M 2 The Presidents Corner

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1 FAIRFIELD COUNTY DIVING ASSOCIATION June 2011 Volume 18 Issue 6 Inside this Issue Presidents Corner page 1 New FCDA Members page 2 FCDA Donors I page 2 Events of Interest page 3 FCDA Donors II page 3 Clambake Raffle Winners page 4 FCDA Donors III page 4 May Raffle Winners page 5 U-boats at the bottom of the ocean page 5 FCDA Member Ads page 5 Next FCDA Meeting page 6 M 2 The Presidents Corner Dive season is in full swing. Yeahhhhh!!!!!! The clambake was held on Saturday June 4 th. Attendance was good and the rain held off. A good time was had by all. Mark did an excellent job coordinating the evenings activities. Earlier that day, a contingent of FCDA divers made a trip to Fort Weatherill. Visibility was excellent at around 20 ft, and the water was a comfortable 58 degrees. We encountered a variety of sea life including blackfish, rays, lobsters and flounders. We hit a max depth of 60 ft and the dive lasted about 50 mins. Most importantly, everyone made it back to shore ok. The Cape Anne summer trip will be in July. If you like either diving or camping, or both, it should be fun. The diving is excellent and the campfire is always a blast. Although I love diving, there are unfortunate and grim incidents which should sober us all. There was an accident at Dutch Springs which claimed the life of a 16 year old boy in May. I do not know all the details, but this is the 3 rd death in 5 years at a place that most of us consider to be relatively easy diving. Tim Thomas of the BRATS club will be our guest presenter at the June meeting. Tim will be discussing cave diving and it should be an excellent meeting. Be good, be safe and please don t open any tweets from your local congressman, especially if you are from Queens..Mike See page 5

2 Page 2 New FCDA Members Welcome aboard to the following individuals who have recently become a new members of the Fairfield County Diving Association: Mike & Kathy Zaprzalka 28 Golec Ave Shelton, CT H: (203) W: mzap@netsynergy.com Steven Parry 236 W Haviland Ln Stamford, CT H: (203) W: parrysj@msn.com Continued on page 4 P.O. Box 3005, Fairfield, CT Internet mail: fcda@aol.com Presidents Vice- President Secretary Treasurer 2011 Board Matt Rownin & Mike Cassetta Mark Shannon George Sharrard Paul J. Gacek New England's Tech Diving Center! New England Dive Center 476 North Colony Street Wallingford, CT The region's foremost source for scuba and technical diving gear, training and everything for the recreational or serious tech diver. FCDA Donors The business listed on this page has donated dive gear and dive services to help support the Fairfield County Diving Association Fax Dealer for OMS, UWATEC, Oceanic, Mares, Dacor, Cressi-Sub, P o s e i d o n, Scubapro, Bare, O'Neill and Henderson. Draeger Atlantis I Rebreather training, certification and rental. New England Dive Center offers complete training for all levels of diving, from Open Water through the most advanced technical courses. Our instruction provides certification through SSI, PDIC, TDI and IANTD. Visit us on the Web:

3 Page 3 Events of Interest to FCDA Members July 7-10, Cape Ann Weekend - Diving and dining. Contact Mel Rich Jr. at (203) or nutechpest@mac.com. or Matt Rownin at (203) or matt@forsale2sold.com for further information. FCDA Donors The business listed on this page has donated dive gear and dive services to help support the Fairfield County Diving Association. August 13, Dive the Oregon aboard the RV Garloo - Contact Capt. Hank Garvin for your reservation at (914) or garlooent@aol.com. Contact Matt Rownin at (203) or matt@forsale2sold.com with any questions/details.

