Edmund Fitzgerald

[detroit diver]

For those in the area interested in the Fitz, just a reminder that there will be a presentation by Ric Mixter on the Fitz this Saturday at the Great Lake Shipwreck Festival. Here's a link to the site: www.shipwreckfestival.org

Ric will be presenting at 12noon and 4pm (assuming no last minute schedule changes).

Terry Irvine will be doing a show on the Gunilda also, at 10am and 2pm (yada, yada disclaimer)

 

[bridgediver]

Although a couple of guys have been on the Fitz, it's in Canadian waters and diving there is now officially forbidden.

Diving in Canada is forbidden now?? Now what I'm I gonna do??? lol

A Newtsuit is a fully encapsulating hard suit -- many times more $$ than a rebreather. There are some places that us recreational divers just shouldn't go and the Fitz is probably one of them IMO.

Keep asking the damn questions! The majority will geniuinely try to help

 

[Wijbrandus]

Diving in Canada is forbidden now?? Now what I'm I gonna do??? lol

A Newtsuit is a fully encapsulating hard suit -- many times more $$ than a rebreather. There are some places that us recreational divers just shouldn't go and the Fitz is probably one of them IMO.

Keep asking the damn questions! The majority will geniuinely try to help

Ok, Mark. Now you are getting me even more motivated.

If it can be done on open circuit (which those two guys proved), then I hope to be ready to make the dive in about five or ten years, or whenever they lift the moratorium, whichever comes last. And guess who's doorbell I may have to ring when I start planning it?

Only a few years to go.

 

[Bob3]

There's always the Carl D. Bradley, about the same size as the Fitz. Sunk in Lake Michigan in 1958 with the loss of 33 of 35 crewmen.
http://www.mhsd.org/publications/glswr/bradley.htm

 

[Ontario Diver]

There's always the Carl D. Bradley, about the same size as the Fitz. Sunk in Lake Michigan in 1958 with the loss of 33 of 35 crewmen.
http://www.mhsd.org/publications/glswr/bradley.htm

Yeah but who wrote a song about her?

 

[diverjed]

I heard Mike Zee completely gave up diving and moved to Colorado. True??????

 

[Tractor Tom]

Sorry I got a little heated there Lubold. My skin is getting a little thin after dealing with some local LDS people who gave me crap about wanting a BP/W setup, and then more crap when I told them I want to go tech when I'm skilled enough and didn't want to waste my time and money getting anything that wasn't good enough for deep diving. Fortunately, my regular shop isn't that way, but then they also don't carry in stock the gear I want so I've had to do some shopping around. And then on SB and TDS I get a very strong feeling that everyone forgets what it's like to be new and breaking into something like this. Didn't mean to come off like an ***. I just fired back before counting to ten.

Is a newtsuit a rebreather system? I'm not sure I'm going to be willing to invest in that setup, even long term. I would have thought that 530' was entirely doable on open circuit with tri-mix, or even heliox, and would just require a long hang time.

By the way, I'd be interested in finding out more about the guys who did dive the Fitzgerald on open circuit. What kind of plan they dove, and what mixes they took. Anyone know more about it?

A newtsuit is a "submarine" that you wear. They machine the pieces out of "modified" aluminum, add multisectional arms and legs and special seals that allow you to flex them, a dome for your head out of very thick, transparent plastic, and add in some fans for directional control and there you are. Do a Google seach on Newtsuit and you get a pretty good photo on sites like this one http://www.longstreath.com/adssuit.html.

Good luck in finding one at a reasonable price! Good luck with the diving on the Fitz, send us a nice write up when you get back and Brian will post it on our website...

 

[SubMariner]

Is a newtsuit a rebreather system?

Here's a link to Phil Nuyten's website: http://www.nuytco.com/ that shows the Newtsuit as well as other nifty stuff he's come up with.

Basically, a Newtsuit is like suit of armour that is pressurized to 1 ATM (sea level) so there are no deco obligations when diving to depth. Since it has thrusters and other vehicular gizmos on it, people who use them are often referred to as "pilots".

I had the pleasure of meeting Phil many moons ago at Underwater Canada, as well as visiting the Nuytco booth at DEMA. Pretty awesome stuff!