Having had a bad start to the year with illness and work i have done more research on the wrecks of north Devon armed with a chart full of marks from scallop boats and others i now have the long task of naming all the marks so that i can dive a few, so bells and helms loom on the horizon,
However having being off YD for the first part of the year, and coming back on late may i find the divide between agency’s is
bigger than ever, and some of the terms used really go against the grain terms like Stroke and DIR rig also the instant dismissal of others kit and there way of diving. we should all remember that there is no law that requires us to dive or train so by that fact everyone that dives are doing it right for them.
Its nice to see some of the chimps doing there bit for the DIR arena along with Mark Powell pulling the TDI system more into the forefront of diving, and the recent thread on naming a particular rig NOT a DIR rig. I can understand the thinking behind the naming although DIR have adapted the rig they have made it theirs with the Halcyon logo, perhaps things would have been different if frog were there first with the range of wings they offer.
The new book produced by Mark Powell makes for good reading and i was recently reminded of a book called Mixed Gas Diving by Tom Mount and Bret Gilliam, an excellent book that i have pulled from my collection and started to read again, this was written in 1988 and still has allot of the systems that we use today including the Hogarthian rig. any mixed gas diver should read this there is allot more in it than just the systems but more like the current GUE tech course, and it’s easy to see where they get the ideas from.
After speaking to Mark Powell this year it looks like i shall be doing the full course to instructor with him and it looks like it’s going to be a challenge not for the diving side but being able to understand divers that i could be teaching (hahahahaha) not a chance i shall be doing this for myself and to give me an idea into other divers thinking so i can better understand there methods and ideas, however i don’t become blinkered i will still listen to others and see if what they say would fit my style of diving.
I am looking at getting back onto some of my favourite wrecks this year The Afric and M1 from Plymouth perhaps the flying enterprise but we’ll see as for the north coast looking at getting back onto the hospital ship which leads me back to Weymouth and the Rotura and Warrior two good wrecks with allot more to come up from them. however Steve chesh is looking at some interesting marks so i should get some good dives in at the end of this year,
My first two dives of this season were the Salsette and St Dunstan both nice starting dives and as the weather was good they turned out to be good days, plenty of lobsters and crab on the Salsette which is good considering the amount of times that wreck gets dived, however it is showing it’s age and in places the wreck has broken up badly for my last visit, Smugger supplied to good trips and with the expansion of Smudge and Helena’s empire things look good for Weymouth Portland diving 
well with that i shall end but i will try to keep this updated this time around
Graham
June 21st, 2008
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It was a damp morning when we left the Harbour for the dive, the trip took us 35 miles away and onto a dive in 62 meters of water, and we were to lift some items from the sea bed, However I had no idea how big or how many and the bags I had I hadn’t used so I was a little unhappy about the dive but not enough to call it; You know the feeling lets see how it goes type dive.
Well the trip there was long and a bit rough so this was making me feel ill, but once there I could get into the water and I’d be allot better. To take my mind off things I kitted up, I would be diving with three cylinders (Two Deco and one air for the lift bag) and twin 18’s with the back gas. This was very heavy and I thought I could loose a kilo or two off the belt; stupid later on but we’ll get to that.
Once we reached the dive site the wreck was plotted and the kit was assembled, the shot went in and in the 2/3 foot swell we went in, I was carrying 3 stage cylinders a bag of stops and lift bags, torches and all the other kit I needed to complete the dive, we reached the 6 meter point and performed a kit check and torches check, all ok so onward and downwards at 45 meters the plankton cleared but it got very dark and past 50 it was black but the torch light cut through the gloom for about 3 to 4 meters, I could see my buddy in front the wreck came into view and we orientated ourselves to the wreck, there was a huge mono net draped around the rear of the wreck which had dead fish and crabs in it a recent addition.
We came through the boilers and onto the recovery items they were allot bigger than I expected, I stropped up the smallest item and inflated the bags, it didn’t move, I put another bag on and inflated that again it stayed there “bollocks” this wasn’t moving, my buddy tapped me “time” I had been so focused on this I was at 25 minutes, I asked for his knife and cut the bags loose this took the strop’s, bag and air cylinder to the surface. This left me with the back gas and two deco cylinders 50 and 80%, I looked at my buddy and we headed off, the shot wasn’t visible due to the silt and mud kicked up so we bagged off, as my buddy sent the bag up I felt a tug on my fin, I turned to see what it was, it looked like a small piece of netting which I easily pulled loose, I turned back to find my buddy gone, I had dropped and he had gone up.
