FAIRFIELD COUNTY DIVING ASSOCIATION

August 2019 Volume 26 Issue 8

The Presidents’ Corner by Mike Cassetta

Mark your calendars - Friday night August 23 will be FCDA Night at the Movies! Weather permitting, we may show the movie outdoors. We will plan on another summertime pre-meeting barbecue.

This year’s feature is “The Meg” starring Jason Statham. The movie, according to Discov-ery Channel, is based on a true story. Deep-sea marine biology researchers inadvertently open a portal in the ocean floor unleash-ing a Megalodon on an unsus-pecting world….. what could pos-sibly go wrong?

Our July meeting had an ex-cellent turn out. We would like to thank our most awesome pre-senter Michelle Lapin who showed video clips and photos from a trip to Palm Beach. Sep-tember, will be our members pre-sent evening, so if you have something of interest please let

Matt myself know. I am looking forward to travel-

ing with several of our club mem-bers to the Sea of Cortez. This will be my first dive live aboard, so I am very excited. We look forward to sharing video and photos with all of you at our October meeting.

Our long time secretary, treas-urer and “Puppet Master” Paul Gacek will be our presenter in No-vember. Paul has been the back-bone of the club for many years and will be stepping down as de-fault secretary this year and treas-urer next year. We are in desper-ate need of new officers, in par-ticular a secretary and treasurer. Please, please. please!!! If you are willing and able FCDA needs you.

Look forward to seeing y’all soon.

Mike

Inside this Issue The Presidents’ Corner by Mike Casseta page 1 FCDA Donor I page 2 FCDA Pre Meeting BBQ- July 26, 2019 page 2 Events of Interest to FCDA Members page 3 July FCDA Meeting Raffle Winners page 3 Farewell to a Top Trea-sure Hunter pages 4, 5 FCDA Member Ads page 4 How to Shoot Better Photos of Shipwrecks by Alex Mustard pages 5, 6,7 FCDA Donor II page 6 Frank and Ernest page 7 Breaking Into Backplates by Reilly Fogarty pages 8, 9 Back by Popular Demand! FCDA Tee Shirts and Hoodies!

pages 10, 11

Next FCDA Meeting page 12

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FCDA Donor

The business listed on this page has donated dive gear and dive services to help support the Fairfield County Diving Association.

FCDA Pre Meeting BBQ - July 26, 2019

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Events of Interest to FCDA Members August 23, 2019 - Pre Meeting Barbeque - 7:00 pm - Coast Guard Cottage, South Benson Marina, Fairfield, CT.: BYOM - Bring you own meat and items to share with other members or contribute $5.00 to defray the cost of hot dogs, sausage. rolls, salads, etc.

September 27, 2019 - FCDA Members Present - 8:00 PM. Coast Guard Cottage. If you have a short presentation you would like to present contact Mike Cassetta at mcassetta@gmail.com or Matt Rownin at matt@CTHomeSales.com -

July Meeting DAN Raffle Winners After Michelle Lapin’s excellent presentation on

Diving Off Palm Beach the club held its monthly raffle to support our DAN Sponsorship.

Winners were: Shark Week Poster donated by Jeff Susa - Jason Giannaras ; Dive Mask donated by Orbit Marine - Lisa Jarosik; $5 Gift Card do-nated by New England Dive - Lisa Jarosik; $5 Gift Card donated by New England Dive - Lisa Jarosik, Akona Backpack Gear Bag donated by Orbit Marine - Mike Cassetta , Rinse Hangar donated by New England Dive Center - Michelle Lapin and an 500

PSI Defog donated by New England Dive - Jeff Susa.

Thanks to New England Dive Center, Orbit Marine Dive Center Ski and Jeff Susa or 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!

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FCDA Member Ads Hey - have you got a non retail-diving

business that you’d like to share with your 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 554, Fairfield, CT 06824 or email to fcda@aol.com.

Farewell to a Top Treasure Hunter drug traffickers In fact, one of Marx’s crew was reported to have stolen two bags of silver coins worth $30,000 off Nuestra Señora, but although Marx was investigated by the police, he was absolved of any blame

However, he ran into prob-lems with a rival gang of salvag-ers and was arrested on suspi-cion of marijuana smuggling by the U S Coast Guard The Baha-mas then demanded the return of all the treasure recovered from Nuestra Señora, and an interna-tional incident ensued when Marx refused, under advice from the American Embassy When the Bahamas threatened to remove access to missile tracking and military bases on its islands, the

