Those words ran through my head this week as we hosted a Xscooter Annual Service Clinic at the store. Geoff Streitel and Kelly Plato were on hand to allow the group to repair their scooters. I should have know that the evening would not proceed as smoothly as we had hoped when the video portion of the PowerPoint presentation would not work properly.
After a little tinkering and rebooting my laptop, we abandoned the digital projector and just used the laptop monitor itself. So far so good, right? We continued with the steps for breaking down the rear-end which is where more problems presented themselves. The screw holding to lower hubs in place were frozen and while we eventually were able to remove Geoff’s without further damage, Kelly’s scooter was another matter. We ended up breaking off all of the screw pillars from the hub and still could not get the hub off. So, one unit down; it is off to the manufacturer for repair leaving us all one to look at.
The remainder of Geoff’s repair went alright, with some grunting and groaning while more things were removed with difficulty and new things replaced. Of course, we are not entirely sure everything worked properly – Geoff has to test it in fresh water to make sure the new seal does not leak. He should be doing it today at Beautiful Blue Lagoon. He and Kelly were planning on going out to test their scooters before Truk, but now Geoff will be testing and Kelly will be swimming.
I know Kelly is saying to himself, “if it ain’t broke don’t fix it” but it really did need to have the seal replaced before it had a major lean and the bearings got wet.
Congratulations for the group for completing the Annual Service Training program. The new technicians are Geoff Streitel, Kelly Plato, Ashton Arsement, Barney Corbin, Jordon Hicks, Wade Sparks and yours truly, Eric Keibler.
Archives for July 2009
Side-Mounting, are you kidding?
When Pete arrived we again talked about the side-mounting. He has found a lot of interest in this style of diving from technical divers but increasingly from open water divers wanting a way to increase their time underwater without needing twin cylinders. This increasing interest may be due in part the aging diving population. By splitting the twin cylinders into two independent bottles, you can carry them separately to the water and done them there or have someone help you carry them to the water, even going so far as handing them to you while you are in the water.
I hear you die-hard doubles divers out there yelling, wait, what about the redundancy afforded by twin cylinders. Well the answer is you are right and mistaken at the same time. You are right, the redundancy prneuded by the manifold cannot be denied, so for a side-mount diver, there has to be a different gas management procedure employed. That is one of the things you learn in the class.
Pete came in and we rigged up some bottles for diving, configured a Transpac with a Nomad wing and sidemount kit. A pretty simple rig when you look at it but the truth was in the water. During the weekend, Dive Rite Tech tour, at Mammoth Lake, we took the assembled harness and headed to the water. Pete had already taken the bottles down to the water; they were equipped with Dive Rite ADS’ one with a 22” hose on a lanyard, and the other with a 40” hose. Attaching the bottles to the harness was simple with the top snap put on the bungee and the bottom on the Nomad rail. It was time to enter the water…easier than doing so with a similar set of twin cylinders.
Diving could not have been easier. The trim was easy and I just seemed to fall into place – trimmed and ready for the dive. The set-up was streamlined and easy to propel through the water, even if the water resembled a latte rather than water. We found some “clearer water” in about 10 to 18 feet near the shore. Being this shallow sometimes presents buoyancy problems but the rig made easy work of the buoyancy.
I can see why people are attracted to side-mount diving and why there is growing interest in it. As we worked with people during the weekend I watched divers with various levels of experience slip into the rig and go diving. It appeared they had fewer problems adjusting to the set-up than a similar experience in a set of twin cylinders.
So, what is the conclusion? Well, I’m not trading in my rebreathers for a set of side-mount bottles but for those times I need to dive open circuit (yes every once in a while), I believe this a great way to do it. I also believe it is an effective alternative to twins for Technical diving. Pete you convinced me! I think we will be adding this as an option in our training program.
This wasn’t the only thing happing while Pete and Ron Carlo were in town. Pete came in and gave our Club Aquarious group a very interesting presentation covering diving on the East coast from New York to Florida. It featured both technical and non-technical dives so there was something of interest for everyone. Pete had photos of sea life common to these waters and the areas where they live, all synchronized to Pink Floyd. He followed this up with a discussion of the areas and promoted the idea of diving locally, a very important fact.
The weekend found Pete, Ron, JoLynn as well as Oceanic Ventures staff members, Eric, Ashton, Jordan, and Wade down at Mammoth Lake diving and introducing some curious divers to Dive Rite equipment. Pete was on-hand to introduce side-mount diving and to take divers on side-mount experiences and yes there were a number of takers. Most of those who went with Pete were convinced this was a better way.
It was fun showing divers what things were available from Dive Rite including their new lights and computer. Ron was having fun taking divers out for a rebreather experience, despite the limited visability. They were even getting more dives for their DiveAroundTexas dives – marching towards San Marcos in September to collect on some way-cool prizes!
Thanks to Pete, Ron and Dive Rite for coming out and showing us the new and old toys as well as a new way to do things. Diving is only getting better and better! Thanks for helping keeping it fun!
Horns or Halo???
July 4th finds in Cozumel with 39 of our close, warm, personal friends. Ok, this included the three staff members who joined me on this holiday trip. Why so many staff members you might ask? Well, there are a number of reasons with the primary one being we don’t normally run large trips; but, when we do, we try and make them have the feel of our smaller more personal trips. So, despite the large number of divers, we had three boats and separate, local Dive Masters for each group. Of course we all met for lunch at the pier each day so we had the best of both worlds – lots of friends and a personal touch.
Of course, there were some clients who would have preferred a little less attention to their needs. Ashton Arsement, Brittan Clark and Stephanie Watawich were under the watchful eye of their Principals of Technical Diving Instructor – none other than our own Dave Snyder. Dave has a reputation of being a little devilish at times, so his students came up with a hand-sign for him during the dives. Dave was fortunate to have discovered this sign after Stephanie’s son Mathew visited at dinner and asked are you the Dave (with his hands on his head making horns) or are you “Dave” with a faraway dreamy or nice look (this would be Dave Sweeten).
Yes Stephanie saw the hand-sign starting but was too far away to have stopped the revelation. The cat was out of the bag and Dave Snyder had a new hand-sign for himself underwater. In fact, his wife Martha even started using in when she signaled to me asking “where is Dave.”
The diving was really nice despite some unusual currents. Harvey Sisco commented that looking up a wall in Cozumel from 300’ was really spectacular and he could see why we liked doing those dives on a wall. The wall itself at this depth was sparse but looking up at the coral heads, the fish and the surface way in the distance creates a lasting impression that carries you through the 90 minutes of decompression. Of course you do have the advantage of decompressing on the reef you were looking at from below, so it is a wonderful way to dive.
Stephanie celebrated a birthday with us and Brittan Clark, Morgan Hann, and Liz Kreiger all completed there 100th dive on this trip. Ashton, Brittan and Stephanie finished their Principals of Technical Diving Course and Harvey Sisco completed his CCR Trimix Course on during this trip. Congratulations everyone!
