Lil' Irish Temper
Guest
Attack of the lift bag . . . .
Giddy as a 6 year old school boy with a brand new toy; I waddle to the side of the quarry as fast as I can; armed with my new, never been in the water 50 lb. lift bag, ready to bring to the surface the endless amounts of treasures that lay in the bottom of the Great Lakes, and quarries that my fellow divers have failed to unearth because they didnt have a lift bag. Move over Dr. Robert Ballard, and Jacques Cousteau, time for me to make my mark in the underwater world.
Lil' Irish Temper 1 Lift Bag 0
John, my dive buddy is a dive team member of a local fire department, and is someone who would be just as happy sitting in his drysuit in his daughters kiddie pool in the backyard as he would be watching me try being a Tech wannabe, but I thought that it couldnt hurt having a rescue diver, and EMT help me become a self taught expert in the art of deploying a lift bag. We decided 25 feet was the maximum depth, and seeing how in that part of the quarry its only 25 feet it worked out well. Now to decide what to lift; surely there was a golf cart, or something left over from the many battles of 1812. Ah Ha, a 1968 15 hp Evinrude outboard motor that had been taunting me since I started diving this quarry.
Lil' Irish Temper 2 Lift Bag 0
I slowly snuck up on the unsuspecting boat motor, and decided that a hovering attack would be the most appropriate angle for this lift. With the grace of a pig wearing a pair of roller skates, I fumbled trying to get the lift bag out of the easy access holder that a certain DIVE company, who thought they were RITE when engineering this easy access pocket attached to my backplate. Velcro and 7mm gloves just dont work if youre looking for speed. I have seen a video, and read a book on how to deploy a lift bag; I am ready to free this motor from its watery grave. I have decided to go with tilting my head to the side and letting my exhaust from my regulator do the work for me. Using a short burst of air from my regulator, I watch with awe as my lift bag slowly comes to life.
Lil' Irish Temper 3 Lift Bag 0
Turning to John to give him the ok signal, and to take my rightful place in the Scuba Hall of Fame, I turned my focus back to the task at hand, recovering the motor of the SS Minnow, but alas my boat motor, my line, and my lift bag are no where to be seen. I decide it would be best to swim as fast, and as far away from the spot I was at, but first I had to let my buddy know to clear the area. As I turn to let John know, I caught a glimpse of his fins disappearing into the darkness of the quarry. After John, and I were separated, he came back and found me cowering at the bottom of the quarry in a rusted out shell of a 1974 Gremlin, we then decided to go up to the surface and claim my prize.
Lil' Irish Temper 3 Lift Bag 1
As I swam over to my lift bag, and looked at the empty harness that once held my future in the technical diving community, we decided to swim back to shore, and have our surface interval time, and a light lunch before returning to the deep to search for my lost piece of history. How could this happen to me? I watched a video, looked through a book, and even had the people on ScubaBoard help me. I must have a bad lift bag! As we sat down, and ate our lunch, a man who we had seen fishing earlier, walked over and wanted to know if we had seen the monster fish underwater that had jumped 5 feet out of the air just before we had come up. Nope, sorry havent seen anything mister.
Lil' Irish Temper 3 Lift Bag 2
After returning to the water, and searching for my treasure and deciding that there was little to nothing left in this quarry to lift, and I had apparently had launched my boat motor into space. I decided it was time to take it to the next level of self training. Time to shoot a bag, Once again I had watched a video, looked at a book, and the people on ScubaBoard had helped me. I was confident, that I was up to the task. What could go wrong? Pulling out my trusty finger spool and attaching my now deflated lift bag, and making the ok signal with the spool in my hand, I realized that my hands were full, and little did I know that I would need them to fight off the oncoming attack.
Lil' Irish Temper 3 Lift Bag 3
As I let the exhaust go into the bag, and I felt the line starting to unwind, I watched as my lift bag slowly pick up speed as it headed to the surface, along with my snorkel and mask stuck in the line. With one hand holding the spool and the other keeping the line tight, there was little I could do except watch. But being a man of action I decided I was going to let go of the line, grab my mask, put it on, clear it, and grab back onto the line before it got any slack in it . . . Meanwhile, as I was deciding all this I had failed to notice that it was time to choose to let go of the line or shoot up into space where I could possible be lost along with my boat motor. After being dragged 20 feet through the water, I had it, and decided to call it a day.
Lil' Irish Temper 3 Lift Bag 5 Winner: LIFT BAG
Not exceeding your limitations and training is what I learned from this little adventure over the weekend. I may have all the cool little toys as all the Tech boys & girls out there, but one thing for sure is - I dont have the knowledge, skills, and experience like they do. I was lucky this weekend something didnt go horribly wrong. I did sign up for a couple of wreck classes this summer. Lets hope me and my lift bag get along better. . . . . .