Liked by some and loathed by others, swashbuckler Bob Marx courted controversy throughout his long diving career, combining both treasure hunting and marine ar-chaeology A sometimes abrasive character, Marx had a resume that read like Indiana Jones and claimed discovery of thousands of wrecks in more than 60 countries He was best known for excavating the sunken city of Port Royal in Jamaica His 1972 discovery of the 17th Century Nuestra Señora de las Maravillas, the second richest Spanish galleon lost in the Ameri-cas, got him thrown out of the Ba-hamas for accusing its then prime minister, Lyndon Pindling, on tele-vision of criminal activity, including corruption and taking bribes from

U S government backed down and withdrew its backing of Marx Meanwhile, other wreck salvage

(Continued on page 5)

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Internet mail: fcda@aol.com http://www.fcda.us

2019 Board

Presidents Matt Rownin & Mike Cassetta Vice-President Lisa Jarosik Secretary vacant Treasurer Paul J. Gacek

P.O. Box 554 Fairfield, CT 06824

teams were given free rein to ex-cavate the Nuestra Señora, but Marx never revealed the location of the main section of wreckage he’d discovered but had yet to start work on Over in Indonesia, the government had long sought the wreck of the Portuguese 400-ton galleon Flor do Mar When they called in Marx in 1992, he located it within three days -- and more than 100 miles away from the ongoing search area Marx was born in Pittsburgh, PA He started what was probably the

(Continued from page 4)

Farewell to a Top Treasure Hunter (continued)

USA’s first diving club (with fellow treasure hunter Mel Fisher), in Los Angeles, and also claimed to have started the world’s first dive resort in Cozumel After a decade living in Spain, where he scoured the Span-ish treasure fleet archives and wrote more than 60 books, he re-turned to live in the U S , where he eventually died at his home in Mel-bourne, FL, this past Fourth of July He was 85

Reprinted from Undercurrent -

August 20191

How to Shoot Better Photos of Shipwrecks by Alex Mustard

Shipwrecks can be awe-inspiring, mysterious and -sometimes tragic. The challenge for photographers is -producing an eye-catching composition while also injecting a sense of these feelings into their pictures. Get it right, and your wreck pho-tos will be among your most ap-pealing work. Get the details wrong, and you’ll have murky metal in shades of blue. Just be-cause wrecks don’t move, that doesn’t make them easy to shoot. Here are pointers to shift the advantage in your favor.

Go Big or Go Home Size matters when it comes to

wreck photography, and the big-gest view is usually best. Think for a moment how you imagined a shipwreck before you ever dived on one. Typically, it will have been an idealized view of an entire ship sitting there on the seabed. When photographers can capture a similar scene in their pictures, the result is likely to

strike a chord with the feelings of any audience.

The key to the big shot is to use as wide a lens as possible—a fish-eye is ideal for fitting the maxi-mum amount into frame while shooting through as little water as possible. If you can see the whole wreck within the visibility, then you should try to show it in its entirety. Much of the time, this is not possi-ble, so you should instead focus your efforts on large recognizable features, such as the bow or stern, which still give the impression of a complete, entire ship resting be-neath the waves. Alternatively, consider interesting structures like the bridge or guns on warships.

hasing the big shot -usually means a wreck scene will be too large to light with strobes. Rather than just lighting up backscatter, turn them off and shoot in ambient light. Wrecks are rarely about color, so you’re -giving little away. When working with ambient light, you have three main options:

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FCDA Donor The business listed on this page has donated dive gear and dive services to help support the Fairfield County Diving Association.

How to Shoot Better Photos of Shipwrecks by

Alex Mustard (continued)

Leave the image with blue (or green) color cast for maximum -atmosphere; use white balance and filters to reveal the color and detail of the scene; or convert it into black-and-white for maximum impact. All have their merits and can be done on the same dive.

Unlike when shooting with strobes, pay close attention to the angle of the sunlight, which is needed in specific directions for different types of images. Since you can’t move the wreck, you have to plan dives at specific times during the day, when the sun is lighting the features you want to highlight. This is especially true of shallow wrecks in clear water. Ex-perienced photographers build up databases of the right times to dive specific wrecks, and will swap this advice when visiting new ones. For example, I like shooting the photogenic stern of the Red Sea’s Giannis D in late morning, while I like how the afternoon sun illumi-nates the bow of Grand Cayman’s Kittiwake.

The simplest wreck images to take are those left with a blue or a green color cast. They are often peaceful images and can invite contemplation. You can easily add an additional point of interest by including a diver, which can be es-pecially effective in darker condi-tions if the diver carries a powerful torch to light up part of the wreck.

(Continued from page 5)

More Underwater Photog-raphy Tips

Filter photography -really suits wrecks that sit in 80 feet or less, because -filters work with the camera’s white balance to help bring out the color of the wreck and make it stand out from the blue of the ocean. However, to capture the maximum color and detail, always shoot with the sunlight coming from behind you and onto the wreck. Make use of the fact you are neutrally buoy-ant and float up to the deck level of the ship, shooting slightly downward and ensuring you’re working with and not against the -natural light.

