A crusty old salvage diver in Mobile told me my umbilical checks were a joke

He pulled me aside after a job and said, 'Kid, you're looking at it, not feeling it. That braid can hide a cut for months until it pops.' He made me run my whole length, inch by inch, with my gloves off. Found a tiny, sharp burr on a hose clamp I'd missed three times. Now my pre-dive check takes 15 minutes longer, but I feel every inch of line and hose with bare hands before I even suit up. Anyone else have a simple check they do now that they used to skip?

2 comments

2 Comments

emery_craig16d ago

Damn right. Bare hands find what eyes miss.

sethmartinez16d ago

Yeah, that "looking at it, not feeling it" line hits hard. I read a report once about a rig medic who said most gear failures he saw came from visual-only checks. His thing was always checking the inside lip of o-rings for tiny nicks with a fingernail, not just a glance.