David,

I will be happy to discuss any/all of it online.

Dave

--- "David B. Widen" <dwiden@co*.ne*> wrote:
> David
> 
> I am out of town on a slow connection. I have not
> talked to anyone in
> reference to this but have several questions for
> you. I will draft them
> offline and submit. 
> 
> Do you wish to discuss this offline first?
> 
> David
> 
> -----Original Message-----
> From: dmdalton [mailto:dmdalton2000@ya*.co*] 
> Sent: Tuesday, July 23, 2002 1:37 PM
> To: TECHDIVER; DC-SCUBA; Atlantic Divers List
> Subject: Nova Tech Dive Report 7/21/02 & Lessons
> Learned
> 
> Trip report:
> 
> Sunday, July 21, 2002 found 4 Nova Tech divers
> diving
> out of Virginia Beach, VA on the Miss Lindsey with
> others with whom they regularly dive of the VB Tech
> group.  Nova Tech group divers consisted of Todd
> Clagett and Allyson Clagett diving as a buddy team 1
> 
> and David Dalton, Sr. & David Dalton, Jr. diving as
> buddy team 2.  Team 1 is generally more interested
> in
> artifact recovery and Team 2 leans more toward
> sightseeing.
> 
> We arrived at the site of the Eureka (118 fsw) at
> approximately 10:30, geared up and were in the water
> at 11:30.  Visibility was a spectacular 70 ft and
> water temps on the bottom were a pleasant 61
> degrees,
> with surface temp being much warmer.  There was a
> strong current and it was very nice to be using
> scooters to deal with it.  More on that later!
> 
> Team 1 went right to digging in a hole that wasn't
> more than 15 feet from where the wreck was tied in.
> They left the numerous bottles they unearthed for
> the
> second dive bringing up just one.  Team 2 toured the
> wreck with D1 (Sr) pulling D2 (Jr) with his Gavin
> scooter.  D2 carried a camera and shot two rolls
> which
> are in the process of being developed as I write. 
> The
> clarity of the water allowed one to get a very good
> understanding of the layout of the wreck.  Viewing
> the
> two large anchors on the port side of the bow, at
> the
> same time was incredible.  Both Teams completed
> their
> planned 40  minute bottom times and required deco
> and
> got back on board.
> 
> Todd advised that he had just broken into a new
> crate
> of bottles and showed one he had stuffed in his
> pocket, a square bottle of Dr. Prichard's Castoria
> with the good doctor's name and the product name
> cast
> into the bottle. Although these bottles were from
> the
> 1890's when this ship sunk, D1 is old enough (54) to
> remember taking this patent medicine as a child.  It
> was still sold in a square bottle and appeared that
> the only change was from a cork to a screw top.
> 
> Todd's discovery generated considerable excitement
> between both teams and both decided to concentrate
> on
> excavating that hole on the second dive.
> 
> Both teams brought bags down to carry back bottles
> on
> the second dive.  Todd, being the master digger with
> a
> scooter, went to work while the other 3 stuffed the
> bags as he handed out bottles.
> 
> About 20 minutes into the dive Allyson developed a
> problem with one of her regs and after the situation
> was handled both teams decided to end the dive. 
> Team
> 1 started their ascent and deco and Team 2 hooked up
> the two bags of bottles and started their ascent. 
> Rather than hang on the line like a flag in the
> breeze
> we were doing "drift and run deco". Drift 50 or 60
> feet from the anchor line and then run back to it
> with
> the scooter, then drift again and repeat, obviously
> only a technique one would employ in good viz. 
> Between 40 & 50 feet the current picked up quite a
> bit
> and we (Team 2) inadvertently drifted out of sight
> of
> the anchor line.  We ran some circular patterns on
> the
> scooter but to no avail.  We settled in, shot a bag,
> completed our deco drift style, and upon completion
> surfaced to find the boat several hundred yards
> away. 
> We dropped down to 15 feet and scootered toward the
> boat for about 2 minutes.  We surfaced again and saw
> that we were making progress so we dropped down and
> tried it again.  This time I could hear the motor on
> the scooter slowing and realized we were out of
> juice.
> 
