Y
WaterSpout
2012 Dive Program
The Magazine of Bournemouth & Poole Dive Club Established 1954 and celebrating 58 years of Adventurous Safe Diving Waterspout Spring 2012 Page 2 of 23
Index
WaterSpout ...... 1
Spring 2012 ...... 1
2012 Dive Program ...... 1 Chairman’s Blog ...... 2 Expeditions Officer ...... 3 Changes at Dorset Diving Services ...... 3 Prodive Cairns ...... 5 Club Groupspaces guide ...... 6 Emergency Contacts update ...... 6 A Grown up’s View of the Great Barrier Reef ...... 7 Dive Program 2012 ...... 9 Diving Officers Report ...... 14 The clubs own wreck 1994 ...... 15 A history of The Lady Myra ...... 15 My First Sea Dive ...... 16 Navigation by John Mears ...... 18 RNLI Wave Pool Trip ...... 21
Cover Photo –.Saeed Rashid – RNLI Pool Session 2011 Chairman’s Blog Hi everyone The 2012 of edition of Waterspout is a bumper edition which shows just how much diving the club is doing at home and abroad. This edition contains a great collection of articles about newly sunken wrecks in Dorset and diving abroad, from The Great Barrier reef to Middle Pool Patch. The club continues to go from strength to strength both in terms of membership and equipment. Last year saw an unprecedented influx of new members from the highly experienced to the newly qualified and as chairman I am pleased to say we have been able to accommodate them all. Waterspout Spring 2012 Page 3 of 23
The adventurous divers were well serviced by a full program of diving on Sundays whilst those seeking a slower and more developmental pace were able to take advantage of the “back by lunchtime” Saturday dives The newly refurbished boat gave us faultless service and the addition of a 3D echo sounder sponsored to us by Humminbird has already revealed new dive sites with a couple of interesting marks still to be explored. This edition of Waterspout has been produced a few months earlier than normal this year so it can be issued with the annual renewals in April in order to show the current membership what’s on offer and to encourage new members to take advantage of an early start in the season. In line with our ethos of weekly diving from Easter to Halloween the club is all geared up to go, soget the enclosed membership forms completed and get ready for a full season of diving Once again I hope you enjoy your diving in 2012 and look forward to seeing you on the water. Regards Adrian King (Chairman)
The Bournemouth and Poole Diving club owns its own Ocean 7 metre diesel inboard RIB which is kept in Poole Harbours best marina at Parkstone Bay. Its fuelled up and ready to go each week as per the program in the middle pages of this magazine.
Expeditions Officer
Changes at Dorset Diving Services Or Bournemouth and Poole Members slowly taking over the world!
Dorset Diving Services (DDS) has been established for over twenty years and is well known to nearly all the active divers in the local area. I found out the other day that Dave Kingsbeer met Jacques Cousteau once at a dive conference in the US, it is fair to say he has been around a bit and also a bit round! There has been a recent change to the DDS Partnership and Ellis Watson has joined as a full partner. This has been required in part to give an injection of cash but in the main to replace Waterspout Spring 2012 Page 4 of 23
Chris, their long term instructor. Further Lloyd Watson, a member of this club has agreed to a non executive post to assist with steering the company. DDS sees it as strategically important to their business to support local dive clubs. Clearly without diver’s the business would not survive, equally without the local dive business those who go diving would find it trickier to get air / nitrox / trimix, servicing and the odd shiny item. Loyalty is a two way street and if members of BSAC 006 are to be loyal to a local dive business then there must be something in it for the individual and the club. So here is the offer, DDS will offer all BSAC club members (names on a membership list for the current year) the following: • 10% Discount on all equipment (The following is offered as exclusive to BSAC 006) • 15% Discount on all PADI Training Courses • 20% Discount on all DSAT Technical Courses • Fast Track Servicing at normal price – this is a new service for which DDS charge a premium. • Coffee and a friendly chat? • Access to dedicated sessions at a group price exclusive to club members: o First Aid Refresher (Min 6 at 50% discount + certification fee if certification required) o Pool Sessions – no instructor (Min 4 at £15 for two hours) o Pool Sessions – with an instructor (Min 4 at £25 for two hours) o Skill Workshops (Min 4 at £30 for two hours) SMB deployment Buoyancy Rescue Refresher Twin Set – Shut Down Drills & Stage Handling o Classroom Sessions Classroom Hire at £10 / person for any dedicated BSAC Training between 18:00 and 22:00 Nitrox & Trimix planning workshops £10 per person Decompression Diving workshops £10 per person o Human Factors in Diving – A workshop led by an Aviation Human Factors expert £20 per person
Taking advantage is easy, simply call DDS on 01202 580065 or Mobile (0)7738494702 and ask for Ellis Watson who will organise the session. Classroom stuff can be anytime but Pool sessions are at the Dolphin Centre Poole between 20:00 and 22:00 Friday evenings. Other sessions at other locations can be organised if demand is sufficient on any one occasion.
