THREE VICTIMS STILL MISSING REMOTE-CONTROLLED VEHICLE TO SEARCH LAKE TODAY.

Byline: Amy Raisin Staff Writer

CASTAIC - Teams of divers plunged into Castaic Lake on Tuesday morning and down 250 feet to the wreckage of the twin-hulled speedboat that flipped and sank last week, but found no trace of three missing men, authorities said.

As members of the victims' families waited in seclusion on the other side of the lake, a specialized team of divers began the first of two difficult dives just before 11 a.m.

Recovery efforts have been hampered since the Friday afternoon crash because of the lake's extreme depths, which posed safety hazards and limited the ability of Los Angeles County Sheriff's Department divers.

While the boat was located in about 246 feet of water and tethered with a buoy, specially trained divers from Florida-based Global Underwater Explorers found no traces of the three missing boaters, identified as Steve Coulombe, 38, of Agua Dulce; Chuck Wiseman, 47, of Castaic; and Nelson Brinkman, 30, of Phelan in San Bernardino County, officials said.

A fourth victim, 41-year-old Ken Lane of La Canada, was pulled from the water in full cardiac arrest shortly after the crash. He was pronounced dead a short time later.

The divers were dispatched in two-man teams. While two remained closer to the surface for safety purposes, at about 100 feet, two divers plunged to more than twice that depth and searched 50 feet from the wreckage in two directions on the first dive, and two other directions the second.

``At that depth, it turns breathable air toxic,'' said Deputy Richard Pena of the Sheriff's Department. ``The (specialized) divers are trained to use different gas mixtures at different depths. (Our) divers can go to about 120 feet.''

At such extreme depths, divers are capable of exploring the bottom for no longer than 20 minutes before they begin the ascent to the surface. That ascent, however, requires a crucial decompression period that takes 90 minutes.

Because divers failed to find the men's bodies, a remote-operated vehicle will be employed today to search a wider area and perform what Pena described as a systematic grid-type search of the lake.

``It's like a man mowing his lawn,'' Pena said. ``It will make repeated sweeps of the area and make a grid so the divers can pinpoint certain areas, like on a road map.''

As the families wait for the bodies of their loved ones to be recovered, veteran lifeguards said some bodies are never found.

Sheriff's Deputy Bryan White explained that, under such deep, cold conditions, some lakes never relinquish the bodies of those who perish in water-related accidents.

Investigators said three of the victims aboard the twin-engine, 30-foot craft worked for High Torque Marine, an Acton speedboat company. The men were out testing the vessel when it flipped and sank. Witnesses told police the boat was going about 80 mph.

Anyone who saw the crash is asked to call sheriff's investigators at [phone].

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Photo:

(color) Deep-water divers search the underwater wreckage of a speedboat that crashed Friday. One boater's body has been found, but three more are missing.

David R. Crane/Staff Photographer