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Click To Enlarge
From Uptown Jim Brown . . .
Note to self: remember finz for optimum UW propulsion in dry suit, with camera and pony bottle. DUH! Nuff said, I'll leave the details to my eloquent dive buddies who will undoubtedly embellish the story appropriately. That said, Steve at BSC, out of the kindness of his heart, let me use a pair of ScubaPro Twin Jet finz. I tried these a couple of years ago, head to head with the Sherwood Trek split finz. I liked the Trek but didn't care for the ScubaPro. Maybe its more experience in the dry suit but the Twin Jets felt great and really cooked when I put the mustard to them. I won't be changing from my beloved Volos OPB but for anyone considering split finz, be sure to give the Twin Jets a try. [wink wink]
The weather was awesome for diving! 55F, sun and blue sky! The ice is finally gone from BSC, two years in a row with a frozen surface!!! Dive #1 took us to the deep boat, step van, tanker, barn, south wall, blossom tree, blast shack, upline to nowhere, deep boat, dozer, Pennsy, tunnel and a lengthy hang at the exit. Let's see, FreeFlow, Handsome, Rock, Dingo, Ron (Lobb), Steve Mooney, Darth, Huckster, JamesZ, Mike Nast (caveman) and yours truly soaked up some awesome viz! The bottom is clear and bright and beckoning divers to come hither. The details of the cruise are not important at this point but if you were not there, you missed some great sites! A great run of 1:09 bottom time to 94', complete with complementary deco.
FreeFlow lived up to his name on Dive #2 with his pony reg giving out on our ascent around 70'. Too funny! It appears to be a simple o-ring issue at the second stage but it compels me to reflect on our first sojourn to 95' a couple of years ago when his main flowed about two minutes into the dive. Mark exhibited a cool head (mouth) as he breathed off the flow while tugging at my finz for help. I gave him the octo, turned off the air, back on, more flow, so we turned it off and headed for the upline east of the deep boat. Mark exhibited the same cool head this time as the distracting, annoying bubbles increased; stop, think, breathe and act. He played with the second stage a minute then looked at me and pointed to the tank valve. Yup, my turn to act - turn it off. None of this nonsense dampened our spirits (of course not, we were in dry suits), as we began the dive to the dozer, then followed the pipe to the stairs to the hole. Mark reached a new all-time low of 116' to see the stairs, pumphouse, and deep deep boat on the bottom of the hole. He claims it reminded him of his first college buzz on cheap beer. The clarity was excellent and the light very acceptable. See pics of the stairs, pumphouse and deep deep boat. We watched our time and air together and headed south to the ridge of the hole where Mark saw for his first time the wheel barrel laying on its side (see pic). Up the ridge then west to the deep boat, south across the pond to the concrete bunker. Here we revisited freeflow etiquette and air management. Mark's Vyper hit deco at this point, a first for him to see, and we began our ascent from 80'. The topo attractions of this south wall are pretty interesting. See the pic of massive cracks opening up in the overhang. I would love to be there when this lets go and crashes to the bottom. When we hit about 40', Mark's computer cleared and we carried on toward the bowl. Two monster bass greeted us under the brush as we passed over the pipe into the bowl. The reels and water tower lay to our right as we made our way to the exit. I clearly pointed out to Mark the landmark for the steep path exit point. UW navigation becomes second nature when you create that mental picture of stuff you see, and I don't mean the knuckleheads in our dive gang. Another nice UW journey, 116' for 41 minutes and a schmidgen of deco. I'm proud of Mark for his cool head and UW management. His trim looked great and buoyancy control equally as impressive. I'll be his dive buddy any time!
Don't be stranger - all are welcome to dive in this circus! Soak up this vis before its too late. I'll be out again Sunday, March 14th, 9am, BSC. Dry suits and redundant air recommended.
From Tom Pritchard . . .
DIT Equipment X-Change - As part of their hazing - err training - Divemasters in Training (DITs) must perform the dreaded equipment exchange. This isn't the after-Christmas merchandise exchange at Sears, mind you. The DITs must exchange ALL of their equipment with their buddy in the deep end of the pool while buddy breathing and then swim the length of the pool in their partner's duds. ALL means everything except your wetsuit, dentures, and artificial hip (actually, I'm not sure about the dentures). Gerhard Maree and I decided to do the equipment exchange at Willow last night and it worked out great. I dove his double 120 hps while he took my 100 hp/pony setup. James Zimmerman, who didn't realize we did the swap, was having a hard time matching the blue OS drysuit with the doubles and the Hendersponge with the pony setup, but he finally figured it out. After dropping 10 lbs of lead because I picked up 30 extra lbs of gear, I was ready to rock and roll. I used to think that these people with double 120s were beastly strong, but now I know even a weakling like me can manage these bad boys. The only sensation you get underwater with the doubles is extra stability - not a bad thing. We dove our own regs and, much to my embarrassment, my Mares Abyss reg didn't handle the exchange well. It began hyperventilating (that's tech. jargon for free-flowing) at the entry and continued until I was down to about 1000 psi somewhere between the mixer and the Quest. I think the Abyss panicked when it realized it had all that extra air at its disposal. I can't wait to tell John Gross that the G-Man and I fulfilled our requirement for the DIT equipment exchange. Perhaps if I don't tell him we exchanged our gear BEFORE we splashed in, we can get it passed him.
From Bob Hanna . . .
Saturday, March 6, was opening day at Willow Spring. Despite the threat of rain Bill "Mild Bill" Hockley, Ralph Spayd, Bob Hanna, and Gerard Snyder went diving.
While any excuse to go diving will do, the stated reason was to try out Bob's new OS Dry Suit. I am pleased to report that Cindy got the measurements right, and John Gross suggestion that I did not need to double the insulation by combining the summer and winter weather insulated underwear was correct. Stretching the neck seal over an appropriate size bottle also worked fine.
What I didn't know was just how buoyant the new suit was. I must have been quite the sight carrying this boulder out to the Quest, over to the Fire Truck and back. Six more pounds of lead made the second dive much more enjoyable.
The weather held. While there was some rain, this occurred either while we were diving or after we had packed to go. 60 degree weather in March is something to remember.
In two weeks we expect to go to Dutch Springs. If you are interested in joining us, I can be reached through the Shop or directly on the Members Page!
From Darth Vern . . .
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Try to figure out this pic!
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Keep On Diving and Live The Adventure!!!
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