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2014 Diamond Anniversary Edition

22001144 DDiivvee PPrrooggrraamm The Magaziine of Bournemouth & Poolle Diive Cllub Establliished 1954 and cellebratiing 60 years of safe diiviing

Bournemouth and Poolle Diive Cllub iis open to ALL qualliifiied diivers (we ♥ PADI!) and owns a 7.25m RIB, kept at Parkstone Bay Mariina. It’’s fuelllled and ready to go and you coulld be onboard. Waterspout Spring 2014 Page 2 of 34

Index Chairman’s Blog ...... 3 The History of Waterspout ...... 3 Autumn Party ...... 4 How I Met James Bond through Diving ...... 5 Sandpaper Kisses at Westbeach ...... 6 Calor Gas to Mixed Gas ...... 6 An Idiots Guide To ...... 8 Palau & Truk Lagoon ...... 10 Underwater – One world with different faces ...... 12 The Northern Wrecks and Reefs of the Red Sea...... 13 Dive Pricing And Membership Options ...... 16 Dive Program 2014 ...... 17 Diving Officers Report ...... 21 Why Would You Want To Join A BSAC Diving Club? ...... 21 Obituaries ...... 23 Red Sea – then and now...... 25 A Personal Anniversary ...... 28 A Recent History Of ...... 32

Cover Photo Top Left - Bill Bailey and friend – photo courtesy of Verdun Bailey; Top Right - Bill Bailey preparing to dive under the sea ice in 1963– photo courtesy of Verdun Bailey; Middle Left – Adrian King at the New Forest Water Sport Park January 2010 - photo courtesy of Saeed Rashid; Middle Right – Vic Cooper RNLI Poole Session March 2011 - photo courtesy of Saeed Rashid; Bottom Left – West Bay Diving January 2001 - photo courtesy of Vic Cooper; Bottom Right – Wolbarrow Bay 1965 Featuring John Lowe and mystery dog - photo courtesy of Mandy Lowe. . Waterspout Spring 2014 Page 3 of 34

Chairman’s Blog Hi Everyone, Welcome to the 2014 Waterspout and indeed to the 60th year of the club. As Branch 006 of the British Sub-Aqua Club we have been in it from the start and we are still offering an experienced, safe diving environment in local waters and further afield. This coming year will see a grand reunion of members past and present at the prestigious RNLI college which will give us an opportunity to reflect on the achievements of the past 60 years. The club remains the biggest and most active diving club in the area and continues to offer diving on each and every Saturday and Sunday from Easter to Halloween. The club’s newly refurbished 7.5 metre diesel-inboard RIB will continue to be based at Parkstone Bay Marina, one of Poole’s premier boating facilities. The boat is fully maintained, fuelled and launched by the marina staff making it readily available whenever it is required. Remember, anyone else keeping a boat at this facility will have spent many thousands of pounds to do so rather than less than £200 and will spend over a hundred pounds on fuel each outing when our trips will only cost about £20. This really is diving at its best value. Plus you get to decide when and where you want to dive and have the opportunity to learn boat handling skills. Saturdays will continue to provide a sound, developmental environment with easy local diving which is “Done by Lunchtime”. Sunday’s dive sites tend to be dependant and will appeal to the more adventurous wreck diver who is able to devote more time to their sport. The club will be even more active socially this year with a regular pub night and non-diving activities to keep us entertained during the dry season. The boat’s ready, the dives are planned, so let’s dive the plan!”

Adrian King (Chairman)

The History of Waterspout The Club was formed in March 1954 and grew steadily. By 1961 we had reached a membership of about 120, and it was felt that to keep in touch with members and give them information we should produce a Branch Magazine. The Magazine, produced by John Foulkes and John Hoy, was named "Waterspout", and the first cover is reproduced on the Waterspout Spring 2014 Page 4 of 34 front of this issue. The reason for the unusual crest is that was the main activity in the late 50's and early 60's and conger eels provided real sport to catch, hence the knotted conger. The spouting whale and the three filled pint pots represent a boozy evening in the local hostelry after a good day's diving. All the printing was carried out on a hand-operated Roneo and stencils typed by my wife Shirley. The captions and drawings were all done by hand. Some years later I was able to buy a second-hand automatic Roneo and an electronic stencil-maker and these lasted for many years. Everything is now produced on a photocopier and the articles arrive by e-mail. Although I do not attend Club functions very often I am still very interested in the Club's activities and progress. I still ventureinto warmer waters when on holiday. The Club has advanced since the days when we had to cobble together our from Army Surplus Stores and converted Calor Gas regulators. Our diving suits were hand- made from Rubber Zote. The Club boat was a clapped-out Avon Dinghy with a Seagull outboard motor. I see in the first issue that the Club Spring Dance was to be held at the King's Arms, Christchurch and tickets would cost 8/6d. (42p. by to-day's value!) The Club owned their own (until it blew up') and standard bottles were charged at 3/6d. (18p.) to 120 ats. Our headquarters was the Peel Court Hotel, Bournemouth where all the dry meetings, committee meetings and other activities took place. Chairman of the Club at that time was Humphrey Turner who was the Club expert on catching Conger Eels (back to the crest).

John Hoy Editor and Producer of 'Waterspout' 1961-2001

Autumn Party In November the club members got together for an Autumn Celebration. As well as a great social event this was also an opportunity to do some well needed fund raising towards the boat costs. Barbequed farm sausages were provided by Paul Bluett in his own expert style and the participants were kept warm with spicy parsnip soup. Great fun was had by all and despite his best efforts Yung's children made it to the end of the evening without setting themselves on fire! The next fundraising social will be a walking treasure hunt on Sunday February 23rd 2014.....put the date in your diary

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How I Met James Bond through Diving A long time ago when I was a wee baby diver I had a dream of trying to make a living from diving, but I was not sure quite how. I started the BSAC route, and after qualifying as an Instructor, decided to do the Commercial Diver course at Fort Bovisand. At that time, before I met my lovely wife (who typed this up for me!); I happened to bump into an old Actress/Dancer girlfriend. She was going for a casting on a Bond film and needed to learn how to dive – I taught her, and she got the part of Body Double for Michelle Yeo in Tomorrow Never Dies. As she was quite nervous underwater, she asked me to be present on set. I got chatting to the crew, and next thing I know I was being trained up as an action extra – my role was to move the extras away from the explosions and to run from the chasing helicopter. It was amazing, I had been born for this role…I am Chinese, I like guns! Then, even better, they asked me to be in a bedroom scene. I found this very tough, lying under a semi naked girl in the name of Art (wife still typing) but, as they say, someone’s got to do it. Pierce Brosnan disturbed my acting by crashing through the roof with a helicopter perusing him. It took 7 takes to perfect. Shame. In the next Bond film, The World is Not Enough, I spent the time as a safety stand-by diver – this mostly involved standing around in a for hours. We were 4 weeks filming at Pinewood and on the Thames. One day I was asked to body double for a stuntman. It turns out I am body doubling for someone who is a bit bigger than me and who has been shot. My costume is a suit with three bullet holes complete with fake blood. At least I hope it was fake and not the reason why I was there. The scene is with me lying on the floor, as Sophie Marceau shoots Robbie Coltrane, and then tortures James Bond by clamping his head to a chair. Well, I think that's what happens, I could not see as I was lying face down.

