Posted by Jason on August 31, 2002 at 01:57:48:
In Reply to: Re: LOL posted by Kendall Raine on August 27, 2002 at 11:43:45:
You got a lot of questions- I have answers to all of them.
1. You need to be able to float a rig with full tank under several circumstances. I already mentioned kayak diving, Chuck reminded me about small boats. The third case comes up when you've swam out and your buddy discovers their sync cord isn't doing the job and wants to go back to shore to work it out. I'm content to snorkel about for the next 30 minutes, preferably without the rig.
2. We have kelp where we have surf. I know LA suffers an urchin problem, but who shore dives there anyway? I would attach it to kelp or a buoy and come in to rest up. If the seas aren't cooperating, another approach would be to put a line on it and pull it across the surf zone. But that's unlikely - if the seas went from diveable to too rough to exit in such a short time, it is unlikely to last, more likely related to tides. It's been years since I last had to do the monastery crawl at Monastery. I take off my fins and walk out. If my buddy was not a fan of surf, I could always get his rig afterwards. I've been playing in the waves since I was 6.
I've also done this at sites where I plan to use the same tank on the second dive - at shallow spots where a tank is good for 100 minutes. No need to lift it out of the water.
You're right in your sermon that planning starts on shore. Going into CA waters with the 18lb batwing shows little of it.