No problem I’ll bag up; I checked the air 105 bar good, I got the SMB out and switched to the backup reg I used the primary to fill the bag the bag went off and due to the cold the reg went into free flow, I pushed it back into my mouth but the back up reg free flowed, I turned that down and put my finger in the reg it stopped but after checking the air it was just under the 50 bar and I have deep stops to do, I didn’t have enough! And I was on the SMB alone.
I came to the first of the deep stops and stopped for the time on leaving I checked the air again about 17 bar by the time I got to 36 meters I was out but I was slowly moving up the only breathable gas was the 50% …… 36 meters PPo2 of 2.3 OK I clipped the reel to the chest ring and switched on turning on the 50% small gas bubbles blew past my face the first stage was leaking; I took a breath and turned it off and tightened the screw back on another breath, back off tighten again. I did this five times and eventually the Gas was virtually stopped but for a steady stream of small bubbles. It must have come loose whilst I was digging in the mud and silt, I checked the gauge 90 bar 21 meter stop and 35 minutes of stops between here and gas switch, the deeper accent was a little fast due to me switching to a high O2 gas. But I was still here and hadn’t passed out I looked back to the VR3 use tables mm well that was to be expected, this is why I love this piece of equipment I had blown a few deep stops off and was now on tables, I switched the mode to BUH to give longer shallow stops rather than deeper stops that I haven’t the gas for; the beauty of the VR3 is that it is constantly working to get you out of the water and even the tables adjust when you switch gas and change depth £1400 well spent on them.
I had to calm myself down and reduce the breathing rate, Think Pink used to be a method I used in climbing and I went through the process again this calmed me down and the extra light that broke through from the surface was a welcome. I was now moving through the stops and constantly checking the gauge it was coming down, between 15 and 12 I had to switch to 80% PPo2 of about 2. With the Gas switch done I was on the move up from 12 to 9and on to 6 meters here I had 58 minutes of deco to do, but due to the empty 50% cylinder and the empty back gas the rig was light and I was finding it harder to hold the stop I was cursing myself for dropping the lead at the start.
Thinking what I could do I unclipped the 50% and clipped it to the SMB line and sent it up things were a little better and it wasn’t bad but I still drifted up, I took the decision to open the suit zip and flood the suit a bit the water rushed in and I zipped it back up, it was really cold but after ten minutes the suit heated the water and the Xerotherm Arctic worked brilliant keeping me fairly warm, the deco time was spent with me thinking about the dive and how one small thing lead to another, which was making it worse and worse, but here I was at 3 meters exhausted and drained of any thing else. I came to the surface at a run time of 125 minutes cold and tired I grabbed the SMB signalled to the boat and flopped onto it, as the boat came in I could barely grab the line to the lift but at last I was on and going up, sat on the bench I used the last of the 80% and they helped me out of the kit. I got a tea and changed out of the wet gear, things started to get better. Why do I do this? The trip back was long and rough but after all that we had achieved what we wanted to do, recce of the site and a better understanding of what we need.
We got back in at 20:30 hrs and after de-kitting the boat we got away at 21:30; I was back in by 23:40 and thought sod it I’ll empty the car tomorrow ………….so what lessons learnt? Well it’s good to have a person watch the time as you can get so tunnel versioned on the task, air doesn’t last forever, my SAC working was 34×7.2 on the bottom but it was hard work. I can breathe 2.3 PPo2 but NEVER will I try that again, the reason I clipped the SMB was that if I passed out there would be no way I could go down just too much lift. Apex first stages are fine and shinny but the chrome wheel is hard to turn when your gloves have mud and silt on them And finally when the dive is called go don’t think you can have 5 minutes more it’s not worth it
And so on to the planning of the next dive to that site and better equipped for the task
Graham
May 22nd, 2007
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Looking into this year among the dives i have set out with my partner in crime Gary (Warmwaterdiver) i have a number of really good dives some recovery and some just for the research into the name there are so many marks out there that haven’t been dived, i have teamed up with Nick chipchase a very experienced diver and researcher into wrecks on the south coast, to look at these marks and we have over 100 to do so this could take some time 
The main problem that i have is finding divers that will take on these dives some in access of 90 meters, However i do have a list of 7 but getting them all together for a dive is hard so I’m always looking for more, i shall be looking to do more mid week and less on the weekend as this time is reserved for the family. Looking at these wrecks the main reason for the dives is for the cargo anything from TIN to general Cargo and i have brought some nice stuff up, plates from the Afric (which are the same as the Titanic) Brass fittings.