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My last Bond followed on from work on Boulters lock and weir as a commercial diver, clearing and casting concrete underwater, totally un-glamorous and dangerous work. I worked on Die Another Day as a Korean soldier. We had hovercraft and firearm training – two weeks of rolling, falling and learning how to hold and fire a gun. I'm riding on the large hovercraft, reclined on the top looking very nonchalant. I got to fire the AK-47, the Ingram 9 mm and the 50 calibre machine gun every day for two weeks. I came home to my pregnant wife grinning like a Cheshire cat. My final role was to be in a scene with Pierce Brosnan and Rachel Grant. I had to hide behind a one-way mirror until Bond smashes the mirror with an ashtray. Three of us scurry out. A fantastic day spent wisecracking, full of jokes. Sadly I have nothing bad to report about these superstars (although I did have Rachel Grants phone number – she played a character called Peaceful Fountain of Desire. Jo deleted her number.) Happy days in the Big Smoke. With the arrival of kids we decided to move to the sea and here the adventure begins, but that's a story for another day.

Safe diving to you all, Yung Sandpaper Kisses at Westbeach

The Christmas party for 2013 was held at Westbeach Restaurant. Thirty of us, dressed in our finery fought our way through the teeth of a gale along the seafront, finally falling inelegantly through the door of the restaurant with our hair standing on end and our lip gloss covered in a thick veneer of Bournemouth Beach. Having addressed our various wardrobe malfunctions we proceeded to have a great evening chatting to friends, eating great food, dancing and picking sand out of our ears. The restaurant did us proud and everyone present had a ball.....a great lead in to the festive season. Calor Gas to Mixed Gas The following two articles show how far diving has progressed in 60 years, but has ironically come full circle, the first Self Contained Underwater Apparatus (SCUBA) kit being rebreathers based on submariune escape equipment! Waterspout Spring 2014 Page 7 of 34

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An Idiots Guide To Rebreathers Having cajoled Johnny Hoy into submitting an article on how to make a twin DV from a gas bottle regulator, I’d put together a small piece on the other sort of twin and probably the only ones your likely to see being used. Rebreathers do what their name implies, they allow to reuse their exhaled gas, well almost. The (CO2) in the exhaled gas is scrubbed out and the oxygen (O2) that has been metabolised by the diver is replaced and then the gas is recycled back to the diver for re-use. So what are the main advantages/disadvantages of rebreathers? Advantages 1. They recycle the gas. On traditional dive kit, we breathe in a gas, extract the oxygen our body needs and exhale the rest, ignoring gas absorption. The amount of oxygen we need does not vary with depth, we exhale a partial of CO2 of about 0.04 irrespective of depth, so the deeper we go the more gas we waste! The metabolic rate of oxygen consumption is between 0.5 and 1 litre per minute, on this basis a 3 l of oxygen blown to 200 would last between 10 to 20 hours, no matter how deep you went; 2. No bubbles – great for photography and the military; 3. Warmth. As the gas is recycled, you don’t have to keep reheating the gas in your lungs, what’s more as the CO2 is scrubbed out the reaction gives out heat. Having dived my unit in 5 C water this has to be experienced, it makes a huge difference. Disadvantages

1. /anoxia. As your using up the oxygen and scrubbing out the CO2, if oxygen isn’t being added into the system, you’ll not really get a desire to breathe and then you’ll die. Quite a big disadvantage and why most of the designs incorporate 1 or more oxygen sensors into the system;

2. CO2 build up. is driven by the difference in the between the CO2 in the blood and in the inspired gas we breathe. If there isn’t much difference then we don’t breathe efficiently and in the worst case we die. Unfortunately, there are no reliable CO2 sensors on the market, so you have to pack your scrubber properly and track its life; 3. Oxygen poisoning. If you add to much oxygen into the system you could be in trouble as per use if you go too deep; 4. Caustic dust/cocktails, the scrubber material is caustic (alkaline) and can be dusty and if it gets wet can form a caustic , neither of which are to good for your lungs. The scrubber material is granulated so care has to be taken not to damage it and create dust, or get it wet (yes it is going diving); Waterspout Spring 2014 Page 9 of 34

5. Bugs. The rebreather acts as an extension to your lungs, its nice and wet and warm and a great place if your bacteria and guess where that bacteria is being recirculated around. A lot of time is spent stripping and cleaning the breathing loop between diving trips. Key Features of a Rebreather (see attached diagram) All rebreathers have the following 3 features:

1. A scrubber that allows CO2 to be removed. The scrubber is normally packed with sofnolime (essentially granulated calcium hydroxide – a major component in cement powder); 2. A counter lung/s. This gives the expired gas somewhere to go, you’ve go to be able to breathe out fully before breathing in; 3. An oxygen source, to make up the metabolised oxygen, which can be manually or automatically added. The simplest rebreathers work with just oxygen, but limit you to 6 m. did all his early diving on oxygen rebreathers; Whilst most rebreathers have the following features: 4. A one way mouth piece. This is a lot more important than you might think, it the gas around the circuit, if it doesn’t work the rebreather doesn’t work, as the gas isn’t being driven through the scrubber. The mouthpiece normally has a close off valve to prevent water entering the system when not in use; 5. Two hoses, one to take the expired air to the scrubber/counter lung and one to return it to the diver; 6. A diluent source. This could be pure or nitrogen, but is more typically air or a gas mixture suited to the maximum depth that is being dived. This allows the volume in the loop (as it is called) to be maintained, as the pressure increases the volume of gas in the circuit reduces, but you still need the same volume to breath and you can’t add pure oxygen because of the limit on the inspired partial pressure of oxygen. Diluent is added either manually or automatically via a DV; 7. Oxygen sensors (three tends to be the norm) so you can keep an eye on your partial pressure of oxygen, high and low! Most of the accidents involving rebreathers have occurred because the users didn’t turn the O2 bottle on; 8. An overpressure (read dry suit dump) valve. On ascending, the volume in the loop increases, remembering your lungs form part of this loop!, you want to make sure any significant overpressure is released or you could get an embolism or something equally nasty. Waterspout Spring 2014 Page 10 of 34

Hopefully your now better acquainted with what a rebreather does, it’s advantages/ disadvantages and how it works. I haven’t covered the different types of rebreathers, semi- closed or fully closed circuit, maybe that’s for a future Waterspout depending on demand! I will also be arranging a few “try dive” sessions on the unit in the pool if there is enough interest.

