A little above water learning.....

[SoggyFox]

I suppose this should really go into the diving related ‘I learned from that’ section. It was certainly something that bought home to me how fickle mother nature can be and how things can change very quickly.

Originally I’d not been able to go on a club dive on Saturday as I had work commitments but as is the way, I’d had an offer from one of the other guys at work to cover for me during the day on the Saturday. Well it turns out the 2 boats were now full but I thought I’d go along anyway and cox the rhib making the diving a bit easier and getting me out of the house for the morning.

The Rhibs were hauled down to Bracklesham slip and launched with little or no fuss, which is a first for us as we can make the simplest task a mammoth clusterfcuk. I jumped on the rhib went through the check list and drove out away from the slip, a quick radio call to Solent Coastguard and all of a sudden the engine stops, nothing special, start her up again, nope, nothing, not even a bang or a whiz, bugger. A call to the other rhib and a quick tow back to the beach were open engine surgery is begun. To cut a long story short the starter motor had gone on holiday and lots of crap in the fuel filter. One Rhib down and one to go, the Jonah feeling again, doesn’t even seem like I have to dive now and I can jinx a dive.

The decision was made to go ahead with the other rhib as the conditions were flat calm with a slight haze. No problem I jump onto the second rhib run through the checks and load up with 6 divers and off we pop. It was a glorious calm smooth sea and we motored happily the 10 miles out to the Cuba. It was noticeable on the way out that the haze was getting a bit worse but still we could see for a mile or so all round and it was fairly early in the day and sunny, I thought it may burn off but we’d been out in similar conditions and I wasn’t unduly worried.

We shortly arrived at the Cuba and the GPS mark was pretty spot on, the shot was dropped in on a nice big lump of something on the echo sounder and we waited. At this time there were 2 fishing boats and another rhib at the site but I began to notice that the haze was a little thicker and the visibility had dropped down to about half a mile, I still wasn’t unduly worried as the visibility seemed to open and close depending on the sun coming through the clouds, maybe naively, I still thought it would burn off as the sun was forecast to shine all day.

Well for 20 minutes or so, watched the shot bouy and could see the tide dropping off, my first pair of divers were beginning to throw kit around get themselves ready, A quick look around and the conditions were not good but not getting me too worried. I did make the decision to ask all of the guys on the boat to return to the shot so I could keep them all in one place to pick them up. Well the first 2 pairs dropped in within about 5 minutes of each other, so all go, my spidey senses were beginning to tingle as it appeared the visibility wasn’t getting any better and in fact at times was considerably worse. This was happening before my eyes and the change over the 5 minutes that it took to put the first and second pairs in was noticeable that the visibility was worsening and worrying.

It was at this point I began to feel a anxious, my head beginning to spin on shoulders as I looked round and noticed that the second fishing boat that was 100 or so yards away was now lost in the mist. At times the other fishing boat that was 40 yards away was beginning to be obscured by mist.

I had 4 divers in the water and 2 getting ready and conditions weren’t looking good. I again looked around and felt decidedly uncomfortable, I could see how over 10 minutes the conditions had changed for the worse and I felt decidedly edgey about what might happen in the next 40 minutes that the divers would be in the water. I know both of the divers that were sat on the boat could read my expression when I turned round and said ‘um guys, I don’t think I’m going to let you dive’. The fact that both of them accepted it without any complaints was a relief and a credit to them. The 2 divers on the boat both took a long look around and agreed that it was the right call to make.

It was only another 10 minutes or so before we could see bubbles around the shot and then a Dsmb popped up about 6ft away from the shot, well 1 out of 2 doing what was asked of them is a start. The visibility was definitely getting slowly worse but i felt better as I had a fair idea where both my sets of divers were, the pair on the dsmb were hardly drifting so I could sit on both the dsmb and shot buoy and easily see both. The visibility was still dropping and I now realised it wasn’t going to get any better and I was thankful my divers were going to be back on the surface shortly.

Finally the 2 pairs surfaced and were retrieved without too much fuss, though I had some choice words for the pair who had come up on the dsmb even though being asked to come up the shot line.

We had to wait a few moments as the other rhib on the site was using our shot as well and were putting in their final pair before we could motor over and haul in our shot and head home.

I was expecting a foggy ride home with limited visibility all the way but oddly enough when we got 5 miles off shore the fog lifted and the all of a sudden its was bright and sunny and you could see for a good few miles. How conditions could change over 2 miles was quite sobering.

I did ask myself on the way home should I of done anything different, maybe I should of binned the whole dive and gone to an alternative site closer in with better visibility, should I of let the second pair go in at all, its easy in hindsight to question yourself but when your there and then it’s a whole lot more difficult. But what I know for sure I did learn was…..

1) Above or below water if it doesn’t feel right, Bin it!
Better to be arguing over a pint than explaining it to the Coastguard.
2) Weather conditions can change so quickly it can be frightening.
3) Just because it looks like good visibility at the shore doesn’t mean a thing.

In this case it was all well that ended well but it bought home to me how things can change for the worse very quickly. I can see now how stories that begin with ‘it was a lovely sunny day when………..’ have such sad endings.

[tom]

good post, and good call IMHO.

[paramedic paul]

Good call mate!

[jimny14]

Very good call, fair play.

I had a similar weather experience a few years ago. I used to do quite a lot of hiking and walking. A group of six of us had decided to do Scarfell Pike over a weekend. So drove up, n walked up to the tree tarns just off the start of Scarfell proper and camped here overnight. Got up in the morning perfect cloudless sky no wind, absolute perfect weather for the run up to the peak and back down to the pub for late lunch, brilliant. Cooked breakfast and packed away the tents then went to take a couple of bearings. Bugger, can't see the peak, no scratch that we couldn't see 6" for the fog that had descended on us in half an hour! Quick discussion between the group that pretty much went - fcuk it bin the day, go straight to pub. Walked off the hills, down about 10 miles in the village we'd scouted out on the map, got to pub after a slow safe walk down where it was sunny and clear, no problems to be met with suprised faces when we said we'd canned the day. However we were proved correct to bin it when on the same day a pair of walkers had to be rescued off the mountain cos they got lost and couldn't get down.

I think nine times out of ten your first instinct is correct when it comes to the weather. If it looks bad bin the day and go to the pub where you can sort out a time to try again. Good call Soggy everyone came home safe n sound and thats why canning stuff is a good idea. No matter how experienced we are we should never forget the weather is boss.

Green incoming for a good call well made.

[gerbil]

Whenever, i find my instincts telling me one thing and 'my rationale' self saying another i remember that instinct is there for a reason and has served mankind well over the eons. On the other hand, if i'm honest my 'rationale' self has often got me into trouble left right and centre - never be afraid of calling it a day, unless that is you have some stong desire to appear in the Darwin Awards.