Diving for lessons in sinking of Yukon



By all accounts, July 15, 2000, should have been a golden day for divers and other ocean enthusiasts in San Diego County.

During three years of work, the San Diego Oceans Foundation had secured a Canadian warship, towed it down the West Coast, removed hazardous substances and anchored it off Mission Beach for a party that would involve sinking the 366-foot Yukon as an artificial reef and undersea destination.

Two days before the celebration that was expected to draw more than 1,000 boats, the vessel started taking on lots of water about two miles offshore. By early July 14, the Yukon was resting 100 feet below the surface, tilted to one side in defiance of the foundation’s festivities and detailed plans for setting her upright on the sand.

“So many people worked so hard for so long, and they all wanted to be there as she went down,” said Dick Long, chairman of Project Yukon and founder of Diving Unlimited International Inc. in San Diego. “When they called us up and said the ship was going down, it would be impossible to describe the devastation that I felt at that moment. At that time, it was probably the worst day of my life.”

Today and Thursday, Long and other veterans of Project Yukon are gathering in San Diego to rehash that night, promote ships as artificial reefs and strategize about sinking more vessels.

The underwater attractions are widely acclaimed as tourist draws but their ecological value remains in doubt, partly because of limited scientific studies about habitat created by reefed ships.

Despite uncertainties, advocates are developing a handful of ships-to-reefs projects statewide, including at least one in San Diego, and hoping to capitalize on the buzz created by the Yukon’s 10th anniversary.

“It’s not just an entertainment thing for divers,” Long said. “People protect what they love. The way to help people love the ocean is to get them in it.”

The concept behind artificial reefs is that sunken objects create surfaces that support marine life and hiding places where creatures can mature and breed. They date back at least 2,000 years in the Middle East.

Over the past several decades, a variety of objects have been dumped in California’s coastal waters as reefs, including a streetcar, concrete chimneys and quarry rock. The Yukon was the most recent ship in California to be sunk as a reef and it’s visited by more than 10,000 people a year, according to artificial-reef experts.

The warship rests in what amounts to a sunken San Diego city park off Mission Beach in an area known as Wreck Alley. Nearby are the remains of the El Rey and the Ruby E, two other reefed vessels popular with divers.

There is room for more vessels, which Long is determined to find even though it can cost up to $5 million to reef a ship, including towing, environmental reviews, cleanup work and other expenses.

Long is focused on the B-39 Soviet submarine at the Maritime Museum of San Diego. Officials there are trying to find a home for the sub to make room for a replica of San Salvador, the galleon that Juan Cabrillo guided here in 1542.










Some marine experts aren’t sold on the concept.








The ordeal sapped energy from the movement for years.

“We fell on our face,” Long said.