Vic Cooper Published 2004. Palau & Truk Lagoon After nearly 18 months of planning, waiting and worrying, I finally got away with the Aquapigs on the 6th December 2013, destination Truk (Chuuk) Lagoon and the famous world war two wrecks. We went via Palau, which was a great way to get over the travelling (almost 48 hours) relax and get five days diving the pristine reefs, drop offs, channels and a couple of caves. It didn’t disappoint, in fact we encounterd sharks on every dive, along with the occasional manta ray and of course turtles, napoleon wrasse, tuna, barracuda and wahoo along with the abundant pacific fish. We also had a weird hour snorkelling ina fresh water lake with thousands of fresh water jellyfish of the non- stinging variety. Following a day lounging by the pool and the obligatory massage, we flew to Chuuk, staying at the infamous Truk Stop Motel, before joining the Odyssey. Whilst we were there some of us got out and dived an Emily seaplane and toured the island of Weno in jeeps. Waterspout Spring 2014 Page 11 of 34

I had a cracking “teckie” dive on the Hoki Maru with just a guide and myself, it could be described as the Thistlegorm on steroids, as the aft holds had row of trucks, bulldozers, engines, ammunition and bombs. My max depth was 50 m, while looking at the huge prop! During my long ascent and stops I watched eagle rays flying around. Once transferred over to the Odyessey and settled in, we got into a weeks full on diving that included a destroyer, the Fumitsuki, a submarine I-169 and a number of supply ships including the signature that had Japanese zero fighter planes in the hold, along with crates of Saki and loads of shell casings and ammunition. Fortunately we had four dive guides on the liveaboard, who knew the wrecks inside and out and were able to lead us in groups of four in some deep dark and dirty penetrations into the engine rooms that were at times quite spooky, especially when encountering human remains. Some of the group got a morbid fascination with finding skulls! The converted liner Rio De Janiro Maru, which lies on its portside, had an interesting cargo, amongst which were stacked crates of periscopes, boxes of rifles and even more Saki bottles, I think the Japs liked a drink or two! In the holds of the Nippo Maru we found several canons and a row of howitzers. Whilst finning through several of the wrecks wheelhouses we encountered the telegraphs that were still set in the positions when they were sunk, along with compass binnacles and various gauges. The hold of the Heian Maru contained rows of 8 m long range torpedoes. I also dived a Betty Bomber Airplane not far from one of the Jap Airbase runways at a shallow depth and an oil tanker called the Shinkoko. As the week went on the depth increased on the dives along with the deco time culminating on a truly awesome dive on the Sanfancisco Maru, where I got 56 m in a hold containing hundreds of mines and artillery shells, coming up through the second hold there were several trucks and tractors and on the deck the famous tanks. I finned along and over the section of superstructure amidships and realised I could see the bow gun in one direction and the stern in another! At over 400 ft in length, it meant that I had visibility of over 60 m (200 feet) in each direction, wow, or maybe I was narked! Unfortunately our flight home got cancelled, which we had to reroute at short notice, finally getting home on Christmas Eve in time for the holidays. It was without doubt one of the best trips I’ve ever been on, great company, fantastic scenery, good boat and awesome diving. Andy Westwood. Waterspout Spring 2014 Page 12 of 34

Underwater – One world with different faces Being underwater and breathing fresh air is normally not possible for humans. But we have found a solution that allows us to step into this “new world” and discover the spectacular places under the surface. Due to diving we are able to see all the different parts in the water as diving in the various types at sea, in quarries, lakes,… . Diving is for people of all ages and even young people, like me, get fascinated by diving. I can still remember the first dive after my Openwaterdiving training. With a group of 10 divers I went on a dive near the coast of Madeira. After a ten-minute boat ride from the dive base, Pestana Carlton, we reached the destination above the reef. I could only assume the edge of the anchor line when I was diving down since the water was full of bubbles from the other divers. It was an overwhelming feeling to breathe at a depth of 65feet. The water was completely blue and I felt like someone had taken me to a place far away. The range of colours from all the fishes and the morays in their holes made for a stunning view. I hadn’t seen anything like it before. Everything looked as it might in a picture book. To move in the water completely weightless was a rather strange feeling, yet in time I got used to it. Some fishes disappeared in the endless blue of the ocean. We dived along the reef, but noticing that the air was running out reminded me that humans can only ever be guests in this surrounding. Back on the boat I realized how amazing diving is. It gives you a chance to discover the world in a completely new way. My dive instructor Sven Koch used to say that you’ll know a country as recently as you have seen the part underwater due to the fact that the most amazing things of a country are mostly under the sea level. Had I known about my passion for diving I would have picked up this sport earlier. I wanted to continue my hobby in my home country, . The only problem: the sea is over 300 miles away from my home. There are only pools and small lakes nearby. I had Waterspout Spring 2014 Page 13 of 34 already dived in a pool for the dive training and it wasn’t a thing I wanted to do frequently. There were just the lakes left and I thought it would be similar to a pool – no fishes, no blue salt water, nothing special to see. If people tell you that diving in a lake is boring, put them in a dive suit and take them underwater. They will be surprised what they can discover there. It is not the animals what make a lake interesting to dive in, it is the special atmosphere. The sea is full of colours while the main colour in a lake is almost a green. Through the green water the visibility during my dives ranged from one to ten meters, but it was usually no more than around five meters. Everything seemed mystical, especially the grass with the fish in between. It was as if I had dived into the sea after the world had fallen apart. Just a small number of fish appear during a dive and every animal is a small highlight. Instead of the reefs you could find old trunks. But diving in a lake is an experiment I didn’t want to miss because of the enormous contrast to the sea. In my opinion, diving in general is a highly-recommended sport. Personally, I prefer to dive in the sea but even in small lakes diving is an absorbing activity. It helps you to relax and gives you the chance to gain an insight into a completely different world. Fabian Steinmann, 18 “Fabian is a newly qualified diver,he is a German student who is studying in England for a year. He accepted an offer to produce an article for Waterspout and is keen to do some diving with the club in the coming season. Judging by the size of the fish he has seen at home in inland waters Poole Bay has something to live up to.”