All DDS training is now delivered through a Dive Training Company owned by DDS. If you hear off or see Select Diving Limited this is wholly owned by DDS and has its own web site and is a separate company. You will not be surprised to know the directors of Select Diving Limited or (SDL) are Ellis Watson and Paul Kingsbeer.
All new divers going through DDS or SDL local to the area will be briefed on BSAC 006 during their training and asked to contact the club to discuss joining. Waterspout Spring 2012 Page 5 of 23
In return all we ask is support as follows:
• Need air / nitrox / helium – use DDS (I know most of you do already) • Need something shiny – call DDS to see if they can supply at a competitive price • Want to further your training – call DDS first to discuss • Think Safety and use the pool to try kit, refresh skill or improve on how you dive. • Actually get your kit properly serviced – it’s done for a reason. • Word of Mouth is very helpful, encourage other divers to try DDs or SDL. • Join DDS on Facebook • Sign up with Ellis for the newsletter – so we can tell you about trips being organised – currently in the pipeline are a Blue O2 Liveaboard and an expedition to Iceland. • DDS organise Thursday evening dives – join in if you can
Safe diving for 2012.
Lloyd Watson Prodive Cairns Last summer we visited Cairns in Queensland, Australia and went and did a live aboard dive with a company named Prodive. We were on the boat for three days and dived about four times a day including night dives. The accommodation was very good on the boat and so was the food. We also had the opportunity to rent an underwater camera which we used on one of the dives and got the photos on a digital memory stick. There was lots of interesting wild life including reef sharks, giant clams, rays and turtles although no wrecks. The sharks tended to be more active at night and circled the boat and us while we dived. Someone even landed on one while jumping in. The coral was amazing and arranged in things called bommies which were large stacks which sometimes cleared the surface of the water. To get to the reef we had to motor off shore for six hours so we were way off shore and couldn’t see the land by the time we got out far enough to dive. It was well set up out there with already set up shot lines and other features on the boat like flood lights for night diving. Simon King
Waterspout Spring 2012 Page 6 of 23
Club Groupspaces guide The clubs currently runs and manages all diving and events through the groupspaces website. Anyone interested in finding out more about the club and diving off the Dorset Coast can join our groupspaces site at http://groupspaces.com/BournemouthandPooleDivingClub/ Simply click “Join Group” and enter your details. If you plan to actually dive with us, then you will need to enter your emergency NOK contact details. Only dive marshals and club officials can see these details, and nothing inside the first welcome page can be indexed by Google etc. When you have applied, there will be a short delay whilst a club official authorises you. The three most important tabs you will see are • club information – virtually everything you may want to know about the club • calendar – updated throughout the year with events. When a marshal lists a dive trip, you can click on the calendar to see the details and click “attending” to tell everyone you are going. The boat will wait for you so please update correctly. • Dive program – which will show most of our planned dives throughout the year. This is subject to change by the dive marshals depending on who wishes to go.
