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Mike, the only thing Stone did was make it easy for us to get all of the TV stations out there - they figured they were going to get to see somebody get killed. Did you see the part where they asked me if I was worried about that? A classic answer. Mike Wisenbaker made them all take a lesson in who we are and who the Stroke is before he let them start the coverage. By the way , I got pulled by the cops after the setup dive for a "sobriety" check. I told them they picked the right guy, but that they would have done better with a "sanity" check. They told me , "you can have that cave diving shit", and said, " were you part of that thing at Wakulla where they killed that guy?". Can you imagine if they had pulled the usdct guys? The dogs would still be barking. mike bruic wrote: > > CONGRATULATIONS, I seen it on the local news last night. You guys were the > first story, and they (ch 6) did give credit where credit was due (WKPP). > BTW, I was really disappointed that Stone and "Company" didn't show off all > the wonderful (????) accomplishments (2for2) at the NSS/CDS workshop this > weekend. I guess the "general public" will just have to read about it, "and > believe him" in his "sponsor funded" magazine articles (Peeee---uk). > > Bruic > > -----Original Message----- > From: kirvine@sa*.ne* <kirvine@sa*.ne*> > To: Cost effective home improvement <freeattic@co*.ci*.uf*.ed*> > Date: Sunday, May 30, 1999 2:42 PM > Subject: WKPP Swimthrough Successful > > >Yesterday the WKPP finally executed the swimthrough from Big > >Dismal to Cheryl Sink. With heavy TV coverage and the drawing card of > >this being a new World's Record traverse dive, hopefully the importance > >of this hydrological phenomenon will call attention to itself for the > >right reasons, and the flawless dive execution and professionalism of > >the WKPP will go a ways towards offsetting the fiasco for cave diving > >created by Bill Stone and the his "usdct" band of know it alls this > >winter. > > > > JJ and I set the dive up Friday night with the much appreciated > >help of Billy Baxter and Jody Everett, who came all the way from North > >Carolina and Tennessee and Bob Sherwood whno came from New York to be > >there and were joined by Anthony Rue , Nancy Levake and others from JJ's > >organization ( GUE ) who made this dive possible. We ran stages out to > >the Bitter End, a dive that took more than an hour at depth and required > >deco past midnight. The flow was a real problem, and carrying enough gas > >to get the gas out there is a trick while carrying enough scooters and > >all with the spread out decompression gasses. > > > > We went in the "shortcut" which has really gotten small with > >accumulated sand. Of course we got stuck at the same spot Sherwood died > >a few years ago, reminding us of the seriousness of what we were doing > >and making JJ and I both glad that we do not bend to the bullshit but > >stick to the rules. The whole dive was a lot of work, but we had to get > >back to the Fisher Creek inflow area to be sure the dive was doable, and > >to place the stages and check the safeties already in there. A long > >ride. We then had to go out the long way and check that whole line, > >which we had to pull up from the sand in several spots. I had returned > >the arrows to their correct positions after some officious stroke > >changed them at the "Loop" tunnel, something that when I find out who > >would change line arrows on a survey they do not know , I will be sure > >they never get the chance where I am diving again. > > > > We met at the Geological Area in the Appalachicola national Forest the > >next morning at 8:00 joined by Dawn and a few more of our regulars, with > >Keith Suderman showing up to run the Big D side. Dawn will have the > >details on everything else, with the names. JJ, Ted Cole and I put in > >there and ran downstream on the usual two stages/safeties set for the > >shallower depths, carrying two more stages for the ride through the > >deeper water. Terry Koritz and Greg Jackson stood by behind us to go > >collect the first stage bottle and pull our emergency deco gas once Dawn > >phoned back from Cheryl to say we had made it to deco. They had a great > >dive; Big D is as clear as it has ever been, one of the most beautiful > >white-walled giant caves in the WKP, a fantastic ride. > > > > We went down the slide after 3500 feet and prepared for the rest of > >the 14,000 foot traverse, going to deep gas at the "Window", a split > >where the Leon Sinks tunnel heads South. That set of bottles will be > >retrieved when we go back to work Big d in a couple of weeks. The cave > >drops to 250 right there, but the rest is mostly 220ish with some rises > >into the 160's in an amazing tunnel that proved to have several incoming > >leads that we had previously not seen, and some we had seen a long time > >ago but had not been able to relocate due to the bad conditons. We > >mommentarily stopped to look down into the White Abyss, a split found on > >one of the first dives up there years ago. Conditions for this dive were > >perfect. > > > > At about 8500 feet out we had to decompress into the Fisher Creek > >Room, or "Second" Black Abyss, through a restriction that looks much > >like the one in the first Black Abyss, only bigger. Here we have to go > >up to 70 feet and then scooter across an 800 foot section at 100 feet - > >not for the bendable diver, and then back down to our next stage and > >safety bottle depot. We snagged the stage and took it with us, holding > >it for the section closer to the end, since it was the 18X40 deep > >decompression mix that we would use to come up on, and we had just gone > >to our second 11X55 bottle anyway, and had full hundreds, with nine more > >safties between us and the door. We considered switching scooters here, > >but stayed on the ones we were riding for the full distance. > > > > We had videoed the whole way from the Window to Fisher Creek, with > >plans to do the Bid D side and the run from "Far Point Station" , the > >connection point between Cheryl and Sullivan which is next to the Bitter > >End T , on separate dives. > > > > We got through to our waiting greet team in 100 minutes , they took > >our extra stuff and went back to tell the topside crew to send Koritz > >downstream. We decoed out and the other side packed up , with all of us > >meeting at Lucy's at 6:30. > > > > Brent Scarabin had a death in the family and could not dive, so Ted > >Cole stepped in and performed flawlessly, keeping the coordidation > >between me navigating and JJ videoing without a hitch, a testimony to > >his skill and his adherence to the tenets of our system without a hint > >of personal preference or other know-better thinking that plagues so > >many of those with whom we can not effectively execute a dive. A real > >player and one that JJ and I can count on to carry this project forward, > >also now holder of the World's Record "Trust Me" dive. He did ask me for > >the route in case I died of old age during the dive, but once we got to > >where he knew the cave, and he realized he was going to live through it, > >he started pushing me with his scooter. I really blew it by not whipping > >out the wetnotes and telling him I was not sure which way to go at one > >of the T's, a favorite trick of Parker Turner's, which I always fell > >for. > > > > A great dive, and a perfect execution by the WKPP Team. It is > >incredible what these guys can do in no time at all. Dawn will have the > >rest of the story. 14,000 feet with no openings - a new World's Record > >underwater traverse , the old one also being held by the WKPP. > > > > We have CPR and other training next week, then Wakulla, then Big D > >and other Leon sites, then maybe Wakulla again , then Leon , and so > >forth while these perfect conditions hold up. > > > > > >--- Freeattic list subscriptions/removals should be sent to > >--- sallot@mi*.co*. > >
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