The first outing of the Midweek club for 2012
Wendy Northway
Captain Farnworth arrived at 09.00 hours on the dot and we left Winsford with a mild breeze blowing. The further north we travelled, the stronger the zephyr got till we got to the Delph where it ripped across the surface like a Harrier Jump Jet. I don’t think I’ve ever seen white horses on an inland site before, but this came close!
Quickly donning our dry suits (well I wore a borrowed one for my first dive); we headed off to the entry point. I needed to do a weight check with Sarah as she had a new suit, a neoprene similar to her old one, but I just wanted to make sure her weighting was OK. After a few kit reconfigurations Sarah finally managed to wade into the water. Good job she had her back to me as I noticed her belt was on upside down – Velcro pockets with heavy weights in –what could possibly go wrong! Once more Sarah dekitted, sorted out her weight belt and got into those pesky fins again then we were away. We both descended without any additional lead required, I gave a quick OK to Archie who was ready to pass us any if needed and we were away. We headed off to the 3m platform and did a few fin pivots then proceeded to circumnavigate the quarry on a dive proper. We only got to the transit van and Sarah felt her belt slipping. Grabbing it in one hand and her in the other we ascended, only to have her lose it close to the surface. A quick retrieval then back to the entry point – Sarah getting rather adept now at defining and dekitting, I altered the belt and once more we headed back in. Sarah was by now thoroughly fed up with putting her fins on and the first one needed help. Second one I coaxed her with the promise of a chocolate brownie should she succeed. Funnily enough that one glided on like iron filings to a magnet! I don’t remember bribery being taught on the OWI course!!!! We had a quick bimble around before both of us got a tad cold then up and out.
Meantime, the big boys, Archie, Fred and Alan followed a well finned path. Archie found a bike at 20m and did a bit of extreme cycling then all 3 boys vied to get deeper just beyond the yacht. This is all part of the initiation of diving with Fred and Archie. The sump* is at the pointy end of the ‘Perfect 10’ and F&A vie to see who can get deeper. Struck with raptures of the deep, Alan was determined to join in. Results are in a sealed envelope with me and can be obtained at a price. If you can provide a higher bid, Alan, I won’t reveal your depth to the DO! They made their way back to the origin via the transit van but before their final ascent, the 3 Musketeers practised one of their skills – DV removal. Alan found this especially enlightening as he had new valves and the hose on his main reg was shorter than the one he’d been using previously. It wasn’t quite so easy to retrieve thus he found this out in the safe confines of a quarry rather than in runaway train drift.
The Babylon 5 retired to the café for warming drinks and the aforementioned chocolate brownie for Sarah. Why didn’t I get an instructor like me? I think if I had have done, I’d have taken to mask clearing a lot quicker. Hey Dave, is there room in the training budget for Yorkie bars?** As we bade adieu to the F&A, I twisted Alan’s arm into doing a second dive. I’d got my suit back from Northern Diver and hopefully it really had been repaired this time. I needed to test it out before the season started in full as Clare wanted her suit back come spring. Thus we left the comfort of the café and threw on our wet hoods again. With much trepidation I pulled on old faithful and gingerly dipped my fins in the cool lagoon. We followed the rope round anticlockwise towards the tank. Very impressively Alan managed to turn the turret, if he was like this in a quarry; I guess there would be no stopping him when he gets to grips with real metal! I cautiously felt my lower arm and thought I could actually be dry. It’s hard to tell when it’s so cold but I was optimistic – think positive Wendy. We made our way to the cruiser and then back to the plane. Alan circled the jet to make his preflight check and gave it the OK as we headed for home. Back at the transit van I saw the vertical line with the buoyancy standards there attached. We did a few exercises - -twizzle, forward rolls and hover – all of which were in good tolerance. Over the past year I have seen Alan’s confidence and skills improve and this was a good way of demonstrating them to him so he could see for himself what he had achieved. Getting rather cold now so up to the shallows where we could watch the trout and roach above us whilst we completed our safety stop. The weather had definitely worsened as we made our way back to the car – torrential rain now added to the violent winds that were lashing the county. We quickly changed and retreated once more to the café for chips and hot chocolate whilst Alan now had to listen to 2 females wittering about pink pieces of kit! A very successful day was had –new kit tested and a dry suit was possibly mended! Once again a lesson was learnt in the practicality of having a clip attached to a weight system. I have done a lot of diving outside the Branch recently and the weight belt attachment to myself is always commented upon as a curiosity which I find quite baffling as I have seen or heard of too many weight belt loses. Surely it is a no brainer. The belt and braces approach for peace of mind must outweigh the £10 cost of the clip.
Fred and Archie dive midweek about once a month. These dives are open to all, depending upon instructor availability. They are planned probably a week in advanced although Alan Farnworth is working towards a little more structure in the planning and will be publicising them.
*the deepest part of the quarry is barely 20m, within depth limits for a qualified Ocean Diver
**other chocolate bars are available!
