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Dudes (and Dude-ettes), Just thought in the interest of admitting screw-ups, and to preclude any future hosing I might get as a result, I should report my first dive on the Monitor this last Sunday. Well, the day started off well - Rod and I were up until 2:30 AM prepping our rigs for the big day - we had been mixing gas before then, and we got a pretty late start, so we were up that late not as a result of the complexity of our rebreathers, but due to timing more than anything. We finally arrive at the dive site, and attach the buoy to the line that runs down to an anchor placed 100'+ away from the wreck by the NOAA guys. (This made Rod particularly happy, since whoever placed that fucking anchor was obviously not a diver) Everyone is suiting up - 3 multi-tank cave diving IANTD mixed gas dudes that looked right out of one of George's video's plus two hardcore CCR-155 divers (me and Farb). Since I've got a Mark 16 that has been retrofitted with 15 electronics (so Dick King wouln't have to go to jail for selling classified electronics), I've got no "On/Off" switch (the Navy doesn't trust their divers with it). This means I've got to plug the battery in just before my dive. So, I plug it in. It registers 12.5 volts. The O2 Solenoid is supposed to fire down to 9 volts. But not on Sundays. My O2 solenoid refuses to fire. I am at a loss. Everyone is hopping ready to get in the water, and Rod is ready as well. He and I have no idea what the problem is. All systems register 12.5 volts from the battery, and my primary electronics is lit up just fine. So, I decide to abort, so as not to slow down the rest of the boys. Turns out, that when I belatedly remembered that I had brought a brand new battery as a backup, I plugged it in, and the solenoid fired like a virgin on her wedding night. So, I unplug the new battery, and plug back in the old. Guess what? The solenoid now fires with the old battery. Go figure. I'll be talking to Dick King about that soon. So, I missed my chance to join Rod as the first two rebreather divers on the Monitor. Rod got down there, and we all applauded his latest "first" But all day long, I'm sitting on the Margie II playing the role of "Stroke on a Boat." This has taught me two things: 1) If its a really important dive, go with a new battery. 2) My rebreather still weighs 1/3 of all the deep gear that these other guys wore. Of course, they got down to the Monitor and I did not, but like I said, it was my day to play Stroke on a Boat... Monday, there's a 3 knot current on the Monitor, so we abort. Today, there are high winds out there, and no one is getting out of the inlet. I told Art Kirchner, the captain of the ship that if we can't get to the Monitor tomorrow, I will personally don my $13,000 rebreather, and clean the bottom of his boat... One day, when I grow up, I want to be a technical diver... Kevin HeyyDude
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