Triple world record attempt in deep diving with a closed circuit rebreather
(CCR).
Chris Ullmann (Germany), Manfred Führmann (Germany) und Volker Clausen
(Germany) plan on the 21.08.2003 in Safaga/Egypt to simultaneously dive to a depth of 222 metres (727 feet). This depth has never before been reached using a rebreather.
For the attempt, they will all be using the "Inspiration", a CCR (Closed
Circuit Rebreather) manufactured by Ambient Pressure Diving in England. To provide backup, various diving cylinders with differing gas mixes will be utilised
and safety divers will be positioned in depths up to 100 metres.
Plan: On the day prior to the record attempt, safety lines, an oxygen-filled
habitat und various other pieces of equipment will be installed in the Red Sea
near the coast of Safaga. On the 21.08.2003 the three divers plan to descend from a boat at exactly the same time to a depth of 222 metres (727 feet).
The descent will take approximately twelve to fifteen minutes and the ascent,
in order to complete the necessary decompression, around six hours. For the
long decompression, in addition to staged stops, the habitat (an underwater
tent) will be utilized. In the habitat the divers will be able to stand in
waist-deep water with their upper bodies in the gas bubble contained by the habitat.
They will continue to breath, however, from their rebreathers.
Documentation: The dive will be substantiated through photos, video filming, as well as appropriate depth recording equipment such as the VR3 dive computer and specially prepared and calibrated instruments able to record the exact depth. Furthermore there is interest from a German TV company who wish to send a camera team on location to document the attempt.
www.Thetreble2dive.com
5615mike
August 22nd, 2003, 10:01 AM
very cool having the tent environment for deco.
How did it go?
Just read a report on a german website -
seems that all three of them were facing massive problems including complete failure of the inspiration´s electronics because of the depth.
The report (in german) plus some pictures:
www.orca-red-sea.com
caveseeker7
August 26th, 2003, 06:47 PM
All three rigs had problems. First one, on descent was Führmann's, at about 210m. His instruments (electronics) quit for a while, but he continued anyway. As the camera man he had to record the whole thing. He managed to get his electronics back, it doesn't say how.
Second was Clausen's Inspiration, which quit on ascend at about 220m. Not good. :( He switched to his bailout gases and then on to his partner's tanks, till he got to the safety divers at 90m. they got him a new Inspiration within 3 minutes on which he finished the dive.
Ulmann's rig went kaputt on ascend around 50m, where he switched to bailout tanks for a few minutes until he too got a new box. They do apperently have excellent service in Egypt. ;)
Ulmann and Führmann spend 4 hrs. in the UW habitat, Clausen 5 hrs. for safety. At least they enjoyed some sausages while decompressing. As I said, excellent service.
Total times were 7 and 8 hrs., respectively.
Their max depth was 223.7metres, and they agreed that Inspirations shouldn't go past 180m. :D
Now Padiscubapro, go and see if the Hammerhead is any better than those mass market Inspirations. ;)
madmole
August 27th, 2003, 07:00 AM
Congratulations to them all.
Bog standard Yellow boxes too!!!! apart from larger wings. Wonder how they got the scrubber to last so long
I'd love to see those VR3 downloads, especially the PO2 levels throughout the dive
But bugger me!, if my electronics stopped at 5m I'd bail, let alone 210m. As the handsets have a gas connection to the scrubber and hence the contents should be at ambient there should be no problems until the ambient pressure is higher than the Tank pressure plus the interstage
Wonder what could cause the glitches? Must ask Kev how deep he pressure tested the Hammerhead controllers to
caveseeker7
August 27th, 2003, 10:15 AM
madmole once bubbled...
Bog standard Yellow boxes too!!!! apart from larger wings. Wonder how they got the scrubber to last so long
I was wondering about that, too. If they just "fell" down to depth rather than swim, and then ascended on a line there was probably not much excersion. That might given them some extra time. Or the boxes weren't standard after all. Chris Ullmann is the guy behind Deep bandits, they made a custom rig named Deep bandit One. Build around a steel frame kinda like Enrique's (not as solid though), it had a 35% larger scrubber. 3,8 kg, maybe they used those in Egypt. Finally, they did spend quite some time inside the habitat. Three and four hours, respectively, according to the write-up on the Orca site. So they might have used the RBs only for four hours. The pics on the site don't show them using the rigs inside the habitat, and certainly not while having the Bratwurst. Still, pretty amazing considering the depth.
madmole once bubbled...
