Air Bubbles – December 2014
authorize up to $400 for the DJ for the banquet in January.
Dive Talk:
-Laura was in the Philippines with Meg and Andy Martinez; saw 4 types of octopus including blue ring & wonderpus; seahorses, electric clams. It was nudi heaven. We need a presentation!
-Susan went to Nassau with a group from Canada which took half the boat. Lots of fun. The other passengers were from all over the world. 5 dives / day offered, as well as kayaking. Not much color, but tons of sharks, turtles, stingrays. Blue hole bounce dive to 190 ft. She has pictures from other people.
-Graham and Jim B went to White Beach which was blown out, so they went to Cressy and saw a B42 with
Jimmy Hoffa’s body. Temp was 49°F; vis started at 8’ but deteriorated to 1- 2’.
-Jim D went off Marblehead, near
Tinker’s Ledge, 52°F at 55-60’.
-Adam went to Liberia, Costa Rica on a combination nature and dive trip. 9 dives; huge stingrays; huge school of fish size of a football field. Didn’t take underwater camera. Also did a rainforest trip w/ frogs, crocs, howler monkeys, 2-toed sloths and 3-toed sloths.
-Dive this weekend: Meet at Undersea Divers at 9:30
General Discussion:
-Jack Lockhart, passed NSF member, passed away in September.
-Vinny reported that someone got a 59 lb lobster somewhere in Indonesia.
-Tony reported a lawsuit and settlement with PADI relating to a student who died during “discover scuba”.
-Tony is organizing an advanced and deco dive course. Contact him if interested.
-Jim D proposes an “officers dive” next year.
-Susan is going to be doing a fundraiser in Key Largo for worldwide Christian Scuba Organization. It will be a 24 hour dive marathon and Jules Hotel on Dec 27.
You can join the dive or sponsor Susan.
-Aqualung announced another recall for BCD weight pockets.
-Undersea Divers has half price service on reg, BC and tank service until the end of the month.
Raffles: Dollars Box: John Marren
Mystery Prize: Mary Howard
Bug Bag: Mary Howard (Dive
float/flag)
20-Nov-2014
(Minutes taken by Adam Hartnett) Meeting called to order: 7:35PM Attendance: 2 Officers, 10 Members
Secretary: Business portion of minutes from last meeting read and accepted.
Treasurer:
-Not-profit status obtained, 501c7 status. Kudos to Ellen for spending a whole day on the phone with them.
-Q3 report passed out to Club.
-Still need money for Pat & Annette’s week, from those who attended.
Correspondence:
-Pat and Annette requested a list of attendees for the VT week camping/diving event.
Committees:
-Program: See website for details
-12/17: Cashes Ledge hearing in Gloucester.
-Membership: Got correspondence on divebuddy.com
-IT Committee: Jim and Daryl to get in touch with Markus concerning updating the website.
Old Business:
-Dive worked out well last Sunday. Time changed to 10AM since Undersea would prefer to open then. This week Jim B and others will meet at Undersea around 10 and then contact anyone who is at BK.
-Jim D’Urso accepted the Secretary nomination with Adam and Jim agreeing to help the first couple of months of the year since he may need to work night shifts here and there. Mary can also assist w/ minutes.
New Business:
-Tony noted that people donating prizes for banquet will need to be recognized. Adam suggested advertising in AB for Rockafella’s and the Tech Instructor along with letters of recognition, etc.
-Adam- working on banquet items, pricing and food. DJ and hall are locked in.
-New Year’s Day Dive will be at White’s Beach at 9AM.
Dive Talk:
-Jim B met 7 other divers at Undersea Divers, went to Back Beach. Air Temp 46°, water around 50°. Moon snails and big lobsters were seen. Jim did not bring his bag.
-Meg went on Andy Martinez’s
Philippines trip. Saw sea horses, many nudibranchs, cuttlefish, lion fish in their natural habitat, mantis shrimp and clown fish. Did a whale shark snorkel; they are used to people and would bump into people on occasion. Also did an interesting fluorescent night dive by wearing a special tinted mask and using a special light. Started with some time in Japan first.
-Dive this weekend: 10AM at Undersea Divers or BK with discussion to determine location.
General Discussion:
-Mary and Ray went to NEU Marine Science Center lecture series, which was a showing of movie “Mission Blue”, about Sylvia Earle, who proposes protecting 10% of world marine habitats. EXCELLENT movie.
