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Post by surflung on Jun 30, 2015 12:47:48 GMT -8
Ultimate Vintage Diving at Wazee 6/26/15
- We had a great Vintage Diving get together at Lake Wazee in Black River Falls, WI. Tom McClusky came with two completely coordinated vintage diving set-ups. Day one he had all Voit and Voit Swimaster gear. Day two he had a complete Aqualung yellow set-up. Sea Hunt Jerry brought his complete Mike Nelson outfit including silver wetsuit, lead weights, triple tanks, Voit 50 Fathom reg,... And a real Voit PortaSub scooter. This is probably the only working PortaSub in the world and we got to dive it. And, I think I was representing the "homebuilt" era of scuba diving... I was diving a tank that was converted from Oxygen, and a bunch of mis-matched vintage equipment.
- We managed to shoot some video... Hope you like it.
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Post by nikeajax on Jun 30, 2015 13:51:19 GMT -8
You dang kids think yer so smart lake divin', why when I was yer age we used to take turns feedin' each other to the sharks so's one of us could dive safely...  Very nice my friend, quite jealous right now, grumble, grumble, grumble... Jaybird |
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Post by surflung on Jul 1, 2015 6:46:05 GMT -8
- Thanks Jaybird. We sure had fun and shot all the video the first day, June 26th. Second day Jill and I got to the lake first, it was glass calm with bright sun, and we did the wall dive with no camera... And could clearly see the trees and rocks above us on shore. Coming back we even saw Becky and Tom looking down at us. - This Lake Wazee is not as tame of diving as it may seem, though. It's extremely deep, cold, and dark in some areas with huge standing and fallen trees underwater. We surfaced to the sound of sirens racing around the lake. A 54 year old woman diver was participating in "Scuba Diving Exercises" (whatever that means) and was found not breathing. Her fellow divers and EMTs tried to revive her but she didn't make it. - This lake has had (I think) 5 fatalities in about 5 years. That seems kind of high for sport diving and I've been wondering about it since last weekend. If you look up the news stories, there aren't any details. I know dive shops bring students here for basic open water certification but there are also some really advanced technical (deep) divers either practicing or getting some sort of advanced certification. The statement, "Found Not Breathing" sounds like natural causes or simple drowning. I think if it was decompression sickness or a pressure related injury, they would know it and report it... Wouldn't you think? www.leadertelegram.com/News/Local/Briefs/2015/06/29/Death-of-diver-being-investigated.html |
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Post by nikeajax on Jul 1, 2015 6:58:00 GMT -8
YIKES! I wonder if it's because the water is relatively calm? Sometimes things look deceptively simple, and that's where people get into trouble: be safe, use your brain!
Jaybird
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Post by nikeajax on Jul 1, 2015 7:09:42 GMT -8
Huh, thinking more on this high death rate thing... I wonder what percentage of divers using vintage gear get hurt as opposed to people using "safe modern gear": something tells me it's extremely lopsided... Perhaps it's because most vintage divers have to know what they're doing, out of love of the sport, in contrast to someone taking advantage of technology!
Jaybird
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Post by sitkadiver on Jul 1, 2015 10:14:32 GMT -8
I think the age of the diver, 54, is a big factor. I was reading a few threads on NWdiveclub that were talking about divers that were found unresponsive and with air still in their tanks. The general consensus seems to be that the dive community is getting larger and also slightly older. I have not seen any data from DAN, but I imagine there are a few data sets tabulated somewhere.
My thoughts are with her family.
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Post by SeaRat on Jul 1, 2015 10:29:07 GMT -8
Oh my, that's a tragedy. It's not age, but conditioning and continuance of diving...I'm 69.5, and believe I have at least another ten years of diving.
What we have is a population which is not well conditioned, which has few water skills, and wants to dive because they've seen these wonderful videos, like the one above. We have an obesity epidemic, and diabetes and heart disease rampant in our population. Someone getting into diving and learning can be lulled into thinking there is no exertion--BC's may contribute to this misconception. We used to call it "push-button diving," in a rather derogatory manner, when BCs were used for all vertical travel. Now, the BCs cost more than a regulator (especially a good vintage one on E-Bay). And people don't understand the physics of diving too. One statement jumped out at me. She was "found not breathing." That sounds like a complete breakdown in the buddy system.