Wonder what could cause the glitches? Must ask Kev how deep he pressure tested the Hammerhead controllers to
So do I, and probably everyone with an Inspiration. Actually, I'd like to know what exactly happend with the instruments, how Führmann managed to get his back, and what caused it.
I'm curious how deep Kevin did test the Hammerhead. Thought I could send Joe to try it out;) , but he ought to be busy playing in the Caymans at ZeroG. Hope his Infinito got there on time to be taken along, so we get some intresting posts out of his trip. And there was a post or two about something called Predator??? :D
KentCe
August 27th, 2003, 07:02 PM
Is this really a record? I would assume one would need to make the entire dive on the CCR. :confused:
caveseeker7
August 27th, 2003, 09:39 PM
I've been torn about that, too. As far as the rigs go, not much to brag about since all three had failures, two of them entirely.
As for the divers, I still believe diving for records sake is nonsense. Kudos for trying, and thanks of the Inspiration community for testing the limits. Congratulations (that's how I read Madmole's, anyway) for surviving it.
But I'm having trouble with the record thing considering that A) all units failed, two so babdly that OC bailout and spare-rigs needed to be used and B) happy hour in the habitat was planned from the get go, it was never a CCR only dive.
Also remember, it's the Inspiration record, not the RB depth record.
db8us
August 28th, 2003, 10:07 AM
Chris Ullman said that the electronics failed completly, not only sensors and taht he will only tell more about what failed if he gets the OK from APD.
;-0
I think they have done their personal records, but not the YBOD´s, since 2 of then failed before even reaching the depths.
caveseeker7
August 28th, 2003, 12:12 PM
db8us once bubbled...
Chris Ullman ... will only tell more about what failed if he gets the OK from APD.
Somehow I doubt MP will okay that.:(
He could have been diving an RB80, you know. They never have electronic failurers ;) Do you know to which depth/pressure they've been tested?
db8us
August 28th, 2003, 04:17 PM
caveseeker7 once bubbled...
He could have been diving an RB80, you know. They never have electronic failurers ;) Do you know to which depth/pressure they've been tested?
We had them down to 124m in the cave.
It looks like we will take them deeper this year...
idiot fish
August 31st, 2003, 03:11 AM
It could be gossip - but I was told from a reliable source who knows the divers that the failures were all due to the thin alarm face collapsing and water getting inside shorting the electronics. He has seen photos of the collapsed alarms. Time will tell if this is just gossip.
padiscubapro
September 1st, 2003, 06:42 PM
idiot fish once bubbled...
It could be gossip - but I was told from a reliable source who knows the divers that the failures were all due to the thin alarm face collapsing and water getting inside shorting the electronics. He has seen photos of the collapsed alarms. Time will tell if this is just gossip.
The information that I have seen was that the audible alarms imploded at depth... the impact was that one one unit it led to total electronics failure, on the others various levels of troubles..
caveseeker,
no my infinito didn't show in time :(
The nemesis from OMG had problems...
the hammerhead is tested to a bit over 700fsw, this is the limit of the pressure transducer..
ZeroG was a blast.... it was funny hearing some of the dive briefings.. on one dive it went something like this..
"rob will be leading the deep group... and I'll be staying shallow max depth 225-250fsw...."
Kinda funny when you start thinking of a 250ft dive as a shallow dive....
We had a good mix of RBs, 2 cis lunars, 5 megs, 1 nemesis, and lots of inspirations.. (I had the only hammerhead)
Zero G is being extended to 2 boats next year, 1 for SCR divers, and the manta for CCR divers.. 13 spots are already booked!
caveseeker7
September 1st, 2003, 10:05 PM
padiscubapro once bubbled...
The information that I have seen was that the audible alarms imploded at depth...
