DA ANCHORLINE

NEWSLETTER   August 10, 2004, Issue 42

Members are encouraged to submit articles, dive plans and dive reports.

Visit club web site at https://www.angelfire.com/nj4/divers/

Photographs can be viewed at the above noted website.

Editor: Tom Gormley

(If anyone missed last month’s DA Anchorline, the reason was bad hardware.  It is amazing what a new power supply unit will do for your computer!)

Contents

Next Meeting Notice

Peggy’s News

DA Movie Night

DA Dive Log

DA Dive Plan

DA Calendar

Next Meeting Notice

Monday August 30, 2004

Ken Capek will do a presentation on “Hyperbaric Medicine”

At

730PM Mario’s Restaurant

710 Van Houten Avenue, Clifton, NJ

New Guests are welcome to attend this meeting

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Peggy’s News

Coroner calls for tighter rules at fatal dive site - part 1
Empress of Ireland Wreck
by Mike King, The Gazette, Montreal

Tighter safety measures are needed around the sunken Empress of Ireland to protect scuba divers who visit the luxury liner's remains at the bottom of the St. Lawrence River, a Quebec coroner has suggested.
Dispite the death of six divers at the wreck over the years, the provincially protected cultural site shouldn't be closed to them, Andree Kronstrom wrote in her 38-page report on the latest accident.
The Canadian Pacific steamship Empress of Ireland collided with the Norwegian vessel Storstad, loaded with coal, shortly after 2 am on May 29, 1914. The Empress sank in 14 minutes, killing 1,012 people. It was Canada's worst maritime disaster.
Kronstrom conducted a public inquest last year into the Aug. 4 2002, death of Serge Cournoyer.
The 33-yr-old diver died after running
out of air while inspecting the bottom of the St. Lawrence, 44 meters below the surface off Ste, Luce sur Mer, near Rimouski.
In the report made public yesterday, Kronstrom concluded Cournoyer's death could have been avoided, as several contributing factor's could have ben covercome or prevented.
She found Cournoyer and his partner has only limited diving experience and knowledge. The combination of lack of experience and adequate training explains why Cournoyer dived to the wreck without a winch, an emergency plan or suufficient lighting.
Although Cournoyer was initially in visual contact with his fellow diver, the two became separated. Mud dislodged by their movements considerably restricted their field of vision, Kronstrom wrote.
Without proper lighting or a winch, Cournoyer had no way of finding his way back.

Part 2

The Corner made 22 recomendatipns to avoid similar casualties. Many of her suggestions focus on the Federation quebecoise des activites subaquatiques and the Societe des recifs artificiels de l'estuaire du Quebec joining forces to produce an awareness campaign.
The federation is a non-profit association that represents Quebec divers and diving organizations. The society is a group of local diving enthusiasts who wpearheaded an artificial-reef project in Sept. 2001.
She also called on NAUI, PADI as well as the American and Canadian Underwater Certifications to translate their documents into French

Part 3

To avoid more diving deaths at the Empress of Ireland Wreck, coroner Andree Kronstrom has recommended:
1. ...publish each year, an article in its magazine about the Empress of Ireland's resting place & dangers.
2. The federation update its website, ww.fqas.qc.ca , to add the most recent information about diving the shipwreck. 
3. Ensure divers are properly registered before descending to the wreck and keep a log of the number of divers who make frequent visits to the site.
4. NAUI, Padi... review technical material concerning diving and rescue.
5. The Surete du Quebec be available to participate in conferences & other activities organized by diving clubs.
6. Rimouski dive shops have all pertinent information about the wreck on hand.
7. Quebec Culture & Communications Dept monitor deterioration of the wreck.
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E-mail:  mailto:pegdiver@monmouth.com

http://www.scubanj.org/

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DA Movie Night

Join us at the Clifton Commons to view this film about two divers stranded in shark infested waters. More info will come about this event, but send Tom an email if you are interested.

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DA Dive Log

Sunday June 27 saw Tom’s charter of the Spring Tide head out for the Shrewsbury Rocks and then the Burnett. The day was a good one after two cancellations previously. Even Captain Tom went for a dive it was so good. Onboard if divers weren’t diving, there were some fishing rods available. Several members hauled in some skates and sharks. Jimmy caught the most, about 25 fish while Tom landed a 4 foot shark. It was quite a day with some speared fish and mussels also being taken.