There is also a forum, where you can ask, sell or discuss just about anything diving related. If you click the archive tab, you will see all previous messages and emails sent out. The site is there for you to use, so please do use it. Emergency Contacts update In the event of any sort of emergency or accident, do we have you correct emergency contact / next of kin details? It is extremely important that these details are up to date. Only dive marshals and committee members can see this information. To check or update your details, please log into groupspaces at http://groupspaces.com/BournemouthandPooleDivingClub/ Ensure you have the “Home” tab selected then click “Edit Membership”
Waterspout Spring 2012 Page 7 of 23
From here you can update you contact details and telephone numbers, as well as add or update your emergency contact details. When you have finished, please make sure you click “Save Changes” at the bottom of the page (you may need to scroll down) Incidentally, you will also see “List Memberships” at the bottom of the page. If the box is checked, you will receive email invites to all dives and events throughout the year. Should you not wish to receive these emails, please simply remove the tick from the box and click “Save changes”. Tristan Oliver Treasurer
A Grown up’s View of the Great Barrier Reef As you may have read above The King family made its way to the Great Barrier Reef in 2011 and a great success it was too. The Reef is not just one structure, but actually presents as an inner and outer reef. In order to get the best diving over several days we travelled to the outer reef, out of sight of land and several hours steaming from Cairns. The company we used was Prodive. It is one of the largest and most established dive companies operating from Cairns. Cairns has become quite a party town for students on their gap years and as such it is possible to book onto anything from bungee jumping to hang gliding to diving just by walking along the main street (stopping in to refresh yourself at one of the many bars along the way). There are plenty of cheaper options to be found, but I would recommend Prodive for its thoroughness and quality. As a family we have some complicated dive medicals and it was great to be able to communicate with a knowledgeable person before we left the UK so we were sure that there would be no issues on this front once we arrived at the boat. We were collected from our hotel and seamlessly transported to Prodive’s beautiful boats and soon settled in to our cabins. There were several groups on board – qualified divers, PADI Open Water trainees & the Advanced Open Water group. Each group had its own dive master with them for the whole trip. As qualified divers we were able to relax after our dives and listen in to the on board training sessions. I was generally impressed with the quality of the inputs that were being given – no corners were cut and the trainees were brought on in their diving skills over the three day trip. The briefings that were given were clear and interesting. Ashley Waterspout Spring 2012 Page 8 of 23 and I only got lost once (even though we were sure we followed the directions to the letter!) This involved quite a long fin back to the boat so we paid more attention the next time. It was possible to do four dives most days, with a night dive available each day. Luckily there was plenty of time to snooze between dives and the food was really excellent (both carnivore and vegetarian) so we were able to recharge our batteries ready to hit the water again. The crew were very fastidious in logging divers both into and out of the water (as we know there have been a couple of unpleasant accidents on the Great Barrier Reef over the years, where divers have been left behind.) There were regular roll calls and always before the boat moved on to another site. The only criticism I would perhaps make of the operation was the slightly cavalier attitude towards the sharks during the night dives. The second night dive started with the boat surrounded by reef sharks, all feeding on Garfish near the surface. Being a wimp I felt quite anxious about the idea of leaping into this teaming mass (much to the derision of my family of course.) I was therefore more than a little alarmed when one of the dive leaders leapt into the water in front of a fairly determined shark that was in the process of chasing his dinner. He was rewarded with a very substantial thump on the chest which winded him and just possibly served as a reminder that sharks are not playthings! The diving itself was so rewarding. The water was fantastically clear and the coral and marine life so varied. Parts of the coral had taken a battering from Cyclone Yassi, which had passed through Queensland several months before, even knocking a huge pillar over. Even so, in shallower water the colours were beautiful. We were treated to huge families of Nemo clownfish with turtles floating by in the background and sharks on most dives, apparently snoozing on the bottom. We were even able to rent an underwater camera and for the first time got some photos of the whole King family underwater. All in all if I had to make a recommendation for a great family diving holiday then this would be it.
Pay attention to the dive briefings & make sure you swim back to the right boat! We three Kings
Tina King Waterspout Spring 2012 Page 9 of 23
Dive Program 2012 The Dive program is open to non members, dives can be booked anytime, but club members take priority till the Thursday before the weekend. The Marshal can show discretion if non members are members guests and are traveling a long way. All Dive sites are provisional on weather and experience of divers, the dive marshal will attempt to meet everyone’s needs. If you want to go diving irrespective of the dive site phone the Marshall! The Boat will go out diving with a minimum of two divers and an approved boat handler, so why not organize a few evening dives. If you are down as marshal and can’t make it contact John Lewis or Vic. If no marshal is assigned then why not arrange a dive?
