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Old-timer told me my umbilical management was a mess, changed my whole rigging setup
Was working a harbor job in Norfolk about 8 years back, coiling my umbilical on the deck between dives. This guy who'd been diving since the 70s just watched me for a minute and said, 'Kid, you're gonna get someone killed with that bird's nest.' He showed me his method of figure-eighting it over two pins on the stage. Took me a week to get the muscle memory down, but I've never had a tangle or a trip hazard since. What's one piece of old-school advice that actually stuck with you guys?
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hunt.kevin4d ago
What's the worst tangle you've seen from bad umbilical management?
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patricia_rodriguez4d ago
Saw a complete mess once where the umbilical got wrapped around a diver's legs and the tool sled. Took us twenty minutes just to stop the spin and get him untangled. The key is to always keep light tension and never let slack build up in the water column. If you see a loop forming, stop and fix it immediately, because it only gets worse. That moment taught me to never assume someone else is watching the line.
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