Thanks Skip for a great report. And a very heart felt thank for suppling the officialOriginally Posted by skip
The workshop was Saturday, September 15, but many members drove up to Waynesville, Misssouri a couple of days before in order to dive Roubideaux Spring. I was in St. Louis watching the radar showing a massive rain storm all up and down the interstate to Waynesville and decided to hold off. Of course those that were in Waynesville reported very little actual rain and an excellent dive. I also missed the social that evening, having somehow gotten into my head that the social was Saturday night, not Friday night. Two strikes.
I was up early Saturday though, and spent the day listening to some great presentations, and even talking about some personality research of my own - Cave Divers Are Not Normal. Mike Young came next and revealed a newly designed Sidemount GEM, totally streamlined and about as simple as a rebreather can get. We were all pretty excited about it. Mike said KISS will be taking orders at DEMA for those that want to pre-order the unit. Rob Neto then presented some good information on various sidemount systems and common modifications, which made me jot some notes on tests to make on my hollis sm50 as well as some potential changes. Rob lined up a half-dozen harnesses with BC's on the backs of empty chairs prompting Michael Angelo to quip, "Oh! I didn't know Obama was here!" I think that comment flew right by most, but those of us who pay attention to the political news was up on the Clint Eastwood impromptu act of talking to the empty chair as if Obama was sitting there.
I think it was lunchtime about now, so we all lined up for sandwiches, salad, and a fruit bowl. Bu tno chips and no cookies! Dang, it appeared that Y-kiki Divers, the hosting local dive shop (thanks deepdiverboband all), was making sure we all had a healthy lunch. Between talks all morning and during lunch, raffle prizes were given away. The usual junk stuff, but useful, was in the mix, along with some really good stuff, OMS doubles wing, a new VR3 NHeO3 computer, DUI drysuit inflation system and more. Silent auctions were running all day and included classes from open water tocave to tec, as well as a special mystery gift. Slim and Michael Angelo got into a bidding war on that one, but at the end of the day.... I'm getting ahead of myself.
Nearly everyone won a prize of some kind, while some raked in a bunch. Although my buddy Kaine did not win a thing, not even a scubapro key chain. Everyone did get a free drink cozy with the Workshop logo printed on it and the famous photo/print of Brent Cooper of the descending cave diver.
I may have the middle talks out of order, but if memory serves, Gene Melton led off the after lunch talks with his experiments and results on the work of breathing produced by different rebreather scrubbers and the effects of increased work of breathing on carbon dioxide retention. What you stuff into your can does make a difference! And Gene dazzled us with the numbers to prove it.
Michael Angelo was up next with a heartfelt report of his personal perspective on the incident in Cozumel that took Brendan Nappier'slife. Most of know the basics, that he died on a survey expedition from breathing a tank with high levels of carbon monoxide. I dove with Brendan in Missouri a year or two before and remember the light-hearted chat we had in the parking lot after a dive in cannonball. As Michael pointed out, sooner or later all cave divers will know someone who died in a cave. In Michael's case it was his dive buddy - the feeling of helplessness, need to do something, and the emotional on-off roller coaster was brought home to all of us as Michael Angelo poetically told his story. In the end, we all took to heart Brendan'sLaw: Know what gas you're breathing. Analyze your gas, every tank, every dive.
We took a break after that talk to recover from the deep sense of loss.
After the break, Bill Harrison restored some semblance of a cave diver's workshop with his presentation on the importance of fitness. He had a lot of good information on the aging cave diving population and the need to get and keep fit. He showed us some fancy yoga positions, his bald head turning as red as the Hollis logo causing a bit of laughter to return to the proceedings. Then he swung some kettlebells for our amusement to finish up his talk.
The meeting was about to conclude, but it was time to raffle off the good stuff and one by one the prizes went to everyone but me. I just knew the NeOH was mine, but nope it went to someone else - one of those guys who had been raking in the prizes all day long - I'll call him Clay, but I don't remember his name. Next up was the big money raffle with Slim winning the hundred bucks - half the total pot (the other half goes to the NSS/CDS). The silent auction winners were announced and several people got really good deals on classes, 50 bucks or so in some cases. Then came the mystery prize - which promised "life-long pleasure." We all leaned forward to hear who won, and what it was, but nooooo. First, everyone had one last opportunity to bid, so the silent auction became noisy as bids were called out $50.00, $75.00,$90.00, and up. Finally only the day's big winner, Clay, and Slim were left in the bidding war with bid and counter-bid until at last it reached $300.00! Pretty cheap for a life-time of pleasure, but pretty expensive for a mystery gift from a cave diver's association! Then again, it might be a drysuit....
Then the big reveal, with much fanfare, and camera'sflashing, the winner opened the box, unwrapped the package and held up a pair of Scubapro Split Fins - Bright Pink! We all laughed and clapped and sighed relief that we hadn't bid! The winner took it all with a smile and an embarrassed pink face to match the fins.
It was a great event. A lot of fun was had by all, and as we left, small groups of conversation lingered on in the building, then in the parking lot, as plans were laid to dive cannonball on the morrow.
Thanks to Y-kiki divers in St. Louis for hosting the event, to deepdiverbog for taking on the job personally, and to all his unnamed helpers and the speakers, for making it such a success. And next year...y'all come, ya'hear.
skip
Midwest workshop porn, I know I extremely gratefull and I know understand my life as a happy go lucky deviant. My exteral stimulation was short lived but massive.
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