Sunday, July 11 saw several DA divers aboard the Sea Lion for some diving on Tom’s Rocks and the Dual Wrecks. The day turned out to be possibly the best day at sea in years. The sky was blue, the seas were extremely calm and the Vis turned out to be Bermuda like. Divers  Mike G, Cara, Ed, Larry M, Tom, Norva, Rich M, Don V, Al N, Chris N, Brian M, and Seth met in Brielle to board the Sea Lion with Capt Al and mates Phil and Ed, The first dive was on the aforementioned rocks where divers toured, worked on new boat diver skills, took some video, speared some fish and overall had some nice long bottom time on a 40 to 50 foot dive. On the second dive not only could people on the boat watch the divers swim around, Capt Al spotted an anchor that he wanted retrieved for his boat. The Vis was superb. Estimates were from 40 to 60 feet; possibly the best seen in these parts. Some divers stayed down for an hour and a half enjoying the underwater scenery of these historic wrecks, the Adonis and Rusland. Maybe we can see some video at this year’s holiday party.

Saturday and Sunday July17 and 18 were our DA Days at Dutch Springs. The weather held out for most of the weekend for our crew. Joel, Wanda, Tom, Al, Mike, Sarah, Brian, Larry, Steve, Connie and Leo had many great dives, fun eating lots of food, treasure hunts, night dives, prizes, camping, rescue, class and more. The food was very abundant. We even had watermelon, cheese curls, banana bread, brownies, and soy dogs for the diet disadvantaged members. Hope to see you all at next year’s weekend.

Thursday, July 28 Tom, Rich, and Mike did some diving off the Norva Heather. On the first dive with the help of a newly deployed Hummingbird Max 10 and some nifty navigation by Capt Tom, the divers landed right on top of the Meta. Rich tied on the anchor twice and proceeded to do a 55 minute tour of the wreck. Tom also got to dive some after Rich returned. After picking up Mike, the trio went to look for the Manasquan Wreck, Amity. As per our July guests report, the wreck was sanded over. All Mike and Tom could find was a line tied to the wreck with lots of sand below it. They did see a huge school of stingrays though which was at first startling and then quite spectacular. Rich and Mike did a third dive at the RR Bridge while Tom relaxed with some Spikes chowder and a root beer. Rich has some bottle stories to tell at our next meeting.

Saturday, August 7 saw Tom, Norva and John Kelly do the first DA Crab dive. The water was great as was the Vis for this dive. Norva got some knitting done, John learned how not to dive with a full face mask, and Tom wound up taking his video so once again we may see this at our end of year party. Reports of some good footage have surfaced. The crabs remained happy during the dive as only pictures were taken.

Sunday, August 8 was Ben’s charter on the Spring Tide with Capt Ron. Their destinations were the Delaware and the Dikes. Mike the marine offers his personal report as follows: The dives were fun. We went to the Delaware and then the Dykes. The Delaware was more my type of wreck than the Dykes, but the Sea Lion had already hooked in at the Delaware so all their divers were swimming around messing up the viz which wasn't great to begin with. I found a spike under some decking. It broke off after I hit it so I didn't get the whole thing but its a good 12 inches long with a little bit of decking still clinging to it. 

    Bart offered me his spear for the second dive so I took my hand at hunting. Unfortunately I didn't get any fish (although I shot a few times). On the way up from the second dive we all grabbed mussels. The others were ribbing me a little because my mussels were small, but I gotta say they were delicious.

DA Dive Plan

Sunday, August 15 Tom’s charter aboard the Spring Tide is full. Mike D will make his return to the water after a summer lay off with his new baby.

Saturday, August 28, 8PM shore dive. Location to be announced. Watch your emails during the week before the dive.

Monday, September 6 will be our annual Labor Day dive at the Delaware River. We will make more plans during the upcoming meeting. We changed the day so Rich could attend.

Contact Tom or Rich if you are interested in diving any Sunday or Thursday at various sites throughout the area depending on water and weather conditions.

Boat Dives: Tom and Ben plan to personally charter the Spring Tide out of Brielle for dives in 2004. Tom’s dates are posted on his site www.safescuba.com These dates are open to club members as well as Tom’s students so contact Tom or Ben for information about their dives. The sign up date will be our February and March 2004 meetings. Bring $60 for each dive trip you wish to make.

Tom’s boat dive dates are:

Boat Dives: Sundays: May 02, June 6, June 27, July 11 and August 15, 2004

Ask Ben and Tom if they will have any September charters.

Other club members have indicated that they will be arranging charters. As dates are set, they will be added to the calendar.