Day Date HW Dover Arrive Approx Proposed Dive site Dive Marshall Telephone no. Mobile no Notes Local Time for departure Band Slack time (cost) Water hr min
3–4 Mar 12 NEMO Saturday 31 Mar 12 5 2 10:02 8:32 Poole Patches A
Sunday 01 Apr 12 6 39 11:39 10:09 Fleur A
Friday 06 Apr 12 11 16 10:16 8:46 Tanks A Saturday 07 Apr 12 12 0 11:00 9:30 Poole Patches A
Sunday 08 Apr 12 12 45 11:45 10:15 Betsy Anna B
Monday 09 Apr 12 13 32 12:32 11:02 Fleur/Tanks A
Saturday 14 Apr 12 5 48 10:48 9:18 Poole Patches A
Sunday 15 Apr 12 7 21 12:21 10:51 Tanks A
Saturday 21 Apr 12 12 9 11:09 9:39 Swanage Bay A
Sunday 22 Apr 12 12 42 11:42 10:12 Kyarra/Firth Fisher B
Saturday 28 Apr 12 16 11 15:11 13:41 Peveril Ledges B
Sunday 29 Apr 12 4 37 9:37 8:07 Tanks/Fluer A
Saturday 05 May 12 10 51 9:51 8:21 Peveril Ledges B Waterspout Spring 2012 Page 10 of 23
Day Date HW Dover Arrive Approx Proposed Dive site Dive Marshall Telephone no. Mobile no Notes Local Time for departure Band Slack time (cost) Water hr min
Sunday 06 May 12 11 38 10:38 9:08 Carantan B
Monday 07 May 12 12 27 11:27 9:57 Kyarra/Firth Fisher B Saturday 12 May 12 4 21 9:21 7:51 Peveril Ledges B
Sunday 13 May 12 5 25 10:25 8:55 Besy Anna B
Saturday 19 May 12 11 8 10:08 8:38 West Bay TBC
Sunday 20 May 12 11 45 10:45 9:15 West Bay TBC
Saturday 26 May 12 15 10 14:10 12:40 Mile Markers B/A
Sunday 27 May 12 15 57 14:57 13:27 Borgany C
Saturday 02 Jun 12 9 37 8:37 7:07 Kimmeridge TBC
Sunday 03 Jun 12 10 31 9:31 8:01 Kimmeridge TBC
Monday 04 Jun 12 11 24 10:24 8:54 Kimmeridge TBC
Tuesday 05 Jun 12 12 18 11:18 9:48 Kimmeridge TBC
Saturday 09 Jun 12 15 27 14:27 12:57 Swanage Bay A
Sunday 10 Jun 12 16 15 15:15 13:45 Firth Fisher B
Saturday 16 Jun 12 9 58 8:58 7:28 Kyarra B
Sunday 17 Jun 12 10 42 9:42 8:12 Betsy Anna B
Saturday 23 Jun 12 14 19 13:19 11:49 Kimmeridge TBC
Sunday 24 Jun 12 14 57 13:57 12:27 Kyarra B
Saturday 30 Jun 12 8 12 13:12 11:42 Kyara/Mile Markers B/A Waterspout Spring 2012 Page 11 of 23
Day Date HW Dover Arrive Approx Proposed Dive site Dive Marshall Telephone no. Mobile no Notes Local Time for departure Band Slack time (cost) Water hr min
Sunday 01 Jul 12 9 21 14:21 12:51 Borgany C
Saturday 07 Jul 12 14 21 13:21 11:51 Poole Patches A
Sunday 08 Jul 12 15 2 14:02 12:32 Venezula B Saturday 14 Jul 12 8 25 13:25 11:55 Swanage Bay A
Sunday 15 Jul 12 9 27 14:27 12:57 Baron C
Saturday 21 Jul 12 13 21 12:21 10:51 Poole Patches A
Sunday 22 Jul 12 13 58 12:58 11:28 Aparima C
Saturday 28 Jul 12 6 35 11:35 10:05 Kyarra B
Sunday 29 Jul 12 7 55 12:55 11:25 Saragosso B
Saturday 04 Aug 12 13 18 12:18 10:48 Poole Patches A
Sunday 05 Aug 12 13 56 12:56 11:26 Galia C
Saturday 11 Aug 12 6 11 11:11 9:41 Poole Patches A
Sunday 12 Aug 12 7 36 12:36 11:06 Ajax C
Saturday 18 Aug 12 12 17 11:17 9:47 Peveril Ledges A
Sunday 19 Aug 12 12 54 11:54 10:24 Hartburn C
Saturday 25 Aug 12 9 51 14:51 13:21 West Bay Sunday 26 Aug 12 10 39 15:39 14:09 West Bay
Monday 27 Aug 10 13 25 12:25 10:55 West Bay
Saturday 01 Sep 12 12 18 11:18 9:48 Peveril Hole A Waterspout Spring 2012 Page 12 of 23
Day Date HW Dover Arrive Approx Proposed Dive site Dive Marshall Telephone no. Mobile no Notes Local Time for departure Band Slack time (cost) Water hr min
Sunday 02 Sep 12 12 53 11:53 10:23 Borgany C
Saturday 08 Sep 12 4 2 9:02 7:32 Swanage Bay A
Sunday 09 Sep 12 17 37 16:37 15:07 Kyarra B
Saturday 15 Sep 12 11 11 10:11 8:41 Mile Markers A
Sunday 16 Sep 12 11 47 10:47 9:17 Avanti C
Saturday 22 Sep 12 16 14 15:14 13:44 Pevril Ledges B
Sunday 23 Sep 12 4 48 9:48 8:18 Derna B
Saturday 29 Sep 12 11 18 10:18 8:48 Swanage Bay A
Sunday 30 Sep 12 11 52 10:52 9:22 Venezula B
Saturday 06 Oct 12 14 57 13:57 12:27 Kyarra B
Sunday 07 Oct 12 15 38 14:38 13:08 Galia C
Saturday 13 Oct 12 9 58 8:58 7:28 Poole Patches A
Sunday 14 Oct 12 10 37 9:37 8:07 Aparima C
Saturday 20 Oct 12 15 5 14:05 12:35 Kyarra B
