Carl & Anja were desperate for a last dive of the year and with Brian fixing leaks and Irfon still suffering from last term’s ailments there were only the three of us at Vivian on Thursday afternoon. The dive had been planned for 10 am but my camper van broke down after appearing to blow up, or that it is how the massive backfire sounded, shortly after leaving home. Turned out to be only disintegrated bushes in the distributer cap so the van did actually get to Vivian, albeit 4 hours late. The dive was Dive Leader certification dive DO7, the infamous CBL from 15 metres followed by a 50 metre tow with rescue breathes, which would complete Carl’s DL practicals. We did practice mini lifts on the platform before heading down to the bottom, almost losing Carl on the way! My regs then decided, yet again, that they do not like cold water, – it was 5 degrees – and went into their customary free flow mode. Anyhow, we decided to keep going, with me keeping a fairly close eye on the contents gauge, while both performed excellent controlled lifts up to 6 metres. After the second lift I left them to perform the extended safety stop demanded by Carl’s computer while I surfaced after a 15 minute dive with a healthy 40bar. I even learnt how to turn off my own air, which is a useful trick to stop the cylinder emptying. The tow was arduous, to say the least, with Carl struggling to get up any momentum, while Anja found it easier by releasing the chin grip and swimming alongside, rather than beneath, the casualty. Carl has a shore dive left to do to finish off a few bits and pieces so we’ll practice the tow again then. Despite the cold of the water the day was fine so it was reasonably enjoyable, especially as I was testing my new weasel extreme undersuit. The only problem was a minor panic when trying to get emergency access through the pee zip. A trial run before the dive would have paid dividends!!
On on to next season. Will we ever get to see the Llanddulas? Will Peter succeed in raising it, or at least bits of it? Will Irfon’s charges all find their way to Scapa? Will we get 20 metres viz. again? When & where will the new members get their first boat dive? How many new sites will we discover this year? Will there be enough interest for us to join in on Alan Thomas’ annual expedition out to the Hats and Barrels?
DJ
It does seem to be somewhat uncivilized to be leaving home at 8am on a Sunday morning to drive to Vivian quarry. The very limited traffic gives a clue to what the rest of the world is up to. There’s just not quite the enthusiasm of a summer’s morning at Castellmarch or Porth Colmon. But, if that seems a bit off, spare a thought for Julie, Tracey & Kirk who have journeyed up that morning from Shropshire. But at least the snow and ice of recent days had melted and with the quarry a steaming 7 degrees all turned up except Dyfed, who found an excuse to drive down all the way down to Cardiff in order not to have to test his wet suit! Peter though was in his usual summer attire, making some of shiver just to look at him. Peter took Kirk for the lift bag exercise while Robin showed Julie how a dive should be led, or at least how he thinks it should!! It may be that Dyfed had got wind that he was down to dive with the two Daves, with mask clearing at 15 metres being the piece de resistance, quite literally in Dave H’s case, which left Irfon to find out whether Tracey had absorbed the points which arose during her earlier Dive Leading demo.
Everyone managed a 30-35 minute dive, except Peter & Kirk who, of course, had to go for a little swim around after the exercise, thus extending the dive to 45 minutes. Peter did at least admit to getting just a wee bit chilly towards the end. Tracey kept Irfon safe & sound and had clearly learnt that it is good for the buddy pair to be together throughout the dive. However, the achievement of the day was undoubtedly Dave H’s mask clearing. After failing on his previous attempt at the quarry, and following several weeks practice in the pool, he successfully removed, refitted and cleared the mask at both 6 metres and then again, as required by the exercise, at 15 metres. So well done to all four.
After a break and a delightful drive over Pen y Pass the group, minus Robin, reconvened at Tudor Lodge for the last 4 DL theory lessons. These were conducted by Irfon & Peter while Dave J, with just a little assistance, set up Mo’s laptop at the back of the room and ran through the first 3 Ocean Diver lessons with new members Iorwerth & Emma, who are now ready to start pool training in the New Year. Many thanks to Carl & Anja for the use of their breakfast room and to Mo for the use of her computer. Thanks also to Irfon for organizing the autumn DL training, which has gone exactly to the plan he set out way back in September, and to the other instructors for their input.
David J.
