ICSD New Shipwreck Challenge...

[doug67]

I was looking for you Nate. I got on the water about 5:30 and I saw on your post you would be there but I didnt see your truck at the access. I was in a boat, I have a camo 17ft lowe john boat with a 50hp merc. I didnt get pics but you cant miss it if you go by the directions. The waters so clear right now you can see it on the bottom in 19ft of water.

[DiveCaptDean]

Wreck #2: 14' White wood boat sitting in 18' deep water. Found by myself on a solo dive in Pike Lake near Hermantown MN on 7-4-2009. this boat was scuttled as it had rocks inside the boat.  link to one of the video's:
  Viz here was 6' on the day of the dive but I have seen the viz as good as 10' here.
coordinates are: N46 51.829' W92 17.928'


Sorry to be a downer but i think everyone that has done their open water training dives in Pike Lake ( and there are many) are aware of this little wreck.  its pretty much right off the boat launch and swimming beach area..and 6 houses down from my dock...

Fun game though
i hope all are well  its been a while
Deano

[DetectorGuy]

Morning Captain!

The one you just mentioned is a popular little runabout and I have dove that one too. The one you mentioned is easy to find if you line up the 3 A-frames that make the swingset in the playground at the South side of the public swimming beach and swim straight out to about 18' of water... I have seen many divers camped out over this boat and never out in the lake. The coords to the one you mentioned are: N46 51.931' W92 17.071'.

The one I found has the coordinates: N46 51.829' W92 17.928'. It is West of the big penninsula that Jeno Palucci owns on the South shore. If you get to the hockey player Brett Hulls little shack you went too far West along this South shore.
              I can personally guarantee that it has not been seen by human eyes since it sank because of what was in it and the age of the anchors that were snagged on it.

Punch in the coords and they will get you dangerously close and then look around the area. There is also a nice log fishing crib about 8' x 8' x 3' high West of this boat about 200'.

Great to hear from you again Deano,
John

[Shooter]

I parked over by the swim beach. I was underwater from before five until shortly after six. John and I are going to go dive it after work. We will be diving out of his zodiac.

[doug67]

Wish I could go. I have to teach firearms class tonight. Let me know if the rain screwed up the vis.

[Shooter]

We found your shipwreck. I think John shot some video of it that he will post later. My imagination was running wild on the way to the dive site envisioning wreck penetration!  : looks like that thing has been down there for a while. We talked to the home owner and he didn't know anything about it. We also tried to retrieve a socket for him, but the bottom was too silty.

My dive day it was a lesson in patience and persistence. I have been knowing by those that dive with me as somewhat of an OCD diver. I use all the same gear and follow the same routine. I have been swimming laps in the morning at the pool and practicing my free diving. So my mask and fins and snorkel were in my wife's vehicle. I raced home after work to grab them to go diving. Her vehicle was not there, she had to run to the cities for something. I then head back to the shop to scavenge some gear. The only fins that will fit with my rock boots are the split fins. I corrected that mistake many years ago! I grab one of the kids masks and head to the lake to meet John. We load the basic gear into the zodiac and head to the dive site. I assemble my gear and pressurized it and hear air leaking out! Turns out I blew an o-ring in my SPG. I tell John to go ahead. We have no tools or extra ports. I then take an inner tube bungee, my dive knife and shears, and proceed to MacGyver the situation. I cut a small O-ring & reassembled my gear and was good to go. I splashed in and I immediately had the feeling that I forgot my fins! Nope, they were there just didn't feel like it. They don't work very well for frog kicking either. Definitely the worst piece of dive gear that I have ever purchased.

We then searched a couple of different areas for something that we saw on the bottom finder last time we were diving. We were hoping to find another ship but it was just a big concrete buoy anchor. John was already back in the boat and we were going to head out. I had the tow sled with him and he gave me a ride back to the landing on that. We did manage to find a cool old metal frame lifeguard tower standing on the bottom in approximately 30 feet. I know it doesn't count for the challenge but it was still interesting to see. I'm sure John will post the coordinates later.

[DetectorGuy]

Dougs sailboat was located right where he said: "20' off the dock with the green roof on the boathouse with the American flag, in 19' of water. What I did not realize until I got to the lake is that there are 4 green roofed boathouses with an American flag. We used an educated guess and found it right away. At first glance I thought is was a sailboard. It is a white 12 footer made of wood with a 1 1/2" wide by 1/2" high wood keel on the bottom so it must have been an unstable sailboat back in the day. It had a square stern and was mostly burried upside down in the sand with the whole bottom of the boat exposed. On the starboard side about 9" of the freeboard was showing. Visibility was about 20' at the boat and about 25' farther out in the lake. On a bright day you could probably see it from above the surface, but with the cloud cover I could only see it once my mask was underwater. There was a piece of lumber next to the boat and a "fresh" dead muskrat next to that. I took a couple short videos of it and then noticed that my camera was flooding and I brought my camera back to the top and drained it  :'( . I will post the video here later tonight. The coordinates to Dougs wreck are: N45 34.230' W93 24.257'.

The coordinates to the metal lifeguard tower are: N45 34.351' W93 24.510'

[DetectorGuy]

Here is a link to a short video of Dougs sailboat wreck:

*No animals were harmed in the making of this movie. The muskrat was already dead, I swear!

[doug67]

Boy I dont remeber seeing a dead muskrat......................you sure no animals were harmed? > Great video guys, water still looks good vis wise.

[DetectorGuy]

The first thing I thought of when I saw it was: how could I scare Nate with it. I had it in my hand and my camera flooded. At that point my priorities changed, and I let the "scare Nate with the dead muskrat" thought go. I went up and threw the camera in the boat to prevent further damage and went back down.