 |
|
 |
|
 |
|
 |
|
 |
|
 |
|
 |
|
 |
|
 |
|
 |
|
 |
|
 |
|
 |
|
 |
|
 |
|
 |
|
 |
|
 |
|
From the Irrepressible Tom Pritchard --
Thanksgiving at Willow:
Baritone to Soprano in 45 Minutes (11/23)
With cold weather almost upon us, it was time bring out the dry gloves. They were wet before the splash settled. No sense whining; I'll end up with a wet elbow - and so what. By the time Dave Ho, Roger, and I made it to the platform in the NW corner of the quarry, the water was past my armpit and then went nuts. As I removed my fins, the water got the turtle wet and I hit a C note that could fracture glass. Because I never flood my suit, sometimes I drive to the quarry in my underduds and leave my street clothes home; this was one of those nights. I warmed up next to the world's largest wood burning stove while I ate my fair share of the TNI Thanksgiving dinner. Turkey, stuffing, green bean casserole, cheesecake, and pumpkin pie; we ate like kings. Dave Ho, during one of his more sedate moments, announced he was going to stick his tongue in Don Bradley's ear - why, I have no idea. A serious accident was avoided when Roger pointed out that this might pose an electrocution hazard. I drove home wearing a mismatched combo of Dave Ho's and Roger's long johns; not a pretty sight!
BSC (11/27)
At Cindy's behest, a large group of animated divers assembled at BSC last Saturday and divided into small groups. Gerhard, JameZ, and I waded in at the handicapped access at Upper A so that I wouldn't have another one of those "I've fallen and I can't get up moments" on the steep hill. It was bad enough being turtled under my doubles a few weeks ago, but at least no one yelled, "Cleanup in aisle two!" while I was down. This day was uneventful as JZ led us around the wall that forms the edge of the bowl at upper A. JZ was especially proud of the fact that he managed to lead for 45 minutes and yet not find a single piece of Pennsylvania coral. John Gross was there along with AI candidates Jeff and Kristi Rakos and Mark Seymour. Vivian (The Killer B), Laura Lee and husband Dan were there as "problem students" for the class. Because Gerhard and I didn't see how Vern tore his dry suit on the NC trip, he was kind enough to show us how to tear a neck seal, so he was beached. Cindy, Sharon the Brit, and Scott the Rock rounded out the group. Upcoming events: the Thursday Night Irregular's 5 hr dive at Willow on December 3rd, Jim Brown's oyster dive on Dec. 10th, and Smokey's Christmas tree dive on December 11th.
The 5 Hr. Dive (12/3).
Several years ago Terry Martzall did a 4:20 dive at Willow, which almost certainly set the local standard for the longest quarry dive. The bar set by Terry was begging to be broken - and five of us set out to do just that. No wimps in this group, but only one succeeded, which should give you some idea of how tough of a challenge this was. The pretenders: Gerhard Maree, Roger Heins, Greg Kulp, myself, and THE Terry Martzall. Terry's dive ended when he tore a seal while getting geared up, so he's just chaffing to it "again" in case anyone out there is interested. I made my run at the 5 hr dive armed with a set of doubles and two 80 cf aluminum sling bottles and was well within my air budget when I almost broke my Imodium at the 2 hr mark. Truth be told, with MY cold and THE cold I probably wouldn't have made it past the 3 hr mark. It was a tough day to dive and an even tougher day to do a 5 hr dive. It was subfreezing when we arrived at Willow, the water temp was 46 degrees, and the viz was 3-5 feet in the western half of the quarry. The entry/exit area from the dock to the platform was close to zero viz, due in large part to us humping our numerous stage bottles down. With 1 ft viz at the rear of the school bus, I was unable to find the rope to the platform and quickly lost track of the school bus, which forced me to return to the platform by compass. Roger was too cold to continue after 2:20. Gerhard, armed with a double 120's on his back and 100 and 108 cf steel stages bottles, and a 40 cf aluminum stage, made 3 hrs. I rely mostly on prayer to get up the stairs with my doubles; Gerhard walked up the stairs with almost 300 lbs of doubles and stages bottles, backwards no less - and then waited patiently for a camera to be brought down to the dock to preserve the moment. Damn! Greg Kulp not only carried the day but also set a new local record at a whopping 5:27, a impressive feat all the more remarkable because of the cold. Congratulations to Greg on a job well done. Since I didn't write a dive report a few weeks ago when Greg made his 1000th dive, here is a belated "Youdaman" to recognize that achievement as well.
