Tech Trip ‘04

Another year has come and gone and as always the annual tech trip comes too slow and is over too fast. This years trip is mostly RB’s but we had some open spots and a few open circuit guys jumped in with us. No problem, it helps though that they have Meg’s on order and are very much ready to absorb as much info as possible. Saturday evening found them huddled around Steve Stolen as he did a presentation on the Meg, its assembly, functioning, and capabilities.

Saturday afternoon, while we waited for the current to hit slack, Gordon Smith did the same for his new travel kiss RB. See that article on these pages under “travel KISS”.

Diving the Diamond Knot, or not?

One of the objectives of this trip was to dive the Diamond Knot. The “Knot” can be a difficult wreck to get down to, as many can attest to. It sunk in 1947 after being T-boned by another, larger ship. It was full of canned salmon and the cargo was valued at over 3 million 1947 dollars. After the ship went down a massive salvage effort was conducted by the insurance company. The salvage outfit assigned the job cut two massive holes in the side of the ship and literally vacuumed the cases of salmon out. The ship has since collapsed in on itself and although the bow and stern are still mostly intact, the center of the ship is a large pile of rubble. The once proud mast has managed to poke itself upright, coming off the superstructure horizontally and being bent 90deg straight up. The depth ranges from 135 fsw at the deepest part of the hull, up to about 70 feet at the top of the mast. There is still some areas that penetration is possible and of course one wouldn’t go in without the proper training and equipment. In the middle of the superstructure there is plenty of overhung areas that give the impression of penetration and inside one of these I found a massive ling cod that looked like she could have eaten a diver whole.

Getting there was quite an adventure. The Nautilus is a Canadian flagged vessel and the Knot is in USA waters, this requires a visit to US customs. Normally not a problem. Now, looking around this vessel, its pretty obvious that were not here to invade, attack, or otherwise molest. Just a bunch of simple folk, wanting to dive. Judging by the reception we received from US customs you would think we were a bunch of heavily armed terrorists. They wanted to confiscate all our beef and chicken, even though we were bringing none of it ashore. A few of the group wanted to come ashore and visit the local oyster bar or pub. We ended up being confined to the boat, not even allowed to touch the dock. Individual interviews for everyone on the boat were conducted by the rather overzealous officer. I was asked if I had ever been arrested, a couple divers were asked if they had any “wacky tobaccy”. Sounds like rather unprofessional interview technique. We sat at the dock for over 2.5 hours waiting to get cleared. Mike convinced the unfriendly customs inspector to allow us to keep our food, but they sealed our freezers until we left US waters. Curtis and Kent, who are allergic to fish, were confined to a vegetarian diet for two days. Most were disappointed that we were not allowed to visit Friday Harbor, I’m sure the proprietors of the businesses there felt the same.

Arriving in the area the Nautilus dropped anchor and the next morning the skiff left for the wreck. Unfortunately the skiff’s depth sounder chose that time to malfunction and the skiff returned with some disappointed divers. No problem, says Captain Mike, he pulls anchor and drives the Nautilus over to the wreck, finding the perfect spot and anchors as close to the wreck as is Captainly possible. We spent the next four hours waiting for the current to slack off. Apparently this area is famous for not following the usual rules for tidal currents. A few of our guys were timing a float dropped off the back of the boat until it reached its 200 foot tether line and calculating the speed of the current.

When the current broke the 1 knot mark divers were bouncing off of each other trying to get off the boat. I waited until the melee ended and I geared up and dropped in. Very nice dive, lots of life, kind of like a giant obstacle course in 3d. My CCR Dolphin preformed flawlessly on 10/50 trimix as usual.

That night we docked in Victoria harbor and after a few minutes of a customs inspection (freeing the beef) we were cleared to go. Quite a contrast to our US customs experience, the officers came into the main saloon and were treated to a 10 minute explanation of how rebreathers work by Bruce Partridge and Steve Stolen. Friendly and efficient. The way it should be.

A few guys headed for the local watering hole and Curtis found the oyster bar. Paul, Kim, Bruce and I went for a walk around the marina. Others stayed on the boat and played with gear or relaxed. A perfect holiday.

Victoria, BC at night is beautiful.

The Nautilus Explorer, our trusty steed.

The Place was thick with rebreathers and tech divers.

List of divers and what they were diving. We had 6 KISS RB’s, 1 travel/Sport KISS, 3 Drager Dolphins, 7 Innerspace Megalodons, 4 Inspirations, one Prism, 4 twin’s divers and one OC single tank diver that was a bit lost, but managed to hang on to some of his sanity.

Greg Grant KISS and MEG

Gary Anderson KISS

Alan Studley KISS

Gordon Smith KISS and a travel Kiss

Kim Smith KISS

Bruce Partridge E-CCR Shearwater KISS Read about the Shearwater electronic setpoint controller and dive computer on this site or at www.rebreather.ca.

Ron Micjan CCR Dolphin

Curtis nelson Dolphin

Dave Hancock Meg

Ron Benson Meg

Steve Stolen meg

Peter Den Haan Meg and a spare dolphin, thanks, Peter for the use of your dolphin’s exhale hose, as mine developed a split just before my last dive.

John McDougal Meg

Rich Christensen Meg

Kent Cedola Inspiration

William (Bill) Mattson Inspiration

Rick Peters Inspiration

Marty Steinberg Inspiration

Kevin Rottner Prism

Dan Warter OC Tech

Phil Breed OC Tech

Carl Stieglitz OC Tech

Scott Caldwell OC Tech

Paul Rosnethal OC

My apologies if I missed anyone or spelled anyone’s name wrong.

Nautilus Explorer was crewed by:

Mike, Mary Anne, Emily and Charlie Lever

Vern and Shelia

Greg

Kat

Diver Jud, and

Kim, the most fantastic chef that ever graced a boat.

Captain Mike Lever and Gordon Smith.

Mary Anne Lever and newest crew member Charlie Lever.

Crewmember “don’t even think about taking my picture” Katrina.

Maintaining a web site and writing interesting articles is more relaxing in the provided bath robes. I can pack more dive gear if I don’t have to pack clothes.

Kent Cedola is determined to steal Bill Gates job.

Ron Benson relaxes with a book about submarine warfare.

Kim Smith off gasses with a smile.

Marty Steinberg, powered by hot cocoa.

Peter and Carl making fun of Phil and his interpretation of the DIR philosophy. “It’s a seven FOOT hose you wrap around your neck not seven INCHES”

Professional videographer Alan Studley, (www.onlinewildlife.com), prepares the camera for Gordon’s Travel KISS teardown.

Greg, Kim and Rick, ready for the dive briefing.

Gary, Dave, Gordon and Bruce after a great day of diving.

Continue on for more great pics and our one emergency.

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