Icewurst 2012

[swimjim]

As many of you have seen in my video's from Fortune Pond Upper Michigan, that's a heck of a nice place to dive. To that end I think it's time for a Northern Vintage dive meet at a place with excellent viz in the Northern climate. Yes, I know this will be cold water diving and you won't catch me here clad in only a swim suit. But for those who can tolerate some cold water and have a sense of adventure, this is the meet for you.
It will be held at Fortune Pond in Crystal Falls Michigan. The Motel of choice is the Lake Shore Motel in Iron River Michigan. Date? May 11th - 13th 2012. For those willing to brave the cold I will bring my grill and do some bratwurst for lunch at Fortune Pond. Iron River has Mr. T's for a breakfast place. A little Mom and Pop that's really nice. Friday night, Woodz Inn for their fish fry and Saturday the classic Italian resturant, Alices. It's worth it just so you can say you've been to Alice's resturant!
The Lake Shore Motel is a Mom and Pop. It's clean and relatively inexpensive. It is located at 1257 Lallay Rd, Iron River Michigan. Phone 906-265-3611. For those wanting a little more up scale there is an Americinn in Iron River. I've stayed there and it is nice. Questions? Reply to this thread, send me a PM or drop me an email at [email protected]. Let's do this! It will be a blast! Yes Bryan, I know you'd rather lick a hot stove then dive cold, but there's always and opening for a brat turner and bar tender! You could be the most important guy up there!

Jim

[swimjim]

http://www.deepsixscuba.com/fortunepond.html

For those contemplating attending Icewurst, the above is a link to one of my clubs web pages that features Fortune Pond. It not only contains a write up on the "Pond" itself, it has links to local lodging and resturants.

Jim

[ivan's mermaid]

Don't forget the great Hydroglove video Jim did of Rob at Fortune Pond.

http://vimeo.com/24956743

[Vintagediver]

Jim; your thoughts of a vintage dive event at Fortune Pond is a great idea, and I would definitely like to make it up that way for some diving there. I was checking my 2012 calendar today to see how that weekend would work for me and discovered that the weekend you mentioned is also Mothers Day weekend; which would most likely present a problem for myself and possibly others to attend. For this reason it might be worth considering another weekend possibly later in the spring; which would also give the water a chance to warm up a bit more. I like your idea, and I'd sure like to see Fortune Pond become a regular event for the Vintage Dive events. Just my thoughts, and I'd like to hear what other members have to say. Terry

[swimjim]

Mother's Day. Oop's! It always rains on Mothers day too for some reason. I do wish to keep this event in May because that's when you find the best viz at the pond. I also want to avoid Memorial Day Weekend. So I guess the happy medium would be May 18th - 20th. How's that?

Jim

[Vintagediver]

That date might work; at the moment I can't see any reason why not. The water should be warm enough by then for me to get by with my vintage 5mm wetsuit. As I'm staring 65 in the face I find that I'm not as crazy about the cold water as I was when I was younger; but if we can have some nice weather that weekend I'm usually pretty comfortable with the sun out just to get that damp chill out of the air. Hopefully there will be a number of others who can make it as well. For the sake of discussion with the interest of establishing a yearly vintage dive event at Fortune Pond; what are your thoughts Jim on doing this at another time of the year should there not be enough interest of doing it in May? I was really interested in attending the dive that you guy's did the weekend of October 8th, and had it been in September I most likely would have. Again; just my thoughts and input; now lets hopefully hear from some others who might be interested. Terry

[Robohips77]

That weekend will work for me also.

[swimjim]

That date might work; at the moment I can't see any reason why not. The water should be warm enough by then for me to get by with my vintage 5mm wetsuit. As I'm staring 65 in the face I find that I'm not as crazy about the cold water as I was when I was younger; but if we can have some nice weather that weekend I'm usually pretty comfortable with the sun out just to get that damp chill out of the air. Hopefully there will be a number of others who can make it as well. For the sake of discussion with the interest of establishing a yearly vintage dive event at Fortune Pond; what are your thoughts Jim on doing this at another time of the year should there not be enough interest of doing it in May? I was really interested in attending the dive that you guy's did the weekend of October 8th, and had it been in September I most likely would have. Again; just my thoughts and input; now lets hopefully hear from some others who might be interested. Terry

