WHO ARE SOME OF THE DEEPEST DIVERS IN MIDWEST

[JointVentureDive]

Hi All,
I was inspired to create a new topic by John Jansens post of the Carl Bradley.

I was wondering how many and who are some of the deepest divers in the midwest. 

Personally, my deepest dive is only 160 ft.  My buddy and I had planned a 190 ft dive, and I was doing great and everything went well for me, but  my buddy wanted to call the dive as he was having some anxiety.  So sticking with our plan, and  being a good buddy and a safe diver that I am we proceeded back to the boat.

I am hopeful that I will make it to 200 soon, maybe this spring in Florida.  In the future I would like to check out rebreathers.  Also any recommendation for a shop I should align myself with as I am new to minnesota from florida.  You can PM me on this if you wish.

SO...  here is the format.
Name (handle)
deepest 3 dives
gear set up
training shop
etc.

maybe a breif  story

[mermaid]

Welcome to Minnesota and the mn scuba forum 

[DiverQueen]

Name (handle)        Diverqueen A.K.A. Lisa
deepest 3 dives      120, 92, 86 (Wazee)
gear set up            7mm Neoprene drysuit, B/C, 80tank, 30cf stage
training shop          Smith Diving NAUI
etc.
That 120 ft dive was my first time using a stage rig.  I had buoyancy problems where I would get too buoyant at the end of a dive and have difficulty staying down, so I thought I had to vent air out of my B/C.  Taking a closer look at my computer I realized I was going down and had to add air. 
Note to self:  Do a buoyancy check anytime you add or remove gear to see how much weight you need to have!

[LKunze]

Name (handle)        Diverqueen A.K.A. Lisa
deepest 3 dives      120, 92, 86 (Wazee)
gear set up            7mm Neoprene drysuit, B/C, 80tank, 30cf stage
training shop          Smith Diving NAUI
etc.
That 120 ft dive was my first time using a stage rig.  I had buoyancy problems where I would get too buoyant at the end of a dive and have difficulty staying down, so I thought I had to vent air out of my B/C.  Taking a closer look at my computer I realized I was going down and had to add air. 
Note to self:  Do a buoyancy check anytime you add or remove gear to see how much weight you need to have!


[/quote]
DQ, just to keep this on topic I would like to point out that this is the technical diving forum.  Your profiles you listed are recreational dives and do not fit into the technical diving forum.  I am not scolding you, I just want to keep the discussions in line with the dedicated forums.

Thanks, Lonnie

[LKunze]

Welcome to mnscuba.com.  To my knowledge here are some instructors that offer rebreather training in the twin cities.
Ron Benson (mnscuba username: DeepThought) at Going Under Dive Center offers rebreather training with several different models of rebreathers.   

Mike (Ozzie) Oswald and John Janzen are certified rebreather instructors on the Inspiration Rebreather.  I believe Mike and John are independent instructors but don't quote me on that.

[mattd]

I heard that GUDC was sold, so Ron might be independent now too I'm not sure. 

[DetectorGuy]

Welcome to MNscuba. I am not a deep diver, just a run of the mill recreational diver. There is plenty of room in the pool for everyone. Just typing in this "Technical Diving" thread kind of gives me the willy's. Diving around here has such a variety of circumstances that a 120' dive to some may not seem incredible. Imagine diving in 40 degree water to a depth of 50' with 35' viz where you encounter a layer of trees hovering in a layer of hydrogen sulfide that has the consistency of chocolate milk. Then when you get through the layer of trees to a depth of 60' the water clears to 10' viz and stays that clear until you get to about 118' and hit another layer of friable material that percolates up and turns the viz to near zero. Add several entanglement hazards at or just above the bottom (not counting the layer of trees 58' above your head). Then just for fun you add in one or two unexpected and unplanned overhead environments (not counting that layer of trees over your head).

I believe 120' is in the "technical realm" given the right (or wrong) set of conditions. There may be books that say that 130' is the edge of the recreational envelope. Any deeper than that and a mere recreational diver will instantly wither up and die. I read the books and I did not pay attention to them. Technical diving is what you make of it.

I realize the spirit of this topic is to see who are some of the deepest divers in the midwest. I have met a few and I would also like to meet more... as long as none of us do the deep dives for the wrong reasons and become unsafe by diving outside of our training, and comfort level. Diving deep does not have to be a competition even within the same diver, to try to go deeper than you went last time. That is how accidents happen in my opinion. John

[rcojr]

I would answer but I don't want Lonnie to scold me for not diving deep enough ;D ;D
Bob

[LKunze]

I understand what you are saying John but I think the general consensus would agree that technical diving involves a whole different level of training beyond the basic PADI, etc. recreational training courses.  In technical diving I am talking specifically about staged decompression, mixed gasses, cave diving, wreck penetration and much more advanced dive planning etc.  Doing a bounce dive on air on a single tank to 130' and carrying a pony/bailout bottle is not technical diving.  No question you can encounter some pretty challenging dives in water depths less than 130 feet as you described.  Diving in some of the mine pits with entanglement hazards, low viz, etc. one should definitely be more experienced or advanced in their skills, but that kind of diving is an apples to oranges comparison to doing a 250 to 300 foot dive on trimix or penetrating deep inside of a wreck or cave.  That's the type of diving discussion we are looking for in the technical diving forum.  I personally have no technical training but have done deep bounce dives on single tanks and double tank setups, dove below the root beer layer in the pits, been in zero visibility situations, swam through lots of trees and debris in some of the pits but I do not consider myself a technical diver because I have done those dives.  

[LKunze]

Bob, I think you just might have a few dives under your belt that are deeper than I'll ever go. ;D