Ok not really a trip report... just a "what I did at school" today report....
Went to Stoney for a couple of dives in the afternoon with a mate from work - my first time there and very impressed with the set-up - I suspect we had the benefit of being there on a quiet weekday in January through... vis was fabulous while the sun was high, friendly fish (and lots of them)... a bit chilly at 6 degrees through!!
Went to play with my new Christmas kit.... here's what I think:
(1) Frog Indigo wing... luvverly... took two dives to get weight distribution right through - started with 4kg on waist and 2kg on top camband and ended up rolling all the time - really hard work. Second dive I shifted the weight all to my waist and was much happier. In all other respects the wing was great. Roll on 17 Feb when Mark Powell will suffer my great trim crisis and hopefully sort me out for good....
(2) Ebay special thinsulate booties.... not impressed... size small but still couldn't persuade them to get into my drysuit boots without great effort... feet were warm through.... you will see these soon on the adverts forum....
(3) Waterproof 5mm Gloves - Yuk, Yuk, Yuk... did not like 5mm gloves at all but these were a particularly bad fit as they have long wrists.... I have short arms and my drysuit pretty much covers the wrist - with the latex seal in a sort of s-shape... could not do the zip on the gloves up and spent the dive with leaky hands and bits flapping about on my wrists... these would be very nice gloves for wetsuit divers or people who have lots of wrist seal exposed to cover... soon to be for sale... Wanted 5mm bog standard gloves that i can take a pair of scissors to to shorten the wrist
(4) Red Hat diving 3WS torch - very happy with this - compares favourably with the Frogman lenser - ideal for tropical night dives or back-up - just not a sexy as the frogman, but much cheaper.
(5) Uwatec bottom timer with niknaks boot - purchased from a YDer - does exactly what it says on the tin - thank you!!
So on the new kit stakes a 2 all draw..... but a very nice day out none the less!