The Northern Wrecks and Reefs of the Red Sea. The Northern Wrecks and Reefs trip is probably one of the most popular Red Sea itineraries as it includes the Thistlegorm. For this reason it was chosen as the venue for a club holiday enjoyed by twelve members of the club in October 2013. As divers we are accustomed to getting on a boat which we hope is competently crewed, jumping off it when we are told and hopefully finding whatever we were expecting to find when we get to the bottom. However as a bit of a “yachty” my interests go a bit further and I thought it would be interesting to look at the charts of the area to see exactly where we went and why the area is so littered with interesting dive sites. The Red Sea is (or was until 1869 when the Suez Canal was built) a nautical cul-de-sac that runs North West from the Indian Ocean towards Egypt. The distance from the Suez Canal (which connects the Red Sea artificially to the Mediterranean) to the Gulf of Aden at its most southerly point is over 1,500 miles. However the northern most tip, the Gulf of Suez is where most of the occurs. This sits to the left of a “Y” junction, whilst the right side leads towards Jordan and Israel along the Gulf of Aqaba. In the crook of the “Y” is the Sinai Peninsula with Sharm El Sheik at its southern tip. The Northern Wreck and Reef itinerary occurs within 30 miles of this point and is accessible either from Sharm El Sheik or Hurgarda in mainland Egypt on the on the west side of the Gulf of Suez. Waterspout Spring 2014 Page 14 of 34

Since the building of the Suez Canal in the Victorian era this piece of water has become one of the world’s most vital seaways and over 15,000 ships now pass through it each year. It is not surprising that a few of them have come to grief on a reef! Before the building of the canal a ship on passage from Britain to the Far East needed to go via the Cape of Good Hope on the tip of Africa, a voyage which is over 5,000 miles and about 2 weeks longer. The whole of the Red Sea is a coral habitat and these rock-hard, living forms rise right to the surface but no further. Coral won’t grow out of the water so they are unnaturally flat at the top. They are therefore a complete nightmare to the unwary mariner, particularly in calm conditions when they can be all but invisible. For this reason perfectly serviceable ships can find themselves destroyed in seconds as a result of the slightest navigational error. This the cause of most of the Red Sea wrecks. The other source of disaster is warfare which has added to the tally. Red Sea live-aboards now offer Nitrox and 4 dives a day so it is possible to log 23 dives in a week for those that are keen enough to do them all. Our live-aboard was moored at the Marriot Hotel about 2 miles south of the town of Hurghada about 10 minutes by bus from the airport. These charts were prepared by Paul Fryer a newly retired ships’ pilot from Portsmouth who was one of five independent bookings who joined us on the trip. Our first passage was about five miles due north close to the west coast to Poseidon Reef for a check dive. We then continued north a further 15 miles to Gubal Island where we anchored in the lee of a reef to dive a barge about 30’ long in 14 meters. This barge had been involved in a salvage operation on a vessel on the other side of the reef and had been damaged and then sunk in the lagoon. The weather patterns in the Red Sea are seasonal with summer winds consistently coming from the North West. This produces a NW flow of water and means that the sheltered waters are invariably on the south side of the islands and reefs. For this reason many of the dive sites tends to be on the NW side. Throughout our stay it was quite windy and wave heights of up to a meter were encountered at times. Waterspout Spring 2014 Page 15 of 34

We then headed a further 5 miles north to the wreck of the Rosalie Muller, the first of the war casualties. This substantial ship has a very similar history to the Thistlegorm in that both ships left the UK in June 1941 bound for Alexandria an Egyptian port in the Mediterranean, however due to the level of German naval activity in the Mediterranean it was necessary for them to go “the long way” via South Africa . This voyage took 4 months and they were only days away from safety when they met their fate. Both were at anchor awaiting instructions to enter the Suez Canal when they were attacked by two Heinkel He111 bombers which had flown 700 miles from Crete in the Med. The ships were sunk within 2 days of each other with little loss of life and remain upright and largely intact. The Rosalie Muller is on the west side of the Gulf of Suez whilst the Thistlegorm is 10 miles away on the other side of the gulf. This was our next passage. Much is written about the Thistlegorm so I won’t add to it except to say it is a “must do dive”. By this time we were at our furthest point from Hurgarda which was now 25 miles to the south. We were also about 15 miles by sea and 10 miles as the seagull flies from Sharm El Sheikh whose lights were clearly visible in the night sky. We then cruised east along the Sinai Desert coastline for 2 days (about 20 miles) taking in reef diving on the way to Ras Mohammed, the southernmost tip of Sinai and the crook of the “Y”. This area is a nature reserve which prohibits anchoring so diving was done from the RIBs whilst the mother-ship loitered off the coast. It is also the final resting place of the Yolande which ran up on the reef in 1981 and stayed there gently losing its cargo of baths and toilets for 4 years until it sank into the 170 meter abyss in 1985. This just leaves the toilets which can provide a group of divers with almost endless juvenile fun. Having started on a Tuesday it was now Thursday and time to start heading back across to the Egyptian side of the Red Sea. This involved a stop off at my personal favourite the Dunraven, another navigational victim which hit the outermost point of the Sha’ab Mahmoud reef. This steam ship was headed north up the Red Sea in 1876 when she hit the reef which sticks out towards the shipping channels. She lies upside down and is fully penetratable from stern to bow, a great dive. Our next stop is the infamous Sha’b Abu Nuhas reef just to the south of the shipping lanes and home to 3 ships the Chrisola “K”, the Giannis “D” and the Carnatic all of which were headed south when they should have been headed southeast! All three hit the reef and that’s where they stayed. These dives are done from RIBs whilst the live-aboards shelter in the lagoon behind the reef. These dives were a bit dodgy. The wind and sea state was up, one of the RIBs was defective and well, that’s all another story! We were now truly headed home in a southerly direction and with a reef dive or 2 and some alleged dolphins seen by some of our more excitable members we had only one wreck left to dive- the minesweeper In the 1960s-70s President Nasser moved Egypt politically away from European influences and started to seek assistance from Russia . This culminated in the Suez crisis when Britain reacted against the nationalisation of the Suez Canal and led to Britain’s last Empirical offensive action. The invasion was not going well when Britain came under international pressure to withdraw and did so. Russian influence increased significantly after this and came in many forms such as support for the Aswan Dam and military hardware. Amongst these were 7 minesweepers. These were deployed in the Red Sea and one was anchored just outside Hurgharda when it fell victim to an Israeli fighter jet in June 1967 during the “6 days war”. The largely intact ship now lies in 30 meters of water on its side and is a great final dive. Waterspout Spring 2014 Page 16 of 34

In all, we covered about 100 nautical miles in 6 days of steaming and didn’t set foot on land once. The weather was warm-ish but breezy and the sea state mostly calm. It was a great trip and I’d like to thank Paul and Lynne Bluett for making it happen.

Adrian King Dive Pricing And Membership Options This year the club will introduce an integrated dive pricing and membership policy, with the aim of welcoming new members, visiting divers from afar and encouraging local divers to join the club. The first big change will be the introduction of discounted dive fees for club members. This will be available on production of the newly introduced membership card which will prove to the marshal that you are indeed a fully paid up and insured member of the club. The membership card will also have space for details of next of kin and your qualifications, all things the marshal will need to organise the dive on the day and in an emergency.

