she was able to model after my very careful slow movements through the restrictions, but if she was leading, would she have gone in those spots or turned the dive. As the young apprentice, did she relax some of her normal careful assessment by following a more experienced diver? These are questions we will both have to revisit together. 

More lessons tomorrow from this harrowing cave dive. Jill Heinerth

Rikki Wrench Tech Diving Tool

Cave Diver Jill Heinerth demonstrates a cool new tool by Rikki Battistini. Battistinis Custom Cycles.

Lessons From A Bad Cave Dive Continued

My Bad Day Diving

Lesson Three: Reels Are Not Just for Jumps
I have a tiny reel in my drysuit pocket that is great for jumps. It is low profile, easy to operate and stows well. But you should choose all your reels for their worst possible use… being in a silt out without a line. I needed to use my Light Monkey reel four times to get the job done. Searching, patching and looking off in side passages for my lost buddy. Each deployment required careful use and thoughtful restowing. If you have just patched a line, prepare the reel to be used again. Make an overhand loop and ensure you are not trailing a bitter end of unspooling line. Carefully stow your knife after you use it. You might need it again. I’m selling my tiny low profile reel and I’m going to pick up some more spools. I’m also going to continue to carry two safety reels at all times. Just in case.

Lesson Four: Always use Full Tanks
Our bad dive was the third of the day. We actually had a decent supply remaining in our partially used tanks. In other parts of the country they might be considered full, but in cave country, tanks get a little over filled. A cave diver knows their dive is done when their tanks are full to their rated pressure! We took the time to get out and swap tanks, knowing that we had a dicier part of the cave ahead. We started fresh and that decision probably saved my buddy. Although I left the cave with half my original gas, she was extremely low. The tanks from the previous dive would not have gotten her out.

Lesson Five: Solo or Buddy
James Barrat told me: “At one moment they are your buddy and the next moment they are the cork in the bottle containing your life.” Some dives are not meant for two people. Everyone on a team must be ready for self rescue and be prepared to stick it out for buddy rescue. We all need to be self sufficient team divers in everything we do. That said, there are some dives that are better made alone. A redundant brain is an awesome thing if the conditions are suitable, but in some caves, it simply gets in the way. 

More lessons tomorrow.  -Jill Heinerth

Lessons From A Bad Cave Dive Part 1

RebreatherPro is going to have a little open circuit content for the next few posts. I would have loved to have been using a rebreather in the cave on January 17th, but side mount was the only thing that would fit… Still, the lessons I learned should help every diver… not just my friends on CCR.

In the grand scheme of life, I suppose January 17, 2011 was a good day. Everyone got home safe after a dive I would rather not repeat.

In a nutshell, I was exiting the cave through a small restriction. My buddy ahead of me became horrendously entangled in the guideline and old stray lines nearby. She was stuck, tied-up and the spaghetti ball of line was no longer attached to anything that could get us out of the cave. Instead of yielding to my attempts to back her up, she pushed harder, assuming she was grinding through the restriction. Her kicking stirred up the soupy phlegm of a floor and we were in trouble. No vis. No good line. Stuck and now my second stage is violently free flowing...

This is going to take a few posts to offer up the story and solutions. The most important thing to remember is that everyone, if they dive long enough, has bad days or bad dives. I’m not sharing any of this to make judgments, but hope that writing about a misadventure might help my readers think a little deeper about risk assessment or perhaps trim their gear better and perhaps just kiss their loved one a little more urgently every day. I wasn’t sure I was coming home to my husband and I want as many people out there to make sure they do.

Lesson One: As my friend Tom Mount so eloquently says, “only you can breathe for you.”
In the end, you need time to solve the big problems and you need a clear head. Breath control is essential. I spent the last hour underwater turning on and off my tank for each breath. I think it kept me in a helpful slow pace and saved every precious bubble from the free flow. I was reserving as much of the remaining 2000 psi in my left tank for my buddy in case she needed it. This malfunctioning reg on my right tank would simply not suffice. As it turned out, my SAC rate remained at its normal low of .35 cft/minute. That was important. It gave me time and a clear head.

Lesson Two: In the words of my dear friend Woody Jasper, “Oh well, it's a shallow cave, get back to the job at hand.”
Woody was on his way to Otter Springs when I was overdue. He recounted a story to me from his past: He was doing a body recovery in Royal Springs. It's the day after the solo open water diver fails to return from the cave. His plan was to do a solo recovery but he takes Arwin Carr in the water as cover for the sheriff who doesn’t understand that solo might be safer. He finds the victim as far back in this shitty silt hole as he could get and he was entangled in most all of the line that had ever been installed in the entire cave. His last efforts had been trying to get out of his gear and he had succeeded except for one arm which was still hooked in his Stab jacket. Woody hooked his reel off to the left wall to avoid getting it involved with the other hundreds of feet of the stuff the body was hooked on. Several minutes later the body is whittled out of that burr of
line and gear and is ready to transport. He was now is a TOTAL silt out and his reel was 6-8 feet away on the wall. The victim still has his 22# weight belt on so he is not going to float away so Woody goes down his leg to the tip end of his fin and holds on to it with both of his arms outstretched and begins to search around in a semi circle until 60 seconds or so later he finds the line. OK got it. Now back to him:  The only way to move him was to dig one hand into they bottom then pull him 6 feet forward then repeat as necessary. Slow and tiring but he didn't want to drop the weight belt and have him stuck
on the ceiling. He had been really careful going in to minimize any serious silt so after they were on their way they had reached OK vis. Not too far along and then comes Arwin, as he gets about 10 feet away, as Woody gives the deceased another pull and his feet and legs emerge from the trailing silt cloud… Arwins' eyes get really big and he turns around and bolts leaving them in a marvelous silt out once again.
There is only one thing to think about at that moment: "Back to the job at hand."

This is a bit long for a blog post. More lessons will be posted in the days to come.  Jill Heinerth

SANCTUM Screening planned in Cave Country

Newspaper story about SANCTUM dedication.

James Cameron, producer Andrew Wight, Wes Skiles and Jill Heinerth at Ginnie Springs.