Can anyone help this guy?

[cardiver]

Looking forwad to diving with you some day Blane!
Warning: Getting scuba certified, may change your life dramatically.
At least I know it did for me!

It will MOST DEFFINATELY change your pocket book!

[Sounder]

Hey all,

I've been in contact with Blane and we're working with Harbor Patrol to put together a time in the near future when they'll close the pier and allow a team to enter. As this is still in the planning stages, we'll keep you posted as we know more.

Especially now, please do not go in for the gear yourself. We're handling it through the proper channels and are working on what we hope will be an excellent public service and a great example for diving PR. Blane is also helping a lot with excellent descriptions of the gear and the last known location of it.

Harbor Patrol and the City of Seattle is SUPER appreciative of our efforts to conduct this recovery correctly and this event could potentially lead to future Cove 2 clean-up events in the restricted areas. ...but that kind of stuff is definitely down the road. For now, we're just working on getting this one dialed-in and executed properly.

More details to come...

-Doug

[Maverick]

I'm in, let me know when and where, permission or not, i'm in

[Zen Diver]

I'd like to help too, either with diving or surface support (depending on when this happens).

-Valerie

[Sounder]

Seattle Parks and Seattle Police Harbor Patrol have been fantastic in helping me get the proper permit and authority to dive in the exclusion zone. I'm now talking schedules with Harbor Patrol and am hoping to have a plan for the recovery sometime mid-next week.

[Zen Diver]

Awesome news Sounder, you are one-of-a-kind goodness

-Valerie

[airsix]

This is awesome. I've very glad to see the 'can do' attitudes prevailing.

-Ben

[Jabberjaw]

Nice job Sounder. You are well on your way to becoming a good Dive Master
:wav:

[BASSMAN]

Mid week?!
That would be great for me! if I get my Regulator back from it's annual insp.

I'll keep an eye on this post!


Keith

[edm81363]

Hi -

I'd be happy to surface support this mission. With only 15 dives in my logbook, I'm not going anywhere near a fishing pier!

-Ed in Mill Creek
ed@mcnichol.com

[nwscubamom]

Dougaless:

You da MAN!!!

- Janna

[Sounder]

Thanks, everyone, for your kind words. This certainly has been rewarding and I'm excited to bring updates as they are available.

It's been quite nice to work through the proper channels for this effort and begin to put something together which will give our beloved sport some positive PR. I also know that value of family heirlooms and can understand the terrible feeling that must have caused Blane's heart sink as he watched his grandfather's reel sink into the Sound. I feel fortunate to have the tools necessary to help him out.

As things develop I will keep you posted. I expect things will kick into gear when I hear from Harbor Patrol on a date & time. I also appreciate all the offers for assistance and please know that I will be soliciting assistance where needed when I hear what our schedule is with the authorities.

I'm also excited at the bridge this will hopefully create allowing for more and more active diver participation in the up-keep and maintenance of our dive sites in the City of Seattle. There have certainly been people who have held the active role in preservation of some of our favorite local digs (like Cove 2 a.k.a. "The Office"), and I think this may allow us to expand our role in the maintenance of our city sites. Wouldn't it be great to host an annual clean-up in Cove 2?!

Thank you again for your kind words and willingness to help. I will keep this thread as up-to-date as I can with developments as they come. Thank you also for allowing us to conduct this through the proper authorities... doing it this way ensures we don't have any accidents or violations, both of which would hurt the goals we're working to accomplish.

I should know more on Monday or Tuesday... stay tuned!!

[Penopolypants]

Thanks for taking the initiative on this....I know you've got a lot going on right now. Please let me know what I can do to help as well!

[spatman]

rock on, sounder!

this is a great endeavor and one that i wish i had the skills to participate in. please keep us updated and take lots of pics and video!

[Sounder]

Update...

We've obtained permission allowing the team to dive the Seacrest fishing pier and exclusion zone this afternoon. Harbor Patrol will be there to authorize the dive and close the pier while the divers are in the water. Blane will be anxiously watching bubbles as we attempt to find his lost gear and return it to him. The dive team consists of Rob Holman, Lynne & Peter, BDub & Jeanna, Kirk Hamblen, DSteding, and myself.