The three dive bands will be reduced to two, making life easier for the marshals and representing even better value: 1. Band 1 dives, within the confines of Poole and Swannage Bays, as shown by the diagram, but including the , Carantan and Betsy Anne. These dives will cost £30 to non-members, discounted to £20 for members 2. Band 2 dives, beyond the line! These dives will cost £40 to non-members , discounted to £25 for members. There will now be two types of diving membership: 1. Normal full diving membership at the rate of £150 per year + BSAC/alternative insurance costs; 2. Affiliate diving membership. This will be open to people who live more than 50 miles away and can produce evidence of membership of another dive club with a boat and insurance. This membership will cost £50 per year. The club will reimburse new members the discount for up to 3 dives (via a reduced joining fee) on becoming a full or affiliate diving member. This is a real incentive to join us after a couple of dives. The boat is available for use by members, when no diving is taking place. The only stipulation is that the Cox’n is an approved boat handler. Use of the boat is charged at £20 per engine hour (or part of) run. Any queries, give me (or preferably Adrian) a call. - Vic Cooper Waterspout Spring 2014 Page 21 of 34

Diving Officers Report Funnily enough I can’t remember much about last season, other than the weather wasn’t overly great. We had a couple of runs out to the Borgany, but the viz proved to be fairly disappointing. At West Bay the weather seemed to come good and despite a couple of trips out to the Gibbel Hamond, where we managed to miss the wreck with the shot on both occasions (I’m convinced the 20 kg shot is not heavy enough to get the line down quick enough and drags) I managed one dive on the wreck with a good sized crab to show for my efforts. I would have had a decent plaice as well but it seemed to evade the net. The Monday morning was devoted to scallop diving followed by a great dive on the Baygitano, the sea was flat, the viz was good but on the way home the boat transmission exploded and there ended the season – at the point when we hit a good spell of weather. Still that was last year and we have 2014 to look forward to. Not only is this our diamond jubilee year, it’s also going to be a make or break year for the club, with the club future heavily depending on people going diving. So I want to take this opportunity to encourage people to go along on the organized dives and if the weather comes good, to put together mid week boat trips at short notice – I will do all I can to help this happen. It would also be great to mark our 60th Anniversary, by visiting 60 different dive sites in the year, possibly with a few shore and river dives to start/finish the year. Safe Diving Vic Cooper

Why Would You Want To Join A BSAC Diving Club? I always liked the idea of going diving and finding out what was under the waves, but the opportunity never really presented its self until I was on holiday in Tunisia a few years ago. I asked the tour guide at the welcome meeting if it was possible to try whilst I was there on holiday. The guide went away to find out, and the next day I was introduced to a fellow holidaymaker Andy, who had already been on ten dives. He was very keen to go diving with me and was able to find a local diving centre along the coast from the resort. He then made arrangements for us both to go diving later on in the week. I hadn’t dived before, but had always wanted to try it and was given about 30 minutes of instruction before jumping into a boat with Andy, a and two other divers. We found a suitable spot, dropped anchor and I was left to swim around on the surface in full scuba gear, whilst the instructor took the other three divers underwater for a short dive. On their return, the instructor took us all to the bottom of the seabed about five metres down and Waterspout Spring 2014 Page 22 of 34 went through some basic diving skills. After this I was left on the bottom, rather nervously holding onto the anchor rope, whilst they went off for a second dive. I was thoroughly enjoying the whole experience of being underwater, especially as I was able to see all kinds of fish swimming right past my face, when suddenly disaster struck! As the instructor came back to see how I was doing my regulator was partially knocked from my mouth. I swallowed some water and panicked as I didn’t know what to do! I headed straight for the surface, but luckily the experienced instructor stopped me bolting and made me cough into my regulator, then calmly restore my breathing. If I’d been allowed to abandon the dive, I know that I would never have dived again. However, I also realized after that scare I would need some proper training before I tried it again, as it is far too dangerous to attempt to dive in the sea without formal instruction. The next year we decided to go a bit further afield and booked two weeks in sunny Cuba. Once the holiday was arranged, I booked myself on a three-day PADI diving course with Andark diving school, which has its own purpose built pool at Swanwick, near Southampton. Two weeks later, my wife and I were on holiday in beautiful sunny Cuba. The hotel in Guardalavaca was right next to the sea, and had its own diving centre right on the beach. Once we had settled in, I was able to book myself onto a boat and finally go diving in the ocean. After a light breakfast, I could walk from the hotel down to the beach, pick up my diving gear and be on a boat and go diving in the warm Caribbean. It was just magical to be really diving at last, knowing that even though I still had a lot to learn, I had been taught to dive safely and if anything happened to me this time, I was unlikely to as I had been trained to know what to do! After two more years of diving on holiday, then letting my skills get too rusty in between, I decided it was time to join a club. I made contact with Bournemouth and Poole diving club and went on my first dive with John Mears the training officer, on a sunny Saturday morning in August. I was lent an old BCD and regs with a 12 litre tank and I dived on the Peveril Ledges in Swanage Bay with 7metres of visibility in18 metres of water. After only 20 minutes I had problems with my BCD and had an uncontrolled accent to the surface! I still enjoyed the dive though and went again the following weekend to see if I could improve. The next week we went back out to Swanage Bay and I was lent a different BCD with the same set of regs which now started to leak air! I again had to abandon the dive after 20 minutes as my air was down to 50 bar! I decided after that second dive that it was time to buy my own kit and join the club. I have since completed my cross over training to Sports Diver after many patient hours spent with John Mears and other helpful members of the club. I won’t pretend that diving in the UK is the same as diving in the Caribbean. But what I have learnt is that PADI training is an ideal safe introduction to diving, and diving the BSAC way with a club, gives you the added confidence and skills that you need to dive safely in our waters. Waterspout Spring 2014 Page 23 of 34

Probably the most memorable dive I had with John was on a gentle drift dive near Old Harry Rocks. We were at 13 metres with 6 metres of visibility and John found an old lobster pot containing two captive spider crabs. I wasn’t sure what he was up to, so I patiently held on to a rock whilst John spent 10 minutes cutting the crabs free. As there was a bit of current running I ended up horizontal; stationary and looking directly at two edible crabs which were right in front of my face! It was the most surreal experience I have ever had whilst I was watching two curious crabs - watching me!

Tom Perkins.

