In the spirit of April Fools’ shenanigans, the Hoofers Diving Club took advantage of the glorious weather Thursday by mixing two of their favorite hobbies — diving and basket weaving.
Yes, they were underwater basket weaving — at least that is what they wanted everyone on the Terrace to think.
Matt Blasinski, club member and mastermind behind the prank, said the club wanted to do this prank for some time.
“It took about a month to plan this time around,” he said. “We tried to do it last year, then we ran out of time.”
The crew placed fully assembled Easter baskets in the water and dove with basket fragments to pass off the ruse.
Despite the club’s preparation, Blasinski said someone moved the milk jug used as a buoy to mark where the fully assembled baskets lay in the water, posing an obstacle to the divers.
“We put nine baskets out there and then we had that little milk jug on a rope to mark where they are out there and someone brought our milk jug back in,” he said. “We went out there and were looking for them and you can’t see anything.”
To ensure the prank’s success, Blasinski said the club bought six more baskets the night before and put them in the water.
Of the six who dove, only four brought baskets up. Mike Caballero, a UW senior, said he and his diving buddy Matt Coyne, a UW graduate student, enjoyed basket weaving, but couldn’t keep hold of their baskets.
“We swam around to the bottom for awhile and worked, but our baskets were stolen by the mermaids in the lake,” Caballero said.
Prior to the divers taking to the water, two students threw off their shirts and jumped into Lake Mendota, inciting cheers from the crowd on the Terrace.
Both guys came out of the water shivering, but Caballero said the cold didn’t phase the divers.
“We’re lucky where we’ve got our 7 mil wet suits on, so it really wasn’t too bad at all, refreshing even,” he said.
Blasinski said the club tries to do fun dives like this throughout the year, while also taking trips to Devils’ Lake, Lake Michigan, Black River Falls and a trip to dive in saltwater.
