Great Lakes Underwater Explorers

	Great Lakes Underwater Explorers
September 2003	Volume 2, Number 1
Great lakes Under Water Explorers 4052 Bath Rd Kingston Ontario K7M 4Y4 Phone: (613) 634-8464 Fax: (613) 634-8135 E-mail: club@northerntechdiver.com We’re on the Web! www.glueclub.com	Welcome G.L.U.E. September News Over the last couple of months, Tom Rutledge, with some help from others in the local area, has rediscovered 24 wrecks in the Kingston area. We (GLUE) have decided that “Wreck 6” (possibly the Simila or the Sanor) is a prime candidate for mooring. A video survey, along with a photo survey, has been conducted by Tom Wilson and James Pate. We are hoping that with the cooperation of POW and GLUE (SOS is welcome too) we can renew some interest in POW and demonstrate that we're all working for a common goal. With the mooring in place we can start conducting better surveys. We have already moored the Monkey Wrench and plans for the Mark 1 and DSS will be worked on with Big Jim, hopefully sooner than later. Big Jim has been out and upgraded all the tethers so they float. The SOS-style buoy was placed on the Cornwall. The official “drop the moorings day” will be held on the 2nd of November. Format and organization to follow, but it will be much the same as the last time. Dives and air are free, followed by a BBQ at a place TBA. Kyrstal Lapierre attended a Padi Open water course in September and here is a note she sent me: I and four other students spent a weekend in Kingston to attend a PADI Advanced Open Water Course. We were taught how to properly do a deep dive, a navigational dive, a night dive, a wreck dive and a search and recovery dive, respectively. Before each dive we did a review of the AOW chapter relating to the dive we were about to do. Spike Sr. took us to our deep dive on the Munson. On the deck at 100 feet we did a narcosis test and a depth gauge comparison while Tom was on camera. Both our navigational and night dive was done at the Marine Museum. We used our compasses to orient ourselves underwater by using fin strokes/100ft and time/100ft to measure distance. There was a little difficulty during the night dive and for some the dive was cut short due to some confusion. Sunday morning we went to the Glendora, via the Seaducer, as our wreck dive. For this one we broke into our buddy pairs and sketched the wreck and its potential hazards as we did our dive. Finally Sunday afternoon we did our search and recovery dive at Olympic Harbour where we broke into two groups and did a 'U' search, a circular search and a lift bag deployment. Overall it was a fun filled weekend giving plenty of experience to relatively new divers. For anyone wanting to take their diving to the next level after Open Water, this course is for you. And after AOW, the DIR Fundamentals is highly recommended. Tom Wilson took a trip to the Straights of Mackinaw, where he had the opportunity to dive the Newell-Eddy. For details on the wreck, check out his site http://www.scubaq.ca/ontarioscubadiving/newell.htm Here are some of his pictures of the wreck. Thanks Tom Wilson for sharing these photos… photos by Tom Wilson Tech Talk By Dan Makay During the past few years I have been asked for advice on various aspects of our sport, especially equipment issues. When I was recently asked to contribute a regular column for the GLUE newsletter, I accepted the opportunity as a way to reach a wider audience, and it is my hope that this column will help to answer some of the questions you may have. One of the absolutes in any underwater adventure is a need for oxygen, so this inaugural column will discuss one of the more frequent questions that I get asked: What should I use for a redundant air supply? I always approach this topic with some trepidation. The question I invariably ask is what do you need it for? This is not to meant to be flippant. Quite the opposite, it is a serious effort to get the diver to think about his or her requirements in the framework of what kind of diving he or she is doing, and how a redundant air supply works into that system. You must remember that any piece of gear that you add to your system affects your system as a whole. Equally invariably, the answer to my question is that “I want a redundant air source for added safety.” If we examine this reply a little more closely, and do a little probing, in a lot of cases we will find either a case of ‘equipmentitis’ or a wish for an extension of usable volume at the root of the desire for an extra air supply. The diver has heard the buzz word ‘redundant’ bandied about in various discussions and has decided that is a safer way to dive. Is this really the case? I would present the opinion that in the normal recreational ranges, there is no requirement for a redundant air supply. Proper dive planning and air management will insure that you will exit the water with lots of air, in any contingency. Some divers are looking for safety while single tank diving in an over-head environment. If you have sought out and taken appropriate training for over-head environments, then you will have been taught what is required and will know that single tanks have no place in an over-head environment. The danger with a spare air supply or a small redundant supply is that both encourage poor dive planning. Worse still, they instil a false sense of security. In the case of spare air, I have met no one who has actually practised with it. In an emergency, is it really usable if you have not used it before? How much useable volume do you have and what kind of a pickle will it get you out of? Of the infamous ‘pony bottle’ that is bolted to the diver’s tank, much the same can be said, except that it has the added ‘bonus’ of upsetting buoyancy and trim. It is my view that if you are seeking more volume, you should use a larger single tank. There is far less to go wrong with a single tank system and equipment management is not an issue. If you genuinely need a redundant source, then a manifold-rigged set of doubles or a properly rigged stage bottle of an appropriate volume is the way to go. In either