Cave Survey Class (and Social), Murfreesboro TN, FEB

[rchrds]

Hello, I wanted to let people know that I will be teaching a cave survey class in Murfreesboro, Tennessee on the 27th and 28th of February 2010.

The class will be two days, one dedicated to dry cave survey and one to underwater cave survey.

Saturday will consist of a couple of hours of classroom instruction where students will learn the basics of dry cave survey; how to correctly read instruments, select and set survey stations, read tape, and manage data in a standard cave survey book. We will also cover the mechanics of sketching to scale, though we will limit it to the mechanics, not necessarily technique. Reading and recording backsights, and sketching a continuous profile will be included. In the afternoon the class will move to Snail Shell cave, break up into survey teams and survey short portions of the cave, ensuring that each team member gets an opportunity to try out whichever positions they like. Following the cave session, we will retire to a local pub for drinking and discussion.

Sunday will begin with a much shorter period of classroom instruction, highlighting the different instruments, and similar book methods involved in underwater survey. Following the classroom period, we will move to one of the local caves (visibility and weather permitting) and again break into smaller teams and test out our new skills. As the water is cold, dives will be short, and multiple dives can be made. We will discuss results following the dives at the dive site. It should go unsaid that this will be conducted in an overhead environment. You will be required to provide proof of certification of at least full cave to survey on the dives. Maximum depth will be 60 feet, Water temperature varies between 52 and 58 degrees, visibility is almost never better than 20 feet, and more typically 6-10 feet. If you are not full cave certified, please feel welcome to come to the rest of the classes, but survey is very task intensive, and not a safe undertaking for someone not already experienced with cave diving in low visibility environments.

Due to the limited time period, these classes will be limited to attempting to create a solid base of knowledge concerning data collection techniques, allowing the student to collect accurate and reliable data.

Data reduction techniques and final map production will not be included in this class- we can cover all of that at a later date if people are interested. (It gets very involved, very quickly!)

As usual, there will be no charge for the classes, and you provide your own refreshments and breathing gas. The classroom portions will be held at Cornerstone Scuba:
http://www.cccakes.com/scuba_home.htm and you can fill tanks and buy the diving stuff you forgot to bring.

If you have instruments and/or survey experience, please, bring your own equipment and we will talk about techniques and points of view, and you will be encouraged to use your own equipment. (I only have so many sets of instruments.)

For more information or questions, feel free to contact me at

rchrds@charter.net

Thanks!

Jason Richards
NSS 41539