> We returned to the surface, and found we were even
> farther away than before.  We fully inflated the
> lift
> bag, hooked up the dive-alerts an honked them and
> flashed the HID light in the direction of the boat.
> 
> Todd later advised that he saw us as soon as we
> surfaced but we were not aware of this. Consequently
> we continued to signal and honk.  Interestingly no
> one
> heard the dive alert (other than us!) and the HID
> light (a 10 Watt EE Pro 6) was more visible than the
> yellow lift bag. (Note to self: Never dive in the
> ocean without the HID!)
> 
> As we were the last divers in the water the boat
> didn't have to wait TOOOOOOOOO long before coming to
> get us.  The mate went in to pull the hook, they
> pulled up the hangbars and gear lines and got
> underway.  All of this took about 30 minutes which
> doesn't seem like too long, but when you don't know
> if
> anyone knows where you are and you re drifting
> farther
> and farther from the boat, I can assure you it seems
> like much longer!
> 
> Lessons learned:
> 
> 1) Switch batteries on the scooter between dives. 
> If
> we had fresh batteries in the scooter we could have
> made it back to the boat even following our drift
> deco.
> 
> 2) Make sure you have appropriate signaling devices.
> Lift bag, safety sausage, HID light, dive-alert.  On
> the last, while the dive-alert has it's place, which
> is probably in situations where fog blows in and you
> are relatively close to the boat, its not much good
> at
> longer distances as I have now learned.
> 
> Along this same line it would be comforting for the
> team in the water if the boat had someway of
> signaling
> back that they knew where you were and would come
> get
> you shortly (Horn, flare, guy in a lime green
> drysuit
> waving his arms on the top of the boat)!
> 
> 3) This situation pointed out the need for chase
> boats
> when diving in strong currents, or for the boat to
> be
> able to put a float on the anchor line, so they can
> leave to pick up/attend to the divers on a lift bag.
> While the Miss Lindsey has a chase boat it was not
> used in this case.  In this case we were able to
> complete our deco, surface and wait to be picked up.
> 
> If a diver was injured or did not have appropriate
> gas
> to complete his deco (like hanging it off the boat
> instead of carrying it with you) the outcome might
> not
> have been as favorable.
> 
> 4)  Stay calm.  While we were concerned as to
> whether
> or not anyone knew where we were, we remained calm
> which helped to contribute to the favorable outcome
> of
> this dive.  There was no reason to panic, the water
> was warm, we were in trilam drysuits with thinsulate
> undergarments, we had a 10 watt hid that would burn
> for 5 + hours which would be especially good for
> signaling in the dusk or at night and we had 4 back
> up
> lights between us.  We had just eaten several Miss
> Lindsey "Deco Dogs" before the second dive so our
> nutritional requirements were taken care of (those
> things will stay with you forever!).  We were well
> hydrated and I had a P-valve in my drysuit - too bad
> my son did not (You've never seen anyone get out of
> a
> drysuit and run for the head so fast)!!!!
> 
> 5) If you are doing a "drift and run" deco, make
> sure
> you don't lose sight of the anchor line.
> 
> All in all, it was an incredible day of diving,
> great
> weather, great viz, great bottles (yes we still had
> both bags when we got back on the boat), and a very
> worthwhile learning experience.  What more could you
> ask for?
> 
> Dave Dalton
> 
> 
> =====
> Dave Dalton
> 
> "You just can't show up for "Game Day" and expect to
> win.
>   You've got to go to practice if you want to be
> ready!"
> 
>     
> http://home.earthlink.net/~toddclagett/NovaTech/
> 
> __________________________________________________
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> 


=====
Dave Dalton

"You just can't show up for "Game Day" and expect to win.
  You've got to go to practice if you want to be ready!"

     http://home.earthlink.net/~toddclagett/NovaTech/

__________________________________________________
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