The Willie

[FreediveWI]

Tim Reed has done something similat to this a few years ago. He made 3D maps of how she used to look. There is a way to access that propeller shaft compartment, a friend of mine has made it most of the way back, BUT it is very small and I wouldn't want anyone to try it out of fear of getting hurt.

IF your in the engine room you'll notice that the handrail that used to be in the bottom of the main level has been cut out. I did that a few years ago after at least one diver died in the lower level and others had gotten hung up on it. Nowdays, with the great vis that we have on these wrecks, it is very easy for people to get in to spots that would have taken them a few seasons of diving on her to access in the past.

You'll also nocitce that the rear stairway has been taken out of the aft cabins. Once that lower room was opened up we had a few divers, including at least one instructor, get stuck in there and had to jettison all of their gear to escape. After I had to take the last one down to recompress, he later went to the chamber to be on the safe side anyway, I had enough of it and took it out. Now that aft area is much easier to find your way out of.

As nice a dive as the Willy is, one of the top 20 in North America, she has still clamied at least 4 lives that I know of. Penetration should be done with great caution and most recreatioanl dive instructors that Ihave seen on her really don't have what it takes to do it safely. Check into a tec level penetration wreck class, Greg Such teaches a really good one, or even better yet is cave training. So much for my soapbox.

IF your really serious about wreck mapping and surveys you should check into joing DEEP Midewest.org. They are working on mapping the Norland, Wisconisn, Grace Channon and, if time, start on the Lakeland this summer. Lot's of exact measurments are taken, inside and out, of these wrecks and plotted by computer. I belive that they have also obtained some grants to help with some of this. They might be hard to get ahold of in the next week because they are starting another survey ofthe Judge Hart and the Gunilda in the next two weeks.

Jon