Chanb77's Weblog

Steve and I headed to the Quarry for our skillz dive, and I was giving the Sheep a trial run in the water. When we arrived, the place was packed with people from Quebec, doing a course. We took our time gearing up, as there were others meeting up to film some free divers. I hadn’t seen free diving before, and was interested in watching.

I had applied the Sheep at home, and actually did a “test” before leaving.. it was definitely in the right place.

When I suited up, I had a bit of an issue connecting the P Valve hose to the Sheep. Steve gave me a couple of tips, and I kept at it, and finally I was.. er… connected…

The gang arrived at the quarry, but the free divers hadn’t, so Steve and I went for our dive. I backfinned backfinned backfinned… like a backfinnin’ fool, we did our valve drills and air shares, and headed to the plane for some more backfinning and happy dances! Steve was trying out his new heated vest that he concocted as well. Well… we both started to get a bit of a chill, and we headed back..

Pffttt!! I didn’t have to go!!!

When we got to the surface, the moment of truth had arrived. It was time to go!!! I made sure the P Valve was open…………………

Ugh… it seems during my fumbled attempt at hooking up, the seal of the Sheep had come up in the front. I hadn’t used as much of the adhesive spray as I did for the “dry run,” as I thought it was a bit too much. I guess too much is better than not enough!

Well… all I can say is that I am soooooo glad I had a diaper on for good luck!!! I would have gotten myself into a bit of a stinky situation…

I peed myself…  but at least I had backup!

Steve’s vest was working, but he had gotten a bit chilled on his dive, and we exited, so he could check it. By this time, the free divers had arrived and were gearing up. For some reason, I was a bit chilled, and sat in the van to warm up.

Alright! Let’s go back in! We both figured we’d be in for a short dive, but we just wanted to check out the free diving peeps! Back down we went! The others had also descended, and we ducked off to the side, for the show! Absolutely amazing! I know these guys train hard both mentally and physically for this kind of thing, but I just couldn’t imagine it. They would dive down to the plane, tool around a bit, then back up to one of their holes. One even went down to the sub, at 60′.

HOLY SMOKES! Nuts!!!

Our friend took some video!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HcgTz…ead.php?t=8043

Ok.. I was right.. we didn’t last long… about 16 minutes…

When I geared down, it appeared I was soaked in the left leg (same leg as my P Valve). We checked the installation of the valve, and it seems fine, so we will have to do the “blow up” test later on, to make sure there are no leaks..

…and no… my undies don’t stink!

Dive #1
Bottom Time ~ 26 mins.
Max. Depth ~ 21′
Water Temp. ~ 39
Vis. ~ Great!

Dive #2
Bottom Time ~ 16 mins
Max. Depth ~ 16′
Water Temp. ~ 39
Vis. ~ Great!

I just had to give the sheep a test go, before making the irreversible hole in the DUI. I glued it in place with the adhesive spray, and prayed that I had it in the right spot… I didn’t use any tape. Now… all I had to do was wait, and drink alot of water. I drank and drank and drank… nothing… An hour and a half had passed, and nothing. I think the anticipation of having to go, was making me not go! Steve walked by with a Corona, that I quickly confiscated, and helped him finish. Finally after another half hour or so had passed, it was time! I had to go!!!!

So.. hmm… how to do this?? I didn’t want to just try to stand in front of the bowl, just in case I didn’t have it in the right place. Er… the only other option was the tub.. ugh… ah well… it’s worth it if it means this thing would work!

While trying to hold back the childish giggles as I stood like a man to pee, I was pleased as punch. Holy smokes!! No leaks! This thing rocks!! I was now laughing my buns off.. I’m guessing partly from the novelty of going like this, as well as the joy that I won’t have to worry about having to go while diving.

Ok… removal…Thanks to Laura’s video, removal wasn’t as tough as I thought it might have been. As I haven’t yet explored the laser option, I had just used the crappy clippers that I had, and it was not exactly smooth, so I cringed at the thought of a bit of “pull.” I peeled the edge gently, and started to very gradually take it off. It was tender, but not excruciating…I just had to take my time… No.. I don’t think you could do the quick Band Aid pull on this one… The adhesive spray is definitely very effective, and you really don’t need as much as I put on.. which I didn’t think was all that much to begin with. The bit of stubble really wasn’t a problem at all.

