Jessica’s first dive

O.K. so it’s a family holiday to Florida. The Keys to be exact, but this is just an excuse for dad to do some diving in crystal clear water for a change. There is added spice this year though, Jessica is old enough to dive in open water, she’s keen, the pool training is complete, and following some initial set backs such as ear infections and tropical storms, the day is upon us. Saturday 1st August 2009.

We load two boats at Duck Key, the Doggy family and our friends from across the pond. We head out to Coffins Patch Reef, a pretty little dive in no more than 6 metres of Floridian water, with oodles of life and no rust in sight. Usually it’s infested with pleasure boats moored all around, but today, nothing. Just us. Must be something to do with the 4 foot swells and stiff current. “Don’t worry Jessica, when you get under water you wont be aware of the sea state, all will be serene.

“Trust me, I’m your dad” We flop over the side, one man and his daughter, and also my good mate Stan. Virginia born, Florida adopted and dives like a true BSAC Brit. A good bloke to have on an iffy dive (remember the Duane Stan) and no one better to have watching your back, when you take your daughter for her first dive.

Now we are going to call Jessica “Lucky”, she dived for the first time on probably the worst conditions ever encountered on this reef. The swell was matched in strength and intensity by the surge beneath the waves; I’m sure you all know what I mean, half a yard forward, three yards back, all the time being moved left and right and up and down.

Some of this dive was in water only 3 meters deep over the reef making buoyancy a reel headache in such shallow water. The vis. was rubbish , the water full of sand and particulate, and yet for all that, she loved every minute of it. Remember those first dives, even Stoney was exciting back then, wasn’t it? Despite the poor vis, (still better than the U.K. on a good day) there were all the usual reef critters to be seen and some great corals.

I’m as proud as any dad can be. She did really well, coped with the surge, kept her buoyancy under control, and no moaning. Stan gave her the big thumbs up and he enjoyed the experience as much as I did. Well done Jessica.

And, what of the people left up top. Six miles off shore, the youngsters were all game, Molly and Evie and their friend Wednesday all snorkelled with Wednesday’s dad Travis, despite the conditions. As I broke surface everyone was back on the boat, all were visible and excited having had a great day out.

With one possible exception. Where was Mrs T? as I approached the boat there was the tell tale noise of a landlubber on board. “Euurgh!”  “ Hueeeey”.  “Dad” said Evie, “the fish are eating mum’s sick”. “Pepperoni and mustard – mayo. Sandwiches, anyone?”

I’d like to thank Stan, his wife Brenda and Travis for their hospitality, and for taking us out in their boats, making the day possible.

Doggy

I cannot do the rota as before. There is no texting faciltiy at the mo

so you need to remember your date / turn

 - stick it in your phone calendar!

Current Rota
June 21 Dave Thomas
June 28 Marc Freeman

NEW ROTA
July 5 Peter Burdett
July 12 (Weymouth) John Rickenberg
July 19 Sean Mason
July 26 Gary Neal
Aug 2 Derek Dale
Aug 9 Selena Irvine
Aug 16 Richard Porter
Aug 23 Andrew Lovell
Aug 30 Mark Smoothy
Sept 6 Dave Thomas
Sept 13 (Scillys) Alan Walker
Sept 20 Marc Freeman
Sept 27 Arthur Powell

Thanks
Diver Dicky

I am pleased to report that thanks to all the support from our members that the three sessions went extremely well. All the scouts thoroughly enjoyed their first diving experience in the murky depths of the pool.

Managing to train that many young scouts of varying swimming ability in over-sized diving equipment, is not easy and it’s a credit to the all instructors that took part. They could not have carried out the training without the assistance of the poolside members that helped with moving all the equipment and kitting out the students.

On behalf of the club, thanks to everyone that helped in any way and especially Richard who organised the event.

On Saturday the weather was great and had warmed quite a bit. It was therefore assumed that the dive the next day was on. So it was just a formality for Dave to call the skipper on Saturday evening for him to confirm that the dive is on. Alas, a call to the skipper on Saturday evening was bad news.  He informed Dave that as Saturday had progressed the wind swung round to the east and had gathered enough strength to make diving less than comfortable and that he was calling the dive off!

Lets hope we have better luck in a couple of weeks when we are booked to dive Eastbourne again.

1. Message from Diver Dicky
2. 2009 Diving
3. Sunday nights
4. Pool Rota
5. Diving Medicals
6. Social / Upcoming Events
7. Blondisms
8. Marc’s Training Update & Latest Qualifications
9. Diver reports
10. Fish I.D.
11. Octopush
12. Website
13. The Pool – Covering the costs

1. Message from Diver Dicky

The depressing winter months are here when dive kit goes away for months and we sit anxiously waiting for the spring.  But if anyone does go diving (abroad?), give me some information for the newsletter.  You don’t have to write tons – just the same as what you put in a dive log when, where and what you saw – was it any good?  Don’t worry too much about content and grammar, I can always jazz it up!  It will be edited and proof read by Karen’s mum before issue anyway.  Cheers

2. 2009 Diving

 3. Sunday Nights

Pool session (8-9pm), then drinks 9.15 ish in the bowling/snooker club (behind pool).  Meet other club members, all are welcome and we don’t just talk diving! Lectures are generally held here before pool sessions.

