So I took your advice on overhead diving...

[Bob Vincent]

There seems to be alot of differences in wreck diving here. Some are diving singles some doubles some redundant systems some not. Some ponies, what size? Down 100ft+ in wreck better be at least a 40. Better yet a swing setup.

Wrecks to me are the coolest of all dives. I'm glad your Instructor went over the standards as applied by PADI. Do you know how many divers use those wrecks, weekly, monthly or yearly and how long between visits. Going down your hall way about 105' in was there much silt out from the overhead wall, pipes etc.? Wreck diving is a huge curve. If ever you have a chance to dive wrecks off the beaten path you'll see why they have a research specialty.

And you say white line? Come on now to be cool you have to use yellow. It really helps when you swim across a multitude of white lines at least you don't have to purchase bunches of line arrows.

 

[jeckyll]

The idea of going into the Breton (or any ship for that matter) in a single makes my skin crawl.

 

[lamont]

The idea of going into the Breton (or any ship for that matter) in a single makes my skin crawl.

and as a novice.

doing the cape breton as a first wreck penetration, part of our dive plan was having double-130s full of gas and having at least 60 minutes to extricate ourselves from whatever cluster we could generate...

lack of any margin for error is one of the big things that killed the guys on the speigel grove...

 

[jeckyll]

lamont: Are you telling me you went _into_ an overhead environment _without_ first having taken the PADI wreck course. I'm very disappointed in you!

BTW, did you manage to run the scooter into anything on the inside?

As far as the novice thing is concerned, see my signature

 

[lamont]

lamont: Are you telling me you went _into_ an overhead environment _without_ first having taken the PADI wreck course. I'm very disappointed in you!

yeah, missed that class somehow...

BTW, did you manage to run the scooter into anything on the inside?

no, we hung the scooters up outside of the wreck... surprised you guys weren't using them while we were in there...

(the novice comment was actually about the OP -- and myself as well...)

 

[jeckyll]

yeah, missed that class somehow...



no, we hung the scooters up outside of the wreck... surprised you guys weren't using them while we were in there...

(the novice comment was actually about the OP -- and myself as well...)

Next time be more considerate and leave 3 scoots and not just 2. We didn't feel like towing a team member

 

[RayJayJr]

There seems to be alot of differences in wreck diving here. Some are diving singles some doubles some redundant systems some not. Some ponies, what size? Down 100ft+ in wreck better be at least a 40. Better yet a swing setup.

Wrecks to me are the coolest of all dives. I'm glad your Instructor went over the standards as applied by PADI. Do you know how many divers use those wrecks, weekly, monthly or yearly and how long between visits. Going down your hall way about 105' in was there much silt out from the overhead wall, pipes etc.? Wreck diving is a huge curve. If ever you have a chance to dive wrecks off the beaten path you'll see why they have a research specialty.

And you say white line? Come on now to be cool you have to use yellow. It really helps when you swim across a multitude of white lines at least you don't have to purchase bunches of line arrows.

The Cape Breton and the Saskatchewan are fairly busy, I would say at the very least on a bi-weekly basis.

Silt from the ceiling was minimal. I found the Cape Breton to be quite a bit 'cleaner' both in terms of silt and plant life compared to the Saskatchewan. I wouldn't doubt that this isn't always the case though. Perhaps during the yearly visiting trough, the silt builds up a bit.

The idea of going into the Breton (or any ship for that matter) in a single makes my skin crawl.

It retrospect, had my instructors not been there in doubles with slung 40's, I would have felt significantly more apprehensive about the penetration.

I don't think I'd penetrate with a team without at least a pony outside of a training environment, especially on a wreck outside my comfort zone - I've already got a pony on order. Doubles will come when I'm ready for them.

That being said, I wouldn't amount a basic penetration under supervision of multiple qualified instructors on a single as an invitation for death either. Theres a time and a place.

 

[battles2a5]

rbolander- so are you sticking w/ singles and a slung 40 for penetration dives? That is my plan, then migrate to doubles (as you said) when I am ready. I figure if I stick to the rule of thirds and sling a 40 I should be in good shape for light penetration that I plan to do until going through technical training. I prob get flamed for that approach, but you have to start somewhere.

 

[RayJayJr]

rbolander- so are you sticking w/ singles and a slung 40 for penetration dives? That is my plan, then migrate to doubles (as you said) when I am ready. I figure if I stick to the rule of thirds and sling a 40 I should be in good shape for light penetration that I plan to do until going through technical training. I prob get flamed for that approach, but you have to start somewhere.

Yeah, for now, until I'm comfortable with my skills, I'm going to stay on a single. Given the penetration limit is 130 LINEAR feet, and the fact that most wrecks are already at 100 feet, you wont be going very far into the wreck, I don't see the point of spending copious amounts of money on equipment you don't technically need.



I have a 40 and a 13 on order.

The 40 I'll just sling, and I plan to use the 13cf for all of my ice and recreational dives. Once I'm really comfortable with those gear additions, I'm going to switch the 13cf over to an argon/airgon bottle for my drysuit.

 

[battles2a5]

Ah, good thinking. I'm going w/ the 40 for now, but am buying an identical reg set that I can migrate to my doubles when I get them, then the 40 can be used for a stage bottle or something down the line. What is the benefit of using Argon vs. air for your drysuit inflation? I've seen this configuration but wasn't sure why it is used?