Cape Dive Club to host Rebreather Experience this Saturday

[Rickm401]

Saturday February 21st join Dan Crowell and a few friends for an introduction to rebreather diving seminar and discovery. Dan started diving rebreathers over 13 years ago and hasn't looked back.

Yes, I know what you're thinking. Why use a rebreather if you're just planning on doing recreational level dives, because just like nitrox, that's where you get the biggest bang for the buck. And, if you're diving in the cold waters of the northeast, then you'll get the added benefit of breathing a warm moist gas. You'll be amazed at how much of a difference it makes in keeping you warm. But even better, less gear to haul around and no huge tanks to drag down to the dive shop. Just two 20 cubic ft. tanks that on average will last for about 5 hours of diving, regardless of depth. So, breathe all you want.

If you would like to learn more, kick the tires, and take one for a spin, Sign up now. The cost is just $50.00.

Send an email to: capedive@capediveclub.com to let us know you will be there.
Bring your check to the trial made payable to "Cape Dive Club".

The fees are to help defer the cost of the room, pool time, and consumables. We'll have four to five rebreathers available, including the Evolution, Inspiration, rEvo and KISS.

Time: 9:00AM to 12:00

You need to bring: Your mask, fins (booties if needed), bathing suit and a towel. A shorty or 3 mm wetsuit is ok, but please bring a weight belt if doing so. The pool is heated, so even a bathing suit and t-shirt should be fine for the time you'll be in the pool.

Location:
Comfort Inn
Nantucket Room
1470 Iyannough Road
Hyannis, MA 02601
(508) 771-4804

 

[yak]

Dang. I'd love to check it out, but I can't make it tomorrow.

 

[Rickm401]

Dang. I'd love to check it out, but I can't make it tomorrow.

Hi Yak,

We had a great turnout and everyone had a fun time. I'll be posting some pictures in a day or two.

We will be looking to have one in the Boston area as well, but this probably won't be until late March or April.

Rick

 

[Rickm401]

We had a great turnout for the "Rebreather Experience" this past Saturday. I'd like to thank the people who attended, Dan Crowell for sharing his knowledge on rebreathers, Jodi Burnham and Matt Robinson for acting as safety divers, and to Sue and Jenn for taking photos. Dan brought up two Inspirations and an Evolution, I brought my KISS and rEvo.

After a one hour slide presentation, we spent two hours in the pool with people trying any of the different rebreathers available. One person actually brought a tropical drysuit, the first time I've ever seen one.

After the pool session we headed back to Jodi's house for lunch where Dan and I went through the teardown of the Inspiration and rEvo. Attached are a few pictures of the event.

Dennis (wreckedinri) - We'll be having another one in several weeks, sorry you had to pass due to the cold. It was great seeing you guys and we'll catch up at Rovers.

Here's a write up from Keith McDonald (thanks Keith), which he posted on his Facebook page;


Rebreather Test Drive with Dan Crowell
February 21, 2009

The Cape Dive Club arranged a Rebreather Test Drive with Dan Crowell, the legendary Captain of the dive vessel "Seeker." Dan is now spending his time between Deep Explorers, Quest for Sunken Warships, and offering high-end technical dive training.

We met at the Comfort Inn in Hyannis for a 9:00 am to 10:30 am classroom session where rebreather history and technology changes were explained, and then we reviewed current rebreather systems. Dan explained the breathing loop, the counter lungs, the scrubber, the diluent, and the use of trimix in the system. It was pretty amazing to see that a sixty five pound unit was able to provide five or six hours breathing time underwater using only two 13 cubic foot bottles of gas.

Dan explained the electronic redundancy and the capabilities of the monitoring systems to protect the diver from extremely low partial pressures of oxygen that would cause blackout or from dangerously high partial pressures of oxygen that would cause seizures. Some rebreathers required the diver to manually add oxygen to the breathing loop, while other rebreathers would automatically maintain pre-set oxygen partial pressures without diver intervention.

