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Randy Sullivan/Sault Ste. Marie, Ontario wrote 10/31/98: <<<<When and where is the info on this dive going to be posted. The reas= on I ask is that the depth is very close to the deepest wreck dive ever to my knowledge .(Fitz 526').>>>> I received a copy of Jeff Hewlett's description of the dive and will include it here. The Third Quarter 1998 issue of DeepTech has an article by Jim Bowden listing the (known) Sub-500-foot Dives in chronological sequence from 198= 2 to publication date. The "open ocean" dives that I could identify were Americans T. Tysall and M. Zee's dives to 530'/192m in 1995 in Lake Superior USA using Dr. X tables and experiencing "No DCS." There was also= a 685'/208m dive in 1996 attributed to Thoctaricles, a Greek diver in the Mediterranean Sea. The Lake Superior/wreck of Edmund Fitzgerald dives hav= e been well-reported; I don't know any more about the Mediterranean Sea div= e. The bulk of the rest of the 38 dives listed appear to be cave dives in countries other than the U.S. Adri Haine wrote 10/31/98: <<<<I'm very curious about how Jeff Hewlett will explain the use of the 9/52 mixture at that depth, and how the air figures in all this. I would think= a 8/75 or 8/67 mix would have been a better bottom mix>>>> Jess Armantrout wrote 10/30/98: <<<<I hope the detailed report will include an explanation of the gas selection, especially the air, the 230' EAD and 1.454 po2 bottom mix and the 80/20.>>>> Clayton used Air surface-200fsw, Heliair 9/52 200fsw-bottom-200fsw, Air 200fsw-100fsw, EAN40 100fsw-30fsw, EAN80 30fsw-surface. The bottom mix Clayton used was a personal choice derived after a significant list of sub-300/400' open ocean dives. He said he was "in complete control" throughout the dive and suffered no ill-effects postdiv= e. This may not fully answer the questions and additional detail from Hewlet= t or Clayton might be desirable/valuable. Neither of them are members of th= e techdiver list, but I'll be happy to relay question/discussion items to/from them and they can respond by e-mail or fax as appropriate. ****** Jeff Hewlett's report text ******** An update on the PANAM dive project; please pass to interested parties: = = The wreck of the PANAM, off the North Carolina coast, was dove on Sunday,= 25 Oct at 10:56 A.M to1:15 P.M. EST. The project lead, Ken Clayton, from Laurel Maryland, made the solo dive to the wreck, reaching a bottom dept= h of 505/511 FSW (per bottom timer respectively; adjusted for cpu calibration; approx. 495 FSW). This was the first dive on this wreck and possibly, except for the dive on the Edmund Fitzgerald the second deepest SCUBA wre= ck dive .** Depending on definition, this may also be an "offshore wreck dive world record.** = Vessel used was the six pack motor vessel "Bottom Time", owned and captained by Gordon Smith, Beaufort, N.C. Surface and dive support team included Jeff Hewlett (USAF, Yorktown VA), working deep support (100 to 2= 20 FSW); Kurt Mondlak (USN, Virginia Beach VA) handled mid level support (4= 0 to 100 FSW) , and Brian Moore (Morehead City, N.C.) crew/diver for the bo= at "Bottom Time", provided final shallow support. Chris Crumley, photojournalist of Virginia Beach VA, provided both surface and underwat= er photo documentation to 120 FW. He is preparing a photo-illustrated artic= le for publication. = Due the location of the wreck site and depth; very favorable weather and Gulf Stream conditions are needed (highly recommended). Such weather conditions began developing on 20 Oct with a strong wind out of the north= pushing into the N.C. region. The weather conditions continued to look favorable on 22 Oct, and by Friday 23 Oct the available team members and boat crew committed to the dive. A second deep and support diver reporte= d they might not be able to make the run. Final gases were blended and equipment readied for a Saturday 24 Oct rendezvous in Morehead City. Clayton, Hewlett and Mondlak completed a weather, sea state, and dive pla= n review Saturday evening. Included in the review was a two vs. three vs. four support diver and a single vs. two deep diver option. Because the status of two divers was still undetermined, that is, not in Morehead Cit= y at this time, the execution of "the option" very probable. = At 0500, Sunday 25 Oct, the Bottom Time pulled out of the Morehead City Yacht Basin and headed for the PANAM. Weather and sea state conditions n= ow being the drivers; we could not delay the departure. It would be a solo deep dive with a two/three man support team; depending upon the crews availability. A three hour 20 minute boat run was followed by 35 minute= s of "hunting" and anchoring on the wreck site; Gordon snagged the wreck on= the first pass and deployed 580 feet of line attached to 75 feet of anch= or chain. An additional hour was spend setting deco equipment and checking conditions down to 200 FSW. Overall it was a perfect dive day ... calm seas, no currents, 77o surface to midlevel water, and blue seas with vis approaching 100 plus feet. With little need for a large amount of scope,= the anchor line was approaching near vertical. = Clayton entered the water at 10:56 A.M. and would exit at 1:15 P.M. An 1= 1 minute descent was followed by seven minutes on the wreck site. The anch= or was firmly attached to the stern section, starboard side. Bottom repor= t, wreck is up right and intact, stern superstructure has collapsed. The on= ly marine life spotted (by any diver): a large ray at 100 FSW, a school of Amber jacks at 400 FSW; which stayed with Clayton as his reached the wrec= k, and several very large groupers roaming the wreck. Recovering, Clayton reached 200 FSW at an approx. 23 minutes run time, switched to air and again "OKed" Hewlett. At 120 FSW, Hewlett transferred a 40 EAN bottle then monitored the actual gas switch at 100 FSW. Mondlak relieved Hewlett at = 80 FSW, he now carried the back-up 40 EAN and would stay with Clayton up through his 20 FSW stop. Hewlett moved to the 30/10 FSW deco stops. At= sixty minutes run time, Moore joined the team and took up the 30 FSW station. At seventy minutes run time, with Clayton now at the 20 FSW dec= o stop and on surface supplied 80 EAN, Mondlak relieved Hewlett. Crumley completed the underwater photo documentation during these first seventy minutes then surfaced. All diver recovered to the Bottom Time between 13= 15 and 1320. = As Gordon readied the boat to return to Morehead City, Moore commented about the "extra" equipment (effectively unused) and how "smooth" everything went. Mondlak replied, "... redundancy, good planning, and team execution..." Not a bad lesson. = The weather held and the ride back was smooth; a perfect end to the offshore season and a three year effort. = Regards to all, = Jeff H> = ** Please help verify this statement, send me your inputs. Other than th= e 525 FFW dive to the Edmund Fitzgerald, I can think of no other SCUBA dive= to a wreck at this depth. The "Mitchell series", also organized by Clayton,= have reached a maximum of 415 FSW on the ship wreck "Frankfurt". = -- Send mail for the `techdiver' mailing list to `techdiver@aquanaut.com'. Send subscribe/unsubscribe requests to `techdiver-request@aquanaut.com'.
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