Incident Report

2017-11-07The diver was scootering in an unfamiliar cave with good visibility but occasionally loose line, owing to very little recent diver traffic. The diver was using a larger suit inflation bottle than usual and this was mounted on the outside of their left cylinder, as opposed to inside the wing where the smaller one usually resides. Some 20 minutes into the scooter dive, the diver (team position 2 of 5) felt as if they were being pulled backwards and forward motion on the scooter then became impossible. Reversing also failed to work. The diver was jammed. The diver signalled with their light and the diver in position 3 immediately came to their aid and took half a minute to unpick the line, which had somehow run between the newly positioned suit bottle and the main cylinders. This diver stated that it would have been very difficult indeed for the stricken diver to free themselves without assistance and on this occasion the teamwork worked faultlessly. The only other option would have been to cut the line and initiate a repair as there was a diver beyond the potential break.Stay aware of the line situation at all times, especially when scootering and especially in unfamiliar cave. Adding a newly positioned cylinder to an already heavily laden gear set up (6 bottles in total plus scooter) should have been practised first. The team work and signalling reinforced this good practise and was the fastest and safest way out of the problem. However, in low visibility this issue may have escalated significantly.