Sunday 21 Oct 12 16 5 15:05 13:35 Venezula B
Saturday 27 Oct 12 10 13 9:13 7:43 Swanage Bay A
Sunday 28 Oct 12 9 51 8:51 7:21 Baron C
Saturday 03 Nov 12 13 3 12:03 10:33 Poole Patches A
Sunday 04 Nov 12 13 34 12:34 11:04 Carantan B Waterspout Spring 2012 Page 13 of 23
Waterspout Spring 2012 Page 14 of 23
Diving Officers Report In attempt to get Waterspout early, Adrian has cracked the whip, so I’m writing this just after bonfire night, which might explain the following gist of the article. The buzz in the club is the unusual echo trace that was discovered the other week. Those who were there tell me its about 10 m long and 6 m high in an area frequented by divers.. To the untrained eye this doesn’t sound too promising, as we are used to diving big steel ships sunk in the first and second world wars. Take a look at the following photo of the paddle steamer the 550 ton Normandy sunk in 1870, being principally of wooden construction this wreck quickly broke up and left just the two boilers and a compound engine block intact, which if memory serves me correctly stand about 4 m off the seabed and are about 10 m long! People had been looking for this wreck for years and strangely enough it was in the area that people had been looking, so we could be onto something. I’ve had a quick scan through my Ship Wreck Index of the British Isles to see what it could be. Apparently the first steamship wreck in the Portland Weymouth area was the Meteor in 1830 so I started there. Here are a few possibles: • 1519 ton Ferncliff, lost ~ 9 miles off St Durleston Head in 1883; • 1063 ton Messina, lost 16 miles south and West of Anvil Point in 1885; • 5 ton Dove lost 10 miles SE of St Albans Head in 1898; • 82 ton Waterlily, lost off St Albans Head in 1915; • 1342 ton Spiral, lost 14.5 miles SE of Portland Bill in 1916; • 227 ton Afron Lost of St Albans Head in 1917; • 89 ton John Mitchel lost off St Albans Head 1917. I did a quick internet search and eliminated some possibilities. I’m really excited by the prospect of a new wreck to the extent it may get in the water over the winter weather permitting. My collection of spige is far from complete! Possibly on a more sobering thought is the major traffic accident on the M5, which at the time of writing seems to be down to a bonfire at a local rugby club. Whats that got to do with diving I hear you ask? Well I presume individuals at that club will be held criminally responsible for the accident and as Diving Officer I’m legally responsible for the diving undertaken by the club and every time the boat goes out there are up to 10 people on board. Waterspout Spring 2012 Page 15 of 23
I recognize that in diving there is no absolutely safe option, every dive involves an element of risk and we do our best to manage that risk through training and carrying appropriate equipment, but make no bones about there is still a risk of injury or death. I’m also keen that the boat should go out and people should make decisions on the day and that things can happen which can dramatically change conditions for the worse or better. Be careful out there and if in doubt take the safe option (I don’t fancy spending any time at Her Majesty’s Pleasure!) Lets hope for a flat calm and sunny 2012, with 20 m viz on every dive. Safe Diving Vic
The Clubs Own Wreck 1994 A