By the way, you havent seen a boat motor have you?
Giddy as a 6 year old school boy with a brand new toy; I waddle to the side of the quarry as fast as I can; armed with my new, never been in the water 50 lb. lift bag, ready to bring to the surface the endless amounts of treasures that lay in the bottom of the Great Lakes, and quarries that my fellow divers have failed to unearth because they didnt have a lift bag. Move over Dr. Robert Ballard, and Jacques Cousteau, time for me to make my mark in the underwater world.
Lil' Irish Temper 1 Lift Bag 0
John, my dive buddy is a dive team member of a local fire department, and is someone who would be just as happy sitting in his drysuit in his daughters kiddie pool in the backyard as he would be watching me try being a Tech wannabe, but I thought that it couldnt hurt having a rescue diver, and EMT help me become a self taught expert in the art of deploying a lift bag. We decided 25 feet was the maximum depth, and seeing how in that part of the quarry its only 25 feet it worked out well. Now to decide what to lift; surely there was a golf cart, or something left over from the many battles of 1812. Ah Ha, a 1968 15 hp Evinrude outboard motor that had been taunting me since I started diving this quarry.
Lil' Irish Temper 2 Lift Bag 0
I slowly snuck up on the unsuspecting boat motor, and decided that a hovering attack would be the most appropriate angle for this lift. With the grace of a pig wearing a pair of roller skates, I fumbled trying to get the lift bag out of the easy access holder that a certain DIVE company, who thought they were RITE when engineering this easy access pocket attached to my backplate. Velcro and 7mm gloves just dont work if youre looking for speed. I have seen a video, and read a book on how to deploy a lift bag; I am ready to free this motor from its watery grave. I have decided to go with tilting my head to the side and letting my exhaust from my regulator do the work for me. Using a short burst of air from my regulator, I watch with awe as my lift bag slowly comes to life.
Lil' Irish Temper 3 Lift Bag 0
Turning to John to give him the ok signal, and to take my rightful place in the Scuba Hall of Fame, I turned my focus back to the task at hand, recovering the motor of the SS Minnow, but alas my boat motor, my line, and my lift bag are no where to be seen. I decide it would be best to swim as fast, and as far away from the spot I was at, but first I had to let my buddy know to clear the area. As I turn to let John know, I caught a glimpse of his fins disappearing into the darkness of the quarry. After John, and I were separated, he came back and found me cowering at the bottom of the quarry in a rusted out shell of a 1974 Gremlin, we then decided to go up to the surface and claim my prize.
Lil' Irish Temper 3 Lift Bag 1
As I swam over to my lift bag, and looked at the empty harness that once held my future in the technical diving community, we decided to swim back to shore, and have our surface interval time, and a light lunch before returning to the deep to search for my lost piece of history. How could this happen to me? I watched a video, looked through a book, and even had the people on ScubaBoard help me. I must have a bad lift bag! As we sat down, and ate our lunch, a man who we had seen fishing earlier, walked over and wanted to know if we had seen the monster fish underwater that had jumped 5 feet out of the air just before we had come up. Nope, sorry havent seen anything mister.
Lil' Irish Temper 3 Lift Bag 2
After returning to the water, and searching for my treasure and deciding that there was little to nothing left in this quarry to lift, and I had apparently had launched my boat motor into space. I decided it was time to take it to the next level of self training. Time to shoot a bag, Once again I had watched a video, looked at a book, and the people on ScubaBoard had helped me. I was confident, that I was up to the task. What could go wrong? Pulling out my trusty finger spool and attaching my now deflated lift bag, and making the ok signal with the spool in my hand, I realized that my hands were full, and little did I know that I would need them to fight off the oncoming attack.
Lil' Irish Temper 3 Lift Bag 3
As I let the exhaust go into the bag, and I felt the line starting to unwind, I watched as my lift bag slowly pick up speed as it headed to the surface, along with my snorkel and mask stuck in the line. With one hand holding the spool and the other keeping the line tight, there was little I could do except watch. But being a man of action I decided I was going to let go of the line, grab my mask, put it on, clear it, and grab back onto the line before it got any slack in it . . . Meanwhile, as I was deciding all this I had failed to notice that it was time to choose to let go of the line or shoot up into space where I could possible be lost along with my boat motor. After being dragged 20 feet through the water, I had it, and decided to call it a day.
Lil' Irish Temper 3 Lift Bag 5 Winner: LIFT BAG
Not exceeding your limitations and training is what I learned from this little adventure over the weekend. I may have all the cool little toys as all the Tech boys & girls out there, but one thing for sure is - I dont have the knowledge, skills, and experience like they do. I was lucky this weekend something didnt go horribly wrong. I did sign up for a couple of wreck classes this summer. Lets hope me and my lift bag get along better. . . . . .
By the way, you havent seen a boat motor have you?
