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Mike Valentine, CaCED member from Eureka California, won the HDS raffle for the DESCO Millennium Mark V helmet. The HDSUSA raffle was a fund raiser with the drawing held on January 21 in Las Vegas, Nevada.
We ask Mike to tell us how he manage to win the beautiful Mark V which is dated 12/31/1999 and is numbered 1 of 1. Mike said that he had noticed the announcement for the fund raiser on the back cover of the Historical Diver magazine, but didn't give it too much thought as he didn't think he had a chance of winning. But apparently his wife, Sue, also saw the announcement for the raffle, and knowing how much Mike wanted a helmet, begin buying tickets each week from her household money without telling Mike. It was only shortly before the drawing that she told Mike what she had been doing. When Leslie Leaney of the HDS called to tell Mike he was the winner, Mike said he almost fell out of his chair and Sue almost fainted. She told him this was his belated Christmas gift from her. Now all he needs is a #4 dress to be ready to make his first dive.
Mike does not own any other helmets, but like most of us, had always dreamed of owning one some day. He has been interested in the old heavy gear since seeing a sponge diving movie in 1954, "Beyond the Twelve Mile Reef," using all hard hat gear. Mike is a log truck driver in northern California. He lives in Eureka, California and said he would be glad to hear from anyone who would like to phone or stop by to see his "most prized possession." Mike's phone number is (707) 445-3409.
Congratulations Mike! And we think you have a really terrific wife!
A special "thank you" to Eric Bakker, owner of Antiques of the Sea in Sunset Beach, who has given us $100 for postage and printing of The Com Line. Eric has often helped find some of the equipment we use at our rallies, such as the dresses. Antiques of the Sea is an interesting little shop that deals in nautical items, both old and new. If you are looking for a specific item give him a call at (562) 592-1752.
Also, "thank you" to Capt. Ed White who also sent along another $20. It is greatly appreciated!
We have been invited to participate in the College of Oceaneering Student Appreciation Days on July 8th from 9:00 a.m. until 3:00 p.m. Barbequed hamburgers will be served at lunch and a chance to dive the MkV will be raffled off for qualifying COO students. (See map on last page for directions).
We will be diving Charlie Orr's Morse 3-light Commercial, a Japanese TOA 4-light, and Rick Eriksen's MkV. Charlie also plans to get his new DESCO helmet wet for the first time.
If you have your own equipment in good working condition, and want to try it out, bring it along, but please let us know in advance so that arrangements can be made for a mandatory inspection and for lay down space. It is recommended that divers bring sweat clothes and heavy socks to wear while diving.
As has been our policy at other rallies, first time divers will be instructed on use of the equipment and will be required to "tender" and dress-in at least one other diver. Also, required is at least one dive in the light-weight helmets before being allowed to dive a MkV.
Help in loading the equipment before and after the dive is greatly appreciated. Be at the COO parking lot by 8:00 a.m. if you can lend a hand.
College of Oceaneering Open House - During this past week (April 10th) the College held their first Open House. Visitors were allowed to tour the facilities and watch the students at work.
Jim Sparks has invited us to participate in their next Open House. Divers from our group would be allowed to use the tanks in small groups or pairs during this week. Anyone interested in doing this should contact Charlie Orr (310) 834-7051 so arrangements can be made for times to meet and to have the gear ready to go. See ya on July 8th !!!!
The CaCED business meeting was held at the L.A. Maritime Museum on March 17th with eight members and Dr. Pete Lee present.
Copies of the 1943 Navy Dept. Bureau of Ships Diving Manual obtained from Torrance Parker was distributed to those present. Discussion covered possible dive sites and upcoming rallies, a safe practices document being prepared for distribution to all members, the break down of plans for a national rally with other WEG's in the US, and the importance of driveway dress-in sessions.
All members are encouraged to attend the business meetings. Next meeting is May 19th from 7:00 to 9:00 p.m. at the L.A. Maritime Museum in San Pedro. A practice dress-in session will be preformed with new member, Jim Pride, being the guinea pig.
Members who would like a copy of the complete report for the March 17th meeting should mail a self-addressed, stamped envelope to Dorothy Barstad, 13119 47th Ln., Yuma, AZ 85367-6413.
Al Hanson was born in North Dakota and became a diver, basically self-taught, after working as a superintendent at Kaiser Shipyard in Richmond, California. While living on Catalina Island, he did abalone diving and processing with his brother Harold Hanson. Al, along with his wife Norma, also performed for the glass bottom boats out of Avalon, on Catalina Island, for many years.
