A short piece aired near the top of 11pm news Sunday night on Channel 8 here in San Diego, ca I have not been involved in discovering or researching this, I involved in the video shot.

The wreck is the Cape Charles (previously referred to as the “workboat” by some). It was discovered in January 2007 by Ray Arntz and Gary Fabian while they were searching for the nearby TBM Avenger (http://ub88.org/avenger.html). Tyler Stalter and other divers found the wreck shortly afterwards and have done several dives on the wreck to establish its identity.

Tyler Stalter says:

“After many dives the SDTechDiving.com team has finally identified a 110’ long, steel hulled vessel off Point Loma. This vessel is sitting upright and intact on the bottom in 165’ of water. After hours of bottom time we were finally able to gather valuable evidence to use to identify the unkown wreck. Al Bruton was able to provide some valuable insight into how the vessel wound up off Point Loma. The vessel in question, “Cape Charles” sunk in San Diego bay. It was slated to be re-floated and towed to wreck alley for disposal in the late 80s. En route to wreck alley the vessel capsized and sank in 165’. Her tumble is evident in the debris strewn around the wreck and the gash in the bow from the towline. Another link is the abundance of large inflatable “lift bags” to float the wreck in the bay for towing which are all over the exterior and even the interior of the wreck as well. After reviewing all of these clues it is our opinion that the wreck we have been diving is in fact a 110’ ft hulled vessel known as the Cape Charles. This is the perfect wreck for any technical training in the San Diego area. Several decks to penetrate and some very cool features such as the large intact crane on the aft deck, debris field and its unique placement just off the tip of Point Loma will make this a very popular wreck for technical divers.”

Dive Report:
We dove it Saturday morning at slack tide. Vis on the wreck was about 15′. Temp was 50F. We dove trimix due to the depth. 25min bottom time, 70min total runtime with deco. Some people dove rebreathers, some dove open circuit doubles plus deco gas.

VIDEO:
KFMB doesn’t have the broadcast video on their website, but here is the raw video (not including Tyler’s studio interview):
http://rogerbly.s3.amazonaws.com/video/cape-charles_iphone.mp4

(NOTE: this video is 100MB, 10min. Can be viewed in Quicktime, VLC, Totem, or any mpeg-4/AVC/H.264 player. In Quicktime, best to use File->Open URL… with the above URL. That way you can watch while it downloads.)

This is from a couple of years ago and the video quality isn’t great but it gives a quick introduction to the KISS rebreather.

The KISS rebreathers are like the rEvo in many regards some highlights:

• Easier to travel with
• include an integrated bailout value (BOV)
• have 3-independent oxygen displays
• non-integrated harness and wing
• easy to repair as most of the parts are off-the-shelf from places like REI/HomeDepot

It lacks:

• the modular scrubber
• integrated HUD
• tool-less maintenance chassis, the KISS needs tools

These units are about the same in cost but know that both of these units are sold in units other than the USD so the price for these units fluctuates as the United States Peso Dollar moves.

To divers, traveling on airlines with tons of scuba gear is almost always a pain. Add a rebreather and it can get even more complicated. You have weight issues, extra baggage fees and the fear that something will get broken, stolen or confiscate.

I saw this on San Diego Tech Diving and Rebreather World and it’s an excellent run-down of all the issues.

I work for the airlines in the US, so I will try and throw in my 2 cents.

- TANKS. you can travel with tanks (ill advised) as they can be siezed by TSA without warning and you will not get them back. They must be checked, valves removed, with absolutely nothing blocking the tank opening. They can be asses even about clear packing tape over the opening, or they can be cool. It is anyones guess. Pre-ship or make arrangement at your destination for tanks.

- SORB. Easier to pre-ship. There has been discussion on another forum about putting all of you sorb in a Kitty Litter tub and checking it in as baggage. Probably illegal but who knows. There are MSDS sheets you can print out and attach to your sorb tub. BUT while passengers have followed all of the rules on taking sorb on the plane the TSA has still chosen to confiscate it. You have no recourse for the confiscation, it is gone. Make back-up arrangements at your dive destination for SORB purchase.

- Rebreather. Carry on what you can, the delicate parts, the computers whatever you don’t want the baggage handlers or TSA rooting through (without your presence), possibly stealing or confiscating. Double check the allowed carry-on weight allowance.

- Check you airline website for weight restrictions for both carry on and cheaked baggage. All airlines are different and they change all of the time. Weigh you bags at home and work out the weight distribution before you get to the airport.

- I took my KISS CLASSIC as carry on baggage the last time I travelled, with my computer, DSV, put other parts in my scrubber. Just be prepared to take it all out and show them EVERYTHING.

Sometimes it is just easier to ship everything, with insurance.

Link to article