Don’t get me wrong i enjoy the nice shallow stuff where I’m not sitting on deco for 90 minutes no stages and complete freedom just to play as i call it, the Scylla and the JEL are two of my favourite dives the Scylla is good for the training and the JEL still looks great even though it gets covered in silt from the dumping ground.
I look at diving more now than ever before when i dive a ship i can picture the rigging the parts and where they were placed on the ship, these all make the diving more interesting it’s nice to come back to the boat with the images still clear and then to look at the book, pictures and put it all together. i don’t do a dive log anymore as i don’t see the need however i do write about the dive on particular wrecks and do my own drawings, cross checking them to the books which is working better for me.
I’ll finish this by talking about the rescue side of my diving and how i believe my style of diving effects the way i dive, last month i did a rescue come skills day with some old and crusty divers as they call themselves i learnt how to do ECM and give breaths at depth, this was taught years ago but not taught anymore? why i don’t know stropped casualty lifts from depths greater than 50 meters, now i could do this and rescue someone from them depths but as i look at it below 50 meters you should be self sufficient, some think different and that the team will get you out of trouble who knows i look at Gary as someone who could help but i don’t depend on it, i like to think that i have enough to help myself out; if not Gary has the serial numbers to the VR3’s so you cant have them
All the best
Graham
April 26th, 2007
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I thought i would write this to put the record straight. As i have had a few things said to others about me, which i find funny and in any case if they are talking about me they are leaving some other poor sod alone .
so we start off with forums, some say that the forum belongs to X,Y and Z, yes it does but without people putting comments and threads in then the forum is nothing just another web page, sure there are hundreds of members but only a limited number post. so although some of my comments are direct, they are still adding to the boards and increase the hit rate, recently we had an episode on YD where a group of people were greening each other, jay’s hit rate went up, shame the mods couldn’t keep it real. i find YD as a good source of entertainment but not very good for the diving as the regulars and mod shout down the divers that do deep dives not because they are macho but because there is more to see and more things to take home!!
South West Mafia is a fantastic site for the diving, there is a distinct diving difference and you will always get some good deep dives midweek and weekends Afric and Enterprise my favourites. The diving is treated more as a art form than just jumping in, and there are some excellent divers on there. Mr Salsette, Ash to name two but there are many more.
Backslappers well enough said i joined there so i could book on Brian’s trip and read some of the crap i suppose it’s a good site for the 20-35 meter range, i did have a laugh at the three page post in which side the torch switch goes, and the 120 meter dive video (they are using INSPO’s). as for the moderation well lets look SWM very good and as the posts are about diving and not “my cat’s left home” or I’m having a bad day Grr” bollocks it keeps it real, YD well thats moderated to death and any comment that is not liked or not in with the IT club seems to get changed, threatened with removal etc keep it up you’ll soon have all the good divers on SWM. DIRx well i don’t post on there so i cant comment, but it’s getting to look more like a training advertisement than a forum! so enough talk of the forums as they just piss me off.
People well here we have two category’s the spineless and the all talk, It’s no secret that i don’t like a few diver’s on the forums, but i find it funny that they feel the need to talk about me behind my back and not expect me to say anything, get over it or even better ring Brain at Aquanauts (bloody good dive shop and you should go there) and get him to complain for you. Have the balls to say it to me, i despise people like you. (if you are in any doubt as to who you are please ask, I’m quite forward)
To the people like Gary, Mark, MJH, Rob and Nick and there are many more thanks for your company and the diving look forward to seeing you later this year for some more banter and some excellent diving, i enjoy diving but there are times i just think Bollocks and get fed up with the digs we all have off days, if you catch me on mine be prepared for the backlash.