History of The Lady Myra Picture the scene on a hot, gently breezy midsummer day in the middle of a tranquil Poole Bay. A middle aged couple were on passage from the Solent to Weymouth abroad their elderly but well loved converted lifeboat the Lady Myra. The wife was sitting in the cockpit knitting a pale blue jumper for her grand children whilst the husband was sitting contentedly at the helm. Not far away the crew of a fishing boat owned by a well known fleet operator were not having such a pleasant day. The two man crew had been trying to fix a faulty bilge pump and had put the boat on auto pilot so they could both concentrate on the task below decks. The next event in this tale is not difficult to guess. The collision occurred at about four knots and the bow of the fishing boat struck the Lady Myra just aft of amidships on the port side. The impact left a hole in her side a foot wide and three feet high running from just below the waterline ling to the coach roof. Being a wooden boat and due to the calm seas the impact was not immediately disastrous and the fishing boat took the yacht in tow and started to head for Poole about 8 miles Northwest. After a valiant effort lasting one and a half hours all hope was lost and the Lady Myra slipped quietly beneath the waves. The couple were rescued and taken to Poole. The next chapter in the vessels history starts when Pete Eames a long standing member of the club noticed a newly posted “Notice to Mariners” on a new invention called a "Website" which gave the Latitude and Longitude of a recent and identified hazard. Always keen to explore something new the club mounted an expedition to investigate what this hazard might be at the next opportunity. Diving from the clubs old 6.5 meter Humber RIB, 6 divers quickly located a lump in the seabed near the given location and descended 30 meters to the very eerie sight of a newly sunken yacht still under a full head of tan sails. Clearly the vessel had been left in a hurry as there was still a ball of pale blue wool floating loose in the cockpit. Not being slow to miss a chance of salvage one of the wreckers removed a 9” porthole with a crowbar before noting the vessels name .It was also noted that she had a Waterspout Spring 2012 Page 16 of 23 large lead keel but looked liftable. Sadly it was this keel that was to be its undoing. Having identified the vessel Neil Kermode the then Chairman commenced enquiries and contacted the owners who had already been paid out by the insurance company. They were however very interested to hear of the wrecks discovery and keen to recovery any items of personal effects that might be found. Encouraged by the possibility of a refloating project the club decided to buy the wreck from the insurers for a nominal sum. In subsequent dives the barometer and clock were recovered from the cabin and returned to the owners whilst the sails and mast were removed. It was then realised that the condition of the hull was worse than first thought and it was decided to salvage as much equipment as possible before the sports diving season ended. Worried about unauthorised salvage we placed a number of signs on the wreck and left it alone to its watery grave until the following year. The next season we were keen to get back on site but this time the wreck proved more difficult to find. It wasn't in quite the same place and seemed smaller. Nevertheless it was located on the echo sounder and the first pair went in. I vividly recall coming upon it stern first and then swimming up into the cockpit area only to fall flat back onto the seabed! Our wreck had been utterly salvaged! The lead keel was gone and little remained. It’s just as well I had a DV in my mouth otherwise the language would have shocked even Vic. We spent the rest of the dive recovering a seagull from the stern locker and trying to remove the bronze prop before I found a nice pair of bolt croppers left by the salvors. So we never went back! We never found out who had nicked our keel and wrecked our wreck but at least it had given us a few laughs. The clock and barometer were returned to the grateful owners and the mast is in use to this day as a beam in my utility room. One day it might be nice to go back to the marks with our new HUMMINBIRD 3D sonar to see if we can find what’s left. I’d love to get the prop!
