On Sat, 20 Sep 2003 01:32:38 +1000, David Strike
<[log in to unmask]> wrote:

>On Saturday, September 20, 2003 12:40 AM, Reef Fish wrote:
>
>(snip)
>> Strike was right in THIS case -- that a COURSE in ice-diving would
>> certainly help those who ain't done it to get properly ORIENTED as
>> to what it's all about.
>
>
>Eh?  I've never done ice diving - although I have iced up after getting
>out of the water!  :-)

But you probably had TENDERS well within 100 ft of you at Ruffles (?)
and other bars to make sure that you crawl home in the right
direction!   :-))


You were actually right in MORE than one count, in THIS case ... about
ice diving!  One should NOT do any SOLO ice dives!   :-)))



That reminded me of a story about using a rope as a communication
medium between two persons, one of whom a tender.

A gentleman of Aussie persuasion (such as Croc Dundee), unaccustomed
to the barbaric customs of formal dining (as I had to dig out my
pseudo-tuxedo on such occasions on cruiseships), and dining etiquette,
was brought to New York ... what the hell, it WAS Crocodile Dundee
-- they made a movie of his NY adventure, but forgot to put this
episode in the movie.  :-)

At any rate, his "sponsor" told Dundee that he would tether a rope
to his foot and give it a little pull to let him know when he
should take a bite or reach for something at the dinner table, so
as not to make a spectacle of himself by his untrained "free style"
dining habits.

All went extremely well during dinner ... until Crocodile Dundee
suddenly went into presto motion, as in fast-forward in video play,
in real time!   You'll have to visualize this scene mentally, of
what's NOT in the Dundee movies, and under this tender arrangement,
when a little doggie got hold of this tending rope under the table,
and started pulling as dogs like to pull any resistant object.

NOW you may LOL.

Of course there are non-fictional tall tales of this "rope and
tender" theme, as the one you told about your predicament of getting
trapped UW and your tope was caught, and the tender kept feeding
you more ropes when you were trying to signal to pull you out! :-)

There are lotsa such stories in ICE diving too.  That's another
reason for the 100 ft protocol.  If nearly everything go wrong,
the icediver at least has a chance of making the 100 ft SOLO to
the hole to safe his own neck.   Okay, I'll take back my statement
about SOLO ice-diving.  It's OKAY to SOLO icedive, back to the
hole, if your tender fell asleep or the equivalent ...

Ah!  It all go back to the theme of "Self reliance" isn't it. :-)))

ElPezNeuvo.