So onto the digs section if people do email me with comments please have the balls to use a proper email, and i took the Salsette dive down from “I learned that from this forum” (because the comments were crap and on the hot mail emails that you set up just to say something and leave,) and i won’t be posting on that particular sub forum again
so there you have it if you got this far you can understand that i don’t suffer fools and i have a thick skin you get that in the forces, If you don’t like my comments then put me on the ignore list or be constructive, and if you are reading this Sparky750 (codename TWAT) get your arse down here for some diving
Graham
April 23rd, 2007
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Either you learn from this or it makes you want to follow this form of diving thats down to you, but I do dive this way and the reasons i shall comment on, since being in the Army i have always wanted that extra buzz a parachute jump working in hostile environments whatever it was i needed it,
So to Solo diving; people on here and every where else will say a solo diver is self sufficient, but lets get on thing clear nobody is self sufficient 75 meters down,
The Afric is just the dive for this It starts on the boat, the buzzing in the fingers and hand which is like a high the thought of dropping into the water alone, sure there will be other divers there but not with you/ you move to the edge of the lift and the skipper give you the nod to go in the waters cold but funnily you don’t feel it as much, on to the shot line and my hands are shaking dumping the air from the wing you slip beneath the waves and down to the wreck.
Now because you don’t have a buddy to check your kit the 10 meter stop is more so important than before, you roll over onto your back and and watch for streams of bubbles non this time so roll back and on wards to the wreck as the shot slips through your hand and the sea closes in you switch on the main light which cuts through the darkness, the shaking has stopped and then comes the feeling of being the only one there in the darkness i see other lights in the distance then the wreck comes into view although dark there is some good visibility.
The wreck stands 20 meters from the sea bed wooden decks stretch out in to the darkness, moving over the wreck the sense of being alone with 70 meters of water above you is daunting to say the least, the darkness plays tricks on you and you feel very venerable nobody to hep if you get into trouble. The pressure gauge is more important to you here constant checks are a must, breathing is increased even though you don’t realise it, theres a large net hanging from the rail to the sea bed gently moving this to one side revels a hole in the side of the ship you check for lines both visual and then a sweep with the hand. Better having a fishing hook in your hand that it wrapped around some kit.
It’s funny but solo diving prioritises what you would find acceptable hooks in the hand loss of kit etc what or how far do you go, lining off i have a karabina which i snap and lock the line into, if i drop the reel i can retrace the line to the spool. i have two other spools in my pocket plus a pathfinder reel. looking around the silt from moving the net is still hanging and i don’t push it further into this wreck, a quick look at the gauges, just enough time to grab some plates and exit,
Gently swimming along the wreck to the shot i notice the timber on the deck is still very intact but netting is everywhere at last the shot line comes into view. i take a strap from my pocket and snap it onto the line and a d ring, just in case anything happens at least they will find my body! moving back up the line for the obligatory deco and 170 minutes later I’m on the boat.
another dive i look forward to the next time we arrive back in Plymouth in time for kit scrub and a few beers, the feeling of I’ve do it feels good and i notice the shakes again but only until the first beer hits my lips
Graham
February 20th, 2007
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The diving community are a funny lot, now take me i have very few people i would dive with, and that trust has been brought about by diving and the way they are, but there are some in the diving community that are in my mind a royal pain in the arse!
You know the types you have the “Ive been on the course therefore this is it” brigade and then go around shovelling there new found knowledge down anyone who will listen to it, now these people are easy to spot as they quote books and scenarios of dives they have only read about but haven’t done. Then you get the “holy than thou” divers these are the ones who chose an agency and follow it to the letter, It’s either their way or they don’t listen, or worse still argue until they are right, these people are also easy to spot, as they have a reputation of A, pissing skippers off and B, pissing divers off so that they only dive in there little crowd, which is fine as they will preach to them and will get all the back slapping they need. personally i like to dive with the select few and if they are not about I’ll dive solo, as i couldn’t stand the continuous drivel, thats not to say if anyone needs help, well if i can i will and i don’t expect to be told how brilliant i am for it.
I like to think of myself as a thinking diver i take items from all agencies and incorporate them into my diving if it works i keep it if not then i don’t, i would never tell anyone how to dive as i think everyones diving style will be different. there always talk about how to do things in a Pooh fan interface but unless you have been there you don’t know how you will react, i have seen soldiers who are trained over and over freeze at the sight of a friend in bits, in a life and death situation people react differently, most agency’s train for minor issues and expect all the divers to do as they have been taught, but in training you know that there is still air in the cylinders and you can switch back if need be. you also know what your going to do because the test is the same as the conversation you were just talking about. But lets take a what if dive,… well we all talk about them so we know what to do, don’t we ?????