Monochrome Magic Wrecks simply suit black-and--

white photography. This style creates a -timeless -atmosphere, but even more valuable is the way the -conversion allows you

(Continued on page 7)

The combination of filters, manual white balance, and shooting with the direction of sunlight reveals the detail and color of a wreck.

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How to Shoot Better Photos of Shipwrecks by Alex Mustard (continued)

to ramp up the contrast and really cut through the murk of the sea to reveal the scale of shipwrecks. In the pre--digital shooting era, the decision to go black-and-white was made long before the dive, when we loaded our film. Now you can switch to black-and-white under-water or instantly convert any im-age to monochrome in post-

(Continued from page 6) processing. The trick when -converting to

black-and-white is to tweak the color channels (particularly the blue) with the aim of making the water either lighter or darker than the wreck to help it stand out. Both work; a light wreck looks just as good against dark water as a dark wreck does against light water. The best ad-

vice for post-processing photos is “less is more,” but that isn’t true for black-and-white wrecks. Don’t be afraid to add lots more contrast than normal, especially using the Clarity or Structure sliders to really pull out the detail.

Black-and-white conversions will rescue most average wreck shots, but your images will really become special when you start imagining them as black-and-white scenes -during composition. Wrecks look particularly good in black-and-white when shot across the light so the three--dimensionality of the wreck is revealed by strong shad-ows. This means you want the sun coming from behind or across the feature you’re shooting so the shadows face toward the camera, a very different angle than when shooting with filters. Also try sink-ing down close to the seabed, and shoot up at the wreck so it stands out even better, giving the shot the maximum impact.

Reprinted from ScubaDving.com

- July 3, 2019. Black-and-white images feel historic and really suit wrecks, especially when taken upward, against or across the direction of the sunlight.

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Breaking Into Backplates by Reilly Fogarty

or reserved for divers with double cylinders. While technical divers initially developed the configura-tion, it has become common in rec-reational diving — and for good reason. The ability to configure a BC to a specific dive or type of div-ing is incredibly valuable: It can enhance not only your comfort and enjoyment in the water but also your safety. Not all divers prefer backplates, but you should consider all your options before buying your next BC.

What is a Backplate? Backplate-and-wing BCs are

made up of two parts: a sturdy backplate to which a tank can be secured and a wing that can be inflated or deflated to manage buoyancy. Backplates come in a variety of sizes, designs and mate-rials. Travel backplates made of carbon fiber, titanium and skele-tonized aluminum are available, as are more robust, heavier-duty backplates for cold-water diving.

The most common and cost-

Recreational divers are using highly customizable backplate-and-wing BCs to improve their trim and meet their needs in varying condi-tions.

Buoyancy compensators (BCs) aren't terribly complicated — even the most complex ones aren't much more than balloons we can inflate to counteract negative buoyancy. De-spite how the BC has evolved since its inception, it is still fairly similar to the horse collars of yesteryear.

As long as we can reliably remain neutrally buoyant and have a way to safely add and remove enough gas to offset the weight of our equip-ment and buoyancy changes, we're set. Aside from these few basic de-mands, BCs offer a variety of op-tions, which can overwhelm new di-vers who are selecting their first one. Add to this conundrum the com-monly held belief that backplate con-figurations are exclusively for techni-cal diving.

Gone are the days when back-plates were considered complicated

effective type is a steel or aluminum backplate. Somewhere between just a few pounds to 10 pounds negative, these backplates come with slots for webbing, a few holes at the edge for attaching a drysuit inflation bottle, and slots and holes in the center of the plate for securing one or more tanks.

While twinset tanks are typically bolted directly to the plate, divers can use cam buckles to attach single tanks directly to the plate or to a piece of steel called a single tank adapter (STA), which they then bolt to the backplate. Some wings have extra padding to prevent a single tank that is attached directly to a backplate from flopping back and forth during a dive, but an STA can provide tank stability without the help of wing padding. STAs are also useful for adding extra weight to a backplate — they can be made out of thin aluminum to minimize weight or thick steel with lead inserts to add more weight. There are also adapt-

(Continued on page 9)

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Breaking Into Backplates by Reilly Fogarty (continued)

common consideration when first configuring a backplate and wing. You have the option to choose the size of your wing — how much air it can hold and thereby how much water it can displace — so you have to carefully consider how much negative buoyancy you'll need to offset. Many configurations are available, but most divers choose a wing that provides just enough buoyancy to make them neutrally buoyant at their heaviest. Divers using a wetsuit and a heavy steel tank would need to determine the combined buoyancy of their body, all of their equipment and the gas in their full cylinder. If the lift calculation puts you squarely between two options for similar wings with different lift ratings, choose the larger one — a safety margin is never a bad thing. Deter-mining lift in this way ensures that your wing can provide adequate buoyancy at the surface and throughout the dive but will not slow you down by being unneces-sarily cumbersome.

