April 18, 2010 Barnard Castle wreck photos/report

[MarkH]

Barnard Castle Wreck
Here's the link to my earlier try at finding the wreck with some more background info:
Bentinck Island

 

[TSandM]

I'm impressed at the pictures you were able to get in that kind of viz . . . the wreck is clearly identifiable as such!

 

[Slamfire]

Swankenstein,

Great pics as usual. Did you just get a new Whites Fusion? How do you like it? You used to dive neoprene drysuits before, right? Last year I tried a Fusion at a demo day in Whytecliff. Great flexibility but the Fusion+MK2 didn't feel warmer than my Brooks 7mm + Polyester fleece. It was comfortable warm nonetheless.

Right now there's a Fusion with a MK3 coming from the island on its way to my home.
I just wanted feedback from somebody who's been diving neoprene drysuits for a while.

 

[MarkH]

I'm impressed at the pictures you were able to get in that kind of viz . . . the wreck is clearly identifiable as such!

Usually photographers say that the camera doesn't take the pictures, the photographer does, but in this case I have to say that my lens does 90% of the work. It's an 8mm fisheye, which on my camera (Canon Rebel XT) gives an angle of view of about 170 degrees. The extreme forced perspective make things 2 feet away look like they are 10 feet away. For the picture showing the entire boiler, I was about 6 feet away and the boiler is probably about 10 feet tall. The lens fakes decent visibility without even trying.

 

[MarkH]

Swankenstein,

Great pics as usual. Did you just get a new Whites Fusion? How do you like it? You used to dive neoprene drysuits before, right? Last year I tried a Fusion at a demo day in Whytecliff. Great flexibility but the Fusion+MK2 didn't feel warmer than my Brooks 7mm + Polyester fleece. It was comfortable warm nonetheless.

Right now there's a Fusion with a MK3 coming from the island on its way to my home.
I just wanted feedback from somebody who's been diving neoprene drysuits for a while.

I've had that Fusion since October last year. You're right, most of my previous suits have been neoprene. I didn't like the Fusion much at first. It felt very restrictive compared to my old neoprenes. I even had a hard time stretching out my legs without feeling tugging throughout the suit. I also have a hard time reaching my valves compared to my past neoprene suits. This might have to do with the extra thickness of undersuits you have to wear with a shell suit. I also use the MK3. The first time I used it, I thought my suit had flooded, I was so cold. I installed dry gloves and added about 5lbs to allow more air in the suit. Now I'm fine for warmth. My biggest grief with the Fusion (and I'm assuming all shell-type suits) is all the extra weight I have to wear. With my neoprene, I wore 28lbs of lead. With the Fusion and MK3, I have to wear 45lbs of lead. I also found that the suit was much less durable than my old neoprene suits. For local shore diving, this has been an issue. I have the tech skin and it doesn't have kneee pads (the material at the knees is thinner than the rest of the suit). I've had to patch a few holes in the knees of the liner. On the plus side, the suit is much easier to repair than a neoprene suit. As an anti-social diver, I like the front-entry. After months of diving it, I don't really notice the restrictiveness anymore. I think the new Bullet skin is addressing the durability issues.

 

[Slamfire]

As an anti-social diver, I like the front-entry.

Skookumchuk was telling me about your technique to do self portraits when solo. Impressive given the nice shots that come out. Is your avatar shot a solo self portrait? Somebody was telling me about using a coat hanger for closing shoulder entry zippers on your own. I haven't tried it yet, but I was thinking it'd be a good one to master.

 

[MarkH]

Skookumchuk was telling me about your technique to do self portraits when solo. Impressive given the nice shots that come out. Is your avatar shot was a solo self portrait? Somebody was telling me about using a coat hanger for closing shoulder entry zippers on your own. I haven't tried it yet, but I was thinking it'd be a good one to master.

Yes that avatar picture was a self-portrait from my old film days. I never tried the coat hanger, but I used to have a small rope with a bolt-snap on it that I would clip to my rear-entry zipper and attach the other end to my car door/fence railing/tree/etc. and then "roll" my shoulders to pull the zipper open or closed. It was hard on the zipper though.