Ascending the shot on popular buoyed sites

[Letz]

Originally Posted by Scubee

I have, and I still am.
I got the impression that he doesn't think girls should be in water deeper than a washing up bowl.

I know a Poseidon chap who appears to hold the same view

Originally Posted by Steve Jones

Haven't met him, but the number one skipper in Plymouth???
Personally I think not.
Not while Wrighty is still operating down there

Ahhh, Wrighty I have dived with him but just 1 and 1/2 times and haven't been back to Plymouth since. I loved his boat and he was a cool skipper. Defo up for going out with skipbollox, as long as he's replenished his 1st aid kit

[Steve Jones]

Originally Posted by Sixsquid

Ahhh, Wrighty I have dived with him but just 1 and 1/2 times and haven't been back to Plymouth since. I loved his boat and he was a cool skipper. Defo up for going out with skipbollox, as long as he's replenished his 1st aid kit

Fantastic skipper, I dive with him on about 40 days each year.

Steve

[Scubee]

Originally Posted by Steve Jones

Fantastic skipper, I dive with him on about 40 days each year.

Steve

he may well be a good skipper... sadly, i won't get the chance to find out this year, because the weekend ( I thought) my club was booked on his boat, it turned out that someone else was.

Hey ho... we got another boat in Brighton that weekend, and now i get to dive the Duke

[stevechesh]

Originally Posted by Scubee

he may well be a good skipper... sadly, i won't get the chance to find out this year, because the weekend ( I thought) my club was booked on his boat, it turned out that someone else was.

Hey ho... we got another boat in Brighton that weekend, and now i get to dive the Duke

any spare places !

[warmwaterdiver]

Originally Posted by stevechesh

any spare places !

you can't afford it chesh, you've got nappies to buy

[stevechesh]

the baby will have to make do with using tea towels. I've got loads of those cos i don't know how to use them!

[Kirstie]

Originally Posted by Scubee

I have, and I still am.

I got the impression that he doesn't think girls should be in water deeper than a washing up bowl.

No doubt Kirstie will tell us he's lovely really

Under that gruff exterior, he's a pussycat

He was the soul of patience when he taught me to dive, as I was a real fanny about the whole thing.

[Steve Jones]

Originally Posted by stevechesh

any spare places !

Chesh, we have spare places to dive the Duke next month.

Steve

[paul_e]

Originally Posted by David

I thought it was ok to come up the bouyed lines but not to expect any boat to pic you up untill you had left the bouy on the surface. Getting some distance from it by swimming or drifting.

I did not think boats were supposed to go near the bouys. ?

I wish boats would keep away from the buoy on the scylla. Some fool knocked my mask off (when I was about 1m under, going down the line) by rolling backwards in from a RIB. Scared the hell out of me, as I'd not a clue what was going on!

Back to the initial question, aside from the already mentioned ideas, wouldn't a major problem with coming up the shot be the number of folk coming down it? Give the choice I'd prefer to come up a bit away from the crowds.

[Brian of Aquanauts]

It's common practice around Plymouth for shot lines to be used for ascent and descent.

The ascending diver has right of way over the descending diver. The diver ascending may have deco stops to do, may have an emergency to deal with, and simply cannot see the decending diver very well. The descending diver should be aware of the possible issues that a diver at the end of his dive might have and keep clear.

All boat skippers should be aware that lines are commonly used for ascent and descent. Lets say that a diver had an issue on a 30m dive and needs to abort their dive just before arriving at the bottom. You wouldn't expect them to bag off, you'd expect them to come back up the line they'd just gone down.

Skippers need to keep in mind that this can happen. Our proceedures need to allow for shot lines to be used for ascent and decent.

Yes I agree it is better if divers can send up an SMB and ascend away from the wreck, and this is preferable. However I must expect divers to ascend a shot line if the need arises, so it is important for ALL skippers to keep well clear during drop offs. It's better for divers to swim a short distance rather than for someone to be nearly run over. In the past year I have had 4 separate reports of this on busy wrecks, and some divers have come very close to being injured by boats dropping off. Last summer a rib missed me by about a metre while ascending under my own stern marker that i had just installed on the James Egan Layne.

Visiting club skippers need to be more aware of these issues, unfortunately a lot these days seem to be quite inexperienced and unwilling to listen to those that ask them to proceed more carefully.