case, you must practice emergency procedures regularly in order to properly integrate these items into your personal system. If you evaluate the financial expense, you will find that it is not much more expensive to go the proper route. If you have a topic that you would like to see discussed in this column, or if you have questions about anything in this article—or any other diving questions, for that matter—please email me at dan@northerntechdiver.com Safe dives, Dan Ottawa weekend report by Paul Osmond Well I did DIR-F over the weekend with Dan Mackay and Kevin Ripley at Morrison’s Quarry. A very intense weekend that started at 6:00 Friday night and went to about 8:00 Sunday night. I barely ate anything the whole weekend; it was go-go-go…. When I did eat, it was in the truck driving to the quarry. There were only 3 students on the course, which was a bonus because Dan was able to focus on everybody a lot more than usual. He was able to push us a lot harder because there was only one 3-man team to drill so we hand 100% constant attention. In reality, this is a plus and a minus with Dan because he is like a drill sergeant; you make a mistake and he will see it. You have to justify everything you do and if there is no good reason for it—and there usually isn't—he is in your face demanding answers. Overall, he picked on everybody equally but he did it in a constructive way. There was always the stress of having to face the instructor and the video camera after each dive. The biggest area I got beat up over was, as I am sure most of you guys know, my buoyancy and trim. I was not alone, though; everybody got a lot of grief about that. Dan kept saying that when I was not task-loaded, my buoyancy and trim were fair, but the second I had something to do, my old PADI "skills" came out and ruined all of his good work. I did a lot of backwards fining on this course, and I did manage to get a couple of strokes that I felt a slight bit of backward momentum, but I still have a long way to go. In fact nobody on the course was able to do that skill at the end. The other big area was the valve drill. We all had trouble here and lost buoyancy and trim. He was pleased that we all could finally reach our valves at the end and we were maintaining our buoyancy a little bit, but there are other issues we have to solve. For me, Dan said that my underwear is like a straight jacket and that I have no hope in hell of doing a good valve drill while using it. He recommend that until I buy proper—stuff that I get a fleece jumper and use a vest for winter diving. I plan to do that right away. He said my suit wasn't bad and that it is useable if I get the correct underwear. The biggest problem for me here was my valves. He said I need a valve service and that even he could not do a good valve drill using my tanks because the valves were too stiff. I will get a valve service this week. S-Drills weren't bad, kicks weren't bad, blowing bags weren't bad, though when he saw my brass double ender he jumped on me and stole it because he hates brass. The most embarrassing moment came on shore; I had accidentally left the 18/45 duct tape label on my tanks from the dive last week, but I had blown air on top so in reality it was like a 20/20. He beat me up bad for not having the proper label and he would not let me in the water till my tanks were analyzed, even though we both knew that there was mostly air and a trace amount of HE in the tank. He tore strip off me for that one. The areas where Dan was really pleased were our team work and formation skill. We were a 3-man team doing horizontal descents and ascents in that classic triangle face to face and maintained all that classic triangle face to face formation for all drills; he said it was impressive to watch. He said it was some of the best he has seen DIR-F students do. That was the biggest compliment we got from him the whole weekend. The highlight of the weekend was when we had to do a simulated decompression (40'-0) while sharing air, hovering mid-water (no reference points), shoot an SMB (simulating you are drifting away from the boat), and maintain a perfect decompression profile. They video tape every exercise for a post-dive analysis, so that also added its own little stress/stage fright into the mix. This time of the year the quarry has about 5' vis in it, compounded by the fact recreational divers were in it all day so the vis was about the consistency of milk. Yet another stress. To make a long story short, we did the drill, my 3-man team survived, and apparently we were only 3 minutes over on our plan, which is acceptable in an emergency. He said it was not the prettiest drill he has ever seen but we all would have survived in real life and that is ultimately the name of the game. After that drill he informed us we all passed the course. He said that overall our team work made up for places where we lacked skill and the fact that we stayed close and kept communicating allowed us to persevere in the face of absolutely brutal confusion. He said we should be very proud because we are the only GUE class that he has taught in all his years of teaching where he actually passed everybody. This was a first for him. I am typing this on a Monday morning and my adrenaline is still pumping a bit just thinking about it now. Quite the experience. Paul Club Dive Nights The Thursday evening club dive has been cancelled for the duration of the year; however, if there is enough interest the Saturday evening dive is still on. DW charters will be running two tank dives during the week for $40.00. Club Sweatshirts We are taking orders for hooded sweatshirts and Weather wear microfibre fleece sweatshirts with an embroidered club logo. Hooded or crew neck sweatshirts come in navy blue or sand navy blue, and are $50.00 plus tax. Fleece sweatshirts come in navy blue, light blue, sand, forest green and cranberry and are $75.00 plus tax. Please email club@northerntechdiver.com with your order. I will be placing an order in the next couple of weeks. Payment can be made at NTD or by sending a cheque to Carole Addington .