In the late 1950's, he and Norma, moved to San Pedro where they joined the Local 2375 and worked for the L.A. Harbor Dept. inspecting underwater wharf structures and doing any number of construction and salvage jobs. He worked closely with the Harbor Police Department, recovering stolen property and on occasion, murder weapons.
Al also worked as both an underwater cameraman and stuntman in the film industry and appeared in "Phantom from 10,000 Leagues," "The Monster from the Ocean Floor," and "Underwater Warrior."
He and Norma met and were married in Cambria, California in 1949 and were diving partners for over 50 years. Norma served as his tender on many jobs. Their work took them from Alaska to Australia, as well as Peru and New Zealand and the North Sea. The Hanson's had three daughters and one son, John, who passed away at age 50.
It was with sadness that we learned that Al Hanson passed away on March 18, 2000 at the age of 90.
Safe Practices Guideline - Rick Eriksen and Leslie
Jacobs have been drawing up a safe practices
guideline using some material supplied by Torrance
Parker. During the business meeting on March 17th,
Rick presented the guideline to the group and is now
in the process of making the final draft. All members
will be given copies of the guidelines before diving
at our rallies.
Special Note of Thanks - To Torrance Parker and
Capt. Ed White for donating so much of their time
and expertise to the group. Also to Dr. Pete Lee for
allowing us to meet at the L.A. Maritime Museum
for our business meetings.
"Big" Al Pilkington will be spending a year in New
Zealand. Al will be working while there on the
movie "Lord of the Rings."
Richard Lowe, Bill Grondvold and Russ Potocki
are getting their rig's together to form a WEG group
in the Houston, Texas area. Their primary helmet
will be Richard's Siebe Gorman, and Russ's new
Morse MkV. We understand that their first rally will
be titled "Dive into Bankruptcy." They are super
guys and have been a great help to our group with
info on compressors etc. Both Richard and Russ
have excellent websites that can be accessed from
our home page.
Congratulations to "Mom" Orr as she celebrates
her 80th birthday on May 14th. Also to Dorothy B.
who retired March 31st from the UA Cooperative
Extension in Yuma.
Al Perez is one of the original founding members of the CaCED and has been an active participant in all our events right from the start.
He has been a SCUBA diver since the early 80's and often attends our rallies with his classic SCUBA gear. Al is also interested in the heavy gear diving and is a member of the HDS USA.
Al was born in Los Angeles and has been a firefighter since October of 1988 for the L.A. Fire Department. He works in the L.A. Harbor Division where he also serves as a back up diver when emergencies occur in the harbor. (Issue 6 carries the story of his involvement in the rescue two victims of an accident when a car went over an embankment).
Al now lives in Ontario with his wife, Brigitte and two young sons, Christopher, age nine and Nicholas, age six.
Charlie Orr just received his new commercial hat from DESCO Corp. It is only the second one that DESCO has produced (RK 2) and is patterned closely to the old style Kirby Hat. Charlie is planning to dive it for the first time at the COO Rally on July 8th.
He says DESCO did a beautiful job making it and it's almost too pretty to dive. The hat features four lights, a self amplifying speaker, air inlet muffler and air defuser. The breast plate is similar to the DESCO sponge hat, and will fit the standard dress.
He is really excited about trying it out and will give us a test report after the first dive.
Anyone who wants more information on purchasing one of these beauties should contact Ric Koellner at DESCO. (414) 691-4332 or www.divedesco.com
L.A. Firemen Involved in Another Daring Rescue!
Mark Howell and Al Perez was driving home after a hectic day of false alarms, meetings and inspections. As they were talking over the days events, Al notices a small rabbit jump out from the side of the road. He swerved to avoid hitting it, but unfortunately the rabbit jumped right in front of the car.
Al pulled over and got out to see what became of the rabbit, as Mark jumped out, carrying his emergency first aid kit to see if anything could be done. Much to their dismay, the rabbit is dead.
Almost in tears, Al exclaimed, "I feel terrible. I hit this little creature and killed it."
Mark replied, "Don't worry." He opened his emergency kit and pulled out a spray can and ran over to the limp, dead rabbit, bent down, and sprayed the contents onto the bunny. The rabbit jumped up, waved it's little paw at the two of them and hopped off down the road. Ten feet away the rabbit stopped, turned around and waved again, he hopped down the road another 10 feet, turned and waved, hopped another ten feet, turned and waved, and repeated this again and again and again, until he hopped out of sight.
Al is astonished! "Mark, what the heck is in that can? What did you spray on that rabbit?"
Mark turned the can around so that Al could read the label. It read: "Hair Spray - Restores life to dead hair, adds permanent wave."
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