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AIRHEADS SCUBA       

Your headquarters for both recreational and technical diving !

Awards Dinner 

Well, if you missed the Airheads Annual Awards dinner, you missed a good time.  We had both turkey and ham on the menu this year as well as Kaye's famous homemade eggnog.

Dale Huff received the award this year for educational achievement (the most classes taken in one year).  He took five classes this year:  deep diver, computer diver, drysuit diver, nitrox, and advanced.  In addition to his certificate of achievement, he received a gift from Airheads.  We consider this award to be very important as knowledge is the key to being a safe diver and the backstone of our philosophy at Airheads Scuba.

Philip Janes proudly displayed his Most Active Diver award.  He ran off easily with the most dives for the second year in a row, with 77 dives for the year.  In addition to his certificate, he also received a gift.   This award is also important as the more often you are in the water the more confident and capable diver you become.

We didn't have one recipient for this year's booney award; we had three of our illustrious group recognized for their contribution to zaney diving antics.  As a group they dressed out in their drysuits on a 80 degree plus evening and proceeded to head for the trench and cool water at Martha's Quarry for the treasure hunt.   Martha's Quarry surface temperatures in late summer are usually in the mid 80's with temperatures of  mid 50's in the trench.  The only problem was they somehow neglected to take a heading for the cool water.  They found that exercise in a drysuit is not for the faint of heart.  They all admitted sheepishly that they probably wouldn't try a repeat of the adventure.  Oh, lest  I forget, the names of the award recipients are Dale Huff, Bill Young and Ed Bates.  (Ed technically can't receive the award as he is a part owner, but for this occasion we made an exception.)

Last but never forgotten, Jeff Barnett humbly accepted the Wanna be Diver award this year with his grand total of two dives for 2001 (both of which were done last January).  As you can see below, Dennis gives no quarter in awarding this auspicious award!  You see, Dennis has this theory (based on lots of ancedotal evidence) that any vehicle sporting a dive flag license plate is owned by a diver who doesn't dive.   Hence, in addition to the accolades, he always dispenses a generous portion of friendly advice.

9 Dec 2001

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END OF YEAR SALE   ENDS 15 DEC 2001

Remember:  This year's big sale ends in just over a week (Dec 15, 2001).  All products except Poseidon are reduced from 15% to 30%.  This sale is the only store-wide sale we offer a year.

We will be going back to the monthly coupon specials in January.

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Year in review, A personal observation.

Well, another year has come and is about gone.  I want to take this opportunity to thank all our friends and customers for supporting Airheads Scuba in our aim to offer the best training and personal service possible.   We still believe that diving is a great sport, and we want to pass on our enthusiasm to as many people as possible.  Though the events of this fall did not directly touch the lives of our customers, none of us was immune to the events.  Diving has been a continuing good diversion from some of the evils of the world.

The dive shop continues to excel in its promotion of safe diving.  We offer a full range of dive education opportunities that the other area shops cannot offer due to our technical expertise.  We always strive to be leaders in the dive community. 

Nitrox divers:  You no longer have to wait for fills!  We now can pump nitrox while you wait.  We recently more than doubled our normal air bank capacity and added a nitrox bank for EAN36.  We have changed a few things in the layout of the shop, so if you haven't been out for a while you will be in for a surprise.   Our anti-fragmentation fill station has been upgraded by Eagle Compressor (the manufacturer) to further increase the safety of our fill station operators and customers in the unlikely event of a cylinder failure. 

During 2001 we continued our tradition of being in the water two to three weekends a month. We have done this since our inception in 1997 and will continue the tradition as long as we are in business.  This is not a gimmick; it's our dedication to and enthusiasm for the sport of diving.

Next year we are planning to expand our gas fill facility to make trimix and heliox mixes easier to mix.  We also have a helium analyzer which is used to analyze trimix mixtures.  

Though I had a feeling that I hadn't been able to do much in the way of diving this year, I was surprised at what I personally have been able to accomplish.   On analyzing my dives, I found that things were in reality not that bad.   Although I only was able to do 55 personal dives, they represented over 50 hours of bottom time.  The biggest surprise for me was that I did only about 2 hours of open circuit diving (standard openwater equipment).  I have accomplished a great deal in development of a closed circuit system of my hybrid design and have amassed over 24 hours of closed circuit (rebreather) diving. 

I was able to do a record dive time (for me) of 2 hours and 30 minutes in Jackson Blue.  This was accom- plished with my dive partner Dennis Price who was diving doubles and a stage bottle on open circuit.  I was also able to do a 63 m (206 ffw) dive with the rebreather as well.  

But some of the best diving I did this year was with my wife Kaye in Panama City.  We were diving with the rebreathers and were able to get right up on to the critters before they were aware of us.  Diving doesn't have to be deep or long in order to be fun.  At the same time, technological changes can improve your dive experience.  Don't be afraid of new innovations.  We will help you fully comprehend them and utilize them to their maximum to help your diving be as enjoyable as possible based on your own individual goals.

