 | GROUNDHOG TALES |
The Big Chill 2002 New Years Scuba for Cancer | |
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The 2002 Big Chill New Years Scuba for Cancer is a very unique scuba experience. It allows Scuba divers to have a fun dive and help support the Canadian Cancer Society at the same time. This years event was dubbed "The Big Chill" which originated from a news paper article from last years event. This years Big Chill was held on New Years Day, Tuesday January 1st. The dive took place at the Colpoys Bay government dock which is located just north of Wiarton Ontario. Just over $9630.00 was raised by the fifty divers who participated and collected pledges. This exeeded all our expections. Doug Frieburger did accurately predict the events success but we did not believe him at the time. All the money collected from pledges will go directy to the Canadian Cancer Society. Last year nineteen divers collected just under $3200.00 so this year's results represents almost a three fold increase over last year. Everyone who participated or supported the event should be very proud of this great achievement. The event was turned into a fund-raiser when Claude and Renee Pageau's sister-in-law was diagnosed with cancer in late November 2000. Some divers were talking about doing a 2001 New Years Dive and they suggested turning it into a fund raiser. The rest is history. Our sister-in-law's treatment appears to be a success so far. We're hoping the next few years will be problem free so we can all breath a little easier. The 2002 event had lots of creature comforts for the divers, support staff and spectators. The Municipality of South Bruce Peninsula council plowed the parking area this year and provided a portable washroom. We supplied the deluxe bathroom tissue. For shelter, a large 12x30 foot heated tent provided a comfortable environment for divers to change into and out of their gear. Last year we only had a plastic tarp between two vehicles as a wind break. Dave Wedge suggested getting the tent from the Meaford C.F.B military base and the military came through with flying colours. Thanks Dave. Special thanks to Lyle McGill for transporting the tent to and from Meaford. Lyle also provided the space heater which kept the tent cozy warm. The tent also had lighting powered by a portable generator. The tent was put up the day before the event. Erecting one of these puppies takes a little know how. Todd Bolce and Rick Edwards were the resident experts. They came up from Orangeville under challenging road conditions. Also assisting were Dave Galloway, Lyle McGill, Doug Frieburger, Renee and myself. The OPP patrolled the site during the night. Everything went very smoothly. The weather was really stormy the week before New Years so it was very uplifting to see the sun shining on the morning of the event. In fact it was beautifully sunny all day. You could see some snow clouds over the lake during the day but they never did come to shore. The good weather and road conditions helped make the event a success, since quite a few divers had to travel several hours to attend. Renee and I arrived at the dock a little after 10:30 am and started to set things up. Divers began to show up shortly after and pitched in to help. Everyone appreciated the coffee, donuts and bagels sponsored by the Port Elgin Tim Hortons. Judy Frieburger and Yvonne Kingsbury arrived and looked after diver registration and pledges. They did an excellent job. By 12:30 some divers were ready to go in the water. All divers needed to have their Open Water Certification. Spruce Roberston was the dive recorder and Peggy Millar along with others gave instructions and helped divers into and out of the crystal clear water. Divers were instructed to first swim to the end of the dock to pick up a gold nugget from the treasure chest. Some divers even came back wearing jewellery. Most divers stayed down between 15 and 20 minutes. The maximum depth of water was about thirty feet. Water temperature was near 4 degrees Celcius with no surface ice at all. The bottom at Colpoys consists of mainly sand with a few logs and tires to liven things up. Most divers said they were comfortable although there were a few cold fingers and toes. A large pot of warm water was provided to help thaw things out. Groundhog Divers supplied free air and dive equipment to any diver without equipment who raised a minimum pledge for the event. Bruce Kinsbury and Doug Frieburger had their Groundhog vans fully loaded. They also provided support and safety facilities. Once divers started to go in the water, the two BBQ's were fired up and burgers began to sizzle. Port Elgin M&M Meats sponsored the hamburgers while Ralphs Hiway Shopette supplied the buns. Approximately 130 burgers were consumed during the festivities. Thanks go out to Roger Clayton and others for flipping burgers. Burgers were provided free to all divers and support staff. Spectators were asked for a donation. The Owen Sound Sun Times did a photo shoot and article for their paper. Renee and I were asked to pose in the water with New Years Hats and noise makers. The colour photo and article made the front page. Articles and photos were also published in the Port Elgin, Wiarton and other news papers. I would like to see TV coverage next year. After all diver registrations and pledges were received Yvonne and Judy compiled a list of the top twenty five divers with the most pledges. A Free T-Shirt with "The BIG CHILL" graphics were then presented to the top twenty five excluding ourselves. Local sponsors Beaver Lumber, Hepcoe, BMTS/BMI, Sheelers Independent, Freshmart and Burkes IGA donated funds towards producing the T-shirts. Scott Booth was number one with over $1000.00 in pledges almost all in small amounts. Scott has set a very high standard for anyone to beat next year. Free T-shirts were also given out to support staff who were not already included in the top 25. A few T-shirts were available for sale at $12.00 each. This helped to pay for the large "BIG CHILL" banner. Along with T-shirts there were appoximately thirty prizes. All registered diver names were put into a a hat (actually a cup) for the draw. Spruce did the work of talking to Port Elgin and area businesses who donated the prizes. I really liked the hard hat diver figure sponsored by Port's Emporium. Renee knew this and gave me a surpise Christmas present, since I excluded ourselves from the prize draw. After a group photo session the event was wrapped up. The tent came down very quickly and all the gear and equipment was quickly packed away thanks to volunteers who stayed to help. The last vehicle pulled out of the parking lot at 3:13 pm. This allowed some daylight travel time for everyone. All in all it was a fantastic day. We would like to thank the sponsors, particpants, support staff and people who pledged divers. A great time was had by all who attended The Big Chill. The Canadian Cancer Society will receive an early boost to their 2002 finances. Every event can be improved, so next year we are planning for some improvements. To better accomodate more divers, two more tent sections will be added. This will increase the length from thirty to fifty feet. How about a portable Hot Tub. That's right, a local business has promised to sponsor this for next year's event. Pledge sheets and information will be mailed to participating divers next fall. We are thinking of having a Chili contest. I am hoping someone will volunteer to video tape the event next year so let us know if you are intested. Music would also be a good addition. are there any budding DJ's out there. Let us know. Our improvement to-do list has a total of twenty eight items so far. Another initiative is to look at expanding the event to other locations that have ice free diving on New Years. Toronto, Kingston, Brockville, Vancouver, Quebec, Maritimes, etc are possibilities. If you know any divers, clubs or dive shops in other parts of the province or country who might be interested in organizing a similar event please let us know so we can contact them. Claude and Renee Pageau phone 519-389-4256 email claude.pageau@bmts.com |
Here are some photos of the Big Chill event presentation of $9500.00 cheque and a group shot taken on new years.  |