Adrian King
My First Sea Dive Armed with a 3 litre pony bottle, I took Emil for his first sea dive at Kimmeridge Bay on the 3 rd October. Here’s what he thought of the experience (from the photo looks like Fay won’t be far behind). It was hard putting the kit on, dad helped me. The bottle felt really big and heavy. Dad let me borrow his hood to keep my head warm in the water, but I didn’t have any boots or gloves. It was strange breathing underwater, but I got used to it. The water was really clear and I saw Waterspout Spring 2012 Page 17 of 23 different types of wrasse and sea anemones. I touched the anemone and the tentacles stuck to my fingers, it didn’t hurt. I would like to do it again, with my own equipment next summer. I didn’t think he would last that long in the water, but he wouldn’t get out till he drained the cylinder to 50 bar, despite shaking with the cold. Looks like I need to buy him a hood, gloves and boots for xmas.
Vic and Emil
General Boat Maintenance I took over the maintenance of the boat from about August 2010, the dive season was coming to an end and a oil leak was discovered under Hummingbirds inboard engine. The oil leak was found to be in the sump of the engine that had rusted to the point it would need to be replaced. This was no small job as the 6 cylinder turbo diesel engine would need to be lifted out for the first time since it was fitted close to 5 years ago. This work was started by Yellow Penguin, boat engineers at Parkstone Bay Marina where the boat is kept most of the year. The engine was removed and stored at the boat yard while the new sump was on order. With the large engine out of the boat this was a good chance to clean the engine bay and fit two new bilge pumps and service any other parts that are hard to get to when the engine is in place. The boat was transported to my house in Poole where most of the maintenance work was carried out by myself and Adrian King over the winter. Once all the maintenance work was completed the boat went back to Yellow Penguin to refit the engine at the end of Feb 2011. With the club boat all repaired and serviced we set about fitting the new electronic navigation system. The Humminbird 998c Side Imaging Sonar GPS Plotter for wreck location together with a new Icom IC M411 VHF marine radio and two new battery's. The boat refit was completed on time and before the dive season started. The boat went out 2 3 times a week, weather permitting, throughout the dive season and has performed without fault. Waterspout Spring 2012 Page 18 of 23
Thanks to Marc Brewer for towing the boat and help with general maintenance. I’d also like to especially thank Adrian King and Yellow Penguin who have helped keep the dive boat fully operational throughout 2011 and into 2012.
The last two photos show why it’s all worthwhile Alan Maynard
Navigation by John Mears We have all seen the buoys and markers as we go through Poole Harbour to the various Dive sites that our club is familiar with, but do you know what they are there for? If you do, there are other articles in this issue of Waterspout for you to read, otherwise read on. They are, as you may know, Marks for Shipping and other boats going out to sea or coming into port. The distances between them can seem quite far and it may seem like there is enough room for everyone to play, that is until a large boat is in the channel or motor boats and sailing boats are in the same area with significant differences in their abilities to manoeuvre. The marks are there principally for large ships to keep them apart from each other and to ensure that they remain in water, whatever the state of the tide, deep enough for safe passage into and out of port. They are known as lateral marks and not only do they show the width of the channel but they are also key to how large ships pass each other in what for them is a tight space. The principle rule is for ships entering port to keep to the right (Starboard) side of the Channel with outgoing ships keeping to the left (port) side. If the ships are head on, they pass port to port ie each presents their red port light to each other. So, what do the shapes and colours mean? Waterspout Spring 2012 Page 19 of 23
Red Cans, Pillars or Spars, Green Cones Pillars or Spars
A look at the red markers shows that they have square shaped tops, whilst a look at the Green markers shows that they have cone shaped tops. The note in the illustrations regarding the colour of the flashing light tells us that they are for use by night or day.
Isolated Marks These Marks show a relatively small area of danger but with safe water all around.
