deepmidwest.org website

[jasondbaker]

Jon pointed me to an interesting website today:



It looks like an interesting group. Are there any other local active groups engaged in wreck exploration in Lake Michigan? I have been asked by some people to get involved in a group with a similar philosophy.

[Omicron]

It's a great idea - shipwreck exploration in the great lakes.

I took a look at the site though, and they seem to be a pretty hard core DIR crowd. Fine if you want to go that route but personally I wouldn't. Some of the ideas that they have are very good, but I'm personally not a fan of the DIR movement for a lot of things....whatever floats your boat though.

If you are interested in wrecks in the great lakes, the Great Lakes Shipwreck Research Foundation, Inc. does a lot of research on wrecks as well.

[FreediveWI]

The "DIR crowd" from Deepmidwest has gotten grants from the Great Lakes Shipwreck Foundation to do surveys on the deeper wrecks.

If your into shallow stuff you can probably get away with whatever you want to. For the deep stuff you need a team to do it safely and actually get any work done-
surveying VS. site-seeing.

There is a lot of misinformation in the Midwest area about DIR actually is and isn't. Everyone in the club is an excellent diver with a rather laid-back attitude. Some people are under the impression that all DIR divers are George clones- this is not the case with DEEP Midwest.

Some members of the club are former WKPP divers and there are other club members who are not only trimix/cave divers, but hyperbaric doctors as well.

It is a very proffesional orginization with a perfect safety record- something that other deep divers in the area cannot claim. If your interested in going deep, safely, they would be the first place that I would check into.

They have surveys planned this summer for the
Norland 65'
Wisconsin 135'
Grace Channon 186'
Lakeland 235'
Judge Hart 210'
Gunilda 270'

Any group that does these kind of dives on a regular basis AND can do 3-d model surveying in the process must be doing something right.

Jon

[Omicron]

Like I said, I agree with a lot of the principles of DIR diving.

I just don't like a lot of the impressions I have gotten from a lot of divers I have spoken with. It's pretty much a "if you're not doing it our way, you're wrong so get the hell out of the water".

Hey, I'd love to have the time and money to take all the classes and get all the gear...but I don't so I do what I can.

Anyway....let's just drop this whole thing about diving methodology. I've already read too many diving style threads that turn into heated arguments over opinion I most deeply apologize as I'm the one that brought it up in the first place.

I think it's awesome that these guys are surveying these wrecks - I didn't know that they had gottem some money from the GLSRF. I'm actually going to be down at the Ghost Ships festival this weekend in Milwaukee and I'm really looking forward to seeing and learning a few new things.

[FreediveWI]

Don't want to turn it into something negative Omicron.

There are some DIR divers out there, mainly George himself, who can give it a bad name because of their attitude.

I just want to make sure that this in NOT how this club is run.

There was a big discussion when the club first formed about how to name it. Everyone in the club dives as a team using the safest team methods that they can, but none of them really wanted the extra baggage of having the DIR label anywhere in the club name.

They do have diver levels for all who are interested, so you don't need to spend a lot on classes to join. The Norland survey, at only 65', was added to train new members in survey techniques while working at a depth they would be comfortable with.

By joining the club you could actually gain a lot of knowledge and expericence without spending a fortune on classes. Only as you progress to deeper wrecks you need to go for the more advanced certifications.

Jon

[Omicron]

That would be very interesting doing some surveys on the wrecks. It would be fun participating in something like that. It really doesn't bother me how they get the survey results - it's just good that they are doing them.

Its good to dive as safely as you can...as money allows I upgrade my gear and get more training to allow me to be a better (safer) diver...who knows, some day I may cross over to the gue side

[jasondbaker]

I would love to be part of an effort like this. I think the experience, even in a support role, would be rewarding.

The DIR route is less expensive if you buy the proper gear when you first start. The problem is that most of us didn't buy the right gear and now it is an expensive upgrade.

[FreediveWI]

Can you say E-BAY?

Jon

[Achtung]

DeepMidwest was created to be different from all other of the area's dive clubs. As Jon pointed out we are not a "site seeing club." Our dives are "working" dives. Our goal is to collect information in the safest way possible, using the methods that have been proven the safest. The benifit to surveying is you will see details you never noticed before, even if you have dove the wreck 100 times.

A little bit about DeepMidwest: The club was created to help bring DIR oriented divers together. I have personally gained 5 new highly competent dive buddies last year from the club. The beauty of DIR is you can jump in the water and feel comfortable with a new dive buddy almost instantly. The club is not about selling DIR. We want people to come to us on their own, it is GUE's job to sell DIR. As Jon also pointed out one of our main goals was to promote the club in a non-confrontational manner. You will never get "attitude" from one of our divers unless you give them some attitude. When it comes down to it, we dont care what the other side is diving, it's their choice. We just want to dive.

This year looks to be a busy year for us. We are hoping to get out on the lake early and try to take advantage of better vis on the deeper wrecks.

Hopefully we will see some of you at ghost ships this weekend.

Safe Diving Everyone!

[Achtung]

opps.

Achtung=Darren Sieck

I am not a llama!

-Darren