Raffles: Dollars Box: John Marren Mystery Prize: Meg Tennissen
27-Nov-2014
Thanksgiving – no meeting.
Air Bubbles – December 2014
Bay State Council
Meetings
The next Bay State Council of Divers meeting will be held on Wednesday, January 28, 2015, at
7:30 PM at the SSN’s clubhouse located at the corner of Quarry Street and Joyce Road in Quincy.
All are welcome to attend these meetings!
The Bay State Council
of Divers
Supporting and promoting the recreational diving community in Massachusetts.
The Bay State Council of Divers
(BSC) is a diver’s advocacy group.
The BSC monitors local, state and federal regulations that may affect the recreational diving community in Massachusetts. When required, the BSC represents the interests of the diving community in these matters.
The BSC serves as a liaison between dive clubs and dive stores to promote recreational diving activity in Massachusetts. All divers are encouraged to support the BSC with an annual contribution of $5. Your contribution will allow the BSC to continue to be a strong advocate for the recreational diving community in Massachusetts.
For more information:
http://www.baystatecouncil.org
New Year’s Day Dive
Tony Vieira is organizing our New Year’s Day Dive this year.
Location: White Beach in Manchester, MA
Time: 9AM
Thank you Tony!
New Year’s Day Party
Stay tuned for updated info with time/location.
Backscatter Presentation
On November 13, Mike Lodise gave us a presentation on underwater photo equipment. He gave a great “big” list of options for Christmas presents for the underwater photographer.
Head on up to Backscatter in Derry (about ½ hour from home) for individual attention and recommendations.
Among other things, they have a selection of Gopro cameras and accessories.[
Air Bubbles – December 2014
Calendar of Events
30 |
1 |
2 |
3 |
4 |
5 |
6 |
Sunday Dive? |
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Elections |
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7 |
8 |
9 |
10 |
11 |
12 |
13 |
Sunday Dive? |
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Meeting |
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Presentation |
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14 |
15 |
16 |
17 |
18 |
19 |
20 |
Sunday Dive? |
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Meeting |
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Pizza Party |
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21 |
22 |
23 |
24 |
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26 |
27 |
Sunday Dive? |
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25 |
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28 |
29 |
30 |
31 |
December |
Sunday Dive? |
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January |
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1 |
2 |
3 |
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DIVE |
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4 |
5 |
6 |
7 |
8 |
9 |
10 |
Sunday Dive? |
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11 |
12 |
13 |
14 |
15 |
16 |
17 |
Sunday Dive? |
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18 |
19 |
20 |
21 |
22 |
23 |
24 |
Sunday Dive? |
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NSF Banquet |
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25 |
26 |
27 |
28 |
29 |
30 |
31 |
Sunday Dive? |
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Activities List – 2014-2015
-12/4, Thurs Photo Contest Voting
-12/11, Thurs NOTE CHANGE: 2015 Officer Elections; Officer changeover (?)
-12/11, Thurs Presentation: Andy Martinez and Paul Erickson
- 12/17, Weds |
Public Hearing for Habitat including Cashes Ledge - Gloucester |
-12/18, Thurs Pizza Party / Yankee Swap
-12/25, Thurs Christmas – No meeting
-1/1/15, Thurs NEW YEAR’S DAY DIVE & PARTY
- |
1/24, Sat |
President’s Banquet |
- |
1/28, Weds |
Bay State Council Meeting - Quincy |
Air Bubbles – December 2014
Northeastern University College
of Science
Tuesday Night Lecture Series
The Tuesday Night Lecture Series has been announced! All lectures take place in the Murphy Bunker Classroom at the Marine Science
Center. Lectures are free and open to the public, and no RSVP is required. Light refreshments begin about half an hour before each event.
ORGANIC POLLUTANTS IN THE
OCEAN: HOW DO THEY END UP ON
OUR DINNER PLATES?
Tuesday, February 10th at 7:00pm
Dr. Loretta Fernandez, Assistant
Professor of Civil & Environmental Engineering,
Northeastern University
Persistent organic pollutants include pesticides, oils, flame retardants, herbicides, and innumerable other products and byproducts of modern civilization. As their name implies, these compounds are highly stable, making them long-lived and able to be transported throughout the biosphere in our fluid atmosphere and oceans. Determining how likely chemicals from a given contaminated site are to be transferred to the tissues of native organisms is a question scientists have been struggling to answer for decades. Progress in methods of sampling environmental compartments such as natural waters and sediments has identified a promising indicator of that likelihood, freely-dissolved concentrations.