With the time in the classroom complete, we headed down to the Comfort Inn's indoor swimming pool and the Inspiration, the Inspiration Evolution, the Revo, and the KISS rebreathers were set up at the edge of the pool. The Test Drivers donned shorts, shorties, or full wetsuits and clustered around the shallow end of the pool to listen in. Dan entered the water with his support staff and the Test Drivers followed two at a time. We were given the opportunity to choose the rebreather we wanted to use for the dive and then Dan personally helped get the rig on and explained the diving procedures and the system indicators.

The divers progressed through, and soon I was sliding into the pool next to the Inspiration Evolution. Dan showed me where all of the straps were for the harness and the donning procedure, and once I had the kit on my back and it was comfortable, he helped adjust the double hose regulator over my shoulders. Dan showed me the Wrist Mounted Display and explained the indicators while I was inhaling and exhaling into the closed circuit breathing loop. Dan then explained the indicator lights on the Dual Head Up Fiber Optic Displays and how to open and close the mouthpiece valves when removing the mouthpiece from use. We then covered use of the manual dump for the counter lung and the BC inflator/deflator operation.

Once briefed, I was given the OK to descend in the shallow end of the pool and to start the Test Drive. I hit the bottom at an impressive 2.5 feet and immediately noticed the sudden silence. When you are in a pool full of divers, it's amazing how much noise is generated by Open Circuit SCUBA and diver's exhalations with the loss of air to the water. With the Closed Circuit Rebreather, the exhalations are returned to the rebreather, so the only noise was an occasional clicking of the solenoids in the breathing loop.

I spent a few minutes sculling around the shallow end of the pool and gradually moved to the deeper end of the pool where the depth increased to 8.5 feet. This was actually the most confusing part of the Test Drive, as the visibility in the pool was only two to three feet so while I could see the downward slope, I couldn't see anything else to orient myself to where I was in the pool. During the descent, the Inspiration Evolution audibly announced the changes in Oxygen partial pressure as depth increased.

I spent about ten minutes swimming around the deep end of the pool while Dan's support staff snorkelled overhead watching me. I gradually ascended up the slope and returned to the access point... begrudgingly returning the Evolution to Dan for the next evolution of Test Drivers.

After the divers had all cycled through, a few of us peppered Dan with questions about the rebreathers and the technical training required to dive with them. Dan patiently answered our queries and then joking asked if any of us would be placing orders that day.

The Inspiration Evolution that I was using had an MSRP of $10,900 and required about $2,000 in additional training and certification for use without an instructor.

If you're a recreational diver and think that diving is all about lobster in ten feet of water, I would think this a wonderous excess.

If you're a technical wreck diver and doing the dives that I am regularly doing below 100 feet, I would think this is an exceptional investment... for safety, and for reducing mixed gas logistics, and eliminating annual expense servicing multiple oxygen-cleaned tanks and regulators.

Anyone have experience building a Lemonade stand?

Group Photo: Dan Crowell, Harry, Keith M. McDonald, David Wood, Justine Allen, Jerry Cronin, Jodi Burnham, Joe Winston, Harry Dunton, Dennis St Germain, Scott Gonsalves, Matt Robinson, Bryan Burnham, Don Sack, Bob Franey. Missing from photo Jenn Crowell and Sue Smyle.

 

[Remora_25]

Hey Rick,
Thanks for the post and I’m sorry I missed out on this. Sounds like Dan did a great job and everyone enjoyed themselves.
The temptation is killing me.
Roger

 

[Rickm401]

Hey Rick,
Thanks for the post and IÃÎ sorry I missed out on this. Sounds like Dan did a great job and everyone enjoyed themselves.
The temptation is killing me.
Roger

Hi Roger,

Dan will be back in the next several weeks, and I'll have my KISS CCR Instructor rating soon, so we'll get you in the water on a unit.

Hope to see you at Sea Rovers.

Rick