John
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Post by nikeajax on Jul 1, 2015 12:29:02 GMT -8
John, I hear what you're saying, but when I hear "obesity epidemic" it makes me flinch! Yes, there are a lot of people who are fat who are out of condition, but there are others like my wife who have really good cardio conditioning: you should see her swim and the way she tears up the pool, and a lot of times will make hay of the young jocks who sniff at her at first sight. I think a perfect example of fat athletes is the sumo-wrestler. People assume that if your BMI is low you're healthy, and NOTHING could be further from the truth: it should be taken on an individual basis.
Jaybird
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Post by sitkadiver on Jul 1, 2015 12:29:30 GMT -8
I did a quick Google search after reading Eben's comment about multiple fatalities. This most recent case popped up as did another case from 2013. The brief article about the 2013 case in Lake Wazee stated the divers were training for a deep dive class. That could certainly be a factor, especially if divers are normally diving shallow fresh water, and then hit deep, dark and cold water. I know a lot of people who shrug off fresh water lakes as not having the same challenges as the marine environment, however, I've have some challenging dives in fresh water lakes.
I was once diving in Millerton Lake in CA and trying to photograph submerged trees. It was a beautiful and surreal sight in the spring and summer after the snow melts. Anyway, the thermocline was always surprising, and the amount of light lost so rapidly caused me on one occasion to become completely disoriented. I'll try to share more on that later....
For now, I don't know if it's disrespectful to the family of the deceased to continue discussing this case or not. As a diver, I want to learn more and make myself and my buddies better divers. On the other hand, I feel like I should be respecting the privacy of the family and letting them mourn without running across my rant on a dive forum. This diver was from Lodi, WI. I don't know anything else about her.
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Post by SeaRat on Jul 1, 2015 12:52:16 GMT -8
Let me be clear--I'm not talking about this particular accident. I'm speaking in general terms about today's divers. Jaybird, I hear you about BMI not being predictive of cardiac conditioning. Certain populations are more prone to putting on weight too--native Hawaiians, for instance, have this genetic characteristic because it helped those with that genetic makeup to survive the long-distance trip via canoe to the various islands. But, today's population is both getting fatter and out-of-condition. This is even affecting the military. I, for instance, am a body mass index (BMI, by the calculator) of 27 (5'10" and 188 pounds); that is considered "overweight." But it comes in handy in a shorty wet suit and 68 degree water.  I used to be 5'11", which would have helped my BMI, but that was years ago. When I was going through Pararescue Training in 1967, we had an instructor, SSgt. Peterson, who was incensed because some flight surgeon told him he was too heavy, and had to loose weight to be in the correct weight for his height. But he was a weight lifter, and held the Mr. England title at the time. He had no fat whatsoever on his body. At one point, we were "running" in formation around a track while singing, and he was supervising. He called us sissies, said he could do back flips faster than we were running, and proceeded to do back flips around the track on the inside for a quarter mile faster than we were trotting and singing. Jaybird, I here you... I'm curious how deep the lake is where this accident occurred--what depths are possible? Concerning the thermocline, I'm very familiar with that, and in the summer it can become very pronounced, with a 20+ degree change in water temperature at the thermocline. Also, I've seen thermoclines that were so sharp you could put your finger into it from above, and see the difference in the water too. I've seen that in Lake Chelane in Washington, and Lake Tahoe. (I don't worry much about it in the Clackamas River.) If a diver is not wearing a hood, the dramatic temperature change can lead to headaches and worse, and a very quick development of hypothermia. John |
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Post by george on Jul 2, 2015 3:57:33 GMT -8
Age is not the problem as John said it is condition and the mind set of people today, My dive instruc
tor is 86 and still dives I have a brother who was one of the first Navy Seals he is 73 and still dives. My brother has made the coment that the dive buss.today gives just enough information to new students to get them killed, the training is not as indepth as it was say 30 or more years ago.
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Post by surflung on Nov 25, 2015 10:29:30 GMT -8
Jaybird was asking about vintage scooters and this video has quite a bit of footage of Sea Hunt Jerry Lang's restored Voit Porta Sub.
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I used to be 5'11", which would have helped my BMI, but that was years ago. When I was going through Pararescue Training in 1967, we had an instructor, SSgt. Peterson, who was incensed because some flight surgeon told him he was too heavy, and had to loose weight to be in the correct weight for his height. But he was a weight lifter, and held the Mr. England title at the time. He had no fat whatsoever on his body. At one point, we were "running" in formation around a track while singing, and he was supervising. He called us sissies, said he could do back flips faster than we were running, and proceeded to do back flips around the track on the inside for a quarter mile faster than we were trotting and singing. Jaybird, I here you...
