Under Starters Orders!

Wendy Northway

 

Grand National Day saw the usual suspects racing around Capernwray with a variety of activities! Steve Hopper initiated our newest member, Graeme Ireland, into the delights of diving with VRSAC with a whistle stop tour of the quarry in a a photo finish in less than 40 minutes. Meantime Alan and Paul DL started their Sport’s Diver drills hosted by Dave G and Ernie who were up and down more times than Macy’s Elevator on Christmas Eve as the students performed CBLs and kit jettisons. The latter not always scheduled as per SO1!

Meantime I had an awesome dive with Steven in the shallows. We were gently ambling along when all of a sudden I felt the reverberation of the water as a normally docile trout darted between us, followed by an almost tsunami wave of every size fish you can imagine! A couple of divers ahead of us had a packet of food and we found ourselves in the midst of a feeding frenzy. So OK it may not have been the Stuart Cove experience nor great whites, but it was here in front of us!

Mark and Ron eventually got their feet wet as Ron had a few problems clearing his ears – best to find out now rather than at Loch Fyne.

A quick turnaround was had, as DaveG was planning on making Ernie’s Eccy Delph boot-camp look like a stroll on the beach! The gang of four went back to blow up some delayeds whilst I went back in with Steven who unfortunately had trouble with his ears and didn’t manage to get down – stay safe and not push it, live to dive another day. Not sure where Steve and Graeme went this time, no doubt circumnavigated the quarry in record time!

After refilling cylinders and divers’ tummies, a change around in pairings saw me initiating Alan and Paul into the dark art of compass navigation. Both divers managed to successfully complete orienteering underwater which was rather satisfying to know, should I ever catch a plane with Alan at the helm! We ended the dive by watching the trout in the shallows. Not quite as manic as earlier with Steven, but very relaxing as they darted in front of us. Paul got the first recorded finger wagging of the season as he threatened to get his knife out and take one home for the barbie! Whilst this was going on, Ernie and DaveG were elevator boys again as Steve completed an Advanced Diver drill.

A winning day was had by all with open water dives and drills successfully completed on what I believe to have been the hottest day of the year so far. The water was cool but because the surface temp was so warm, we were able to complete more than would have usually have been done this time of year. Thanks to DaveG for organising and to all who attended.