Special Marks These are sometimes used to indicate a swimming area or an area dedicated for a particular use. Waterspout Spring 2012 Page 20 of 23
Cardinal Marks Cardinal Marks are used to show safe passage around a dangerous obstacle and are designed to be readily identified with regard to the safe passage around them. They show where safe water is is relative to the mark for example the North Marker, two triangles both pointing up with a yellow band around the base and a black banded top, shows that the hazard is south of the mark and that your boat should pass to the north. The illustration shows how the other Cardinal marks are identified. At night cardinal buoys are identified by a sequence of flashing lights, which can be remembered by the face of a clock, the east cardinal (3 o’clock position) is indicated by 3 flashes, south cardinal (6 o’clock position) is indicated by 6 flashes, West by 9 flashes and North by continual flashing. The photo on the left shows a West Cardinal Mark. Note, the triangles point to each other and the buoy is banded yellow, black, yellow. The east marker will be triangles set base to base (like an egg) and the buoy will be banded black, yellow, black. The south marker I leave for you to work out. A clue, it is the opposite of the North Marker! Waterspout Spring 2012 Page 21 of 23
RNLI Wave Pool Trip As a club, we do not generally run swimming pool training sessions. However when the opportunity came up to be the first ever dive club to be able to use the RNLI Lifeboat training pool at Poole, interest was understandably high. Having successfully negotiated around the RNLI’s understandably high health and safety risk assessments and SOP’s, 20 divers from our club together with guests from HAMSAC and Dive South headed down to the pool for a 2 hour session in May 2011. Due to the fairly high numbers, the dive was run in a similar way to a boat dive. Thanks to Colin Henderson for marshaling and logging divers in and out. The pool is 4 meters deep throughout and is plenty deep enough to even practice DMSB deployment. Due to the fact that lifeboats are often run and deliberately inverted in the pool, it has a fantastic filtration system keeping the water crystal clean. The water is not artificially heated and settles at the ambient temperature of about 17 18 degrees. This of course is ideal for diving as we can wear our normal dive gear and dry suits without feeling like a “boil in the bag” fish.
The RNLI trainer overseeing our antics took the opportunity to show people a video of their sea survival training sessions, something which I have done before and are very realistic in the pool. Life rafts are deployed in the pool with the wave machine on full tilt, the blinds down and lights off making it totally dark, and fire hoses and strobes used to create thunder and lightning. They even have a crane to simulate being recused from the life raft by a helicopter in the dark. A very interesting experience which if nothing else teaches you to not abandon ship to the life raft unless absolutely necessary!
Following two hours in the pool, we all headed of the RNLI bar for a couple of very refreshing pints of Ringwood ‘Lifeboat Ale’, which you can read as Ringwood Best, a brew many of us are very familiar with now. If that has wetted your appetite, you will be pleased to know I have booked the pool again for a preseason shake down on Friday 30 th March 2012 between 7pm – 9pm , a great chance to dust the kit off after the winter and practice a few skills. To make it a bit different this year, we are also planning a 20 minutes night dive Waterspout Spring 2012 Page 22 of 23 experience towards the end where the shutters will be dropped and the lights turned off. I have seen some of the torches members have in the club, so I suggest small backup torches instead; otherwise we may as well leave the lights on! Following the dive, we can head up to the bar for a social pint or two. Interested . then please log into our groupspaces website and click “attending” on the club calendar. I will then send you the RNLI health and safety and indemnity declaration, prior to the night. If you have any questions or concerns about the event, please do let me know. Also, we have the option of using the pool on many other occasions throughout the year, if sufficient interest. We need in the region of 20 divers to make it viable, but think of the small cost as a donation to the RNLI. They may just come and rescue you one day. http://groupspaces.com/BournemouthandPooleDivingClub/ Tristan Oliver Treasurer
Keep facing this way and we’ll be fine!
Tax Dodger
Just Plain Dodgy
Coffin Dodger Waterspout Spring 2012 Page 23 of 23
Paul and Lynne Invite You to West Bay 2012
Diving – contact Paul Bluett Saturday 25th August: Barbecue on the campsite, provided by the social committee. £10 per adult/ £5 per child Please let us know on the Saturday morning if you want us to cater for you. Sunday 26th August: Dining at The George. Places are relatively limited so please telephone Nikki on 01725 516458 as soon as possible if you wish to join us.