Posted by Kendall Raine on November 10, 2000 at 12:10:13:
In Reply to: Re: Open Letter to MHK posted by JR Gordon on November 06, 2000 at 21:38:19:
John;
This is common practice on the Doria. When I asked John Chatterton, one of the most experienced and competent of the NE wrecker crowd the obvious question (what happens if the thing @#$%'s the Bed), John responded that he doesn't depend on the things but that they're there to speed up his exit. He references the wreck and knows multiple ways out. All I can say is this method hasn't killed John yet.
I can also say I would never rely on a strobe except as a surface signalling device, regardless of how well I knew the wreck. If the viz is potentially bad enough that I need a strobe, I run a line. I can penetrate with a line as fast as without. I don't get hung up in my lines. I believe that with anything electronic in salt water, it's a matter of when it fails, not if. The key is I practice with lines. The NE wreckers don't. They try it a couple of times, find it cumbersome and condemn it. They also dive the same wreck with people who cut lines. I won't do that.