4. Pool Rota

Thanks to all those who take a turn on the pool rota roughly 3 times a year (see website, notice board and emails) – collecting pool fees and also acting as dry / pool side supervision.  PLEASE try to make your selected night as it means people don’t miss out on having a swim because they are forced to do the pool rota.  If you can’t do it let someone know.  A reminder text is sent the Thursday before your turn.

5. Diving Medical Certificates

It’s a club rule that everyone supplies one to Peter Burdett prior to going on a club dive. Medicals can be done with your G.P, a dive doctor or you can do a self cert (Any yes’s and you need to have a proper medical). Try Dave Rogers 01277 373974 in Brentwood (£50).

6. Social / Upcoming Events

HSD Christmas Bash – What a great night.  Certainly a few sore heads the next day.
A group of us – mainly non members! headed to the Bowling Club. An enjoyable night out.

7. Blondisms

None that I know of lately!

8. Marks training update & latest qualifications

Learn to Scuba Dive in Essex Resusci Anne Torso

Pool training – Coming to the end of  training with the current batch of  trainees

Ongoing Training – Please see the notice board regarding training for this year.  Courses will be run within the branch or at other branches within the local region.  Please support the club and the Training Officer by participating and use the opportunity to enhance your skills.

Practical Rescue Management (1 day) Sports diver and above.

Search and Recovery (2 days) Sports diver and above.

Dive Planning / Management (1 day) Experienced Sports diver.

Sports Diver Nitrox (1 day) Sports diver and above.

Other Regions

Lifesaver Award (1 day) Ocean diver and above.

First Aid for Divers (1day) Ocean diver and above

Combined Nitrox (2 day) Sports diver + minimum 20 dives

Reminder

Students must complete the front page of the Qualification book (and photo), otherwise you cannot be signed off for any qualifications.

Congratulations!

Advanced Diver, Asst Instructor, Dive Leader, Sport Diver, Ocean Diver

9. Dive reports

10. Fish I.D. To help you identify stuff

11. Octopush (is back! But for how long?)

Another game of Octopush Sunday 18 January.  This went very well with around 10 players participating.  It all started very amicable, a free flowing ‘friendly’ with no cheating.  Then after 10 minutes, the rules were abandoned and a free for all entailed.  Great fun, great exercise and a high scoring game.  A fair amount of knuckles were bashed and scraped and Smoothy’s white towel was a nice shade of crimson by the end of the night.  The club’s O2 was on standby but luckily wasn’t needed.  Alas Julie the ‘Hand’ Faldo was ill on this occasion but has vowed to participate in the next game.  More games (Feb 22) are planned and this may continue throughout the year.

12. Website

The hosting of the website has now transferred to a host server after years of being maintained by Andy Latchford, a former club member.  No doubt he’ll be pleased not to receive anymore ‘Andy how do I do this’? emails.  Many thanks to your help and support over the years.  We are also looking at upgrading and redesigning the website to make it even more user friendly, eye catching and dynamic.  There are a few things not working properly at the moment – pool rota etc but hopefully these will be sorted soon.

13. The Pool – Covering the costs

As you may appreciate this is one of the biggest expenses the club has and we always lose money on it, which drives John the treasurer mad.  This has been the case since – well…ever!  And particularly during the winter month is when we suffer the most.  It costs £45+ per week to have the pool, which is equivalent to 20+ people in the pool every week. So you can see how big this problem is – how often is there 20 people in the pool?  So ways of increasing pool revenue are – swimming (not everyone’s cup of tea), octopush (hooray!), Ocean Diver and Sports Diver student training, additional courses / training (which Marc is trying to organise, including annual Rescue skills review), testing kit, practicing skills (more for the trainees) and TRY DIVES.

TRY DIVES (£15) is one of the best ways we can help to cover the pool costs.  So if you know of anyone young or old, a group, a club or an organization who might want to try scuba diving then lets get some people in the pool.  Whilst we benefit financially, there is also the satisfaction of someone trying something new and really enjoying it.  Alan (the Chairman) once said he would do try dives for free just to see the smile on people’s (children’s) faces.   I doubt we would survive if we adopted this attitude – but hopefully you can see the point.

Who have done try dives? – schools, scouts, sea scouts.  We can usually cater for 10 at a time but larger groups can be split over 2 or more weeks or we can squeeze 2 groups of 10 into one night (as generally half an hour in the water is enough).