With cold weather almost upon us, it was time bring out the dry gloves. They were wet before the splash settled. No sense whining; I'll end up with a wet elbow - and so what. By the time Dave Ho, Roger, and I made it to the platform in the NW corner of the quarry, the water was past my armpit and then went nuts. As I removed my fins, the water got the turtle wet and I hit a C note that could fracture glass. Because I never flood my suit, sometimes I drive to the quarry in my underduds and leave my street clothes home; this was one of those nights. I warmed up next to the world's largest wood burning stove while I ate my fair share of the TNI Thanksgiving dinner. Turkey, stuffing, green bean casserole, cheesecake, and pumpkin pie; we ate like kings. Dave Ho, during one of his more sedate moments, announced he was going to stick his tongue in Don Bradley's ear - why, I have no idea. A serious accident was avoided when Roger pointed out that this might pose an electrocution hazard. I drove home wearing a mismatched combo of Dave Ho's and Roger's long johns; not a pretty sight!
BSC (11/27)
At Cindy's behest, a large group of animated divers assembled at BSC last Saturday and divided into small groups. Gerhard, JameZ, and I waded in at the handicapped access at Upper A so that I wouldn't have another one of those "I've fallen and I can't get up moments" on the steep hill. It was bad enough being turtled under my doubles a few weeks ago, but at least no one yelled, "Cleanup in aisle two!" while I was down. This day was uneventful as JZ led us around the wall that forms the edge of the bowl at upper A. JZ was especially proud of the fact that he managed to lead for 45 minutes and yet not find a single piece of Pennsylvania coral. John Gross was there along with AI candidates Jeff and Kristi Rakos and Mark Seymour. Vivian (The Killer B), Laura Lee and husband Dan were there as "problem students" for the class. Because Gerhard and I didn't see how Vern tore his dry suit on the NC trip, he was kind enough to show us how to tear a neck seal, so he was beached. Cindy, Sharon the Brit, and Scott the Rock rounded out the group. Upcoming events: the Thursday Night Irregular's 5 hr dive at Willow on December 3rd, Jim Brown's oyster dive on Dec. 10th, and Smokey's Christmas tree dive on December 11th.
The 5 Hr. Dive (12/3).
Several years ago Terry Martzall did a 4:20 dive at Willow, which almost certainly set the local standard for the longest quarry dive. The bar set by Terry was begging to be broken - and five of us set out to do just that. No wimps in this group, but only one succeeded, which should give you some idea of how tough of a challenge this was. The pretenders: Gerhard Maree, Roger Heins, Greg Kulp, myself, and THE Terry Martzall. Terry's dive ended when he tore a seal while getting geared up, so he's just chaffing to it "again" in case anyone out there is interested. I made my run at the 5 hr dive armed with a set of doubles and two 80 cf aluminum sling bottles and was well within my air budget when I almost broke my Imodium at the 2 hr mark. Truth be told, with MY cold and THE cold I probably wouldn't have made it past the 3 hr mark. It was a tough day to dive and an even tougher day to do a 5 hr dive. It was subfreezing when we arrived at Willow, the water temp was 46 degrees, and the viz was 3-5 feet in the western half of the quarry. The entry/exit area from the dock to the platform was close to zero viz, due in large part to us humping our numerous stage bottles down. With 1 ft viz at the rear of the school bus, I was unable to find the rope to the platform and quickly lost track of the school bus, which forced me to return to the platform by compass. Roger was too cold to continue after 2:20. Gerhard, armed with a double 120's on his back and 100 and 108 cf steel stages bottles, and a 40 cf aluminum stage, made 3 hrs. I rely mostly on prayer to get up the stairs with my doubles; Gerhard walked up the stairs with almost 300 lbs of doubles and stages bottles, backwards no less - and then waited patiently for a camera to be brought down to the dock to preserve the moment. Damn! Greg Kulp not only carried the day but also set a new local record at a whopping 5:27, a impressive feat all the more remarkable because of the cold. Congratulations to Greg on a job well done. Since I didn't write a dive report a few weeks ago when Greg made his 1000th dive, here is a belated "Youdaman" to recognize that achievement as well.
Get Out and Dive -- Live The Adventure!!!
|
|
||||
Home | Classes | Events | Equipment | Clothing | Instructors | Staff | Members
|
||||