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NEST TRIP REPORT
Buchanan Cave 23 June 2000
The Northeast Sump Exploration Team, NEST, conducted exploration efforts
In Virginia on 23 Jun 2000. NEST is a formally recognized Project of the
NSS and consists of a team of sump divers and dedicated support personnel
who are pursuing original exploration efforts at several caves in the PA,
Virginia and West Virginia areas. The team surveys and further documents
these sites through the use of still and video techniques as well as
engaging in biological surveys and water sampling at these locations. NEST
is also available to support the NCRC in situations involving flooded
passage and beyond sump rescues. Below is an account of the Teams most
recent explorations.
I carefully maneuvered above the first Disler Spike and attempted to take
a magnetic bearing, the area had received a fair amount of rain fall
recently and the vis was only three inches. In an instant a wave of silt
cascaded down the slope behind me, in zero vis I lost sight of the line. I
was floating in a light brown cloud and with all of my visual cues gone I
realized I could no longer trust my sense of direction. Gasping the survey
slate in my left hand I raised the shoulder of my DUI CF 200 dry suit and
dumped gas from the valve making myself negative and settling to the bottom.
I had been over the line when I lost sight of it and I did not want to make
the situation any worse by moving from that spot. With my right hand I
reached out and gently felt for the thin piece of nylon that was my link to
the surface, my first few attempts failed. I realized that I had to be
within arms reach so maintaining my position and composure I tried a bit
further to the right and found it. Grasping it firmly I turned around and
slowly finned out. As I moved forward, by touch contact, I verified my
direction of travel based on the knot code tied into the line.
Every 10 feet our line contains a knot for survey purposes, on the out
side six to eight inches from this knot are two additional knots spaced
about an inch apart. In effect the line contains its own directional
markers, ones that cannot be installed incorrectly or fall off, and they are
placed close enough together so that you never have to travel more than ten
feet before encountering a set. Although I was also able to verify my
direction of travel based on the fact that the line was on a slope heading
upward the built in directional cues were reassuring never the less.
It was now time to reassess the game plan. In the last two weekends the
team had installed a total of 550 feet of line in the cave. The original
plan for this weekend was to push it forward as well as capture survey
data. Due to the poor visibility we had decided to just concentrate on the
survey. I had planned on getting the magnetic azimuths while Eric did line
counts and depth. Since this would be Eric�s first dive at the site it
would also give him the chance to become more familiar with the dive.
Since conditions were worse than I had suspected we decided to modify
the plan again. After passing Eric the slate I headed back in to do a line
count by memory and to see if conditions might improve further into the
system. The first 120 feet were grim, after that the vis opened up to a
whopping foot and a half. At a penetration of 240 feet I turned, exited
and passed the data to Eric who recorded it on the slate. I then took a
break on the surface while we discussed out options. Eric wisely decided to
wait for another day before diving the site. I opted to give it one more
shot and an hour and a half latter with fresh tanks headed back in.
I took things very slowly this time and making sure my buoyancy was
perfectly adjusted was able to capture readings at the first two spikes. I
pressed on to the deep point at 33 feet and made the 90 degree turn to the
left and continued on with the survey, following the line up slope to a
depth of 15 feet and a penetration of 340 feet before turning.
The swim out went smoothly, for several minutes my universe consisted of
a small patch of silty floor with the line running along the bottom framed
in the glow of my HID. The walls remained invisible and I had no other
reference points. It felt like I was gilding across the surface of a quarry
bottom on a night dive. I was becoming more and more used to the limited
vis and was almost tempted to head in for a fourth dive. After a bit of
reflection we decided to call it a day and head North to Friars Hole and
then Convention in Elkins on Sunday.
Although we had not achieved the major push forward we were hoping for
the survey data when reduced verified that we were heading in the correct
direction toward known cave in Buchanan Saltpeter. Connecting with the
downstream sump was not going to be easy but then if it was it would not be
worth doing to begin with.
We would like to recognize our sponsors and all of the supporting cavers
who helped make our efforts possible. A special thanks to Arnold Jackson Of
American Underwater Lighting who supplied our exceptional primary lights,
Meteor 4�s and HIDs , as well as other critical gear and Jon Breazile of the
Fifth Dimension Dive Center who has provided us with other vital support.
We would also like to thank Terry Brady, of the Brass Anchor who has
provided us with generous audio visual support. Additional sponsors include
Lamar Hires of Dive Rite, , Alex Sproul of Inner Mountain Outfitters, Adrew
Kipe of Maryland Reproductions, and Robert Carmichael of Brownies Third Lung
and HALCYON, The Doing It Right Equipment Company, and our most recent
sponsor, DUI for our outstanding CF 200 series Dry Suits, Tim Walker,
Hank and Jane Anderson, and the Sovik and Mothes families without whose
support none of our efforts would have been possible.
Diver Explorer
Joseph Kaffl
Support Team Member and On Site Backup Diver
Eric Tesnau
Virginia Area Coordinator
Paul Montgomery
Stand By on call Divers
Jeff Mott
Dave Nicholas
..
JOSEPH
KAFFL
SUMPDIVER@MS*.CO*
NEST
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