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Serious question, has anyone else had their umbilical snag on a job and had to cut it loose?
Last Tuesday I was working a dock inspection job in Norfolk, about 25 feet down on a concrete piling, and my umbilical got wedged between two old fender boards that had shifted out of place. I was on surface supply with a hard hat camera running, so I could hear the tender telling me to hold still while I tried to work it free by hand, but the current kept pinning it tighter every time I moved. After about 4 minutes of fighting it I made the call to pull my bailout and surface, and the tender had to cut the outer jacket to get the line back since it was frayed past the point of trusting it. I was fine, made it up slow on my own air, but the whole thing cost us the rest of that day and a new section of hose. What got me was I checked that gap on my way down and thought it looked fine, so I still don't know if I missed something or if the current just moved those boards after I passed. Has anyone run into fender boards shifting mid-dive like that, and do you re-check on the way back up or just trust your down-line? Also curious what you all do about a cut hose, do you splice it or just eat the cost of a new run?
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tessa_carr6d ago
Man that sounds like a rough one, glad you kept your head and made the right call though. Current moving stuff around mid-dive is real, I've seen boards shift on me more than once, so I don't fully trust a gap just cause it looked fine going down.
As for the hose, a cut jacket is usually toast. I wouldn't splice it, not worth the risk for the money you save.
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