I decided on May because that's when the viz is at it's best. Besides, it's a good time for us Northerners to get the cob webs worked out after the long winters lay off. That being said, mid September in Upper Michigan is really nice. The leaves are starting to turn, yet the day time temps are usually very comfortable. The top 30 feet or so at Fortune Pond is in the 60's for temperature and that makes for some sweet shallow water diving, even in my 3 mil. Off the top of my head, I don't think we're running up against any other events.
Because this is an easy thing to set up, I propose for 2012 we do both! While Fortune Pond has no attractions like airplanes to dive on etc, The water clarity is top notch. Upper Michigan is an interesting place. Like a time capsule. Kind of like going back to the 70's. Even the State Patrol up there has a single red gum ball light on their squad cars. The people are not rushing around and they are generally pretty friendly. It's a great place to relax. Whether you attend in May or September, I do not think you'll be disappointed.

Jim

[SurfLung]

- I've marked the dates of May 18-20, 2012 for Fortune Pond in my calendar. Now if I can just survive waiting out the winter! I am really looking forward to getting back to Fortune Pond...
- Regarding the water temperature up at Fortune... I'd sure hate to see folks passing up such a great dive spot over concerns about cold water. I've been diving a 3mm/2mm one piece Stearns water skiing wet suit all year and the concern over cold water at Fortune got me worried. I rented and brought along a 7mm wetsuit when we went up there in October. But my weights were all dialed in for the thinner suit and so I tried it just to see how well it worked. With a 3mm hooded vest underneath, and using boots and gloves, I was quite comfortable through three dives in one day. Mostly I was between 25-50 ft deep but I did go down to 80 ft... It felt colder on my arms at that depth. But otherwise, I was comfortable and dived about 45 minutes each dive without getting cold. Temperature-wise, I was pleasantly surprised and maybe others will be, too
- SwimJim, please reserve a spot for me at your Icewurst grill!

[swimjim]

Spring time at Fortune Pond may be a tad bit chillier then October. On the other hand, the viz should be even better. I can smell those beer brats and Italians already! It's going to be a great weekend!

Jim

[SurfLung]

- Talked to Sea Hunt Jerry last night and he asked about, "Are you going to that Fortune Pond thing in May?" I said, "Of Course!" We're going to the Upper Midwest Scuba and Adventure Show next weekend so, I'll get a chance to play with Jerry's regulator collection and start goading him into coming to Fortune.
- Also mentioned it to my Son-In-Law Nick... Who I'm sure everyone will expect to see due to his starring role in SwimJim and My Videos... A fact I will be sure to remind him of! "People will be wanting to meet you and shake your hand, Nick..." Ha! He had such a great time last year, it won't take much convincing.
- Obviously this thing is going to take a lot more planning and organization than we put into it last Fall... Ha! Ha! Can anyone tell if I'm looking forward to it?

[swimjim]

Actually, not much planning to do. Book a room, go diving. I'll be packing a propane grill and some bratwurst. The usual bottled golden nectar. Good to go. I just put together another set of twin 72's. This one with a vintage harness. Looking forward to diving it. The water will probably be around 40 degrees. That's pretty rugged in my 3 mil. Probably have to do dry most of the weekend. The viz should be good though.

Jim

[simonbeans]

40 WHAT?

[SurfLung]

- Allan, I just got a heck of a deal on a set of double 80's with some nice bands and I'm going to need your personal assistance setting up a new Klauda twin tank harness at Fortune Pond. Surely you won't let a little cold water get in the way of this serious stuff...
- BTW... What the heck am I going to do with double 80's? Jim and I will need our double tanks so we can stay in the refreshingly cool Fortune Pond water as long as possible! AAAR! 100 Foot Visibility!

[simonbeans]

A bit of investigation revealed that a 12 hr drive (one way)for a 2 day weekend didn't compute so well. Add housing, food, etc., and I think the "thrill" of 40 degree water with 100 ft vis to look at ????? isn't to my liking. When we did Sand Dog VII in FL, the cost for me was comparable to a week in Cozumel. Add Fortune Pond plus Portage together and the cost is about the same as a week in 80+ degree water with colors besides greens and brown.
However, when you add in the comradship, I guess the trip to Fortune Pond would be priceless. Maybe with Michigan as my native state, I might just break out the dry suit. We shall see.