Skiving and Skyving...

Skiving and Skyving?  Well, for those of you who don't know, skiving (as of a couple of weeks ago) is the combination of SCUBA diving with skiing, while skyving is a mixture of SCUBA diving with sky diving (obviously not actual sky diving, as diving and altitude generally don't mix - wind tunnel diving would be a more appropriate name).  Anyway, this is what VRSAC was up to last Saturday, and what a great day it was.

Although the number of attending divers for branch weekends is yet to peak, a healthy turn-out of 8 divers gave each other the pleasure of their company on Saturday, the largest diving group so far this year.  The day started off, as usual for this time of year, at the Delph, with training either being received or given by most.  For once, nobody was particularly late in arriving, and everyone was therefore in the water well before 11:00.  After pleasant dives all round, the group freed themselves from suits (with some doing it in a more entertaining fashion than others Ariel!), and quickly made our way to the cafe, where all sorts awaited including hot chocolate and steak burgers!  See?  You don't know what you're missing!  Anyway, after a debriefing, which, in James' case, resulted in him being signed off as an Ocean Diver (yey.!) the group split into two - Ariel and Wendy decided to spend the remainder of the day at the Delph for another dive, while the rest of the group headed down to Manchester to Airkix and the Chill Factor.

The remaining group, with the exception of Andy and family, went to Airkix, to experience jumping out of a plane, but without quite as many risks (especially straight after diving).  We were assigned an instructor, so when we entered the wind tunnel, we didn't injure and generally make a fool of ourselves.  We took turns, with everyone entering the tunnel twice, for two one minute sessions.  Everyone's experience and opinion of it seemed to be slightly different, but the general consensus was that it was great fun, and we would gladly do it again.


We then all went over to the Chill Factor to watch Andy and co on the slopes, admiring both his skiing skills and the authenticity of the snow on the slopes.  After becoming too cold for comfort in the -2 degree air inside the Chill Factor, we made our way to Costa coffee for a cup of coffee and a chat!

As usual, VRSAC's diving weekend was a success.  Everyone enjoyed themselves, and are all ready for the next one!  Photos of the Skydiving should be available soon, so watch this space!

JS