Tuna Seizure

MarkZ

Speaking as another person who has known Bill and John Allen for years I can say without hesitation that if you had a problem with them it was your own doing. If you were trying to charter their boat and they would not let you it would be only because they were suspect of your abilities or your groups which he would not hesitate to let you know. The closest thing Bill has to a personality fault is his zero tolerance for bullshit.

MarkZ

I was diving with John Allen yesterday had lengthy conversations and there was no mention of major issues during the previous day's charter even though it was discussed. Where is this stuff coming from? FYI I copied the dive report that was sent out below from Captain Bill.

Tuna Seazure dive report for 12/29/2006
Today brought another day of "what month is it anyway?" diving. We left the
dock with a full boat just before 0800 and headed to the Copper Wreck. We
had a good group of divers on board today that was split about 50/50 between
OC and a mixed bag of CCR divers (Ouroboros, Prism, and some sort of mutated
Inspiration). It's always interesting to get the chance to check out
different units side by side in action on an actual dive.
After the 45 minute run to the wreck, Chris O'donell was kind enough to fish
the hook out of the net we dropped it in and position it on top of the
engine. The water temperature is dropping surely but slowly and I
registered 50F and a max depth of 82fsw. The visibility was quite nice and
I'd give it a conservative 25'. I had the scooter with me so I had fun
buzzing Bill Bedford while he was playing with a lobster. I zipped around
on the wreck stopping here and there to dig some holes. It's quite apparent
that this wreck burned pretty badly as you don't have to move much sand to
get to charred wood and whatnot. I found a couple brass spikes but they
were still solidly attached to the wreck and I didn't bring my tools so they
will have to wait for another day. Towards the end of the dive I took a
peak around and inside the engine and cursed myself for not bringing the
speargun as there were some nice tog within range. The topside weather was
beautiful and the surface interval was spent relaxing and soaking in the
rays of a pleasantly warm December sun. Most did a second dive and
apparently some shenanigans with a monkfish took place. It was another
great day on the Atlantic and if this is the year ender I couldn't have
asked for a better way to bid farewell to another great year of diving, but
I'm still holding out hope for Sunday!
-B

diverklondike

Well... Is the fact that my Inspiration is being called "mutated" a compliment??

In case anyone asks... The monkfish started it and I have a witness...

the guy diving the "boris"...

Dive Safe...

Mark

MarkZ

Two out of three ain't bad. I am sure he meant it in the nicest way.

I got your back but the monkfish is telling a different story.

Mark

jiseson

nice of you to knock my abilities-i have chartered numerous boats, and have never had an issue in my 30 years of diving. their loss

__________________
Jonathan D Iseson

brandonmc

Hi everybody, it was already covered by Mark but I'd like to respond to Vizcya's post and reiterate that Capt Bill's/NESS Rebreather policy has always been the same and NOT recently changed. As a mate on the boat and part time employee of NESS I can say we welcome any qualified diver to dive off of our boat, and I have had the pleasure of diving with many rebreather divers on the Tuna Seazure over the past couple years.

I believe where the contention comes from is the key word "qualified". This is the hardest to define and usually requires a reference of some sort if we do not know you or you have not been previously dove off our boat. What this means is that if you call up wanting to dive the Varanger (150fsw) and we do not have verifiable evidence that you are in fact qualified for the dive you will probably get turned down whether you are diving OC or CC, and I think most safe dive vessels have similar policies so this should really not be a big shocker. However, many "experienced" divers often take offense to questioning their credentials and feel the need to spout off about how such and such boat doesnt allow (insert what type of diver you are) on their boat.

Also as one of the crew on Friday I also am concerned as to the origins of "major problems putting the fear of CCR back into the Capt came from"?? As to the report, I wrote that and yes Mark nothing but love towards your unit

Dive safe everyone,
Brandon (future CCR diver)

dive2dive2000

Hi Brandon,

I personally think it is a great policy. When booking my spot (this was my first time on boat), I hung up the phone feeling confident that, these guys take safety seriously and I don't have to worry about going out with a bunch of yahoos who only care about the fare. Keep up the great work and the fantastic protocols, it should be, and is standard procedure on any reputable vessel.

On a side note I would also like to commend the Cap and crew, when I was hung up on the granny line the mate was down in an instant to free me, great looking out, and when I came up over heated and panting, water and O2 were administered immediately I did not have to request it, it was presented to me!

The no ego friendly atmosphere well what more can I say

__________________
Safe Diving,
Martin

"but what's the fun of getting what you need, instead of what you want?"

John, Northeast Scuba

Hi All, just wanted to say hello. My name is John Allen, owner of Northeast Scuba Supply, along with my father who most of you know is as Capt Bill. I thought I would post our thoughts on the rebreathers. We are perfectly fine with rebreathers as long as the diver is safe and has a record of being safe. Our bigest thing is safety. Those of you that know us personally know this. We have made a conscious effort about three years ago to start getting more knowledge on rebreathers. This was so we could make a true evaulation on whether or not WE were ready to make this step. We spoke to and got tons of great feedback from Mark Nix, Mark Luzader, Mark Zevitchan (so many damn Marks!) along with Richie Kohler, John Chatterton, Evan Kovacs and Larry Cohen. The talks were more based about the divers and their responsibilty not so much about the units. After all this we decided to let the divers we deemed safe on the boat. We welcome all to the boat but we would like to make sure you are safe and without attitude. I am sure we have upset people thatfor whatever reason we did not feel we were willing to take the risk of taking them out. For this I am sorry but it is our decision.

Capt Bill and I are both fine with rebreathers. We have even made the step to have rebreather training available thru our shop. The next three weeks will also see a change at Northeast Scuba Supply. We are right now in the midst of bringing in Sofnolime, SodaSorb and Micropore Catridges. We have also decided to carry as many spare parts for rebreathers that I can get my hands on.

The below statements were posted by another diver. As for his help in getting rebreathers on the boat it is totally false. As for any problems Capt Bill has with regards to MAJOR issues these are also completely erroneous. If anyone has any questions regarding this problem, concerns, anything that happened on the boat, CALL US. We believe in hiding nothing from the diving community. This is about learning and safety. There should be no hiding information the more people can learn from mistakes the better.

See ya John
Scuba diving lessons, scuba diving gear equipment, technical diving gear equipment, oms
610-631-2288 (feel free to call anytime if you have questions)


Viszcaya wrote
I've been working on him to change the policy. With the help of some dive buddies, he changed his Rebreather policy in a statement just a few weeks ago.

This afternoon, I heard from other passengers that three CCR units were aboard. From the descriptions I can identifiy two of the divers. I'm told the third had some major issues, and put the fear of CCR back into the captain.

rigdiver

John;
Glad you found Rebreather World. And thanks for all the great deals in the past. Keep up the good work. You are an asset to the diving industry. Mostly I thank you for having an open mind.

Bill