WKPP May 19-21 Official Update

true · June 5th, 2006, 04:04 PM

An epic dive deserves a comprehensive report. Casey and Jarrod have been working with the surface managers and project co-coordinators to produce the most detailed dive report yet for the push into Q-Tunnel at Wakulla Springs. It has been posted on the gue.com website:

http://www.gue.com/Projects/WKPP/Upd...kpp-may19.html

Of course, the dive also deserves an epic photo gallery-- now with frame grabs from the hi-def video footage from Mini-Mee of the Q-Tunnel exploration:

http://www.gue.com/Galleries/Wakulla/052006/index.html

-anthony

*Clare Gledhill* · June 5th, 2006, 06:19 PM

I thought that those of you who are not on the Gavin list may be interested to see George Irvine's reposne to the latest dive s- for me it helps put it into perspective what the guys are achieving - as they are typically very modest about the challenges that they face.

Quote: (Originally Posted by George Irvine)

Casey, pretty work, - you guys are the best. Turner is the definitive "TallahasseePowerCave", a phrase coined by Parker Turner, for whom the sink was named. Nobody can understand the seriousness of that place without having experienced it, an experience which includes watching the floor stand still underneath you on the way out while riding at full thrust, and taking survey shots high on the wall at 280 with the floor 20 feet below you while you get blown 20 feet past them just writing down the data . As Parker said, "That cave is always trying to eat you".

In my dives there, the last of which was with you and JJ, the big problem is "rubber necking" - constantly looking around and saying. "Holy Shit!!!" - tough to stay focused. I hit my head on the ceiling repeatedly while spellbound with the awe of the place.

Great job, - go with the "on'er system" - get on 'er and stay on 'er while the window is open. I will get you that other survey data next weekend.

"Dialed In" has reached a new level. David Rhea must be walking around with a woodie - 25 years of cave diving and just saw the best cave in cave diving. Just so everyone knows, that cave is undiveable most of the time - tannic, howling and an entrance that defies decompression in the conventional sense. This is the sinkhole downstream of what Sheck named "Valhalla". The problem with diving downstream from Valhalla is that it goes to 60 feet for a while after 280, then drops down and then goes back up to 40 feet to hit Turner. There is another offset sink called "Dark Water", which would be great for deco, but the restriction to get into the cave defies the gear requirements of the dives. Sherwood Schile and Gavin made the trek from Valhalla to Turner, a one mile run, despite the issues. Steve Irving ( not my brother as most people think) and Sherwood Schile ( a friend of all of ours who was killed in 1992) found the Turner entrance, named it after Parker,connected it upstream to Valhalla and then proceeded downstream to a horrific dropoff and a howling siphon at 280 on the roof. Gavin and I went back in there is May and August 1992 , surveying the line laid by Irving and Sherwood and added out to 4,000, finishing the dive with no gas and decompressing at ten feet to conserve oxygen - not too cool, but it took nothing to get in and forever to get out. Casey, JJ and I went back in three years ago, with full respect for the place, setting up for the subsequent dives with safeties and all and adding some casual line thinking we had all the time in the world, but the cave went dark a week later.

After basically a decade or waiting, the system finally presented an opportunity to explore. The only way to do a dive like what Casey, JJ and David Rhea did is to use all the tools of the system. There is no way in hell I would go down there, "Downtown" , without a DIR team, and it is no accident that only the WKPP has been able to deal with this place. To get that far downstream in the most challenging cave in cave diving is something represents the culmination of maximum skill and teamwork. The crazy part is what Casey told me on the phone today "The cave is just getting started".

This 10.5 K feet is worth 30K anyplace else - trust me on this one - incredible dive!!!

***ericfine50*** · June 5th, 2006, 06:24 PM

Awsome stuff True!!

Quick question - I have always been amazed how the divers stay focused for such a long period of time. I am guessing you can't zone out at all.

Thanks

Joe Hesketh · June 5th, 2006, 06:42 PM

Anthony - all the recent reports (which are amazing to read BTW) and photos suggest that there have been multiple video and stills cameras in the water on all the dives. Are there any plans to package this up and release it any time soon?

