December 2001

Today was a great day underwater. Our dive teams completed their sixth deep-water large diameter pipeline tie-in. What a triumphant feeling as the owner of the company.

Vern Johnston

None the less it was a very positive ride home that lead me to checking out the C.A.D.C. website and ultimately the writing of this. When I read Jeremy Leonard's Northern Underwater Systems company profile it began with part of my history as well. My name is Vernon Johnston and I was the friend at the pool in Fort McMurray with Jeremy when the helicopter pilot from Alpine Helicopters came in search of some divers to help him out with the recovery of the water bucket. Both of our life's changed dramatically that day. Neither of us could have believed it would of lead to a lifetime commitment to the commercial diving industry. Jeremy would have to tell the story of the rough flight home in the Cessna 185 Skywagon from this first salvage. What an adventure!

Just two days ago I took in an old article that was written in 1979 by the daily paper in Fort McMurray to have laminated. The title read, "Two Divers With High Hopes." The picture shows both Jeremy and I on the tailgate of my father's ford bronco with an assortment of dive gear we owned and borrowed. The story reads about two young men who have dreams about being professional divers. What I find so special is that Jeremy and I are still experiencing those dreams and coming up with new ones most every day. Apparently Jeremy has the same article hanging in his office. It is true that the earliest days of working on movie sets, diving at Suncor, Syncrude and recovering poor souls who died in the water generated some unique excitement and started what was the beginning of our dive management skills which today we both call upon everyday in this business.

It was in 1984 that I left Fort McMurray and N.U.S. and moved to Kelowna, B.C., to start Professional Diving Technologies Ltd. DBA: Diving Dynamics. Since 1984 Diving Dynamics has grown to be one of the leading Western Canadian commercial diving contractors with experience in Inshore / Offshore Air / Sur-D-O2 Diving, heavy and light pipe lay and removal projects, internal pipe inspections services, hydro-electric diving and detailed consulting intervention. Our crews are currently completing the installation of 910 meters of 42" diameter pipe into a water depth of 40meters. The challenges have been many and the rewards have been great.

Just in the past month we've completed a very unique project in the Yukon, which involved extensive pipe penetrations to lengths of 600' where we operated a Cynagus 1 instrument to determine metal wall thickness. The project was a critical step in the evaluation of an older earth dam, which is showing signs of compromise. It was a privilege to be able to assist the client with applied technology in an environment that most people would never consider entering. It was also very rewarding when the client and other government representatives were on site to witness the work in progress and to realize that with the right personnel and extensive tooling for a project of this nature that the work was done safely and in a manner that allowed for detailed data collecting.

The future for Diving Dynamics is a bright one. It all began as two young men 'With High Hopes.' Possibly when Jeremy and I retire we could lecture together at some diving symposium on the merits of keeping those 'high hopes' alive.

Vern Johnston
Director of Operations
Commercial Diving Division
Diving Dynamics.
PH (250) 861 1848
e-mail: divingdynamics@silk.net