Northeast Working Equipment Group
D-Day 1998 Working Equipment Rally
Page 4 -- Tim's Excellent Adventure
Willow Springs Quarry - Richland, Pennsylvania
LAST FALL Jim Boyd got an e-mail from a high school student in Schuylkill Haven, Pa., who had seen the NEWEG website. "Do you really let people dive that stuff? I really gotta do that!" His enthusiasm was infectious. Since then Tim Berger turned 16 and got his driver's license and drove to Willow Springs on Saturday for the D-Day Rally, accompanied by his father Jeff, who is a diver. Tim first dived Bob Rusnak's Miller hood helmet with his father manning the Morse hand wobble-pump, adding a whole new meaning to the term "supporting his family!" (Unfortunately we didn't get still photos of that.) Then Tim borrowed a wetsuit to take his umbilical training dive (below) in Dave Hill's SuperLite 17.
TIM ALMOST LOOKED like he wouldn't be able to handle the heavy MkV rig (above), and his tenders Derek Weippert (left) and his father (right) seemed to tower over him. But Tim handled the gear just fine and posed with his father (top) before the dive in Ray Butts' helmet. Tim returned to the Rally on Monday and dived the bubble hat (bottom) and the Aquadyne AH2 (below). As the dive site veterans observed, "This kid is a natural!"
TIM ADMITS that he's a "computer geek" who doesn't have any of his own diving equipment yet. Borrowing Dave Hill's heavy zipper-laden wetsuit on Monday, Tim was examining the texture of the neoprene. "Y'know," he said, "I'll bet you could make one of these suits by gluing a bunch of mousepads together."