Glacier attack!

Watch Al Gore sum up his past 6 years as President on Saturday Night Live. Nice try, but somehow I am still glad this guy did not make it into office...

An Encounter with Hypothermia-Induced Tourette Syndrome

What would you think if somebody told you that his or her job was doing research on tropical fish? You would probably think: what a dream job.

Now, if you were a diver and you were to learn that this tropical fish research involved a lot of diving, in fact even rebreather diving, you would probably growl: "gimme a break - and they pay you for this? And they pay for all the gear, too?"... and if that fish researcher would just nod happily now, most would probably at least roll their eyes by now.



But the truth is, as usual, quite different: the everyday life of a field researcher is full of hardships, extreme physical and mental challenges, and is generally much more demanding than most people would ever imagine.

You don't believe me, do you? Well, then check out this video.

(posted on Google Video; if streaming does not work smoothly, just download the .avi file and play it from your local drive).

Seaway CORA II vs. Landeta TOMMY I: a close call

A little while ago I posted a note about the coming CORA II rebreather from Seaway, which had been announced at the BOOT 2006. A number of questions have since been raised in various special-interest fora, such as: when did the CORA I appear? Have I missed it? Was it some "secret" model only supplied to the military (:rolleyes:)? Since when does Seaway produce rebreathers anyway? Do they even exist as a company any more? I thought they went out of business ... and so on.



All of these concerns blended in just perfect with the normal chitchat of online fora, and posters did their best to keep up the semi-informed, semi-abusive style typical of online writing (a note: have you ever seen anybody "flame away" at another person in real life? ...really?). But one question remained unanswerable to even the most level-headed of the cool:

• when does this thing actually appear, in real life, serial production style, and without some of the "obvious bugs" pointed out by numerous "experts" from direct or indirect evaluation of the prototype?

Well, it seems like the model hit the market despite all the rumours (which probably are excellent promotion, anyway) and to some people'e surprise, it looks just as "raw" as the prototype on display at the BOOT 2006. Seems like some people have not been paying attention: we are talking about SEAWAY here, for crissakes!



Here you see the connectors on top of the absorber unit, with the head including the dosage and bypass valve. The cam bands for the nitrox and bailout bottles are supposedly suitable for up to 10L tanks, and are firmly attached to the central stainless steel cylinder holding the absorber.



Here you see the absorber container, very simply made out of plexiglass with a central bolt. The mesh plates holding the absorber in place can be positioned with nuts riding up and down the bolt, so it is fully adjustable. Also, you can make a nice 'french press' pot of coffee for the aprés-dive with your buddies and spouses... ;-)



The inside of the head, showing o-rings for the closing seal as well as a smaller o-ring for the absorber unit (in case you wondered, it is positioned off-centered on a pvc plate on the bottom, and sealed against the head with this). Exhale (left) and inhale openings are oval, while the central round opening is for the head valves.



The manual injection valve on the inhalation counterlung. Below, a dump/drainage valve (you might also call it a "spit-and-snot-valve" if you have had the pleasure to rinse a well-used counterlung before...). The over-pressure vale is obviously positioned higher up on the exhalation side, and is said to be easily reached and adjusted (as opposed to: positioned in the middle of a canister right between your shoulder blades - you hear that, Dräger Safety?).



Here is the counterlung unit. Two things should be noted about this: a) the positioning of the counterlungs b) the direct connection of these to the head connectors, allowing for a minimum of hoses - and a minimum of loop length! Apart from the Dräger LAR-V, which is mounted on the chest anyway, I have not seen such a short and convenient breathing loop so far. There were concerns about its diameter and the involved work of breathing, though, and I am eager (like many others) to try it in real life and see whether this indeed is a problem.

Note that these are all the components you will get: a cylinder without tanks, a counterlung bag without harness or BCD, and only one regulator (for the SCR valve). Bring-your-own BCD and bailout set, that is the idea! Again, very Seaway-style, but considering that most "serious" rb divers sooner or later dump the standard BCD and use their own rig (usually backplate + wing) you might as well cut costs and not offer a packaged BCD at all, just like the Dive Rite O2ptima.

If you are familiar with the current models of rebreathers, at least from pictures out of magazines or off the net, you will have realized that Seaway has not "redeveloped" the concept altogether: they have just copied bits and pieces, ideas and smart solutions from pretty much anyone. Which is fine, I believe, since many people probably have made up such a "wish-list rebreather" in their minds (or forum posts) for some time already. This also explains the considerable fuss over "when does it come out on the market" on the net: this is quite simply a nice combination of components at an even nicer price.

But what if even 1800,- is out of reach for you, but you still want to dive bubble-free? If you happen to know your way around electronics, pvc, sewing, a dremel, like p.e. FERNANDO LANDETA, you simply start building one yourself!



This guy made it all from scratch, with low-cost components, crafted by himself in his spare time and in between studies and jobs as a waiter. If you ask me, the best part of the whole rig is the "Tommy Hilfiger" cover for the (also home-made) wing which you can see under the (also home-made, of course) stainless-steel backplate (with original Dräger harness straps).



But this guy did not stop at semi-closed design, he went all the way into electronically controlled closed circuit design! See the display unit in the lower left corner.



Looking at Fernando's home-built and then again on Seaway's "new CORA II", I could not help but notice that they were pretty much the same, but the TOMMY I (HILFIGER I would be cooler, but is probably a trademark ;-) definitely has a clear advantage in that direct contest!

For a full story on the construction details, materials and hardships endured in the process, go to the rebreather site - Hilfiger CCR.

Thanks, TR300 and César for the links ;-)

Interspiro Divator MK II on ebay

After having pondered over the purchase of a (used) Interspiro FFM (full-face mask) for some time now, this ebay article was just too good to be true: 320€ for a mask which after all costs about 700 new...



But behold: 320€ was just the starting price. Certain that this would not be the final bid on such a nice piece of equipment (well, okay, they tend to get a little yellowish around the edges, but otherwise solid stuff!) I decided to watch the bidding and see it trail out of reach - since I happen to be in a bit of a "dry patch" at the moment and should really refrain from all sorts of investments.

And guess what happens: the mask is auctioned away - to the initial starting price - and to the very first bidder!

Which is not me, by the way. ;-(

"Ice Island" free download

Karst Productions, the company of Wes Skiles is currently offering the movie Ice Island as a free mp4-file download through a site called iDocumentary, whose only purpose seems to be to distribute free copies of that movie, which still sells for about 20 USD on Amazon or other online shops.

In short, it is a well-made documentary about Antarctic icebergs and Antarctic ice diving, and for rebreather enthusiasts, there are some Cis-Lunar systems in use and on display.

The rb diver in charge of the operation was Jill Heinerth who also talks about this expedition on a podcast episode of Bottom Time Radio (I mentioned her also in a previous post).

Obviously, there are some requirements before you can get your free (and of course somewhat compressed) copy of the documentary, i.e. you have to give up your name, email and age class as well as country of residence. Big deal...

After downloading the file and watching it in Quicktime, I must say that it is some cool and definitely hair-raising material, especially the iceberg penetration dives, which, by the way, do not take place anywhere near the famous mega-iceberg (some have called it a "teraberg") B15 but on some rather small and, one could add in a slightly blasé voice, ORDINARY iceberg... ;-)

But still, overall it is worth to watch it (but I am as happy that I did not shell out for the original DVD...)