Jagman - are you a diver already ?

Nope, never tried it 😉
However, I'm not famous for letting wisdom get in the way of things :angel:

Consider it not dissimilar to flying a helicopter: you might pick it up first time, but more likely it could prove... troublesome 😉

I suspect you know me better than I think I would like ::)

Please don't think I was 'having a go' or anything there, I typed it up out of amusement. Bearing in mind seeing you in Rhiwbach, standing over a watery pit with only 12 inches of slate under your feet, I think I'm quite sane !
As discussed previously, we are both interested in doing a dive there. There are a lot of issues regards the best set-up for kit, and we've had a look at various rigs, and the way our kit can be safely modified to suit.
If we do the dive, and you want to do some filming at the same time, come along (feel like carrying a 20 kg cylinder ?)

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Please don't think I was 'having a go' or anything there, I typed it up out of amusement. Bearing in mind seeing you in Rhiwbach, standing over a watery pit with only 12 inches of slate under your feet, I think I'm quite sane !

:lol: :lol: :lol: :lol: :lol: :lol: :lol: touche

That was Vanoord's opinion too. I think he casually mentioned the fact but I didn't believe him at first I did later when I saw the photos 😮

I'm cracking on with ROV so let me know.

Jagman - are you a diver already ?

Nope, never tried it 😉
However, I'm not famous for letting wisdom get in the way of things :angel:

Consider it not dissimilar to flying a helicopter: you might pick it up first time, but more likely it could prove... troublesome 😉

I remember advise for helicopter pilots "sort of stir the controls round & then stop - see what the aircraft is doing & then the next time you want it to do it, that's where you position the controls"
Off topic I know, but it tickled me :lol:
Seriously though, not somthing you can take up casualy & expect to survive without a lot of luck - so I've heard!

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One thing that struck me different about mine water is it's chemical loading, resulting in direct reaction with acid and metal salt substitution reactions. I remember a post about Wheal Jane, which would have some spectacularly huge stopes, but would be anoxic and in those conditions, your bottle/kit would be pretty much soluble.

I'm interested in this topic, it's probably a bit beyond me.

On the helicopter front though, my "have to do" concerns autogyros. You can pick them up for pretty cheap and in the old days, they came with a "these things can kill you" warning and an instructional cine-tape.

Nanny knows best and armed with a suitable amount of balls and common sense, anything is possible. My concern would be (for cornwall) that fine mud is a constant companion, as are small tunnels and this would lead to a blackout and feel your way out. Where bends is concerned, this must take a huge amount of skill and elephant balls.

I will stick to autogyros.

since everyones throwing in there 2pence worth......here's mine
😉

safety lines.... a must
decent dry suits .....a must
good buoyancy.....a must
use only simple gear....... leave things like re-breathers at home ...there's too much sh!t to go wrong ....and you'll never know about it.... just fall asleep and die ..:(

it the water is not clear or has limited visibilty beware you'll quickly become disorientated and confused ......even if you can see bubbles .....

do your depth calculations correctly .......have a static line with your depth stops marked.....

agree your rope signals and practice them.

don't take all your air with you.....station on the static line.
or at surface with agreed signal to lower on a weighted rope....

don't attempt with less than 4 people

2 dive
1 surface control
1 to run for help last resort....


have a disaster plan ......cover your bum :lol:


2p .........has run out

I would avoid a dry suit and go with a wetsuit or at very least a neoprene semi-dry. The consequences of ripping a drysuit would be very troublesome - and the chances relatively high...

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Indulged in this in the early 1990's in some of the Lake District mines.

Here are my observations:

Hanging in a large flooded stope where the walls were covered in turquoise mud was an awesome experience.

Most of the interesting artefacts, etc were deeper than we could go.

Avoid iron mines as they are truly vile places when you stir up sediment.

Always check the mine yourself first. Having been invited to dive in a mine a friend had just dug out and having hauled our kit about a mile across the fell. We kitted up underground near a large flooded stope. Checking our kit we entered the water. We found it about chest deep all over!!!
😢

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.
Many years ago, 40 to be precise, I got involved in "doing" long sumps without equipment. I only did a few times just couldn't handle it, I'm not ashamed to say.......know your limits. Good luck to you.

Peter.

Similar to you, first "free sump diving" as opposed to "ducks" was in west kingsdale, then Langstrothdale, 3 sumps, which was the scene of a tragic drowning accident when the party didnt find the airbell, what a way to go :ohmygod:

acording to race against time they found the airbell but the air was bad from there practice the day before :(
there are a lot of dead cave divers, learn from there mistakes via the cdg

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Any of you seen the DVD 'Wookey exposed' ? Some fantastic cave diving footage, as they push on over the years to depths where they are now using tri-mix 😢

Any of you seen the DVD 'Wookey exposed' ? Some fantastic cave diving footage, as they push on over the years to depths where they are now using tri-mix 😢

Barney, among many methods of extending the depth to which a free diver can go is to breathe a cocktail of gases. The whole subject is very complicated and I most certainly would not profess to understand it all. But it is pure technical diving in its extreme.

You really do have to know your stuff, pressures, gas mixes, rebreathers and the effects of pressure on the body at depth, it goes on and on. Some of the gas mixes are even hypoxic at normal pressures and can only support life at depth under pressure. If any of you want to read further about it then there is a site that gives much information about the subject, along with accounts of dives and how they were done.

Sadly the site is now a memorial to the guy who compiled it. Dave Shaw was one of the finest exponents of deep cave diving but died in an attempt to recover the body of Deon Dreyer when he became entangled in the line to recover the body at a depth of 270m.
Deep Cave Diving http://www.deepcave.com/ 

There are many hundreds of cave dives done every year without mishaps. This is due in part to many sources of information being gathered and by organisations like the CDG who train and help in distributing such information. Long may that continue for those who wish to pursue it.

Peter.

I forgot to add the full story of Dave's body recovery can be read here on CNN http://www.cdnn.info/news/article/a050716.html