The City of Seattle Parks Department and Seattle Police Harbor Unit have been awesome in fast-tracking us permission and assisting with the effort to recover Blane's lost item before the salt water has had the chance to damage the gear. This process has been an excellent opportunity to further build the diving community's relationship with the City of Seattle and I hope this will lead to larger clean-up and maintenance projects in the City of Seattle dive sites, especially around Seacrest Park.

I appreciate everyone's kind words and willingness to help. Please send your good mojo our toward Cove 2 as we attempt to locate the lost item. Also please stay tuned for larger volunteer opportunities in Cove 2 in the future.

We're headed out soon and will post a report with what we find!!

[enchantmentdivi]

I can't wait to hear how it goes! When I started this thread less than a week ago, I never imagined the saga that would unfold. Thanks to the "team"...regardless of the outcome. We definitely can't say that we didn't try!

[airsix]

The dive team consists of Rob Holman, Lynne & Peter, BDub & Jeanna, Kirk Hamblen, DSteding, and myself.

A fine compliment indeed. The Dirty Dozen, Magnificent Seven, Three Musketeers, The A-Team... They've got nothing on you guys.

Three cheers for 'Sounders 8'.

-Ben

[Scubak]

Any news on a recovery on the lost object?
Wish I had known this was going on today. After work I would have come down for shore support or just to say hello!
Good job on the organizing efforts...
Kirsten

[Pez7378]

Sweet! Let us know how it ends. If you dont find his gear, let me know. I might have something to offer. I'm sure it can't replace a family Hierloom but it's definately worth a shot. I'm not using it anyway.

[Zen Diver]

Me too. I was there earlier today, I would have hung around...

-Valerie

[airsix]

Well, it's almost 10:00pm and nobody's speaking up. I hope it went well, but I would have expected a report by now if it was good news. I see one of the team members online but I won't out them in public.

-Ben

[Penopolypants]

I was there for a fun dive and support in whatever capacity, so I will let one of the search divers tell the whole story. The short story is that they found the rod right where it was lost....the reel was gone.

I guess someone heard the story and went looking for that expensive reel that still belonged to someone else. Dropped the rod where they stripped it.

It's on Q13 tonight, soon. Turn on the telly.

[LCF]

Well, we definitely did what we could, and we found what was there to find. We had six divers kicking and two on scooters, and the pole was easily found with some line leading away from it. The hook was also found, and the line appeared to have been cut. It seems as though someone came across the gear and took a shine to the reel. With any luck, this is someone who is unaware of the sentimental value of the item. One can hope that he or she will see the news piece tonight and come forward to return the reel to its rightful owner.

Blane was a sweetheart, and despite our failure to recover what he really wanted (he did get his pole back) he bought pizza for the dive team.

What was really fun was that the plan we put in place, as to how to search the area and make use of the number of divers and the mobility of the scooter pilots, worked exactly as envisioned. And we picked up quite a bit of trash, too. And if there's anybody who lost a blue mask and snorkel in about 80 feet of water, I found it

[BDub]

Yep, rod was there, line was in the rod, reel was gone

Regardless, Doug did an incredible taking the initiative on this...assembling the team, contacting the city of Seattle as well as Harbor Patrol through the proper channels, etc. Great job Doug.

I wish the outcome was different, but Blane was very impressed at the support the dive community showed. He made the comment that he didn't expect anyone to respond to his request on nwdiver, and was amazed at the outpouring of support he received.

If anyone "stumbled" across the reel, please get in touch with any of the divers. Blane is an incredibly nice guy and he deserves HIS reel back.

[CaptnJack]

While Ppants and I didn't really seach for the rod/reel we were there and had a nice time with those that volunteered their time and gas to look for his property. Blane and his GF were very generous and grateful for the support. Unfortunaetly someone else 1) stole his reel after hearing that it was there, and 2) made it blatently obvious to the Harbor Patrol and Seattle Parks that the "no dive zone" is not really that respected by portions of the dive community. Schmuck