IMPACT OF OCEAN ACIDIFICATION
ON MARINE SHELL-BUILDERS
Tuesday, March 10th at 7:00pm
Dr. Justin Ries, Associate Professor of
Marine & Environmental Sciences,
Northeastern University
Anthropogenic elevation of atmospheric carbon dioxide is making the oceans more acidic, thereby reducing their degree of saturation with respect to calcium carbonate (CaCO3) minerals. There is mounting concern over the impact that future CO2-induced reductions in the CaCO3 saturation of seawater will have on marine calcifiers' ability to produce their protective shells and skeletons. Experimental research in the Ries Lab strives to better understand the potential consequences that ocean acidification will have on various shelled marine organisms.
New England Fishery Management Council
50 WATER STREET | NEWBURYPORT, MASSACHUSETTS 01950 | PHONE 978 465 0492 | FAX 978 465 3116
E.F. “Terry” StockwellChairman | ThomasIII, A. Nies, Executive Director
NOTICE OF PUBLIC HEARINGS FOR HABITAT
The New England Fishery Management Council (NEFMC) is conducting public hearings to solicit comments on Draft Omnibus Habitat Amendment 2 including the Draft Environmental Impact Statement (DEIS). The amendment will address habitat requirements for all NEFMC Fishery Management Plans. The hearings are being scheduled in accordance with the Magnuson-Stevens Fishery Conservation and Management Act and will include opportunity for review and comment on the DEIS in accordance with the National Environmental Policy Act.
(I have included the locations and dates most convenient for NSF Members-mh)
Gloucester, MA, Weds 12/17, 6-8PM
@MA DMF Annisquam Station, 30 Emerson Ave
Webinar, Mon 1/5/15, 3-5PM Register to participate:
www4.gotomeeting.com/register/278328207
Call in info:
Toll: +1 (646) 307-1706; Access Code: 911-628-108
New England Council staff will brief the public on the Habitat omnibus amendment before opening each hearing for public comments. The NEFMC Draft Habitat Omnibus Amendment 2 Environmental Impact
Statement is available on the Council’s website
(http://www.nefmc.org/library/omnibus-habitat- amendment-2), or may be obtained by contacting the Council office at (978) 465-0492. The public hearing document, which provides a brief summary of the management alternatives and their impacts, will also be available before the hearings and will be posted on our website when available.
Written comments must be received on or before Thursday, January 8, 2015. Comments should be sent to John Bullard, Regional Administrator, National Marine Fisheries Service, Greater Atlantic Regional Fisheries Office, 55 Great Republic Drive, Gloucester, MA 01930 or emailed to: nmfs.gar.OA2.DEIS@noaa.gov
(attention/subject line: “OA2 DEIS Comments”).
Air Bubbles – December 2014
Russian Sub – Kursk K141
with excerpts from Ramsey Flynn's Cry From the Deep & Captain Peter Huchthausen's (Ret.) K-19 The Widowmaker
The US and UK used High Test Peroxide (HTP) torpedoes and powered submarines during the 1950s. Many accidents had occurred, the worst being the H.M.S. Sidon in 1959 when they were loading a small HTP torpedo. It exploded, killing 15 men. The British investigated and shut down the program, not knowing that the Russians had had many accidents before, during, and after that. The secretive Russians had lost many more accidental boats and HTP torpedoes than the H.M.S. Sidon, but had covered it up. The (K-19) “The Widowmaker” was Russia's first nuclear missile boat; the book by the same name details many accidents about losses in the 1950s, 60s, 70s, & 80s.
British torpedo designer Maurice Stradling revisited the Sidon and Kursk explosions and found many similarities. At the time, in 2000, the Russians were blaming the US and UK, saying we rammed the “Unsinkable” Kursk and sunk it. The Kursk was 525 feet long, 54 feet in diameter and weighed 18,000 tons, and had a double hull: US and UK boats were 360 feet long, 34 feet in diameter and 6500 tons. By comparison, that would be like ramming a fully-loaded 10-wheel dump truck with a small pickup truck. Who wins? While the Russians were trying to blame the sinking on us, their rescue sub tried to get down to Kursk in 350 feet of water. They got down to the Kursk, but lost power and barely made it to the surface again. Their rescue sub had not been used for 17 years and the batteries could only hold a charge for 30 minutes.