Why Use Backplates? There are many reasons to dive

ers for rebreather unit attachment, which enable divers to use the same BC for open-circuit or closed-circuit (rebreather) diving.

Divers typically wear backplates with a webbing harness. A single-piece Hogarthian harness is a good choice, but there are dozens of op-tions that include padding, quick-release buckles and various attach-ment points. The wing is sandwiched between the tank and the backplate.

Wings come in a huge range of colors, materials, designs and sizes (measured in lift rating). You can choose between a horseshoe wing and a donut wing and one or two bladders. Divers have debated the relative merits of those four options for years, but many instructors rec-ommend a single-bladder donut wing for the majority of applications. These wings are held on with either the bolts that attach the STA to the backplate or the cam bands that hold the tank to the backplate.

How Much Lift Do I Need? The amount of lift needed is a

(Continued from page 8)

using a backplate and wing. Some divers use them to keep their twinset diving skills sharp, even when diving singles. Others use them to tailor a BC to their particular dive, choosing a smaller wing to move effortlessly through tropical waters, a larger wing for cold-water diving or a re-breather attachment to spend hours on a wreck.

It is often easier to trim out a diver in a well-configured backplate because the wing can be adjusted up or down, depending on whether a diver is head or foot heavy, and trim weights can be easily attached to cam bands on the fly. It takes a little extra work to properly set up a back-plate, but the rewards are significant for those who are willing to put in the effort. Divers who invest time and effort in the exercise commonly have better trim and buoyancy, which can result in improved gas consumption and decreased fatigue or stress in the water, allowing for better control during their dive.

©Reprinted from Alert Diver —

-Fall 2018

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Back by Popular Demand! FCDA Tee Shirts and Hoodies!

Graphite grey shown - Cotton/Polyester blend - Adult Sizes SM - 3XL $25.00

Also available with long sleeves (not shown) $30.00

Both available in choice of ten colors

Get your FCDA Tee Shirts and Hoodies with a high quality embroidered FCDA logo on the front and an embroidered dive flag on the back. Available in sizes from Small to 3XL.

Gildan Heavy Cotton T-Shirt

The Endurance Poly Hoodie

High quality embroidered FCDA logo on the front and an embroidered dive flag logo on the back.

Hoodie also available in Grey with Red Insets.

Available Colors for Tee Shirts and Long Sleeve Shirts

NO LONGER AVAILABLE

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NO LONGER AVAILABLE

Name _______________________________________________ eMail ________________________________________________ FCDA Tee Shirt with Logo and Dive Flag No. _____ Size _____ Color _______ @ $25.00 = $_________ No. _____ Size _____ Color _______ @ $25.00 = $_________ FCDA Long Sleeve Shirt with Logo and Dive Flag No. _____ Size _____ Color _______ @ $30.00 = $_________ No. _____ Size _____ Color _______ @ $30.00 = $_________ FCDA Hoodie with Logo and Dive Flag No. _____ Size _____ Black Inset @ $35.00 = $_________ or No. _____ Size _____ Red Inset @ $35.00 = $_________ No. _____ Size _____ Black Inset @ $35.00 = $_________ or No. _____ Size _____ Red Inset @ $35.00 = $_________ Make your check payable to FCDA and mail to: TOTAL $_________ FCDA, P.O. Box 554, Fairfield, CT 06824

FCDA Shirt/Hoodie Order Form

Please note that all items are custom made and must be prepaid. Items will be ordered as soon as we have the minimum quantity for an order and will generally be available at the next scheduled meeting.

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Next FCDA Meeting

Pre-Meeting Barbeque - 7:00 PM BYOM (Bring Your Own Meat) or contribute $5.00 to defray the

cost of hot dogs, sausage. rolls, salads, etc.

Friday - August 23, 2019 - 8:00 PM

US Coast Guard Auxiliary Cottage - South Benson Marina, Fairfield, CT

“FCDA at the Movies” a video presentation by

The Meg A deep-sea submersible--part of an international undersea observation program--has been at-tacked by a massive creature, previously thought to be extinct, and now lies disabled at the bottom of the deepest trench in the Pacific... with its crew trapped inside. With time running out, expert deep sea rescue diver Jonas Taylor (Jason Statham) is recruited by a visionary Chinese oceanogra-pher (Winston Chao), against the wishes of his daughter Suyin (Li Bingbing), to save the crew--and the ocean itself--from this unstoppable threat: a pre-historic 75-foot-long shark known as the Megalodon. What no one could have imagined is that, years before, Taylor had encountered this

same terrifying creature. Now, teamed with Suyin, he must confront his fears and risk his own life to save everyone trapped below