January
MUD Club
Next Meeting: Tuesday, January 19, 2010
Andrews University, Biology Amphitheater, Price Hall, Berrien Springs, Mi
Meeting starts ~ 7:30 p.m. (3rd Tuesday of every month except December)
Elections: 2010 Club Officers:
Don McAlhany (President) Bob Sweeney (V.P.) Ric Kling (Treasurer)
(269-249-5527) (269-429-6711) (269-944-5026)
January Meeting:
Key item will be the collection of DUES, if you are still interested in being a member, please settle up at the January meeting or send a check to Ric (please make your check payable to Ric & note that it’s for 2010 Dues). It is intended to have the member phone books available at the March meeting so we need this information. Have your 2010 diving suggestions – dates and places ready. Does anyone have some trash or treasure &/or “Show & Tell” to bring?
2009 December Events:
In preparation for the New Years dive there were two pre-dives two weekends apart to scout the best areas for entering the water and water depth. These were nice precursor dives for the New Years Dive and the visibility was surprisingly good. The New Years Midnight Dive was a success in that all divers were u/w before the stroke of midnight in spite of several free flows, several needing additional weights, and the very snowy weather.
Thanks go out to Bob & Maggi Sweeney for hosting the pre-dive party and to everyone outdoing themselves by bring enough food so that we could have fed a small 3rd world country. We enjoyed having new individuals attend this year’s dive and hope to see Jake, Mary Beth, and Sean in the water this coming year. Note that Mary Beth has posted pictures of the dive on Facebook.com.
The club also had 4 individuals who braved the very snowy weather (can you say “white outs” to participate in the January 1, 2010, Holland Channel Dive and attend “Louise’s Famous Buffet”. Thank you to Paul & Louise Kuiper for the invitation to participate.
January Events:
Other than the scheduled two dives above, the clubs two newest, and most enthusiast divers, were chomping at the bit to get wet and do an Ice Dive. So on Saturday (Jan 9th) Darrin J & Jim K got together and dove Singer Lake in Baroda. The top layer of ice was 4” to 5”, then 1” of slush ice, and the bottom layer was 2” of frosted ice. Good visibility and good weather (no wind & some blue sky) made for an enjoyable day. See the pictures and video on Facebook.com and/ or http://mudclub.scubaobsessed.com/ Their only major question after the dive was “When can we do this again?”
So since it appears that the temperature will still be below freezing in the near future give some thought to having a BIG ice dive this January or February and express YOUR interest and support in diving or as surface support. You don’t even have to get wet (at least very wet) to have fun at an ice dive. Who volunteers to be the dive coordinator?
ICE TIDBITS
(1) Recognize that there is no such thing as “safe ice.”
(2) Create an emergency safety plan. If something does go wrong while you are testing or recreating, already have in place the safety procedures that you will carry out for immediate rescue. For starters, you should be adequately dressed in full cold weather attire. Wear some form of flotation device, even a boating life-jacket, especially if you are testing or snowmobiling. Use an ice spud to test the ice and carry an ice claw (ice-picks) which can assist in giving you grip should you fall in, never ever go without a buddy or two, and have a throw rope.
(3) Test the thickness of the ice. General rules for ice thickness measurements are:
3″ – (new ice) – Stay OFF
4″ – probably suitable for ice fishing, walking (~ 200#)
5″ – probably suitable for a single snowmobile or ATV (~800#)
8″ -12″ – probably suitable for one car, group of people (~1500/ 2000#)
12″ -15″ – probably suitable for a light pickup truck or a van
For those who are “on line” and comfortable using the computer, If you have not already visited http://mudclub.scubaobsessed.com/ please do so and leave a comment – we would like to populate the site with club members. In addition, when you receive email, please acknowledge receipt so I may generate an accurate current MUD Club email listing. Thanks, Mac
Its “Hard Water” time, Be one of the few, Be hard core, Dive the Ice!
