An excellent evening was had by all even though the photographs make it look a little quiet. It was especially good to see Malcolm back after his accident, accompanied on this occasion by his bit of scouse, Julie. The event was organised by Lee. Our thanks to him for the organisation and the speech!
Hugh.
Never mind this being the last official dive of a very disappointing 2008 season, there was talk of the launch being from Wyn’s place at Castellmarch. The reputation of Queen Helen’s renowned cream teas certainly pulled in the punters, there were 11 of us in total, including 1 VIP diver, the Wales Regional BSAC Coach Alan Thomas. He turned out to be a very friendly and nice sport.
We should have realised that the Queen was not in residence on Sunday when there was no Welsh flag to be seen anywhere near the Palace but I guess, those of us who had tasted Queen Helen’s scones once before were wishfully thinking that a clerical error must have been made and the absence of the flag was simply an oversight.
Hugh, our dive marshal for the day, delivered the crème de la crème of all dive briefings to a very attentive and extremely focused crowd: Wyn, Irfon, Simon, David, Alan (the Regional Coach), Carl, David H., Mickey, John and myself (Anja). Alan was visibly impressed by the professional nature of Hugh’s briefing but for some strange reason wanted to know whether our briefings are always like this. He didn’t ask anybody in particular but it was one of those moments when everybody seemed to have more interest in their shoes in general and their laces in particular thereby avoiding eye contact with Alan. However, ultimately the group pulled together and a resounding “OF COURSE” was heard. That’s that, then!
It was a beautiful and sunny autumn day and Hugh’s plan was to go to Carreg Gybi, a large rock that forms a small island near Hell’s Mouth. Thanks to Wyn and his efficient assistants we managed to launch without any problems. At this stage several comments were made on the rather murky brown colour of the water and the fact that we couldn’t see our hands never mind our feet. But ever the optimists, off we went, John, Mickey, Irfon and David H. on board the Sparrow Hawk, the rest of us on the club RIB. We passed Half-Tide Rocks which seemed to be slack and had excellent potential for Plan B, but for now we pressed on towards Carreg Gybi. On arrival there was a rather big swell and the viz did not look promising either. Hugh decided that the site was not suitable under the conditions and back we went towards Half-Tide Rocks. That’s were the first bravehearts dropped in: Alan and Dave, followed by Carl and myself off the club RIB and Irfon with David H. off Mickey’s boat. The viz was shocking and although we all managed to locate the Timbo, nobody found the ship’s boiler. I was just following a piece of white plastic pipe which Carl had picked up on descent and which, I must say, should be patented for its high viz characteristics. However, I still managed to briefly lose him (not long enough to ponder that life insurance policy) and nearly bump into David H. and a seal both at the same time. We all surfaced safely but nobody reported any remarkable marine life.
The second wave of divers went in around St. Tud’s East near Gin Bay. Despite similarly bad viz, Mickey and John reported lots of champagne bottle sightings whereas Hugh, Simon and Wyn enjoyed their little private threesome. Hugh put a whole new meaning to the word “bondage” by keeping them both in check with his master buddy line, especially once the tide picked up a bit.
After the last divers had surfaced we started to make our way back towards Abersoch beach. The club RIB once again seemed to develop some mysterious ailment, it just didn’t seem to have a great deal of power or speed. However, despite this, Wyn’s assistants ensured another smooth return to Castellmarch and before you could say “Sauerkraut” monies were collected thanks to the efficiency of this week’s German dive organiser.
A big thank you to Wyn and his family for their hospitality, the use of the facilities on site and the safe return of the club RIB to Pendre.
Anja
David had organised the event. Alan Thomas the Wales Region Coach was to do the two assessments. The first in the morning with Robin, Dewi and Irfon and with David as assistant assessor. The second in the afternoon with Wyn, Mike and Peter and with Hugh as assistant assessor. All seemed to go very well. The two groups met up for sandwiches and the voyage planning session at the Mariner Club. The weather was just about right. There was a bit of mist in the morning but the wind got up a bit in the afternoon. Finally at 5:45pm the debriefing finished it was all over. Everybody had passed and not a seagull in sight. Not only has the Club got six new diver cox’ns but it also has two Dive Cox’n Assessors. Congratulations to all.
Ed.
It was today, three weeks after taking the practical exam in Milford Haven, that David and Hugh received their results through the post. Hugh was fortunate in passing and David unfortunate in not. David is determined not to be beaten and anticipates taking the exam again next year. Before getting the results they both said that they felt that they had found the experience very worthwhile even if they didn’t pass.
Ed.
