Quote: (Originally Posted by LauNar)
Dunno what the Party line on this is, but you can almost always leave reeling the line on the spool to the stop(s), if you feel task-loaded. Of course reeling while ascending is good practice and all, but sometimes I'm too lazy for that. On a stop a buddy can hold the SMB line taut while you haul the spool up and reel in the slack.
this depends on what kind of smb you're using. if it's an open model, you have to maintain line tension all the time, or the buoy will deflate when tipping over. if it's a closed model, the buoy will tip over, but won't deflate. tipping over again isn't that good from a visibility point of view anyway... so i'd say keeping the line taut at all times is a good idea. it all boils down to how good you're at handling a spool. i managed to get the line into quite a few interesting cf's when training to use a spool and an smb =)
- mikko