I suppose that from my late teens I have always been interested in mysteries and have collected several books on the subjects of myths, legends and the paranormal. In 1990 I decided that me and my family would visit the Loch, it was whilst I was there that I picked up a book called Loch Ness by Nicholas Witchell, it was this that started me really on the mystery that is called the Loch Ness Monster. As time went by I found myself reading more and more about the monster, the theories and various pieces of evidence. It was while reading one of these books and also after seeing the Dinsdale film that I decided to look into the subject more closely. This was the point in my life that I had to read everything and anything I could about Mr Dinsdales film including the JARIC report. It was around this time that I bought a small boat and spent time actually out on the Loch, and whilst out on the waters of Loch Ness found out just how deceiving the waters of the Loch can be, with wind slicks darting across the water as though something was swimming just below the surface, and with the wash from boats still visible some 20 mins after the boat has passed. At this point I realised how some of sightings were genuine mistakes, by people not familiar with the way the water works. But there were still so many sighting reports which could not have been any of the aforementioned, that rather than the mystery being solved it only deepened it for me.

It was around now that I became more active in my search for the monster and I purchased sonar equipment for my boat. When out on the boat I also take 3 stills cameras and a video camera, but as yet I have not had any sightings. As well as my sonar work I have also had the use of an hydrophone, which is an underwater microphone that can pick up sounds of a boat engine from at least a mile away. Still no joy, but I have not given up. Myself and 15 other people have carried out experiments with fish based attractants, by placing the attractant at the mouth of one of the rivers that run into the Loch, but the results turned out to be poor and nothing was seen.

I visit the Loch three times a year and most of my time is spent interviewing witnesses and gathering information both verbal and pictorial. As you can imagine by now I have built up quite a library of evidence and when not at the Loch I am usually found sifting through all the evidence. It is at this point that I must say that my wife is a very understanding women, she has had to be to put up with me and my interest all these years, and she keeps going on about having to build an extention for all the books I have collected.

At this stage I came to realise that most of the classic evidence was not what it seems, for instance the Lachlan Stewart picture, some of the underwater photos and some of the classic eye witness reports. After realising that all the evidence is not what it appears I though I would try to make a contribution in finally solving the mystery.

Work is now being carried out to re-analysis the Tim Dinsdale film and it is my belief that it was a boat filmed under bad light conditions. The Science Mystery Department of the BBC is going to be filming a documentary about Loch Ness which will include some of my work, as well as contributions from Dick Raynor and others. This is still an ongoing project and will be due for release later this year.

On a more personal note I have given interviews for both radio and television and have had several articles published in magazines and newpapers, and in what spare time I have left I give lectures including a slide show about the Loch.

This is my life, work and always preparing for my next trip to the Loch and who knows the next time up there I might have success with a sighting.

Robert Rines
Robert Rines (continued)
Tim Dinsdale
Richard Carter's Analysis of Dinsdale's Film
The Feeding Habits of Nessie by Richard Carter
Nessie Lookalikes by Richard Carter
Map of Loch Ness

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