General Vortex Incident Discussion

[Rick Murchison]

begin

They put that sled on a carrier deck? You on the carrier?

Craned it aboard.. I'm the catapult officer simulating the cat shot. Had my guys shoot a little steam into the cat cylinders to look like smoke off the tires of the dragster. Turned out pretty good - Navy used it as a recruiting poster for a while. I have a copy autographed by Don Garlits in my den; Don didn't ask me to autograph one for him... missed a bet, didn't he???

Rick
complete

 

[mike_s]

temp edit....

 

[diverdoug1]

So Ben hopped in a Garlits rail, and tried the get cat launched through the restriction at Vortex, but was deterred by man eating eels and cadaver dogs, and was detoured to Mexico ( but not before being filmed by every ROV known to man). This has been only slightly more effective than the guy that tried to fake his death by skydiving out of his plane after saying the windscreen got smashed in his plane. At this point, I almost hope he turns up poking out of the shifting sands. This has been a huge CF (Charlie Foxtrot, or Cluster Fubar).

 

[heavierthanlead]

Apologies, in advance, if this has appeared elsewhere. This youtube vid purports to show Ben McDaniel diving Vortex, just months before his "disappearance". I'm not a cave diver, but looks like some pretty amateurish behavior...

YouTube - Ben McDaniel @ Vortex Springs

 

[Divedoggie]

Its been posted before (about 100 pages back) and discussed ad nauseum. It was shot 3 weeks before his disappearance.
Nice try though.

 

[spector39]

Speaking of videos, I noticed deepswim posted two new ones involving the ROV in the cave. For you guys who were there, was he involved with that effort? I can't link to the videos because youtube is blocked at my work but they can be found pretty easily.

 

[SuPrBuGmAn]

Define involved... he was there, yes.

 

[spector39]

As in, helping getting the ROV down there, getting it un-snagged, etc. I was just surprised to see that considering the controversy surrounding his diving techniques and videos. I assumed the sheriff would only be working with cave certified divers.

 

[Kevin Carlisle]

As in, helping getting the ROV down there, getting it un-snagged, etc. I was just surprised to see that considering the controversy surrounding his diving techniques and videos. I assumed the sheriff would only be working with cave certified divers.

Better question for ya. Do you think any of us would go down and have him help us?

 

[SuPrBuGmAn]

He was diving up to the grate, solo, with a single tank, and apparently helping keep the tether unsnagged. I don't know if it was in any official capacity or not...