4 Page 4 June Clambake Raffle Winners After a succulent feast prepared by Swanson s Clambakes the club held its regular raffle to support our DAN Platinum sponsorship. FCDA Donors The business listed on this page has donated dive gear and dive services to help support the Fairfield County Diving Association. The winners were: SCUBA Water Bottle donated by Rex Dive Center - Matt Rownin; Acous- Stik Rattle donated by Orbit Marine Dive Center - Kate Rickard; Nano Spotter Dive Light donated by Orbit Marine Dive Center - Toni Morgan; Mares Flash Drive donated by Rex Dive Center - Toni Morgan; Oceanic Mesh Fin Bag donated by New England Dive Center - Toni Morgan and a Mask and Snorkel Set donated by New England Dive Center - Paul Gacek. Thanks to New England Dive Center, Rex Dive Center and Orbit Marine Dive Center, for donating tonight s raffle prizes for our DAN raffle. Remember, you can't win if you don't buy tickets and you can't buy tickets if you don't get up and come out to FCDA events and meetings! New Members (continued from page 2) Norm Rial 78 Woodland Ave Stratford, CT H: (408) normrial@yahoo.com Douglas Feldman 1900 Summer St #20 Stamford, CT H: (914) W: (203) dfeldman@factset.com Rex Dive Center Offers Technical Diving Classes Interested in taking your training to the next level? TDI Instructor George Sharrard (# 10270) will be offering: Intro to Tech Advanced Nitrox Decompression Procedures New Class Starting in July 2011 The first class of 2011 is almost complete. If you re interested in learning new dive skills; send an to george.sharrard@gmail.com for our summer schedule.

5 U-boats at the bottom of the ocean Read more: Graveyard-Atlantic-U-boats-the-ocean.html#ixzz1Oyeg4Ibc The picture on the cover is a panorama of 33 individual images revealing how U-352, the first U- boat sunk by the U.S., has become an artificial reef, home to a plethora of marine life These ghostly images, taken off the coast of North Carolina, show the first Nazi contribution to a region known by divers as 'the graveyard of the Atlantic'. The panorama is made up of 33 individual images, all painstakingly aligned from 70ft underwater by dive photographers David Doubilet and Hal Silverman. On April 7, 1942, commanded by Kapitanleutnant Hellmut Rathke, U-352, a Type VIIC U-boat, departed the French port of St Nazaire on its second Atlantic patrol. It took four weeks to cross the ocean, and was one of the first U-boats to attack shipping off the east coast of the U.S. None of its raids were successful, however, and on May 9, desperate for a victory, Rathke fired on a Coast Guard vessel, the cutter USS Icarus. His torpedoes missed. U-352 sank about 25 miles off the North Carolina coast, where it remains today. The 220ft vessel came to rest in one piece, listing heavily to starboard. Its position in coastal Gulf Stream waters, only 110ft deep, has made it a popular dive spot - though would-be explorers must share the wreck with thousands of bait fish, not to mention barracuda and tiger sharks. FCDA Member Ads Page 5 May Meeting Raffle Winners After an excellent presentation by our own Andy Cummings on Wrecks of Aruba the club held its regular raffle to support our DAN Platinum sponsorship. The winners were: Scubapro Mesh Bag donated by Rex Dive Center - Jim McAuliffe; PADI Dive Hat donated by Rex Dive Center - Toni Morgan; XScuba Collapsible Dive Snorkel donated by Orbit Marine Dive Center - Andy Cummings; Childrens Dive Fins donated by New England Dive Center - Mike Casssetta; Nano Spotter Dive Light donated by Orbit Marine Dive Center - Charlie Blanchette and a pair of Dive Gloves donated by New England Dive Center - Toni Morgan. Thanks to New England Dive Center, Rex Dive Center and Orbit Marine Dive Center, for donating tonight s raffle prizes for our DAN raffle. Remember, you can't win if you don't buy tickets and you can't buy tickets if you don't get up and come out to FCDA events and meetings! Hey - have you got a non retail-diving business that you d like to share with fellow members of FCDA? Get your business card size ad in the FCDA monthly newsletter Surface Interval for only $50.00 for one year. Give your business a boost and help support the production of our monthly newsletters. For more information, write to FCDA, P.O. Box 3005, Fairfield, CT or to fcda@aol.com.

6 Page 6 Next FCDA Meeting Friday, June 24, :00 PM Coast Guard Cottage, South Benson Marina, Fairfield, CT Cave Diving in Florida, BRATS Local Dive Events a presentation by Tim Thomas Tim is an avid diver, Owner of Best Dive Training, LLC. and the current manager of the BRATS (Best Recreational And Technical Scuba) club. When not teaching or diving in local lakes, Tim can be found crewing on the R/V Garloo a famous dive boat and Research Vessel out of Captree Marina in Babylon NY. And when not crewing on the Garloo you'll see Tim with his car full of gear heading south to dive the spring fed cave systems in Northern Florida. Fairfield County Diving Association P.O. Box 3005 Fairfield, CT Address Service Requested