Finally figured out my umbilical was tangled because of how I stored it

For like 3 years I kept having to stop mid-dive to untwist my umbilical. Drove me nuts. Then a guy on a barge in Port Fourchon pointed out I was coiling it clockwise every time instead of figure-eighting it. Switched to storing it in a bucket with a figure-eight pattern and havent had a tangle since. Anyone else have a simple storage trick that clicked way later than it should have?

3 comments

3 Comments

davidshah11d ago

Oh man, the arm wrapping thing is exactly what I used to do and it made everything worse. I think a lot of us just learned bad habits from other divers who didn't know better either. The bucket trick is so simple but it really does change everything once you start doing it right.

river_thompson10d ago

The part about just "throwing it in a loop and hoping for the best" hit way too close to home, I did that for years and ended up with a rat's nest every single time. What finally clicked for me was when a dive buddy showed me to keep the line under tension while coiling, not loose and floppy like I always did. It takes a little longer at first but once you get the rhythm down, you can do a figure-eight bucket coil in like 30 seconds flat and it comes off perfectly every time.

emma_lee2211d ago

Wait, are you telling me I've been coiling it wrong this whole time? I always just threw mine in a loop and hoped for the best (which never worked out great). Honestly, I thought you had to just deal with the tangles since that's what everyone I knew did. Your bucket trick with the figure-eight makes so much sense though - I've been wrapping mine around my arm like a dummy and wondering why it kept knotting up on my chest. This is a game changer for my next dive trip, for real.