Cleaning the sheep was a bit more work with the alcohol swabs that I had ~ They were pretty small, so it wasn’t as easy as I had hoped. I will definitely be going out to get a bigger container of alcohol. All in all, a success!

Now was the tough part…Having to put a hole in my drysuit. It’s almost a sickening feeling, but at the same time, exciting. Thank goodness I had Steve’s help, as I’m sure I would have put it on the wrong side or something…Murphy’s Law for me… I put my suit on a few times, and we measured, placed, remeasured, replaced etc. etc.. We finally marked the spot with a little “x,” and then it was time…

We put a piece of wood inside the leg of the suit, and something soft underneath it (happened to be a GUE toque ), so there wouldn’t be any splinters going into the bottom of the suit. Put the concocted 3/4″ punch on top of the “x,” and Steve got out the hammer…

I couldn’t help it.. “Oh sheet,” was all I could say… “Whack whack whack whack whack!”

Doh.. half a hole…

Replace punch.. “Whack whack whack whack..” some more! We had to place the “x” in the double layer, above the knee, so there were two little pieces of material that were now no longer a part of my suit…

Now the fun part… glue! We put a bit of aquaseal in between the two layers of the material, to prevent the possibility of leakage in between, then installed the P-Valve (er.. overboard discharge valve).

I think I will probably use either a diaper or a sanitary napkin the first few times I dive it, just to ensure that I have the right spot on a consistant basis. Ahh… the days of stripping down in between dives are hopefully a thing of the past!

Sunday, February 3rd, 2008 ~Steve, Jeremy, Kevin, and I headed up to… where, you ask? Morrison’s Quarry!… to work on.. what??…SKILLS! w00t w00t!

We had some fun, as usual, shovelling the entire path to the entry point, cutting the hole, and getting our schtuff together. The boyz took turns shovelling. We got in, dropped down, and Steve and I did our valve drills, and Kevin and Jeremy headed to the plane, running the line. Steve and I did our thing, played around, and headed to the plane as well. I worked on my back fin, and tried to keep my trim in check, as I haven’t been as consistant in the water lately, so I have to work a bit harder these days. We hovered around the plane for a while, and Steve and I took turns handing a stage bottle back and forth, then played a bit of Paddy Cakes… Jeremy and Kevin were practicing handing bottles back and forth as well, but way more than just one. We loaded Kevin up with all of them, and I think he had about 7 bottles attached to him at one point. After a bit, I started to get a bit chilly, so Steve and I headed back in, to be greeted at the entry by some other friends, just arriving for a dive. Blake, Steve S., Rob W, Matt B., and Mike G. were gearing up!

Bottom Time ~ 40 mins.
Water Temp. ~ 39
Max. Depth ~ 27′
Vis. ~ Freakin’ awesome ~ 200’+ ~ When leaving the plane, we could see our friends’ stage bottles in the water, below the entry!

Mike G. did take some pictures, but I don’t have permission to post them.. yet! :p

OO.. and I had a dry dive!

January 14th, 2008 ~

Well.. it was another fine day at Morrison’s Quarry yesterday. The sun was shining, and we headed out for a dive. Steve, JJ, and I went for an early dip! Due to our warm spell last week, the ice had thinned out, and we were actually able to enter without the chainsaw. We entered on the second beach area, beside the stairs, tied off our line, and down we went.

We did our valve drills and air shares, and decided to run some line down to the car. The car sits at about 118′, but we ran the line to 88′, and could see it just fine. Steve had the video camera rolling too, so I didn’t bother bringing my little camera. We headed back up, and over to the plane, at 25′, and worked on some more skills. I was backfinning away, while Steve and JJ did some bottle rotations and handing off bottles. I started to get a bit of a chill, so they came back to the entrance, let me go, then the fellas went back for more skills.

Bottom Time (for me): 40 mins.
Max. Depth. ~ 88′
Water Temp. ~ 38 at the plane, 39 at the car
Vis. ~ 40′ ish

After watching the video, and Steve telling me… I noticed that my trim was a bit off today. I’m not sure if it had something to do with the fact that I was tired, but I’m going to have to smack myself in de butt!

Until next week!