So now you get the scenario and everyone discuses it but just say you get separated from your dive buddy/buddies your in a dark wreck vis has just dropped to zero and you were on the turn point to get back to the shot. In the short oh bollocks stage you now knock the torch and the light goes out, you pull the SPG to your face and you have 80 bar left and the only other gas you have is unbreathable at that depth, you Scrabble around on the floor for the line, and the vis drops even worse than it was (if Possible) 2 minutes ago. fear grabs you and breathing increases, you start to shake and think of family friends and how the fuck did this happen, then you will reach a calm, at this point you need to be very focused on what you need to do or your natural reaction will be to give up! what would i do … to be honest i don’t know and would only relay know if it ever happened to me and i was in this situation. but what about the diver outside the wreck, you exit and turn around to find they are not there, silt billows from the exit point and looking in it’s darker than a witches cauldron, you light has little effect as it reflects off the dirt particles, you look at the SPG, 80 bar and you know you mate will have the same or less, you have a 75 min deco obligation before the surface which is 70 meters above you, if you leave it’s a decision you have to live with for the rest of your life, or do you stay. it’s the same dilemma you have when you kill someone for the first time. again you have done the training but when you pull the trigger and the bullet finds it’s mark it throws a body back like a rag doll arms flailing blood splashed over the wall as the bullet exits and in a breath it’s over. then you have the thought and dreams that follow, so to leave someone is harder than you may think.
Just a thought before we end this, take a good look at yourself is there someone you once dived with you don’t call or dive with anymore, could you be more helpful instead of patronising and the ask your self do i do this and don’t realise it, if i do i have Gary who soon puts me right, and makes me apologise a true friend and a great dive buddy
take care this year and make an effort not to be a royal pain in the arse as i will
Graham
February 1st, 2007
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Why do I like the VR3?
Firstly I will start this off by saying I have attended some really good deco lectures, training for Ratio Deco and run these profiles next to a computer tables, (v Planner +2, deco planner and Decochek) with similar results, I am also doing a research paper with Manchester open university on the effects of gasses in the diver so I understand RD, as for the programs I use, well when cutting tables I use two programs and I will say these are very good deco software programs for example
V Planner (allows air breaks and used by a lot of divers on YD)
Deco planner 3 GUE deco software (standard Gases)
Decochek (Mark Elliot’s software which is based on actual dives and profiles)
My progression to the standard I am at now follows the normal route a diver would take PADI tables and then when I had the money cheap Aladdin Tec to start, dives to 25m etc etc, this was followed by courses with TDI, IANTD and DDRC, so I moved to deeper diving with this came tables again and the Tec become a bottom timer, to go with Ratio Deco (RD) now I did this not because I wanted to become a RD guru but because I didn’t have enough money for a computer for my diving which was the VR3,
I had a few occasions where RD is fine with the standard gasses but sometimes I didn’t get the fill I wanted, various excuses with no top pressure, not enough helium etc etc, however I still charged on with the dives, until the day I got bent just a small bend left arm, caused by a number of circumstances that added together put me in the chamber,
1. A fall with a twin set off the lift where I hit my shoulder a week before
2. Wrong fill I wanted 18/45 I got 19/25 (they didn’t have an analyzer neither did I) only a Nitrox one so we only tested for the O2 content
3. Lifting twin 18’s from the dive boat to the car
4. Longer bottom time due to a slight problem
Little things that happen that you think it will be ok but it wasn’t and I paid the price for it, a chamber visit and the permanent loss of sensation in my finger tip of my left hand, I had padded the deco out but after running through the computer with the extra exertion and time I was 7 minutes under on “0” conservatism so I got there it was I got the bends I was upset and didn’t want anyone to know, but as time moves on the jokes and digs seam insignificant compared to stopping someone else getting bent and going through what I did, as a solo diver you don’t have somebody there that understand what you are going through. But I now do most of my deeper diving with Gary (Warmwaterdiver) and I trust him without question, not only has he been a good friend and buddy to dive with he has also pulled me back to reality when I book 85 -90 meter dives.
So that’s how I got to the VR3 now allot of people slag this expensive piece of kit off, why if you don’t like it don’t buy it or go diving with it, it’s your choice but it gives me a versatility for which there is no second
1. if I get a wrong fill I can change the gasses, and run the deco through the VR3 planner and write tables,
2. It give diver on a rope so I have the ability to fly the curve if I need to
3. I can set a conservatism to the plan before the dive, some people don’t like this but I do if the sea is rough I add 10% so it gives me that cushion
4. If the shit hits the fan and I ascend fast with a problem (hand caught in SMB and I have seen divers pass me with this) the VR3 will create tables on screen taking into account what you have just done
5. Gives me a Time To Surface constantly changing with the dive and profile,
6. It gives me a deco plan based on the profile, now I know that they say start at the deepest part of the dive and finish shallow but what if your in the deck ready to leave and you see that piece of spidge on the sea bed you descend get it and an extra 7 minutes are added to the deco planning.
