Stolen Wreck Reel from water at Dutch Springs-Sept. 13th

[pconsidine]

While diving at Dutch Springs this weekend I had a wreck reel attached from the school bus to the helicopter. The purpose was so my student divers had a reference to follow due to the poor visibility. When we went back for our second dive the reel was gone. There are several issues with taking a reel that is attached purposely to wrecks. The first is never take or touch any dive gear that does not belong to you because you could cause injury or death to a diver if they needed it. The second issue is that the reel was not laying on the bottom like it fell off someone , it was attached in 2 locations.
So I am now asking the person that took my custom Reel to please return it no questions asked. There are only 5 of those reels made by my good friend . I am sending out pictures of the reel and because it stands out you will not be able to use it at dutch or on local boats so it is useless to you. So just turn it into Dutch Springs staff and i will get it back. As a diver bad Karma is not something you want to have so do the right thing and return it .
Thank you
James Bayreuther

A close friend of mine had a reel taken from the helicopter at Dutch Springs. He's an instructor, and he ran a line this past Friday for his students to follow on Saturday and Sunday.
This is not a mass-manufactured item. The reel is *very* easy to identify. It's a large wreck reel. The frame of the reel is 304 Stainless Steel, and is stamped "Eells Reells" on the side. The reel body and hub are red anodized aluminum. The lock screw is a large brass or bronze thumb screw. The two parts of the reel are held together with self-locking nuts on SS hex head machine screws. It's a 6" reel and it was loaded with 375-400' of 1/8" line. There is a large bolt snap for securing it to a D-ring.
Thank You
Pat Considine

 

[Jim Lapenta]

Send me a picture of the stolen reel and I'll post it on my Facebook page. This is the stuff that gets divers killed. No mercy or understanding from me for the slob that did this.

 

[pconsidine]

you are totally correct Jim, how could anyone remove a safety dive from water at Dutch?
the only diff. is that there is no name etched on handle.

 

[Altamira]

It is really hard to maintain faith in people when things like this happen. I cannot imagine any diver taking a reel when they should know very well that their action could cause another diver a major problem. I hope you get your reel back from the scumbag.

 

[Dr. Lecter]

It's possible some ing piece of took this because they could, but I wouldn't be surprised to find some self-important douchenozzle of an instructor/DM intentionally removed it as a hazard to their class or some such other bull. Would not be the first time that line in Dutch met that fate.

 

[dobermanlover]

What is sad is that I have heard instructors acting proud to cut lines that get in their way. I know of one in particular that takes great pride in cutting the boyscout line every year

 

[Crush]

If someone felt the line was an entanglement hazard they may have wanted to make a point. Fearing getting caught they might have buried it nearby? I'm just guessing here. Hope you find it and a "you suck" to whomever tampered with it.

 

[BugHunterNY]

Wait, it wasn't "Custom Reel Day" at Dutch this weekend? Oops.

Just kidding. What a ....um... I don't even know what to call the scum who would do that. Just take the reels left behind on the boat like everyone else does! Kidding. Again.

I'm a little stymied by this. Divers are supposed to be a community. If another diver is having a serious problem underwater, are you going to watch him run out of air then strip the petrel off his wrist? No, you're going to HELP.

If a line is a real hazard, and there's no avoiding it - cut it, don't remove someone else's f'ing reel.

I hope the moron reads this and realizes he's lower than fisherman who cast directly at shore diver's flags. You suck.


Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk

 

[pconsidine]

I agree, if a diver becomes entangled you would cut the line and if you would remove reel from water usually the first response is to bring reel to Dutch Springs office..

 

[RJP]

OP - please tell me you didn't actually run a line directly from the bus to the helicopter.

For those that don't know Dutch, the bus sits on the bottom at 55ft and the helicopter is a good distance away, and is suspended midwater at around 35 ft. This area of the quarry (hell, the entire quarry) is frequented by OW students. In fact we have our students navigate from the bus to the helicopter. It's a 180deg heading. A compass is a pretty reliable reference for student divers to follow, especially when vis is crap. On a typical weekend this time of year, the helicopter looks like a bug lamp, with several dozen divers buzzing around it at any point in time. The school bus can be about the same. Running a line from the bus to the helicopter is a pretty bad idea.

Remember, line wants to kill divers. Run it on the bottom. Tie it off or wrap it point-to-point wherever possible. But for goodness sakes, don't run a random line - midwater - between two of the most frequented attractions in an active dive quarry. It's just a bad idea.

Note: I'm not commenting on the reel being removed/stolen.

Ray Purkis