Joe

true · June 5th, 2006, 07:49 PM

Quote: (Originally Posted by Joe Hesketh)

Anthony - all the recent reports (which are amazing to read BTW) and photos suggest that there have been multiple video and stills cameras in the water on all the dives. Are there any plans to package this up and release it any time soon?

Joe

Yes, but we won't be able to start assembling something until after the summer rains start and everything goes dark... For now, we're running multiple high-def cameras on every dive-- including the mini-mee camera rig on the fron of Casey's gavin-- and building one hell of a library of footage to be used.

***ericfine50*** · June 5th, 2006, 08:01 PM

Hey Anthony - are you selling tixs to the editing room sessions ? :D

limeyx · June 5th, 2006, 08:02 PM

Quote: (Originally Posted by true)

Yes, but we won't be able to start assembling something until after the summer rains start and everything goes dark... For now, we're running multiple high-def cameras on every dive-- including the mini-mee camera rig on the fron of Casey's gavin-- and building one hell of a library of footage to be used.

Cool, sign me up for a copy of anything that gets released to the public

These dives are just beyond comprehension for most of us I think.

limeyx · June 5th, 2006, 09:17 PM

Quote: (Originally Posted by true)

An epic dive deserves a comprehensive report. Casey and Jarrod have been working with the surface managers and project co-coordinators to produce the most detailed dive report yet for the push into Q-Tunnel at Wakulla Springs. It has been posted on the gue.com website:

http://www.gue.com/Projects/WKPP/Upd...kpp-may19.html

Of course, the dive also deserves an epic photo gallery-- now with frame grabs from the hi-def video footage from Mini-Mee of the Q-Tunnel exploration:

http://www.gue.com/Galleries/Wakulla/052006/index.html

-anthony

Wow, those pics are awesome. I'd like to make "JJ heads out
from the beach" as my desktop wallpaper if that's OK

(If there was a larger version of it available, it would look even better)

**neilh** · June 7th, 2006, 09:27 AM

Wow, yet more incredible stuff!

You guys are killing my productivity at work

*Clare Gledhill* · July 3rd, 2006, 04:53 PM

More (taken from the gavin list - Gerge has said before that he is OK with cross posting for those of you who do not subscribe to that list).

Quote: (Originally Posted by George Irvine)

I talked to Jarrod and Casey this morning. They had just gotten out of the water at Turner Sink after last night's dive. The cave continued to run SE at 300 in giant tunnel, AKA "Tallahassee Power Cave". They added another mile of line, putting it out over 15K from Turner. Everything went well.

The problems they are running into now have to do with the tiny size of the sink and the monster size of the cave. The sink is actually an "offset" sink, which means it is not in line with the cave, but next to it. There is a hole in one wall of the sink that goes through about a 10 foot slide into the main passage. The tunnel at that point is coming from Innisfree and Darkwater Sinks and has come up from 220 to 70 and then all the way up to 40 feet right as it passes that hole in the wall. It then eases down over the next 800 feet to 130 and then drops off over 200 and continues to slop down
until it holds the 300 range. The sink is still, so it immediately silts out completely. It is only a bit more than 20 feet deep, and that is only in one small area by the hole. You can not get too many people in there or heavy
support operations due to the limited space and lack of vis. The divers basically hold onto a log for the oxygen portion of the deco. The rest of the stops are done in the cave, which then becomes a light issue as well. If you try to run more setup, cleanup or support divers, the whole place gets blitzed.

As the dives get longer and the gear requirements get larger, the trip out against the flow becomes increasingly slow as the divers get closer to the starting point. For this dive, I sent three "Turnerworthy" motors to Casey to repower three of his scooters and to get him a little more pulling power coming out of Turner. At the end they are pulling four scooters and multiple bottles.

Quote: (Originally Posted by Casey McKinlay)

The cave is absolutely mind blowing. I do not completely understand why it is staying clear and Wakulla is going under. At some point along the way we thought we might intersect another dark water tunnel coming in but we did not see anything.

