MAST In-Water Workshop

After a weekend of classroom training back in April to become an Advanced MAST student, Saturday was the in-water training date.  As an advanced student, I was given the responsibility to "plan" data gathering on a newly found wreck.  To start the process, my buddies Aaron, George, and I went to set the dive flags/floats on the wreck (at White Star Quarry) and to do in-water preliminary drawings.

I was given the responsibility of organizing two different teams.  Each of the teams where given different tasks to complete on various sections of the sunken vessel.  After finishing their dives, the teams filled out dive summaries, and transformed their "wet notes" (from really cool tri-laminate or underwater paper) to dry notes.  From here, the teams had learned basic triangulation skills and were to transfer their measurements onto grid paper to recreate the underwater wreck and possible artifacts. Bob & Tom--one of my teams--are working to this process to the right and below.

 As with all diving activities, safety is a high priority.  Not only did teams check in and out with times and air pressures, but also had MAST guidelines for how much or how long to do their given tasks.  If tasks were not all completed within their 30-minute time frame (or 500 psi remaining), there will always be another dive to gather more information.

All in all it was a good day, as seen here by team #2 Frank and Bill from Canada.

Whether diving wet or dry, experienced diver or less advanced, this is a great workshop and I would recommend it for all.  The real duty of MAST is to take these trained volunteers to authentic wreck sites, mostly within the Great Lakes, and to collect data on some of our closest historical sites...underwater.

May Dive

Leave it to me to pick the coldest day of the entire weekend!

I headed off the the Fremont YMCA this morning and met up with Patrix Heschel who was working with a group of open water students.  Knowing that he would have some free time, we had arranged to work on some full face mask (FFM) skills.  I have had an Ocean Reef Neptune FFM for nearly two years, since winning it in a dive related drawing.  Once I got some pointers and worked on a few skills, with Patrix's help, I really love the mask and can see that I'll be enjoying it quite a bit this summer!

After the pool sessions, I headed around the corner to Gibsonburg and White Star Quarry where I met my dive buddy Josh L.  After getting an air fill and getting geared up in my dry suit, we headed in and oriented along the south quarry wall where we dove both small boats.  From here, we headed north along the east quarry wall and investigated the platforms (two of the three still on the bottom) and went to the wooden swing set and buoyancy course.  We then, after a short 3-minute safety stop, headed back into the shore.  While I was quite warm, my dive buddy was getting cold feet--literally--in his 3mm booties and 6.5mm wet suit.  My profile included a maximum depth of 41feet, for a total of 23 minutes bottom time and a water temperature 49ºF.  The second dive didn't happen as the wind and air temp made Josh even colder.  Not to worry.  I'll be out again soon.