7. It gives me multiple gas switches so I could loose gas or get a drop tank and just change the gas on the computer no problems,
8. If I was diving as a team and had to bring a casualty to the surface I could do this easy with just myself as whilst holding them I can see the computer calculating the stops and I’ll deco on back gas until I am near the surface, (you could always loose the third man and bring the casualty up alone do you plan for that?)
9. It has games for deco, not a big thing but it is a laugh as well as the books for it
There is so much more with the VR3 that I haven’t mentioned and if you have never owned one don’t knock it, I have a few extras now the gas mixing software the updated software including the deep stops colour screen etc. the beauty of the VR3 is that you can change it with the diving and advances in deco plans very easy, yes it costs but what’s your life worth!! And if you are doing these sorts of dives shouldn’t you have the best kit for the job?
OK if you are not doing the deep stuff get the VR2 another brilliant piece of kit and worth the money
In fact as a solo diver (sometimes) I have brought 2 and I still have the Aladdin 2G in the pocket as backup with my pre-cut tables I now leave nothing to chance, Gary also has 2 so if we dive together there’s 4 VR3’s between us this kills the breakdown theory dead. However if a 4 break me and Gary are taking up Ludo J
Now I know there are people out there “dive gods” etc who will say that there method is better and get in to the argument of profiles, good for you this works for me and in the end it’s me diving with it so I couldn’t give a rats arse I’m not changing this for nothing
Thanks for taking the time to read this
Graham
December 14th, 2006
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So this is the Lundy Island dive, weather is crap the rain hasn’t stopped falling but today the weather is good enough to get out there, so i sponge a lift from on of the charters that takes people out for bird watching and pile my kit on to the disgust of the twitchers,
The plan is to drop in the water and the Skipper will go off and drop the party and then come back and pick me up run time agreed, the weather has dropped to a force 4 but there is good shelter in the bay, i drop in negative and drop down i slow the decent and come up on the first sight for the Bottom of Jenny’s cove a granite formation with good wildlife and crustaceans.
The dive is good vis isn’t to bad and there is plenty to see, i have a quick look for some crabs that would want to come back with me, but they elude me, i notice the current picking up and a change in the silt movement and the vis starts to close down. The reason for this is the winds have changed and now this side is getting the worst of the winter weather, i decide to finish the dive there and surface at 3 meters the current is throwing you around and i hit the surface in a swell that the perfect storm would be proud of.
i Look around and see no sign of the boat i then look back at my watch and notice i have surfaced a good 10 minutes before he is due here, due to the current i am getting pulled around and further away from the bay, and still no boat, even on the top of the swell i still cant see the boat, another look at the watch, mmmm OK i am drifting further away so quick compass heading for the bay and dump the air from my wing again back down to the bed.
Once on the bottom i check the bearing and move off against the current for the bay i use the bottom to move faster than swimming and the breathing is slowed by using the rocks to move along, after about 8 minutes i look at the watch and and push it out for a few more minutes i want the boat there when i surface, depth has slowly been getting shallower so i know i am heading for the bay, at about the 13/14 minutes i leave the bottom and gently come to the surface,
the swell is really bad but there is the boat he starts to come over, but i can see him signalling for me to swim out and parallel to the bay, (later find this was due to the current in that point and he didnt want the boat caught in it). so i swim towards the boat really hard work in the kit, only one thing for it ditch the kit attach a spool and swim for the boat, with out the kit the swim is easier and i make it to the boat, i pass the spool to the skipper and climb up the ladder, once on board i pull in the gear nothing lost great tie it down and we head off for the red lion at clovelly.
In all a good day diving i sacked the second dive, Knackered from the swimming but the pub beckons and so does the lobster lunch. one down side there were no seals today properly taking shelter from the weather
Graham
December 9th, 2006
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Well what a good year this has been with the exception of September, I have done over 180 Good dives this year and a few puddle dives and shallow water (below 15 meters) and my target was for 200 so theres still a chance to get there.
some of the memorable wrecks this year have been the Afric, Rotorua, Warrior 2, Enterprise, and Muree with the Enterprise i might be going back at the end of November if i can manage the time off, i now have a good dive buddy Gary (Warmwaterdiver) who is also the fall guy for all the kit i brought this year, with comments like “but Gary said i needed it for safety” used commonly in my house. but another culprit Mr Mark Powell has also had a big influence in my diving this year. Well i have got to a point in diving that longer bottom times and air costs are now pushing me towards the rebreather, and although i have tried to justify it to myself, next year i shall be getting one with Gary and doing the courses over next winter.
