‘DiveScrap’Index
the scrapbook of diving history
Historical Diving in Austria
24 November 2014,
From Georg Decristoforo:
Hallo David,
Ich möchte Dir heute endlich einmal die Neuigkeiten 2014 von Austria Historical Diving anhand einiger Bilder mitteilen. Nach Fertigstellung einiger Wartungs- und Adaptierungsarbeiten wurde mein 3-light Morse 1933 Commercial Breastfeed nach langer "Trockenzeit" am 28.06.2014 im Tiroler Achensee endlich wieder ins und unter Wasser gebracht. Taucherfreunde des TC Austria Sub Tirol und der Wasserrettung Kufstein übernahmen dankenswerter Weise die Tendertätigkeiten an Land und die Sicherung des Helmtauchers im Wasser. Die Verständigung zwischen Taucher und der Oberflächenmannschaft erfolgte mit dem nachträglich in den Originalhelm eingebauten Dräger UT-302 Helmtelefon. Die Veranstaltung stieß auf lebhaftes Interesse bei der Taucher-Community und den anwesenden Besuchern, sodaß im TC Austria Sub Tirol beschlossen wurde, in Zukunft einmal jährlich einen Helmtauchtag am Achensee durchzuführen und so interessierten ausgebildeten Tauchern das Helmtauchen zu ermöglichen.
Soviel zu den News.
Herzliche Grüße nach Holland
Georg
Historical Diving Austria
By George Decristoforo
The 2nd diving event with historical diving helmet equipment took place on 4th October 2015 at the site “Schwarzenau”, located at the eastern bank of the mountain-lake “Achensee” between the villages Maurach and Achenkirch at an elevation of 930 m asl.
The event was organized by Georg Decristoforo together with the diving Club AUSTRIASUB, who also operates an underwater station at a depth of 17m depth in the Achensee.
The equipment used was a 3 light MORSE commercial diving helmet from the year 1933, a Russian winter rubber suit with gloves attached, Russian diver boots with lead soles, Russian front and back lead weights and an original German helmet divers knife.
Communication unit was a Dräger UT302 helmet telephone, equipped with both helmet and land microphone and speakers. The phone was connected to the helmet with the standard Dräger communication safety line.
Air supply came from two 15l/200bar scuba tanks equipped with pressure reduction valves, which were connected to a 3-way stopcock for rapid change of the tanks without interruption of the air flow to the diver.
The support team consisted of 8 helpers:
2 tenders:dressing the diver
1 gas manager: responsible for air supply
1 communicator: holding permanent contact to the diver via helmet telephone
2 swimmers: bringing the diver into and out of the water and watching through mask from the surface
2 safety divers: accompanying and leading the diver under water
We had 2 helmet-divers underwater, one was remarkably a lady, the first diving with a heavy deep sea diving helmet equipment in Tyrol and certainly one of the very few, if not the first even in Austria. The divers names: Dagmar Nindl and Ulrich Peer.
The dives went to a depth of approx. 4 – 5m with a duration of 15 minutes each. The operating radius of the 50m air hose and safety line was fully utilized during the underwater walks.
The diving operations including the preparation of the equipment started at 09.30h and ended at 14.00h.
A local TV-station produced a short movie (click on the MOVIE button on top of this page) Some photos of the event are listed on the next page (click on Continue to IMAGES)
Contact: georg.decristoforo@a1.net
2. Helmtauchen am Achensee / Tirol on 4th Oct.2015
Photo above: Dagmar Nindl, the first diving lady with a heavy deep sea diving helmet equipment in Tirol and certainly one of the very few, if not the first even in Austria. More photo’s are listed on the next page!
Many thanks to Austrian Historical Diver Georg Decristoforo for these photographs, it is clearly a matter of running both dry and wet tests out of the water.
4. Helmtauchen am Achensee / Tirol on 28 / 29 September 2018
Photo above: Gudrun. She was the first to be dressed in the suit at this years’ meeting. Click on the photo to go to the images page of the 2018 event. Photo David L.Dekker