Diving anyway Even though you know you can’t find it.

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Frank Dieber

Registered
Messages
46
Reaction score
27
Location
Greenwood Lake N.Y.
# of dives
200 - 499
I post this here because I almost always solo dive and I like how you guys give it straight up what you feel comes right out no BSing around. So here’s a question I asked my self earlier, I knew the answer and dove anyway. I got a call earlier today someone’s daughter lost her phone in my local lake I work in and they want me to go down and find it. On the phone her father tells me a round about location of the lost item and right off the batt I know the area and I don’t want to dive it because most of it is nothing but lake weed from the bottom to the surface, but I agree to meet and check it out. (I should say I was already planning to make a dive this evening) So we meet it looks like the weeds aren’t that bad where she THINKS? she dropped the phone but I know once I get to the bottom they will b there. Also this lake has about 6 inches of vis on a good day. I explained to them if I actually find this thing it’s just pure luck and seeing I was going for a dive anyway I would give them a discounted rate.
I’ve been doing salvage dives for large objects for a long time and my recovery rate is 100% iv never failed. I started doing small object recovery as a business last year and this is the first failure and I knew it was going to be. I knew the location instructions sucked I knew the underwater Conditions sucked but they asked me to try anyway so i did. And it was a giant FAILURE!!! And I HATE not getting the job done!!! So what’s better keeping the customer happy and trying anyway? Or just telling them it can’t be done and keeping your stats up? They Appreciated the effort I put in , they had nothing but thanks after but what pisses me off is it messed up my record and I knew it was going to. I dropped hoping on luck and ended with snake eyes.
So what would you all have done said no or gave it a shot?
 
Considering you surfaced alive and well...sounds like you still hold a near flawless record.[/QUOTE
I appreciate that but that’s not what I was getting at. I know I can’t expect to find everything and my record can’t / won’t stay perfect. It’s if you know you can’t find it ,do you still drop anyway because your asked to?
 
I’ll tell the client what the odds are and then do my best, I’ve found moorings and ground tackle completely buried in mud that I was sure would never be found and failed to to find outboards I thought would be laying on the clear ground, nothing is certain but you do your best.
 
Hunting is hunting. We hunt seafood.
If we want better consistent results we need to continue to upgrade our equipment. For us that includes better enclosed track accurate guns, custom liftbags for different sites and greatly improved 3D side scan sonar that lights up the smallest fish (or phone) hiding on the bottom.

If you want better and more profitable results (fish or recoveries) you need to pry open your wallet and upgrade your topside equipment.
 
I would never try to achieve or suggest finding things 100% of the time - you are setting yourself up for failure.

Give a reasonable guess as to the odds (if anything shoot low - under-promise and overachieve) and give it your best shot. Unless you have expensive sonar as Johnoly suggests you are fighting the odds.
 
Quit worrying about your "record". If I was a customer, I'd have greater respect for the salvager who always gives it his best no matter how bad the odds than one who cherry-picks the jobs to yield success. You were honest with them about the odds.
 
A cellphone in 6" of visibility is a needle in a haystack and it's toast anyway can't imagine why someone would pay good money for a very slim chance to recover a useless item.
 

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