Dale Bletso

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New Nitrox Policy

Recently we disassembled a set of nitrox service valves and found them to be in pretty poor shape.  Below is a photo of the valve parts.  Due to the deterioration of these pieces, we are now requiring oxygen cleaning of all cylinders and valves used for mixed gases (nitrox, trimix, etc.) on a yearly basis.

We are concerned with the potential for an oxygen fire while the cylinder is filled by the partial pressure method so prevalent in the industry.  We are also concerned about the potential loss of gas due to a valve failure at depth. 

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Cylinder failure costs a life

There was a fatality in south Florida when a scuba cylinder which was being filled exploded.  This is a reminder to all our customers that we at Airheads take cylinder filling and visual inspections very serious.  Airheads is the only dive shop in Kentuckiana that uses an adequate fill station designed by experts to withstand the million pounds of kinetic energy that is released when a cylinder explodes. 

The gentleman who was killed was filling the cylinder in a water bath for cooling.   The tragedy is that the cylinder was both out of hydro and visual inspections.   It was a needless, senseless tragedy.  The inside of the cylinder was severely corroded, which weakened the walls of the cylinder.  As with most cylinder failures, it failed during the fill process. 

Report on the tricycle race

I must admit that I didn't know what to expect with an underwater tricycle race at the onset.  But it was for a good cause so we packed up the vehicles with dive gear -- rebreathers and all -- and we all went over to the pool.  For our part, Airheads Scuba raised money for the Toys for Tots by donating the proceeds from the rebreather experiences we did.  Special thanks to Draeger Dive for donating the use of the Ray rebreathers.  We provided the Dolphins.

Ed Bates acted as a safety diver for the races, Dennis Price was our open water instructor for any scuba experiences, and I did the rebreather experiences.

A special thank you for those of our customers who showed up to support us and the program.  Our own Alphonso Philips actually made it to the final heats in the races. Not bad for a new diver! 

Annual Holiday Party

This is a reminder for all that our annual dinner party will be held at Airheads at 6:00pm on Saturday, 8 December 2001 .  As always, we will provide the soft drinks and meat.  If you plan to attend, please call the shop so we have an idea on how many will be here and bring a side dish. 

We still are looking for the booney award recipient this year.  If anyone knows something goofey a fellow diver did and you feel he merits this special attention, I urge you to nominate him/her.

Congratulations

The weather this past weekend was ideal.  The water temperature has started to drop, however.  The next time any of you see Dennis ask him about the skin diving ditch and don in 66 degree water in a skin.  Brrr.  Dennis Price just finished his instuctor evaluation at Alabama Blue Water in Birmingham.  We wish to extend our congratulations on a job well done.  I am sure he will agree it has been a long haul and a difficult endeavor.  He is eager to get into teaching others the sport he enjoys so much.  Dennis has been busy this year.  He has accomplished his instructor training and Advanced Nitrox course this year.  He is also currently working on Decompression Procedures and Trimix courses.

TOYS FOR TOTS

Kentuckiana Underwater Explorers Society (KUES) is holding their annual Tricycle Race at the Hurstbourne YMCA  on November 10, 2001 starting at 4:00 pm.   For a ten dollar donation non-divers can have a scuba experience and for a twenty-five dollar donation certified divers can have a rebreather experience.  The donations will be going to the Toys for Tots program and will be used locally. 

Admittance for the tricycle race is a $5.00 toy .  You will have to supply your own equipment.

Come on out and join the fun and help a worthy cause.  Airheads Scuba with other local shops will be doing scuba experiences.  Airheads will be offering the rebreather experiences as we are the only ones in the area trained in this equipment..   We will have two Dolphin and two Ray rebreathers available.  We wish to thank Draeger Dive for the use of the Ray's for this special occassion.

Please call us at 957-1226 if you plan to attend.

Another new toy (click to enlarge)

Special Thanks to all those who helped us at  our Kiosk in the Jefferson Mall this past weekend.

Hopefully the many contacts we made will lead to many  future dive buddies.

Congratulations are in order for the following Open Water students;

Darlene Youngblood   Cheyenne Youngblood            Kenny Jarvis                 Par Juett

Dennis Price did most of the work in this class for his instructor rating.

Congatulations are also in order for Mark Maschmeyer and Debbie Maschmeyer for sucessfully completing their Nitrox class.

DAN TREASURE HUNT

PENNYROYAL SCUBA Hopkinsville, Ky

Sunday, August 26, 2001

This will be the sixth annual treasure hunt for this quarry. Entry fee is $17.00 prior to August 20 and $22.00 after this deadline.  Each dive team will be allowed one hour to hunt for goodies.   All proceeds from this event go to support DAN, our emergency support organization for dive accidents and problems.

Come by the shop for full details and registration slips.

We will not be able to attend (see next column) but we wish everyone good luck.

Have a great day!

AIRHEADS AT THE JEFFERSON MALL

Airheads will be closed Friday and Saturday, August 24 and 25, 2001.  We will be doing a special promotion at the Jefferson Mall this weekend. 

