Re: [PSUBS-MAILIST] 2006 Sub Convention

["Rick and Marcia" <empiricus@telus.net>]

Centrally located.  I might be able to make that one.  buddy of mine's a
pilot, Rheal also.  Maybe we can fly out.

cheers
Rick L


----- Original Message -----
From: "Ray Keefer" <psubs2001@yahoo.com>
To: <personal_submersibles@psubs.org>
Sent: Thursday, June 29, 2006 9:10 AM
Subject: Re: [PSUBS-MAILIST] 2006 Sub Convention


> Hi Rick,
>
> The talk was that we are going to Michigan next year.
>
> Regards,
> Ray
>
> --- Rick and Marcia <empiricus@telus.net> wrote:
>
> > MessageAlec - thanks for the great play-by-play!
> > I'd have loved to be there but it's called
> > "commitments".
> >
> > Any chance of a Wet Coast site next year???
> >
> > Rick L
> >
> >
> >
> >   ----- Original Message -----
> >   From: Smyth, Alec
> >   To: PSUBS
> >   Sent: Monday, June 26, 2006 9:12 PM
> >   Subject: [PSUBS-MAILIST] 2006 Sub Convention --
> > warning this is a LONG narrative
> >
> >
> >   As I write this it is Monday night, and rain is
> > falling with an intensity one would normally
> > associate with tropical rainstorms. It's been coming
> > down since Thursday. Roads are cut by mudslides,
> > whole neighborhoods flooded, and commutes have
> > turned into 4 hour marathons. It was a nice weekend
> > we picked for a three day camping trip!
> >
> >
> >
> >   I set out last Friday at 6 AM towing Snoopy toward
> > Raystown Lake, about three and a half hours away.
> > When I was only a few miles from my destination, the
> > scenery had become hilly and I was driving along
> > quite distractedly when I had to stop at an
> > intersection. It was only when I came to a full stop
> > that I noticed the vehicle in front of me; a school
> > bus towing a submarine! And the vehicle in front of
> > that was a huge truck carrying two more subs. By
> > chance I'd fallen in with the Michigan contingent,
> > who had driven 600 miles to be here. All I knew was
> > that most participants would arrive sometime on
> > Friday, but this was ridiculously good timing.
> >
> >
> >
> >   At that point the weather was overcast yet we'd
> > all heard the ominous forecast of severe
> > thunderstorms for the next three days, so we set
> > about pitching tents while we could still do so in
> > relative comfort. Then we started climbing around
> > each other's subs and several hours passed. We went
> > to lunch and who should walk in, but Dan Lance. Dan
> > had not registered for the convention because he
> > didn't think his work would allow for it, yet there
> > he was. After that we investigated renting a boat at
> > the marina but found they only offered daily rates,
> > so felt it wasn't worth while for the couple of
> > hours that were left in the day. No problem, we
> > spent the rest of the afternoon climbing all over
> > other folks' submarines again. You should see Gary
> > Sluis's hatch locking mechanism, I think that item
> > alone provided an hour's worth of conversation. Les
> > and his school bus were our refuge when it rained,
> > and he acted as a shuttle driver too.
> >
> >
> >
> >   That evening we had a cookout at a picnic shelter,
> > and quite a few convention goers timed their
> > appearances perfectly to arrive at the same time as
> > the food. As the brilliant organizer, I'd brought
> > along a large bag of charcoal but neither lighter
> > fluid nor matches. No problem, it seemed we had an
> > army of former scouts and ended up with a fire in
> > due time. I must admit I was itching to get in the
> > water, but by the time we were done with the cookout
> > it was dark. And did I mention it was raining? No
> > matter. It's wonderful being in the company of
> > madmen because when you propose taking your sub down
> > to the boat ramp in the middle of a rainy night,
> > everyone thinks it a grand idea. So off we went.
> > Doug Farrow piloted a kayak that was our surface
> > support vessel. He paddled wearing a Divelink
> > headset to stay in communication through the dive.
> > Nathan Hatcher was the support diver, and snorkeled
> > along on the surface with a dive light. The rest of
> > the crew got me launched in short order. There was
> > an infinite supply of ready volunteers there to put
> > blocks under the trailer tires, extend the tongue,
> > drive the truck, etc. All I had to do was sit
> > regally in Snoopy watching everyone get rained on,
> > and power off the trailer with thrusters once Snoopy
> > floated free.
> >
> >
> >
> >   I had intended to dive close to the ramp, but
> > there was less than a foot of water under Snoopy
> > anywhere in that vicinity, so we set out a little
> > way into the lake. The last thing I'd added to