Obituaries

John Lowe who was an honorary life member of the branch died on the 1st July this year, at the age of 89. John moved from Birmingham to Bournemouth in the 1950s and soon got involved in the British Sub Aqua Club. He was a member of that pioneering generation of amateur divers who made their own and lead for their diving belts. John was also a great encourager of young people – not only to several generations of his own family, but he was also happy to show other younger members the best diving spots on the Dorset coastline. In 1965 John was a member of the diving support team for the Glaucus project – the underwater living experiment which was the brainchild of club member Colin Irwin. This was a very British amateur experiment with the support divers, camped out in the Breakwater Fort at Plymouth Harbour, in challenging weather conditions (a 11 Gale hit during the first half of the week). Nevertheless the team not only monitored the two “” 24 hours a day through an early form of CCTV, they also dived down with provisions such as extra jumpers, and took hot food down, through the ingenious use of pressure cookers! . John was an active contributor to event organisation for the club, and struck up many Waterspout Spring 2014 Page 24 of 34 and varied friendships as a result. When in 1968 members of the Czech came over for a National Spearfishing competition that the branch were hosting, they were accommodated with John and his family, and other club members. John continued his interest in diving all his life, and later became a keen member of the Historical Diving Society, which he also fully contributed to. John leaves a widow, Margaret (herself a keen diver), 2 daughters, and 3 stepsons. His great grand-daughter, Amy, is the youngest family member to continue the diving tradition.

Bill Bailey was a founder member of the branch and was part of the clubs spear fishing team, travelling to other country's with the club, he always remembered these days as the best! The cover photo shows Bill with “Big Jim” and others from the club venturing into the frozen sea off Bournemouth in 1963. His son Verdun has childhood memories of the clubs Christmas party's with members dressed as the Beatles, trips each year to Coverac in Cornwall, making wetsuits on the kitchen table and the need for copious amounts of french chalk or two strong friends to extract you should you forget! . Verdun followed in his father’s footsteps and was a member of the club in mid 1970`s and a few years ago took diving up again.

Waterspout Spring 2014 Page 25 of 34

Red Sea – then and now. I first dived on a Red Sea liveaboard twenty years ago and it was unforgettable – and not entirely for the right reasons. Barely settled on board the ‘Isis’ and starting to meet our fellow divers , we were instructed to pack up and transfer to the ‘Prince Awad’ where some Italians had apparently refused to stay any longer and had demanded to be moved to another boat i.e. ours. We couldn’t see what could possibly be so dire and (naive or what?) we duly packed up and decamped to the ‘Awad’. It was probably just Latin histrionics and anyway, we were British – cope with anything, stiff upper lip and all that. The cabins were small and dark with narrow bunk-beds, the portholes sealed shut and no air- con. After the first sticky, sleepless night we used cushions on the saloon floor. There were two ‘heads’ (for the uninitiated that’s nautical terminology for the loos) in the bows. One didn’t work at all, in the other the cistern wouldn’t refill from the big sea-water tank on the upper deck after flushing: the only recourse was to lug a pail of seawater with you and refill it from that. The other convenience was near the dive deck but we were given to understand in no uncertain terms that it was reserved for the crews use. So there we would be, twelve of us, sopping wet after a dive and all desperate for a wee, trailing seawater and curses through the lounge and down to the sweltering lower deck, seeking relief. It was almost a reason to cut a dive short just to be at the front of the queue. One of the main engines was ‘being serviced’, that is, broken, which restricted the boats speed and range so that much of the proposed itinerary was scrapped in favour of staying close to port, diving amongst the day-boats which rather negated the whole point of a liveaboard. Both had died and they were using a portable job strapped onto the top deck. Being lightweight and small, it took forever to fill a single cylinder so the beast was roaring away every waking hour – not the most inviting place for a ‘tween dives snooze so we had to make the best of it on the dive deck, being dripped on by wetsuits hung up to dry. After two days, the fresh food, primarily yellowing cabbages and flatbreads, stored in black bin liners on the sundeck alongside the compressor (which did at least add some flavour, even if it was only petrol and lubricating oil) ran out. In some ways, this was a blessing as those who’d tried the fresh lettuce and tomato salad knew only too well. I can still hear the piteous pleas for Immodium and Dioralyte. From then on, breakfast was toast with processed cheese or fig jam and the evening meal spaghetti with tinned tomato sauce and small, bony fish. It was only now we realised why the crew spent so much time hand-lining from a small inflatable tied to the stern of the boat. If they had a bad days fishing, we knew it at suppertime. After three days, the cook went on strike and retreated to the inflatable where he could smoke dope to his hearts content as his eyeballs grew redder than his despised tomato sauce. His duties were taken on by the dive-guide (the only one who could read the English labels on the tins) and the chief engineer (the only one who could coax the stove into life). The guide was the one redeeming feature of the boat and crew. His English was adequate and his briefings seemed comprehensive and knowledgeable. He made sure we had gloves to protect our hands from cuts when we clutched at the coral, he gave us boiled eggs to feed to the Napoleon wrasse and he had a tame moray at one of the dives sites; banging his cylinder to get its attention, he would patiently sit on the bottom whilst it writhed and coiled around his body. Just watching was a bowel-loosening experience, particularly for those Waterspout Spring 2014 Page 26 of 34 who’d never seen a giant moray before. He could fix things too – he apparently dismantled my buddy’s first-stage with his bare hands, and repaired the diaphragm with little more than a toothpick, cling-film and Elastoplast. Though it does beg the question; if this paragon was so talented, why couldn’t he fix the engine, either of the compressors, the air-con, cooker, freezer or heads? But the diving! For first-timers, used only to the UK and a couple of tentative forays in the Med it was jaw-dropping. The coral formations, shoals of rainbow-hued fish, whole wrecks littered with artefacts and all in unbelievable visibility; it was everything we’d hoped for and more besides. We wouldn’t forget – or forgive – the topside experience but it was more than offset by what we saw underwater. So I’ve been back. Several times. And what is it like now? Well, topside things are vastly improved. Last October, twelve of us flew out to Hurghada (which, to be fair, has hugely expanded over the last two decades and has definitely not improved) and boarded ‘Red Sea Adventurer’. Twin and double cabins were still ‘compact and bijoux’ but light and airy, perfectly functional and no more clambering onto bunk-beds. They all had en-suite shower rooms and air conditioning (which worked) and portholes which opened. The heads near the dive deck not only worked but weren’t reserved for the crew (though we often found bits of laundry hanging up to dry). Both engines and compressors (sited below decks and therefore suitably muted) ran as they should and every deck was equipped with water-coolers and a fridge or two well stocked with soft drinks. The crew worked tirelessly to make sure all cylinders are properly filled with air or nitrox and the relevant paperwork filled in and signed. All we did was shrug into our kit, step into the RIB or the water as appropriate and get on with diving. Climbing back onboard and more willing hands than we knew what to do with helped remove fins, carry cylinders, proffer glasses of fruit juice and genially enquire about the dive, all with a profusion of smiles, cheeky grins and friendly horseplay. Suits were hung up whilst we dried off in huge fluffy bathrobes before padding off for desalination processing (that’s dive-speak for a hot shower), discovering en- route that the beds had been made and the duvets sculpted into swans, snowmen, penguins and even lily-white tourists, decked out with sunglasses and hats. The food had improved out of all recognition too. With the steward cracking more jokes the genius chef worked magic every day in his tiny galley. Fresh baked bread, six types of egg or omelette for breakfast, a different selection of hot and cold dishes every lunch and supper time and homemade cakes (that’s cakes plural) for afternoon tea, fruit and biscuits available at any time – there was every opportunity to overeat. Though it must be said, discreet as it was you couldn’t miss that fact that the ladies did get somewhat preferential treatment, with anxious enquiries issuing from the galley as to whether Deenah and Leen were being looked after, were they enjoying their meal or maybe they could be tempted with just a smidge of this special something...? Though we did end up running a sweepstake on which colour instant whip would be dolloped on the pudding each evening. Waterspout Spring 2014 Page 27 of 34