Boat Diving Requirements

Everyone please be advised that the following are required by Tom and Ben to dive on any of their charters:

1) Standard NAUI Waiver and Release signed before boarding naming Tom Gormley and Ben Gualano as Instructors and Divemasters.

2) Logbook indicating northeast boat diving experience or arrangements to do guided dive with Tom or Ben.

3) Pony bottle and regulator with pressure gauge or other suitable redundant gear.

4) Compass, wreck reel, safety sausage, safety whistle and power surface audible signaling device, cutting device as well as other mandatory scuba gear.

5) DAN or equivalent insurance.

Members wishing to sell gear can post it here!

(Any sales of gear are subject to terms agreed upon by sellers and buyers.)

E-mail: Tom Gormley 50 cuft low pressure steel tank, Nitrox ready, new condition, Mercury 20 HP outboard motor, 2003 model.

Meeting Minutes

Minutes for June and July 2004 are being held by our Secretary. Please request a personal copy at our next meeting.

2004

Divers Anonymous Calendar

   Updated 08-10-04          

Jan 2004 · 01/05: DA Planning meeting                       6:30 p.m. at 6 Bros Diner Rt. 46 · 01/10: DA Holiday Party                        7:30 p.m. San Carlos Rest                       620 Stuyvesant Ave, Lyndhurst · 01/26: DA Club Meeting 7:30 p.m	Feb 2004 · 02/01: Bottle Show, South River · 02/14: 4^th Annual DA Ski Day · 02/29: Toms River Flea Market · 02/23: DA Club Meeting 7:30 p.m. Tom and Ben’s Boat Charters, Payment and Sign-Up, and “Ocean Conservancy” speaker	Mar 2003 St Thomas with Mr Ben 03/27: South Jersey Shore Dive (?) 03/26~28: Beneath-The-Sea 03/29: DA Club Meeting 7:30 p.m. Don Wilson will discuss his exploits, Dan Lieb for NJHDA Symposium
Apr 2004 · 04/04: Manasquan RR Bridge Dive, 8AM · 04/14: Pool Dive for gear check and warm-up 9:15 p.m. Clifton YMYWHA · 04/25 Sunday shore dive in Belmar SRI · 04/26: DA Club Meeting 7:30 p.m.       Annual Dues and Officer Elections, Rescheduled. “White Shark Research Presentation” by Dean Fessler	May 2004 05/02: Tom – Spring Tide Boat Dive Sunday shore dives 05/15: Pre-Memorial Day Picnic  05/23 Early ocean shore dive followed by Scuba Swap Meet hosted by 1877scubausa Garfield Boy’s Club 05/24: DA Club Meeting 7:30 p.m., Tom and Ben discuss the making of “Shore Diving in NJ”	June 2004 06/06: Tom – Spring Tide Boat Dive 06/17, Thurs, 8pm Shark River Inlet, Avon, NJ 06/27: Ben – Spring Tide Boat Dive 06/28: DA Club Meeting 7:30 p.m. – Ian Fryer “Underwater Digital Photography”
Jul 2004 · Local Shore Dives TBA · 07/11 Tom-Spring Tide Boat Dive · 7/17 & 18 DA Weekend at Dutch Springs · 07/26: DA Club Meeting, Topic, “Vincent Sarullo & John Bandstra “The Northeast Shipwreck Museum”	Aug 2004 8/1 715am Dual Wrecks Dive, Long Branch 8/7 “Crab Dive” Belmar Shark River 08/15: Tom – Spring Tide Boat Dive 08/20 DA Movie Night “Open Water” 8/28 Sat. 8PM shore dive 08/30: DA Club Meeting 7:30 p.m. “Hyperbaric Medicine by Ken Capek”	Sep 2004 · 09/06: Labor Day Delaware Picnic · 9/16 Thursday Night Dive, 9pm, Shark River Inlet, Avon · 9/19 DA 2^nd Crab Dive, 10AM, Back Bay, Belmar · 09/27: DA Club Meeting 7:30 p.m. “Passaic River Sediment” by Walt Jaslanek
Oct 2004 Local Shore Dives TBA 10/17 10am Halloween dive at MRRRBr, Pt Pleasant : DA Club Meeting 10/257:30 p.m.	Nov 2004 · Local Shore Dives TBA · Annual gear maintenance workshop TBA · 11/29: DA Club Meeting 7:30 p.m. 2004 Artifact & Story Contest	Dec 2004 · 12/13: DA Club Meeting 7:30 p.m. · “Happy Holidays” · Friday, 12/31: Last Dive of Year 10AM

Pink highlighted events are subsidized by DA dues