The cave is massive and continues to trend SE towards Wakulla. We are closing the gap after 15 years of work. The challenges are formidable as you point out. The deco logistics are complicated and uncomfortable but there are no options except to tough it out. The support guys are the best and tough it out along side us from 30ft to the surface in horrendous conditions.

The motor upgrades were timely and you can be sure I put them to the test on Saturday. For reference, the run downstream from the 190 drop to the first depot took us 40 minutes. The same section of cave on the exit took 82 minutes with the Turner motors. Not much to do other than be patient, watch the line and breathe slowly <g>. Our setup guys were solid as well with Mark Garland and Mark Messersmith delivering 4 safeties, 4 drives and 2 scooters to 6,500ft. We may have to deploy a deep trough before the next dive because we are experiencing scrubber breakthrough around 14 hours.

We could not help laughing at each other towards the end; side lead at 296, 15,000ft out, 5 scooters, 4 bottles and a 5x10ft restriction. We decided to cut and turn because there was no way possible that a 75x75 conduit ended at a 5x10ft restriction. Sure enough, we backed up into the last room and found the tunnel on the west wall where it opened back up. I did not want to come back and tell everyone we "lost" Leon Sinks.

More please

June 5th, 2006, 04:04 PM	#1 (permalink)
true(Offline) GUE Join Date: Dec 2005 Location: Florida Posts: 141	WKPP May 19-21 Official Update An epic dive deserves a comprehensive report. Casey and Jarrod have been working with the surface managers and project co-coordinators to produce the most detailed dive report yet for the push into Q-Tunnel at Wakulla Springs. It has been posted on the gue.com website: http://www.gue.com/Projects/WKPP/Upd...kpp-may19.html Of course, the dive also deserves an epic photo gallery-- now with frame grabs from the hi-def video footage from Mini-Mee of the Q-Tunnel exploration: http://www.gue.com/Galleries/Wakulla/052006/index.html -anthony

June 5th, 2006, 06:19 PM	#2 (permalink)
Clare Gledhill(Offline) GUE Instructor Site Admin Pacman Champion! Join Date: Nov 2005 Location: UK Posts: 1,541	I thought that those of you who are not on the Gavin list may be interested to see George Irvine's reposne to the latest dive s- for me it helps put it into perspective what the guys are achieving - as they are typically very modest about the challenges that they face. Quote: (Originally Posted by George Irvine) Casey, pretty work, - you guys are the best. Turner is the definitive "TallahasseePowerCave", a phrase coined by Parker Turner, for whom the sink was named. Nobody can understand the seriousness of that place without having experienced it, an experience which includes watching the floor stand still underneath you on the way out while riding at full thrust, and taking survey shots high on the wall at 280 with the floor 20 feet below you while you get blown 20 feet past them just writing down the data . As Parker said, "That cave is always trying to eat you". In my dives there, the last of which was with you and JJ, the big problem is "rubber necking" - constantly looking around and saying. "Holy Shit!!!" - tough to stay focused. I hit my head on the ceiling repeatedly while spellbound with the awe of the place. Great job, - go with the "on'er system" - get on 'er and stay on 'er while the window is open. I will get you that other survey data next weekend. "Dialed In" has reached a new level. David Rhea must be walking around with a woodie - 25 years of cave diving and just saw the best cave in cave diving. Just so everyone knows, that cave is undiveable most of the time - tannic, howling and an entrance that defies decompression in the conventional sense. This is the sinkhole downstream of what Sheck named "Valhalla". The problem with diving downstream from Valhalla is that it goes to 60 feet for a while after 280, then drops down and then goes back up to 40 feet to hit Turner. There is another offset sink called "Dark Water", which would be great for deco, but the restriction to get into the cave defies the gear requirements of the dives. Sherwood Schile and Gavin made the trek from Valhalla to Turner, a one mile run, despite the issues. Steve Irving ( not my brother as most people think) and Sherwood Schile ( a friend of all of ours who was killed in 1992) found the Turner entrance, named it after Parker,connected it upstream to Valhalla and then proceeded downstream to a horrific dropoff and a howling siphon at 280 on the roof. Gavin and I went back in there is May and August 1992 , surveying the line laid by Irving and Sherwood and added out to 4,000, finishing the dive with no gas and decompressing at ten feet to conserve oxygen - not too cool, but it took nothing to get in and forever to get out. Casey, JJ and I went back in three years ago, with full respect for the place, setting up for the subsequent dives with safeties and all and adding some casual line thinking we had all the time in the world, but the cave went dark a week later. After basically a decade or waiting, the system finally presented an opportunity to explore. The only way to do a dive like what Casey, JJ and David Rhea did is to use all the tools of the system. There is no way in hell I would go down there, "Downtown" , without a DIR team, and it is no accident that only the WKPP has been able to deal with this place. To get that far downstream in the most challenging cave in cave diving is something represents the culmination of maximum skill and teamwork. The crazy part is what Casey told me on the phone today "The cave is just getting started". This 10.5 K feet is worth 30K anyplace else - trust me on this one - incredible dive!!! __________________ Clare . "Keep away from people who try to belittle your ambitions....Small people always do that, but the really great make you feel that you too can become great." Interested in DIR dive training? Always happy to chat/answer questions so get in touch via PM or visit www.dirdiver.co.uk

