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From: George Irvine <gmiiii@in*.co*>
Subject: WE (WKPP) DID IT AGAIN
To: freeattic@co*.ci*.uf*.ed*
Cc: cavers@ge*.co*
Once again you guys proved that our teamwork and methods are unmatched
anywhere in this sport , or in cave exploration. I (we ) thank you all. It is
results and performances like this that will always keep us in the game,
despite
the promises and speculation of our competitors and detractors.
The way you guys solved the problems in teams as they came up and
metamorphasized the plan without interruption was really amazing. Of course, if
the people who we asked for this information had been forthcoming, instead of
liars and deceivers, it probably would have still given us no faster result,
and
if Sheck Exley were alive, he would be embarrassed by what his "friend" have
done.
First, we have to thank all of the guys who showed up to put us in the
water (Julius , Wayne, Keith, Derek), and the guys who figured out the way to
go
(Jim Wei and John Heimann), and then I can not believe how tough Rick and Brent
are, finding every T, marking it properly, unburrying the line and reducing the
horrifying mess that was there, and then sticking it out all the way to the
dropoff, where they placed a token of their respect for the one who would try
to
displace us, (who took seven years , three stage bottles,a set a set of
hundreds
to get to where our guys did in 25 minutes on a stage bottle), with the
ulitmate
"hero clip", and then to Casey ad JJ who showed up to play for real.
Thanks to Weisenbaker and the Rat for filming it.
Casey had done a power snorkel in there Wednesday night, and called it
diveable. It looked pretty bad, but when we freedove down, the water was
clearer
the deeper we went. Brent and Rick said that no matter what it looked like ,
they were going to tell us it was at least fifty feet. They did, it was at
least
20 feet. They said the syphon was not bad, it was howling, and when we got to
where all three upstreams merged into the deep downstream, it was ridiculous.
Almost three years ago Bill Gavin and I started pounding the upstream of
Cheryl looking for the elusive Big Dismal Tunnel that had been wondered about
for years. On our second visit (for me ) to the Bitter End, a spot midway
between Cheryl and Sullivan Sinks, about 4500 feet out at 240, we found the
tunnel, it was coming in at a reverse hairpin from the ceiling into the huge
Bitter End Room. This led to the second "Black Abyss", where we tied off and
left. Having been too pumped up to remember to survey, on the next dive Lamar
English and I surveyed the 700 feet we had put in while Bill and Sherwood
Schile
went to add more. I surveyed the whole thing (1800 feet) and cought them as
they
ran out of line . We did another dive (Lamar, Bill and I - Sherwood aborted)
and
added another 1200 feet to the "White Abyss", where the tunnel split to a deep
white side and a normal Tallahassee Power Cave side (Big, Black, Deep, and
Scary). Being out of line, we light jumped out that to be sure it was the right
one. The next dive Bill, Lamar and Sherwood added another 800 feet. This put it
8000 out at 240 .
We moved on to Turner and Wakulla, and dragged or feet with all three
locations and were shut out by the rain. I took over the project at the end of
that year and initiated the permitting process that is in effect now, rebuilt
the team wtih my own dive buddies and their friends, Steve's friends, and their
friends. Everyone else either quit or scaled down their activites. Bill Main
retired in 1987, but still dives with us once in a while. Steve Irving , Bill
Gavin and I are the only ones left from the group that was around with Parker.
Yesterday, when when we reached the point where the previous group had
weenied, at only 200 feet of depth , looking down the hugest Power Cave I have
seen since A Tunnel, putting down my air bottle, going to gas , pulling the
survey book, like I have done 114 times before, looking up to see if the Guns
were ready, I started thinking, "How could anyone have left this to try to go
set a record in shallow water?". The current was howling, neither wall was in
sight, and I can not tell you how good that made me feel. Casey and JJ were
arguing over who would add first, only they were trying to give it to each
other. Casey tied in, and went.
The first shot was 230 feet long and immediately the depth went to 240.
After a couple mopre shots Casey was looking for someplace to take wrap, and
there was none - no ceiling, no walls, no rocks. He flashed JJ back, and gave
him the reel. JJ took off, but in looking for a wall, he went right into
another
tunnel! I was back with the books, and recalled him, since I was setting th3e
direction by the compass. When he came back to me, I had a note for him to
change his heading to South, and there just happened to be another split right
there. JJ dropped his stage bottle, and Casey went back to check the main
tunnel. JJ went forward and I held for Casey, while arranging the survey notes.
Casey cam back and we followed JJ. It turned out that theere was a huge
"island"
in the main passage which marked another big side tunnel and the main tunnel.
We
popped back into the giant conduit, went a little further, and hit Bill Gavin's
line dead in front of us, conecting the Big Dismal System into Leon Sinks Cave
System, instantly producing the longest underwater cave in the U.S. , the
longest distance between underwater sinkholes in the World (12,700 between
Cheryl and Big Dismal), expanding Leon Sinks to 80,000 feet of passage, and far
more importantantly proving two things: that there is massive interconnection
between surface and groundwater features covering tens of miles in the
Woodville
Karst Plain, and we are the ONLY right team to be there exploring it.
One day, one dive. That is all it took . Pretty work, I have to say to all
of
the WKPP Team. CAN'T TOUCH THIS ! And to all of our detractors who say I can't
survey that fast accurately, we had it exactly right.
George Irvine
WKPP
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