The itinerary was listed as ‘Wrecks and Reefs of the Northern Red Sea’ and certainly delivered, with our course as seen on a chart looking like the track of a drunken ant, ricocheting from site to site, crossing, re-crossing and doubling back as the conditions dictated. Abu Nuhas, Ras Mohammed, Yolanda and half a dozen other reefs; Thistlegorm, Dunraven, Carnatic, Rosalie Moller and more, it would be hard to pick favourites (though I think the universal least popular was the Russian-built minesweeper sunk by the Israelis in Hurghada harbour. Interesting, possibly, but I didn’t hear anyone clamouring to go back). For me, the Carnatic, smothered in soft corals, took the prize this time, though the ‘gorm is still outstanding and it was good to finally see the Rosalie Moller – although it is deeper than most of the sites and with at least three boatloads of divers arriving at once, the single shotline grew increasingly congested and there’s only so much waiting whilst the Russians and French elbowed their way past before both air and British patience ran low. And incidentally, you’re no longer allowed to wear gloves, feed fish or play silly beggars with moray eels. And yes, we saw dolphins – at least, those with rubbish navigation skills did. Those few who remembered which way round to hold a compass had a lovely coral dive; the rest of us got lost, gave up and went back to the boat, meeting a friendly pod on the way. But – and this is a big change – it can all be rather exhausting. Twenty years back, diving on air, three dives was the order of the day – it was all the dive times allowed. A leisurely cuppa at 7, first dive, breakfast and a few hours break, another dive, lunch and siesta. Finally a late afternoon or early evening/twilight dive before supper and spend the evening over a generous sample of drinks before retiring. Not any more. With the majority of divers on nitrox and more generous computer algorithms, it’s possible to have four dives per day so that’s what the schedule is set up to allow. An early morning cuppa in bed is all very well, but it arrives as your 5.30 alarm call for the first of three daylight dives, rounded off with a night dive (hence the afternoon tea and cakes – with supper not until 8.30-ish it’s a long, long haul from lunchtime). You have to be realistic: unless you’re young and fit and keen as mustard, you won’t make 20 dives in five days. The night-dives tended to be the first to be ditched, with others during the day being skipped as too deep, or too much , or too much like the one before or just plain knackered. By 9.30 at night the upper deck would be all but deserted (apart from a couple of regular recidivists working on the principle that “If I’m on holiday I’m going to have at least one beer every night. It’s the Holiday Law” even if I wasn’t particularly enjoying it. Which, given the state of Egyptian beer, is hardly surprising). But even Lynne and I were akip by 10. The other noticeable change is in the ‘tween dive breaks, which, with everybody scattered around the sundeck, alternating reading and chatting, was a great time to get to know your Waterspout Spring 2014 Page 28 of 34 fellow divers and exchange experiences, tell tall tales and pass on diving tips. Over the years I’ve learned a great deal during those hours sprawled on a foam mattress. That’s all gone now and it’s down to technology. Don’t get me wrong – it has it’s place but it seems to me that spending the majority of your down-time glued to a screen is a missed opportunity. To be able to access work emails and keep your Facebook updated may be what the modern world demands but – and call me a grumpy old f*rt if you will - that’s what I go on a liveaboard to get away from. There were five non-Bournemouth divers and I barely even learned their names. The only time we talked as a group was during meals. But that’s just me – and let’s face it, I am a grumpy old f*rt, have been for years; proud of it. But was it a success? You’d need to ask the others but I’d give a wholehearted Yes! Would I go back? Yes, again. So the next time you see a Groupspaces email about a possible Red Sea jaunt and your finger is hovering over the Delete key, just pause a moment. If you’ve never been, or not been back for a while – give it a thought. Lynne and I will be glad to have you along. Paul Bluett

A Personal Anniversary With all the talk of the clubs 60th Anniversary, it got me thinking about how long I’d been in the Club and it turns out to be 20 years, which would make it a China Anniversary. I was hoping that it would be something amusing, like rubber or latex, but life is so full of disappointment! I thought I’d chart the years with a few photos and stories. In September 1994 I turned up as a fresh faced 29 year old without a speck of grey on my head and was quickly initiated into the clubs quirky rituals (the social secretary at the time was very broadminded!) and flung myself into club life. That year I was elected as Diving Officer, mainly on the basis of my shapely legs. At that point the club was the largest I’ve known it with a membership of over 100, with 20 to 30 active divers, can you actually believe you had to book onto dives two weeks in advance to secure a place on the boat! Richard Davies organized a trip to the Red Sea in 1995, which was my first opportunity to dive in the region. We had some great diving, the highlight of the trip being a night dive on the Little Brother with silky sharks in close attendance. During the dive I Waterspout Spring 2014 Page 29 of 34 remember thinking I’d pushed my luck a little too far, as a 10 foot silky shark tracked down my torch beam, veering off just as it reached me. I’ve never climbed a ladder so fast, I’m not sure I even used the ladder. Colin “Grandad” Davies kept us amused with tales of his dads conviction that the world was being invaded by aliens called “spurions” who lived in the wadrobe. Being hardened drinkers we weren’t even put off by the fact the week before they had, had a body of an unfortunate diver in the beer chiller. Inspired by Richard, I organized a less exotic trip to the West Coast of Ireland, where we encountered some very colorful characters who ran the boat. Tommy “Fathom” the Skipper, who was an accomplished pub singer, but less adept at turning the echo sounder from fathoms to meters, as those of us floating at 40 m in blue water with no sign of the bottom found out. The photo opposite shows Neil Kermode and the almost religious nature of diving from boats fitted with two stroke engines, as Tim the owner attempts another running repair. During the week we got to dive the largest diveable wreck in the world the Kowloon Bridge (discounting the USS Saratoga an Aircraft Carrrier sunk at Bikini Atoll, which was still closed to divers at the time). The weather wasn’t particularly kind to us and on the penultimate night we had to sail through a Force 7 past the Fastnet Rock. I wasn’t the only one who lost the contents of their stomach that night! The next day we nearly flipped the zodiac over, picking divers up it was so rough and that was inside the shelter of Bantry Bay. 1997, was a big year for the club, when we raised the money to purchase Hummingbird, our current club boat. At the time red diesel was duty free and we opted to buy, what was novel at the time, a rib fitted with a diesel inboard. The range and sea worthiness of the boat attracted many jealous glances and also the attention of the local Customs Officials, who seemed to know a lot about it when Andy Judd, Steve Pierce and I got stopped and searched on the way back from a dive trip to France. The photo shows the celebration cake made by Charlotte, being held by Richard Davies and Pete Goudy, with Bill Wreatham the Club President cutting the cake. Westbay has always been a highlight in the club calendar, attracting a big turnout in years where the weather is favourable. Over the years we’ve had a lot of fun, some excitement (John I left your helicopter photos out) quite a lot of hangovers and a couple of boat disasters. I’ve put a few pictures together to capture the spirit of the event. The photo above is from 1999, Waterspout Spring 2014 Page 30 of 34