June 5th, 2006, 06:24 PM	#3 (permalink)
*ericfine50*(Offline) Moderator Join Date: Nov 2005 Location: MA Posts: 622	Awsome stuff True!! Quick question - I have always been amazed how the divers stay focused for such a long period of time. I am guessing you can't zone out at all. Thanks Last edited by ericfine50; June 5th, 2006 at 06:35 PM.

July 3rd, 2006, 04:53 PM	#10 (permalink)
Clare Gledhill(Offline) GUE Instructor Site Admin Pacman Champion! Join Date: Nov 2005 Location: UK Posts: 1,541	More (taken from the gavin list - Gerge has said before that he is OK with cross posting for those of you who do not subscribe to that list). Quote: (Originally Posted by George Irvine) I talked to Jarrod and Casey this morning. They had just gotten out of the water at Turner Sink after last night's dive. The cave continued to run SE at 300 in giant tunnel, AKA "Tallahassee Power Cave". They added another mile of line, putting it out over 15K from Turner. Everything went well. The problems they are running into now have to do with the tiny size of the sink and the monster size of the cave. The sink is actually an "offset" sink, which means it is not in line with the cave, but next to it. There is a hole in one wall of the sink that goes through about a 10 foot slide into the main passage. The tunnel at that point is coming from Innisfree and Darkwater Sinks and has come up from 220 to 70 and then all the way up to 40 feet right as it passes that hole in the wall. It then eases down over the next 800 feet to 130 and then drops off over 200 and continues to slop down until it holds the 300 range. The sink is still, so it immediately silts out completely. It is only a bit more than 20 feet deep, and that is only in one small area by the hole. You can not get too many people in there or heavy support operations due to the limited space and lack of vis. The divers basically hold onto a log for the oxygen portion of the deco. The rest of the stops are done in the cave, which then becomes a light issue as well. If you try to run more setup, cleanup or support divers, the whole place gets blitzed. As the dives get longer and the gear requirements get larger, the trip out against the flow becomes increasingly slow as the divers get closer to the starting point. For this dive, I sent three "Turnerworthy" motors to Casey to repower three of his scooters and to get him a little more pulling power coming out of Turner. At the end they are pulling four scooters and multiple bottles. Quote: (Originally Posted by Casey McKinlay) The cave is absolutely mind blowing. I do not completely understand why it is staying clear and Wakulla is going under. At some point along the way we thought we might intersect another dark water tunnel coming in but we did not see anything. The cave is massive and continues to trend SE towards Wakulla. We are closing the gap after 15 years of work. The challenges are formidable as you point out. The deco logistics are complicated and uncomfortable but there are no options except to tough it out. The support guys are the best and tough it out along side us from 30ft to the surface in horrendous conditions. The motor upgrades were timely and you can be sure I put them to the test on Saturday. For reference, the run downstream from the 190 drop to the first depot took us 40 minutes. The same section of cave on the exit took 82 minutes with the Turner motors. Not much to do other than be patient, watch the line and breathe slowly <g>. Our setup guys were solid as well with Mark Garland and Mark Messersmith delivering 4 safeties, 4 drives and 2 scooters to 6,500ft. We may have to deploy a deep trough before the next dive because we are experiencing scrubber breakthrough around 14 hours. We could not help laughing at each other towards the end; side lead at 296, 15,000ft out, 5 scooters, 4 bottles and a 5x10ft restriction. We decided to cut and turn because there was no way possible that a 75x75 conduit ended at a 5x10ft restriction. Sure enough, we backed up into the last room and found the tunnel on the west wall where it opened back up. I did not want to come back and tell everyone we "lost" Leon Sinks. More please __________________ Clare . "Keep away from people who try to belittle your ambitions....Small people always do that, but the really great make you feel that you too can become great." Interested in DIR dive training? Always happy to chat/answer questions so get in touch via PM or visit www.dirdiver.co.uk

