May to June 2009

Inside this Issue

 

1. Message from diver Dicky

2. 2009 Diving

3. Sunday Nights

4. Pool Rota

5. Diving Medicals

6. Social / Upcoming Events

7. Blondisms

8. Octopush

9. Diver reports

10. Pool Costs

11. Marc’s Training Update & Latest Qualifications

12. Website

 1. Message from Diver Dicky

We are about half way through the official dive season but is anyone doing any diving? Anyone been on holiday diving, if so 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 Diver Dicky

 2. 2009 Diving  

Location	Boat	Date	Dive Opens
Eastbourne	Our W	14th June	12th April
Weymouth	Xdream	11-12th July	1st January
Scillys	Evert	12-14th September	1st January

 3. Sunday Nights

Pool session (8-9pm), then drinks 9.15 ish in the bowling club (behind pool). Meet other club members, all are welcome and we hardly talk about diving! Lectures held in the same place before pool sessions.

 4. Pool Rota

Thanks to all who do the pool rota – collecting pool fees and acting as dry / pool side supervision.  PLEASE try to  make your turn so people don’t miss out on a swim because they have to do the pool rota.  If you can’t do it let  someone know.  No texting facility at the mo so we have to resort to a list and email – so more responsibility for  making a note of your turn.

5. Diving Medical Certificate

Club rule – everyone supplies one to Peter (Memberships) prior to going on a club dive. Either done as a self cert, with your G.P, or a dive doctor. Any yes’s on a self cert and you need a proper dive medical. Try Doctor Dave Rogers 01277 373974 in Brentwood (was £50 – 2008). 

6. Social and Upcoming Events

 May and June were a quiet month as we didn’t do anything.

7. Blondisms

Blondisms – None from Eastbourne – surely not

8. Octopush

It’s been a while since the last match and in view of the fact that things are quiet in the pool maybe its time for another match, especially to try out goal posts mark1! I know you are all dying to see what they look like. A new game to be arranged soon.

9. Dive reports

June 14 2009 Eastbourne

 

Picture a near-perfect diving day. A flat sea and blue sky, hot and sunny with only a few clouds; A nice big Offshore 125 (Our W) with so much deck space that most dive boats could be parked on the back of it, though getting a boat up on the diver lift would be more of a challenge; It also has a compressor on board for topping up between dives. Suffice to say it was a particularly good day as we managed two wreck dives today rather than one wreck and the obligatory south coast drift over some non descript barren wasteland ‘reef’ (you can tell I’m not a newbie). How often do you get to do two wreck dives in good viz this side of the Isle of Wight. Endless tea, coffee and soup during a 4 hour sunbathing surface interval with a bit of mackerel fishing. And nice to see no love lost between diver skippers and yachties in the lock at the end of the trip coming back to Eastbourne’s Sovereign Harbour.

We dived the wreck of the Ashford, a British steamer of 1,211 tons which collided with the German barque , Pirat of Hamburg on the 25th June 1906. The Ashford was en route from Seaham to St Nazaire with a cargo of coal. After the collision she was taken in tow by the tug Dominion but sank shortly afterwards. Today the remains of the Ashford, contrary to other dive reports, is upright and intact. She stands some 8 metres high from the sea bed (42 metres) with her decks at around 34 metres. Her super structure has collapsed down and her decking rotted away exposing her holds and cargo below. This makes for an excellent dive, giving good access areas to penetrate and explore. We had really good viz, a nice ship shape wreck, and easy to spot bits of boat.

We  also dived the wreck of the FD Lambert a 2195 ton steamship collier torpedoed on 13 February 1917, another casualty of World War One. At an average depth of 25m there’s plenty of time to get round most of the wreck and pick out the interesting features, from an unusual design of anchor at the bow to the spare propeller at the back of the remains of the aft hold. There is a scrap of netting that in low viz could deter from exploring further but it is a small tangle, and easily avoided.

If you look up the FD Lambert in the Shipwreck Index, it is listed as having a triple-expansion engine and one boiler. I agree about the engine (you can tell this a mile off the way the rods, pistons, valve, seals and con roddy things are stuck together) but this wreck had two boilers side by side. So is it really the FD Lambert? Perhaps if anyone dives it with a tape measure, they can measure this wreck and see how close it comes to the Lambert ‘s specified length and beam of 85.55m by 11.58m. Plenty of life on this wreck.

10. The Pool – Covering the Costs

With a lack of new diver/student training we are desperate for ways of increasing pool revenue so other than rescue skills review, testing kit, practicing skills, swimming (not everyone’s cup of tea), octopush (hooray!) and TRY DIVES if anyone has any ideas suggest them. 

TRY Ultimately TRY DIVES (£15 for a full 1 hour or £10 for ½ hour) are the best way to help 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 let me know. Our instructors and assistants get satisfaction out of seeing someone try something new and really enjoy it so it’s a two way thing as well. 

11. Marc’s training update and latest qualifications

Pool training – There’s been mainly Sports Diver training in the pool over the quieter months.

Dave Dog is doing Nitrox workshops, which are going well.

A trip to Stoney Cove for training will be arranged shortly.

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

Rebecca Dale, Derek Dale and Paul Allsop are qualified Sports Divers
Marc Freeman and Dave Thomas Dog are now Advanced Divers
Ian Marsh is now Ocean Diver.

12. The Clubs Website

The new website is getting closer and closer to being finished and should be completed shortly.