Next year will see me through TDI Divemaster, finish advanced wreck (if we haven’t finished it this year) and Advance Trimix however i am diving to 80 meters already but tell me a diver who doesn’t dive beyond there certification
i have met some good friends and alot of new faces from the YD diving forum, i would like to thank Smudge and Helena two very close friends for a great year on a good boat, and some brilliant dives, next year i think I’ll take out a small mortgage for the trips. As for the next year Gary is on the ball there with boats booked through to August next year, i shall be trying to get a week away to do some diving in Scarpa for some new wrecks with hazel (fingers crossed).
well a short post this time but i will edit it at the end of the year with the final totals and any other updates that crop up
in the words of Mark Chase
ATB Graham
November 17th, 2006
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grahammills |
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I posted this on YD a while back but i still get asked about my dark distant past so here for everyone is the Bucket Dive
but before i do I’ll give you a bit of diving background i had done about 350 - 400 dives previously in both the army and makeshift kit including a length of gas hose on a tyre compressor for a gravel pit dive searching for carp rods pulled in by the fish, weight belt was made from a seatbelt and track pins, after moving to Devon parachuting was out as the wind called most of it off, i i turned to diving and the legal side, i did the PADI course at Aquanauts with Simon and found it more enjoyable with the right kit and training. i now have clocked up about another 400+ dives since then with the last 60 -70 dives below 50 meters, with about 22 below 75 meters so now its time to move on to the rebreather and go deeper
It started with a Friday pint i had finished my PADI open water course and was looking forward to diving legal, i had to now i had a family to think of so insurance was a must. so back to the dive, a friend of mine had dropped his engine a Honda 45 of the back of his boat whilst kicking crap out of it because it wouldn’t start.
now he had marked the point and was looking for a way to get it back…. so came the question after a few beers “Graham would you get my engine for me?” reply “Yea go on then it will cost you a beer or two… where is it?”
my mate explained it was in a hole off the North Devon coast in about 28-30 meters a hole used by locals to catch congers and crabs. OK so the plan was hatched,
now i had limited kit so the dive would have to be planned around what kit i had which was
one set of regs for a single cylinder
two cylinders
and the usual kit mask BCD etc
Not alot for embarking on this, the problem was how do i change cylinders at the bottom
I got hold of a black bucket and strapped lines and weights to it to hold it to the seabed, the idea was to place the top of the cylinder inside fill with air and remove the valve drop the cylinder place the new one in and refit the valve, great idea but i took to long to refit the valve and ran out of air …..so now i cut the bottom of the bucket off and place a clear plastic bag inside and secure withe an inner-tube cut from a truck tyre. now i can see what i am doing and the time increases so i can now do it quickly, tests done and practise sorted I’m off to sea!! i must admit people did give me funny looks in the pool stages of this plan.
we get to the location and i kitted up and in the spare cylinder is sent down the shot line so it is ready at the bottom, when i get there i tie off a line and start searching for the motor, i eventually find it and after some grunting get a line on it and send the line to the surface for collection by my mate, now because i am new to this malarkey I’m nearly out of air about 25bar so back to the line and carry out the bucket drill as its now known (in Plymouth). cylinder changed and kit secured I’m off up the line to the boat and some serious beers …. now half way up i start thinking about deco as i told about DCS i stop for 10 at 20m then 5 at 10m and finally 6 at 5meters total dive time 49 minutes and on hell of a headache.
now i tried to work this out for the log book dive number 7 and cant so i ring Dougie in Plymouth and ask for some help working it out, after i told him the dive he said pop in Thursday and he’ll do the log for me
Thursday comes i go around to Dougie to get a slap across the head and a three hour lecture on DCS and theory’s i didn’t know or even heard of …safe to say that i now plan dives and deco and follow all the details on the plan and the kit i now dive is setup so I’ll never have to do the bucket manoeuvre again “a manoeuvre i am not proud to be known by” but i was a good idea at the time ……………..soldiers do anything for a beer!!
October 27th, 2006
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