Those are required for CE cert - see what the little stamp gets you?
Maybe that's a bit that needs re-engineering.
padiscubapro once bubbled...
the hammerhead is tested to a bit over 700fsw, this is the limit of the pressure transducer..
Just the thing to have, isn't it. Does it replace the factory alarm? Better having your teeth rattled loose than your rig pass out.
padiscubapro once bubbled...
no my infinito didn't show in time :(
Sorry to hear that. I was looking forward to some Infinito news. Preferably good ... then again, probably made it easier to the Caymans since you had something to look forward to.
padiscubapro once bubbled...
ZeroG was a blast.... We had a good mix of RBs, 2 cis lunars, 5 megs, 1 nemesis, and lots of inspirations.. (I had the only hammerhead)
Do tell. Reg's site is down, so you're going to have to supply the report.:D
Does his computer have an audible alarm?
blackice
September 1st, 2003, 10:34 PM
Now that's deep, real deep. Just a quick question.. at that sort of depth can you see anything? Is it black like a night dive? Any life swimming past you?
caveseeker7
September 1st, 2003, 10:57 PM
... at that depth, blackice. ;)
I' sure there is some life at that depth. Much of it probably unexplored. Richard Pyle has been exploring the 'Twilight Zone' (200-400+ft.) for several years and discoverd plenty of new species. The las Howard Hall I-max film was about some of those dives. I doubt the 'Black Zone' will come anytime soon, even with CCRs. More likely they'll be explored by small 1ata submarines, much like Sylvia Earle does.
But there is life down there ....
padiscubapro
September 2nd, 2003, 07:29 AM
caveseeker7 once bubbled...
Those are required for CE cert - see what the little stamp gets you?
Maybe that's a bit that needs re-engineering.
Just the thing to have, isn't it. Does it replace the factory alarm? Better having your teeth rattled loose than your rig pass out.
Sorry to hear that. I was looking forward to some Infinito news. Preferably good ... then again, probably made it easier to the Caymans since you had something to look forward to.
Do tell. Reg's site is down, so you're going to have to supply the report.:D
Does his computer have an audible alarm?
The hammerhead replaces the entire head so no ap audible alarm.. the current hammerhead has no audible alarm, he is supposed to be adding one into the controller on the next revision..
Personally I hate audible alarms.. flashing indicators are good enough... on the HH DIVA there is a vibrator that will go off if the po2 drops below .19 or hits 1.8, there is no way this can be missed..
padiscubapro
September 2nd, 2003, 07:32 AM
caveseeker7 once bubbled...
Do tell. Reg's site is down, so you're going to have to supply the report.:D
Does his computer have an audible alarm?
ANd its probably permanently down.. due to disagreements with the current distributor for the americas, sunset house is no longer selling inspirations.. the entire staff will eventually switch over to Megs.. Several orders have already been placed.
caveseeker7
September 2nd, 2003, 11:19 AM
padiscubapro once bubbled...
The hammerhead replaces the entire head so no ap audible alarm.. the current hammerhead has no audible alarm, he is supposed to be adding one into the controller on the next revision..
Personally I hate audible alarms.. flashing indicators are good enough... on the HH DIVA there is a vibrator that will go off if the po2 drops below .19 or hits 1.8, there is no way this can be missed..
I'm not a big fan of them either. Some you can't hear with a 7mm hood, others rouse the whole neighborhood. The HUD/DIVA combo is a great idea. Flashing lights, especially in the line of sight, should do, and the DIVA's vibrator (:D ) ought to any users attention.
padiscubapro once bubbled...
And its probably permanently down.. due to disagreements with the current distributor for the americas, sunset house is no longer selling inspirations.. the entire staff will eventually switch over to Megs.. Several orders have already been placed.
I'm really sorry to hear that. Reg did a fine job with his Inspiration and VR3 forum. That's the sort of thing I was worried about when Silent Diving monopolized the US market. Sad that MP doesn't care about the people that supported his products in the past. Then again, they seem to be selling themselves, anyway.
It'll help Innerspace, and maybe we get lucky and soon have a Megalodon and VR3 forum. :rolleyes:
