Post Your Entanglement Story

[BobbyWombat]

Never had this happen personally, but I'd appreciate getting some sage advice from some of the more experienced folks on the board.

Can be from personal experience or 1st hand knowlege (dive buddy, etc.)

1. What happened?
2. What did you do to resolve the problem?
3. Was it avoidable? (Any factors that made the problem worse than it should have been?)
4. Lessons learned / suggestions for others.

[comet24]

Diving in a quarry with a small boat that had a smaller hatch in the bow. Most of the interior had been removed. There was an opening under where the helm would have been. Swam under it and was going to come up though the hatch. There was a chain hanging down that I couldn't see. It hooked on my first stage. Didn't panic just relaxed and reached back, which was hard because of the confined area, and unhooked the chain.

Was it avoidable. Sure could have not gone though or have come back with a light. But it was a short distance in shallow water with lots of air and a buddy. We where diving to practice some things and wanted to make a small swim through.

[BobbyWombat]

Thanks for the story Comet,

Just to clarify for others what I mean by "was is avoidable?":

Really what I'm after is if the problem was made much worse because of other factors (i.e. buddy disappeared, dropped knife, etc...).

Edit to OP to help w/ this.

-BW

[MSilvia]

Originally Posted by BobbyWombat

1. What happened?

I was on an easy shore dive with a regular buddy, and my right leg and BC got snagged in a tangle of near-invisible monofilament complete with a 4 inch hook still baited with a fish head.

Originally Posted by BobbyWombat

2. What did you do to resolve the problem?

I got out my shears, cut the filament from behind me, cut the hook free as soon as I noticed it, and then freed my leg.

Originally Posted by BobbyWombat

3. Was it avoidable? (Any factors that made the problem worse than it should have been?)

If I had noticed it a few feet earlier, I wouldn't have put the tension on it that allowed it to snug around my cam buckle.

Originally Posted by BobbyWombat

4. Lessons learned / suggestions for others.

Staying calm and dealing with the problem seems to work well.

[Rigdiver]

I was coming out of a cave and at the mouth something hooked my tank. When I moved, leaves completely clouded the water and I lost total visibility. A good time to panic but I stopped, backed up, and slowly reached around and unhooked a rope from my tank. Could it have been avoided??? I don't think so but a lesson learned was DO NOT PANIC!!!!!

[fire diver]

I've been wrapped up in my own line before.

I was dragging a surface marker around on a reel. At one point I dropped the reel (which wasnt lock). I went down (head first) to pick it up. It had dropped about 10 feet. Apparently I had held my breath during this descent, and as soon as I stopped finning, I started back up, feet first.

So I take a couple seconds and stabilize my bouyancy and position. This is when I discover that both legs are wrapped up in the #24 cave line. I was able to unwrap my left leg, but right was hopeless (while in the water). I went to the top, and slowly suface swam back to the entry point, trailing my float about 50 feet behind me.

The option was alway there to cut the line, but once I was down to one leg wrapped, I could swim.

Avoidable? Dang skippy! Don't drag floats around in the water. tie it off.

Mind your line, mind your line, mind your line.

Always keep your reel locked when not actively reeling line in or out.

Loose line comes to life and TRIES to get you.

keep line away from legs and fins. They move too much and just ask to get wrapped up.

Don't hold your breath when you get frustrated or task loaded (it's actually a natural response we have to un-learn).

[BouzoukiJoe]

Originally Posted by fire diver

I've been wrapped up in my own line before.

I was dragging a surface marker around on a reel. At one point I dropped the reel (which wasnt lock). I went down (head first) to pick it up. It had dropped about 10 feet. Apparently I had held my breath during this descent, and as soon as I stopped finning, I started back up, feet first.

So I take a couple seconds and stabilize my bouyancy and position. This is when I discover that both legs are wrapped up in the #24 cave line. I was able to unwrap my left leg, but right was hopeless (while in the water). I went to the top, and slowly suface swam back to the entry point, trailing my float about 50 feet behind me.

The option was alway there to cut the line, but once I was down to one leg wrapped, I could swim.

Avoidable? Dang skippy! Don't drag floats around in the water. tie it off.

Mind your line, mind your line, mind your line.

Always keep your reel locked when not actively reeling line in or out.

Loose line comes to life and TRIES to get you.

keep line away from legs and fins. They move too much and just ask to get wrapped up.

Don't hold your breath when you get frustrated or task loaded (it's actually a natural response we have to un-learn).

Amen. And mind your buddy's line.

He is towing a surface marker and I get a fin tangled in #24 in pretty good surge near a jagged wreck. As I am unhooking it I try to work too fast, ending up partially flooding my mask and then drop half my weights as I swim head-down to rejoin him. Not 100% sure, but I think I fail to secure one of the weight pockets when gearing up.

No damage done and many lessons learned.

Loose line is very dangerous. I recall that my AOW instructor gets entangled in loose cave line after warning us that there is some tied to the descent line *and* making a visual on it on the way down. It gets snagged on his octo holder high enough up so that he can not see how it is wrapped. As he is reaching for his shears I just reach over and unhook him as I can see it clearly. We later joke about how he is rescued by one of his students.

[cshel]

I was diving with a friend who is an instructor. We were at the local quarry. There are these things they call the Rice Bowls. Actually a very large spool from the quarry separated into the two halves and sitting on their small ends. One of the "bowls" has a cut bouy line floating above it that a thoughtful person had coiled and tied. While we were checking out the bowls, he signaled that he was getting low on air and for us to head back. I said ok and he turned to lead the way back. I swam to follow him and the line above the rice bowl slipped between my fin and strap and held me back. I calmly turned around to see what the problem was, unhooked myself and then followed my buddy. He never even knew I got hung up.

Staying calm is the most important lesson to learn.

Lines do seem to come to life and attack people....

[bubble-head]

I was diving on the Eastern Shore, here in VA, and got caught in a fisherman's line after a current started pushing me around. I calmly tried to untangle myself by hand but ended up having to cut the line because the current was increasing in strength. After returning to shore, I thought we were going to get into a physical altercation with the fisherman. I don't think there's anything that could have been done differently. The park ranger recommended the entry point and we were well away from the pier. Things sometimes happen unexpectedly and this was one of those days.

[cummings66]

A buddy and I was diving a lake, most lakes you know are filled with fishing line. I got hooked and just as I reached ahead to grab my buddy he stopped as well. I signalled I was stuck and to wait a bit. Never could see the line but I finally felt it and cut it which freed me and my buddy. We were both hung up on the same line.

We were single file due to swimming through tree's, it was a path you had to follow to get to a spot.

You could not avoid it because it was new clear heavy test line. Learned only that sometimes you get hooked and need a knife to free yourself.