EKPP (European Karst Plain Project)

Anche noi Europei spingiamo forte!: 5880 Metri (19291 Feet)


An email from the EKPP team leaders:

The EKPP (European Karst Plain Project) pushed the Doux de Coly on August, 22 to 5675 mtr (18618 ft) distance to air.

The dive started in the morning of August,22 at 7:03 am and lasted 18 hours 21 minutes. The divers Michael Waldbrenner and Reinhard Buchaly surfaced in the morning of August, 23 at 1:24 am. 675 meters of line were added and surveyed from their 5000 mtr endpoint of the last year.

Both divers used a double RB80 rebreather configuraton with 2x 20 liter backmounted bailout cylinders (trimix 16/80). Three drive stages were used with 2x trimix 22/70 and 1x 16/80 and five magnum Gavin scooters per
diver. All rebreathers were fitted with a custom counterlung optimized for the depth of the cave. Lighting was with a 18 Watt HID with a custom made reflector powered by 20 Ah Nicads.


The dive started with a visibility of 15 to 20 meters ( 50-65 ft). Due to heavy rainfalls two days ago the vis reduced after approx. 1000 m (3300 ft) distance to initally 4 meters (13 ft) , then 2 meters ( 6 ft) visibility.
Luckily the vis improved again after 2300 meters (7500 ft) to the starting vis.

Again at 4500 mtr (14700 ft) the vis went down, but it improved after further 200 meters. When reaching the endpoint of the last year at 5000 meters (16400 ft) it was expected that the cave would continue the downslope. But it stayed at a level between 65 and 60 meters (213 - 197 ft). The cave got smaller at 5300 meters (17400 ft) where the tunnel ended in a T. Choosing the way to the right, the now smaller and silty tunnel went in eastern direction til
the line was tied off at 5675 mtr.

Bottom time was around 8 hours. The decompression took place in the shaft 300 meters from the entrance. Total deco time was about 9 hours 15 minutes. Additional time was spent travelling the shallow part and entering and
exiting the habitat for the last three hours of deco. Water temp is around 12,5° C.
Both divers felt well after the dive, and after a good sleep jogging the next morning showed no lung problems.
A more detailed description of the dive and the team effort will be placed on a website in a few weeks.

We want to thank our great DIR support team for their excellent work.

We had a lot of fun within the team and enjoyed the dives.

Reinhard Buchaly and Michael Waldbrenner

Fonte articolo: Innerrealm.co.nz
Foto: EKPP