> > Snoopy before the convention was a set of navigation
> > lights, a red and white light on the bow and a white
> > one on the stern. At that moment the rain stopped
> > and conditions became completely calm and perhaps a
> > little misty. With the kayak and sub both running in
> > total silence and making barely a ripple, it made
> > for a very special atmosphere out there which I'm
> > afraid was probably lost on the volunteers ashore.
> > After covering a couple of hundred yards I submerged
> > and had an uneventful dive skimming through the
> > weeds. I'd wanted to dive at night for several
> > reasons; I'd been out at night in the Florida Keys
> > last summer, and though I'd called off the dive that
> > time due to a malfunction, the glow of the sub's
> > lights in the water was still with me. I'd never
> > taken Snoopy deep enough to pilot in darkness, so a
> > night dive would provide a simulation of those
> > conditions in less depth. And I was also aware the
> > weather might become so bad as to make diving
> > difficult the next few days, so felt like it was a
> > good idea to dive while we could. But most of all,
> > frankly I was just longing to dive because we were
> > finally at the lake!
> >
> >
> >
> >   Throughout the evening, I'd been following Greg
> > Cottrell's progress towards Raystown with occasional
> > cell phone calls. He was towing a five thousand
> > pound sub with a truck that was overheating and a
> > transmission that was beginning to slip. We were in
> > the school bus when we finally saw a pair of
> > headlamps through the rain and welcomed him into
> > camp. He credited the rain with getting him there by
> > lowering the temperature of the night air. Time for
> > bed.
> >
> >
> >
> >   That night saw an unmitigated tempest a la Cape
> > Horn, and my brand new Walmart tent could keep only
> > a fraction of the water on the outside. I concluded
> > that Les, in his school bus, was undoubtedly a wise
> > man.
> >
> >
> >
> >   We were indeed all up by 8 AM, probably because of
> > our wet sleeping bags. But miraculously all we had
> > weather-wise was overcast skies. Everyone chipped in
> > and we rented a pontoon boat for our surface support
> > vessel, but conversation and sub crawling meant it
> > was about midday before we got down to the ramp with
> > the subs. We set out with quite a fleet. As I
> > recall, it consisted of the pontoon boat, a second
> > rented utility boat, two or three kayaks, and Les
> > and my subs, to be joined later by Greg's after some
> > fitting out. The modus operandi was for the subs to
> > dive near the pontoon boat, with the kayaks milling
> > about and heading off the inevitable "stupid
> > tourist" surface traffic. The kayakers looked like
> > motorcycle cops, except they had dive flags sticking
> > up behind them.
> >
> >
> >
> >   Dale Heinzig, Snoopy's builder, had tested her
> > unmanned to 400 feet, but since then major work on
> > the pressure hull meant she should be retested
> > before going deep, so I had set myself a limit of 50
> > feet. Our initial dives were in only about 20, close
> > to a beach where the visibility was very limited.
> > After an hour or two there we moved our little
> > armada across the inlet to an island, next to which
> > the chart indicated there was a steep drop-off. As I
> > was towed across the inlet I could see depths of
> > about 160 feet on sonar until we were a stone's
> > throw from the island. Then all of a sudden the
> > depth soundings decreased precipitously. I dove
> > where the soundings were exactly 50 feet, and Mark
> > Ragan accompanied me down on SCUBA.
> >
> >
> >
> >   Snoopy was a few pounds heavy even with the VBT
> > fully blown, so I was keen to hit bottom at 50 feet
> > to stay within my limit. I watched the depth gauge
> > increase while the soundings got progressively
> > shallower, indicating the bottom rising up towards
> > me. Right on cue I hit bottom, except this was not
> > the usual flattish bottom. At an extreme angle, it
> > looked almost like a rock wall. The sub hit with the
> > mechanical grabber just when I was about to start
> > the thrusters to stop the descent. Snoopy hung on
> > the slope by the tip of the mechanical grabber on
> > the bow and assumed a marked stern-down trim. I
> > looked around a bit and turned on the lights. It's
> > interesting seeing this descent on video, because
> > the white grabber turns light green, then ever
> > darker green, and finally disappears altogether into
> > pitch darkness long before 50 feet. The camera is a
> > high end one with excellent sensitivity, yet I could
> > still
> === message truncated ===
>
>
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