June 5th, 2006, 06:42 PM	#4 (permalink)
Joe Hesketh(Offline) New Member Join Date: Nov 2005 Location: London, UK Posts: 657	Anthony - all the recent reports (which are amazing to read BTW) and photos suggest that there have been multiple video and stills cameras in the water on all the dives. Are there any plans to package this up and release it any time soon? Joe

June 5th, 2006, 07:49 PM	#5 (permalink)
true(Offline) GUE Join Date: Dec 2005 Location: Florida Posts: 141	Quote: (Originally Posted by Joe Hesketh) Anthony - all the recent reports (which are amazing to read BTW) and photos suggest that there have been multiple video and stills cameras in the water on all the dives. Are there any plans to package this up and release it any time soon? Joe Yes, but we won't be able to start assembling something until after the summer rains start and everything goes dark... For now, we're running multiple high-def cameras on every dive-- including the mini-mee camera rig on the fron of Casey's gavin-- and building one hell of a library of footage to be used.

June 5th, 2006, 08:01 PM	#6 (permalink)
*ericfine50*(Offline) Moderator Join Date: Nov 2005 Location: MA Posts: 622	Hey Anthony - are you selling tixs to the editing room sessions ? :D

June 5th, 2006, 08:02 PM	#7 (permalink)
limeyx(Offline) New Member Join Date: Nov 2005 Location: Los Angeles, CA Posts: 708	Quote: (Originally Posted by true) Yes, but we won't be able to start assembling something until after the summer rains start and everything goes dark... For now, we're running multiple high-def cameras on every dive-- including the mini-mee camera rig on the fron of Casey's gavin-- and building one hell of a library of footage to be used. Cool, sign me up for a copy of anything that gets released to the public These dives are just beyond comprehension for most of us I think.

June 5th, 2006, 09:17 PM	#8 (permalink)
limeyx(Offline) New Member Join Date: Nov 2005 Location: Los Angeles, CA Posts: 708	Quote: (Originally Posted by true) An epic dive deserves a comprehensive report. Casey and Jarrod have been working with the surface managers and project co-coordinators to produce the most detailed dive report yet for the push into Q-Tunnel at Wakulla Springs. It has been posted on the gue.com website: http://www.gue.com/Projects/WKPP/Upd...kpp-may19.html Of course, the dive also deserves an epic photo gallery-- now with frame grabs from the hi-def video footage from Mini-Mee of the Q-Tunnel exploration: http://www.gue.com/Galleries/Wakulla/052006/index.html -anthony Wow, those pics are awesome. I'd like to make "JJ heads out from the beach" as my desktop wallpaper if that's OK (If there was a larger version of it available, it would look even better)

June 7th, 2006, 09:27 AM	#9 (permalink)
neilh(Offline) Haemoglobin on the bus... Join Date: Nov 2005 Location: Barnsley, UK Posts: 1,900	Wow, yet more incredible stuff! You guys are killing my productivity at work