If you need anything specifically from the store (such as air or rental equipment), please call ahead and make an appointment.  Otherwise, please visit us during regular mall hours:

10:00 a.m. - 9:00 p.m. Friday and Saturday             12:00 p.m. - 6:00 p.m. Sunday.

TREASURE HUNT

MARTHA'S QUARRY

Airheads Scuba personnel will be on site at Martha's Quarry from August 31 to Sept. 2 to parti- cipate in this event.   Come join us for a weekend of fun and great prizes!

$10,000 worth of dive gear will be hidden in the quarry.  Camping is allowed both Friday and Saturday nights FREE with payment of the entrance fee.

Admission is $25.00 Friday night.  Gates open at 6:00 p.m., and the hunt begins at 8:30 p.m.

Admission is $15.00 Saturday or Sunday, with the hunt ending at 5:00 p.m. Sunday afternoon.  Diving will be allowed at no extra charge Saturday night for those who have already paid the entrance fee for the day.

If you need anything for this weekend, please notify us ahead of time so that we can make special arrangements to meet you as the shop will be closed Friday, Aug. 31, and Saturday, Sept. 1.

SEE YOU THERE!

Nitrox certification

Dale Huff  

Robert Raymond

Advanced Diver

Dale Huff

Visual Inspection Certification

Bill Routh Jr.

   Dave Walker

    William McClaskey

ABWA - Dive Rite weekend

July 16 - 17

Well we had Kelly Cordell, Karen Backherms, Philip Janes and myself down to the event here in Alabama.  The weather was near letter perfect. Saturday I donated my Dive Rite side mount rig and MLS compact HID light for display. 

I managed to get fitted up for the new Dive Rite drysuit.  It is well made and very affordable for a pack suit.  The workmanship is very impressive.   They use no seam stitching but a ultrasonic welding process. It also comes with a pocket on each thigh and a neck seal with a hood tuck under.

Dive Rite had their new products on display.  Karen got to try their new fins and was very impressed with them.

Wayne overwhelmed by all the goodies

Photo by Steve Parker

A Trip to PCB

19 - 26 July

Kaye and I went on vacation to Panama City.  We had intended on mixing ocean and cave diving, but Kaye came down with a cold so we stayed in PC.  We gave the Draeger rebreathers a good work out during the time we were there.  We only did the jetties due primarily to ear problems.  The current was for the most part good as we confined our dives to the slack periods.  The visibility was 30 to 40 feet on most of the dives. 

For those of you who are unfamiliar with the jetties in PCB they offer an excellent source for inexpensive diving with a large variety of marine life.  In fact we were lucky to find our old friend the 5 ft Jew fish at the end of the jetty.  I managed to get real close being on the rebreather. 

To name a few, we saw Townsend Angelfish, Spotfin Butterflyfish, Lookdowns, Bermuda Chubs, Atlantic Spadefish, Leopard Toadfish, Stripped Burrfish, Triggerfish, many varieties of damselfish, groupers, blennies and snappers. 

Jewfish

Plum Run closed

It is indeed bad news that an excellent dive site is out of reach to divers.  We, as a society have no one to blame but ourselves.   A non-fatal incident occurred late last year.  As a result the operators of the quarry closed it down.  They feared legal repercussions in the case of a future more serious accident.  Opening, operating, and managing dive sites has become a legal quagmire in recent years.  As long as divers refuse to take responsibility for their actions these closings will become more common.  This is the second "local" quarry we have lost access to in the last five years. 

Worse still, the state of Hawaii has ruled the waiver as totally useless.  This is the wrong message to be sending to the public.   Yes, we have the right to sue for redress and should retain that right, however that right should be reserved for those instances that merit it.  If the boat abandons you have merit, if you do something stupid, the only thing you merit is the consequences, not a settlement from someone else.  This has led to numerous operations there closing down or becoming scuba tyrants. 

We at Airheads Scuba try to impress on all our divers the need to accept responsibility for their actions.  We encourage training and classes to make our diver's the best equipped possible.  We challenge the other operations in the area to do the same.  It is only though education that we can impress upon people the importance of being responsible divers.

Dale Bletso 

Solo Diving and the Recreational Diver .........Part 2

Solo Diving and the Recreational Diver .........Part 1

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Lake Jocasse

Kelly geared up

Mike getting ready

David with his stages

All ready

Visual Inspection Procedures

Mark Meadows

Jim Barrie

Amanda Barrie

Scott Chambers

John Carmon

Raymond Gavreau

Nitrox Certifications

Richard Rabek

Dwight Thrailkill

DAN O2 Providers

Mark Meadows          Scott Chambers

Jim Barrie                     Sandi Back

Chris Back                   Doug Baker

Ken Hunt

We left for Pennyroyal Quarry early Sunday morning.  What a beautiful dive day.  It was sunny and warm.  We had over fifty foot visibility!! Water temperature is on the rise as well.  We encountered 53 degrees down to about 30 ffw where it slowly dropped to 42 at 90 ffw. Dennis Price and John French got two of their required dives out of the way and at the same time we had fabulous dive conditions.

Deco procedures class

Pennyroyal Quarry