Adrian looked young, but Martin Still had no hair. It’s hard to believe Simon and Ashley are at University and Chloe will soon be following. This year I had great dive with Ashley on the Baygitano, a free swimming conger, massive lobster and to top it all I hand fed a conger with a sickly pouting we found on the bottom. Ashley was going to edit the gopro video footage, so we’ll have to try and get a link to the groupspace. I remember having a similar dive with Lydia Palmer, first wreck dive on the Baygitano, followed shortly after by a pretty serious dive through the Hood accompanied by her dad Brian (shown looking very stylish, with Marc Brewer and I wearing matching suits – black has always been “de rigor” for proper divers!). Even I shy away from the use of the term “penetration” in the context of diving with a mates daughter or giving her the “long hose” to extend the dive.

The weather has not always been kind to us, but we’ve only cancelled the once (2012). In 2001 the sea was flat and lovely, but we had terrible sea fog on the Saturday and Sunday. It did nearly cause us to run up the shingle beach at 20 knots and lose divers off the St Dunstan, fortunately the eagle eyed few saved the day on both occasions and disaster was averted (for that year at least).

The weather did clear, which gives me a lame excuse to show some ex members in bikinis. Whatever happened to the young nubile female diver, are they an extinct breed?

Other years the sea was pretty rough and we were occasionally the only boat to venture out. I remember one purgatory like journey to the Moidart, which took 90 minutes, instead of the usual 40, but we were rewarded with outstanding viz, which briefly took our minds off the trip back! Unfortunately Ged and Jenny Malloy, did their usual trick of missing the wreck, so didn’t even have that to console themselves. Actually, another bloody awful trip to the Pommeranian springs to mind, I was buddied up with Adrian, who kindly volunteered us to stay with the boat handler till the first pair was up as it was quite a big sea! In the last few years I seem to have earned my sea legs, but for those who’ve known me a long time, you’ll understand my pleasure in being sat on a lurching boat. The viz was over 20 m, which for the Pommeranian is practically unheard of. In fact it was so good we went back the next day in the same awful conditions, mainly to retrieve a big lump of spige we had found. Adrian was Waterspout Spring 2014 Page 31 of 34 so desperate for the lump of brass he displayed some less than gentlemanly conduct underwater. The pub at Eype provided some solace in 2009, for a days lost diving.

2007, however,was a scorcher and was what every West Bay trip should be like and we captured that festival spirit for a few brief days. Waterspout Spring 2014 Page 32 of 34

I’ve been fortunate to pursue my love of diving to the extremes, not as far as some but far enough for me and on occasion I’ve coaxed a few members out on trips, which they might not of otherwise gone on. In 2002, whilst on a hardboat trip with Pete Gough, we pinged an object in just over 50 m of water, which a local fisherman had lost his net on. A few of us were keen to take a look but the majority, thought it was too shallow for their mixes so we headed out for the planned for dive. Pete was keen to dive the site, so a trip was organized for the following Wednesday, there were a few spare places so I rang a few club members, only Rex took me up on the offer. Even though the weather was perfect, people backed out, we headed out with only four divers, the dedicated few were rewarded with the first dive on the wreck of the Normandy, a British paddle-wheel mail steamer operating on the Southampton - Guernsey - Jersey route, which sank 20 miles from The Needles in the English Channel in the night of 17 March 1870 after colliding at around 03:30 with the steamship Mary, a propeller steamer carrying 500 tons of maize from Odessa to London. We retrieved a few mementos! I donated one of the port holes to the museum at Guernsey. Whilst a club member, I’ve had good times, frustrating times, annoying times and occasionally sad times as some of the founding members pass on, but on the whole I’ve enjoyed being an active part of the club and I’d like to think the club will still be here in another twenty years for Emil and Fay to enjoy. Vic

A Recent History Of Buoyancy I say recent but I am talking about the time period 1970’s to 1990’s when most divers used an adjustable buoyancy life jacket the illustration shows a late example of an A.BL.J. , fitted with a direct feed (I remember that in some circles direct feeds were considered to be unsafe as they used air from the breathing cylinder– Vic). Waterspout Spring 2014 Page 33 of 34

The earlier jackets did not have a direct feed and simply consisted of a bag for inflation with controls for rapid and slow release of air in the same way as modern buoyancy compensators (B.CJ’s.) a small .04 litre bottle of was available to feed air into the jacket for quick inflation, especially at the surface. The bottle was filled directly from a and was subjected to the same testing regulations as a full sized diving cylinder. Training for use in diving concentrated on the release of air from the small cylinder to adjust buoyancy at depth, incremental inflation being achieved by opening and closing the tap on the small bottle fairly quickly, to control the inflation of the jacket until was obtained (I was taught to manually inflate the jacket on the descent?!?- Vic). Training also included the controlled release of air when an ascent from a dive was taking place. Tuition was also given in the use of the rapid dump to control a fast ascent. For a while it was thought that the air in the small bottle could be used to provide a few breaths in an out of air situation but this was quickly discontinued when it was found that the inside of an a.b.l.j. was a great place from which fungal infections could start. The jacket also kept a distressed diver in a safe position in the water by preventing a face down situation at the surface, as shown in the illustration. When giving expired air resuscitation the jacket was not fully inflated so that the neck could be extended to help the rescuer ensure that air was being properly provided. Additionally the jacket was always the first item of kit to be fitted after the wet suit so this meant that de-kitting an unconscious diver of belt and dive cylinder could be done safely. Current jackets allow better freedom of movement compared with the older jacket especially as the horse collar effect made releasing your weight belt a bit awkward as you had to let it go by touch rather than sight and they do not help with access to direct feeds for dry suits. Clearly the B.C.J. goes better with a dry suit than the good old A.B.L.J.

John Mears Waterspout Spring 2014 Page 34 of 34

Paul and Lynne Invite You to West Bay 2014

Diving – contact Paul Bluett Saturday 23rd 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 24th August: Festivities to be arranged.

Monday 25th August: Seafood Foraging Special – we eat what we’ve caught. Sample of last year’s delights opposite (past performance is no indicator of future results!).