Salsette or not…
Salsette or not….
We should have been diving the Salsette, as organised by Mark Chase, but a very senisble skipper (Grahame - Wey Chieftain) cancelled when snow was forecast.
Six rather less sensible divers from the trip decided to go to Vobster instead. It was a bit cold!
I nearly packed up and went home before I started when the snow stared coming horizontally into the car when I opened the door - but Al grabbed me and said something which boiled down to ‘Shut up - you are diving even if I have to throw you in’
Luckily Bob arrived to break up the fight….
Mark Chase and IanI were already there, as was GLOC who would be diving with Wilbo. AndyP arrived later on - honestly, the three of them together made Vobster like a real live version of grumpy old men :o)
IanI did a very good job of taking the piss out of DIR divers. And then very generously gave me an awful lot of ammunition to take it back in copious amounts….
…
…
Nah - I’ll let him tell you - it would be too much like taking candy from a baby!
First dive
Bob wanted to check out the weighting and tracking of his rather large standard Gavin. So we jumped in and did the whole quarry in about twenty minutes - including down the tunnel. Luckily for me, Mark had mentioned to me at Stoney on Wednesday that it is good practice to bump the fins of the diver in front to let them know that you are OK. That way when Bob started bumping me every now and again I didn’t feel the urge to thump him!
Bob
Got out and tried to get warm - which took rather a lot of effort. Found IanI looking even more grumpy…
…
…
Nah would still not be fair.
Mark Chase dumped his Inspiration and got out his DIR rig (Al and Bob muttered something about riding with the cowboys and shooting with the indians ) and jumped in with Wilbo and GLOC. Bob started fettling scooters to try to iron out a few problems from the first dive.
We then (eventually) jumped back in for another go. Wilbo had got cold and so Gareth and Mark jumped back in with us. Bob had a spare scooter so Mark used that and Al towed Gareth over to the platforms for a bit of practice.
Al
Al and I (and Bob for that matter) are doing a trip at the end of the year where we will have to dive scooters and three stages (as the dives are in the 60-70 metre range) so there is a great deal of practice to be done. Days like this are helping as I am still new to the Gavin and have helped me get the weighting and trim reasonably good (for fresh water). Managing to add air to my wing, equalise, keep my light in a sensible place and check my gas at the same time as keep on the trigger is proving slightly high on the task loading front! But getting easier….
Me
I was in the middle of doing a shutdown when I looked down and found Bob scootering underneath me!
After a while of not being sure whether I was getting wet I could now feel the water in my suit reach my elbow and it was time to thumb the dive. 5 degrees (4 by Mark’s computer) was cold enough….
Time to lug out all the equipment - Wilbo and GLOC got busy and dragged everything out while we got our kit off…. calling us back to see what they had amassed. Not bad for three divers…
Stages
Not quite the day that we thought we would have when we signed up for Mark’s Salsette trip - but a fun one nevertheless.
