Back and Surprised
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