The Russians were getting offers for help from all over the world but refused any help. The situation aboard the Kursk was that 23 crew survived the 2 explosions; they had safely shut down both reactors and moved back into compartment 9. They checked out their emergency escape gear only to find all the copper and brass parts had been scavenged so they would have to wait for their rescue sub; with the reactors shut down they saved their fleet from a nuclear nightmare but were doomed without a rescue sub. They had a soda lime absorbent for the carbon dioxide and an oxygen burner to make oxygen but the compartment was cold, dark, and slowly flooding.
The 9th compartment was where both propeller shafts exit through the hull, so water was a big concern. As the oxygen clunkers (oxygen generators) left, they gave off oxygen and could react with water or oil violently. Meanwhile, on board Peter the Great, the flagship and HQ for the Barents
Sea exercise, the Admirals had an “ace in the hole,” a small spy sub which had already surveyed Kursk with videos so they knew what happened and how bad the damage was; yet they still continued to blame the US and UK.
The Kursk's HTP torpedoes were huge
compared to regular torpedoes, nearly twice the size and weight. The crew called them “Fat Girls”; 26 to 29 feet x 36 feet and 4 ½ tons (compared to 21 x 21 and 2100 lbs.). The Kursk torpedo had no warhead but carried 60 gallons of 81% hydrogen peroxide and 60 to 70 gallons of kerosene and was very corrosive. If handled roughly, the fittings could leak fluid which would change into a gas and expand 5000 times in volume.
When the torpedo was being loaded, it was dropped because of the small cranes at the Russian shipyard which had no maintenance. The HTP torpedo expert whom Captain Lyachin (Kursk Skipper) drafted aboard at the last minute was not happy, but did his duty. Part of the reason for the Barents Sea exercise was for the boats to get rid of the HTP torpedoes. Eight submarines including the Kursk were there. The expert was nervous about the
Air Bubbles – December 2014
torpedo and probably went to Captain Lyachin who then went to the Admirals aboard Peter the Great asking permission to fire the torpedo already in the tube #4 on the Kursk. It all happened so fast, that even though permission was given, it was probably given too late. The torpedo exploded, blowing a hole in the 3 ½ inch thick bronze inner door embedding itself in the bulkhead between 1 & 2 compartments, and registering a 2.2 on the Richter scale. At the same time, the temperature reached 3500 to 4000 degrees, incinerating the crew in both 1 & 2 compartments. The outer door on #4 blew, flooding started, and 6 more torpedoes blew a hole the size of a huge dump truck through the pressure hull, registering a 5.2 on the Richter scale. Any subs close (and there were probably 9) must have heard and felt multiple noises and rumbling. The Kursk was built so well that 21 torpedoes and all the missiles did not go off. Compartments 3, 4 and 5 were damaged but the reactors were safely shutdown and 23 of the crew moved back to the #9 compartment. Above compartment #2 was the sail which housed the escape pod, big enough for all 118 crew, but it was damaged severely. The crew that was left checked escape gear only to find all the copper and brass fittings missing, as if their rescue sub had not been checked and was not working when they went to sea.
The Admirals on Peter the Great knew a lot more than they revealed, but failed to act on anything which was more of a tragedy than anything else. It could have been far worse, the reactors, missiles, and other torpedoes could have gone off and thousands could have died.
This story is based on my interpretation of the books and internet research. Jack Munro
42 Water St.
Beverly MA 978-927-9551
DIVE@underseadivers.com
2014-2015 Winter Hours:
Tue-Fri 10-6, Sat 10-5, Sun 10-3
Sales Service Rentals
AQUA LUNG SEAQUEST SUUNTO
GENISIS DUI VIKING HENDERSON
VISA MASTERCARD AE DISCOVER
Air Bubbles – December 2014
The North Shore Frogmen’s Club, Inc.
PO Box 3604
Peabody, MA 01961-3604
Dec 4: Photo Contest Voting
Dec 11: Presentation
Dec 11: Officer Elections
Jan 1: New Year’s Day Dive
Jan 1: New Year’s Party
Sunday Dives:
Winter Hours: Check with the website or with Jim Barbara for times, Meet at Undersea Divers, or Burger King on Rte 128 in Beverly.
The North Shore Frogmen’s Club
(Beginning February, 2013) has business meetings and presentations on the first and third Thursdays of each month at 7:30PM.
Check website for updates and specifics!!!!
at Palmer’s Cove Yacht Club
74 Leavitt Street
Salem, MA 01970
Social meetings are on the alternate weeks at 7PM
Air Bubbles 
