DIR day Day 1

[Little Pete]

However Little Pete was notable for his humor

Surely not me Well I had to take the piss out of myself as Kerslake and everyone else were already doing their best to belittle (har har) me so I couldn't let them have all the fun could I?


Top report though mate, was great to meet you (like so many other folks) and it's always nice to put faces to online names

[divingniknaks]

Hey , top report Mark.

Gutted you couldn't stay for the dinner, Amanda and I didn't get out of the Dive Show till after 6 so were quite late getting down.

Glad you enjoyed the day, at least i think you did from that post

Catch you on the next one soon


cheers

[Phil O]

Originally Posted by Bob Cooper

Thanks everybody for turning up. I think everybody had a good time.

I had a brilliant time ..especially the scooter session.

Thanks to everyone involved but particularly to Bob, Andy C, Andy K and Rich Walker for the workshops, presentations and sharing experiences. Priceless! Guess it will be Mastercard for the Gavin.

[Clare Gledhill]

Wow - what a fantastic weekend

Only YD could give us such a mix. My first sight on arriving in Stoney Cove on Saturday morning was Howard with his (well Chase's actually) rebreather in the car hemmed in by Bob Cooper, Andy Carrol and Andy Kerslake. They had clearly decided to save him from himself... (or from Frank )

Next arrival was Mark Chase... it just keeps getting better

As a new(ish) member of YD who has read both Bob's and Mark's trip reports over the last year describing dives which were (and still are) out of my league, I found myself quite intimidated fitting a harness on Mark and then jumping in the water with them both.

Mark has been very harsh on himself in the above report - he did fine and should get full marks for entering in to the spirit of things so wholeheartedly... it was a pleasure indeed. I'm still giggling about the single tank diver who looked so baffled at Bob's antics with Mark's rig that he asked whether Bob had ever dived before... priceless.

Rich was busy with four YDers who had turned up to do a bit of an explore DIR session. Diane (Madfish) was one of our newbies and she had a problem with her inflator hose. She was assisted by a kind hearted chap who got her to rest spread eagled on the back of his car while he sorted it out. She had been in this position for about five minutes when she said "who are you by the way" He said, I'm Andy Kerslake" She said "you're joking - that's terrifying"... but later she said to me - "I thought he was Woz..."

Jonathan (Tonytheteal) who I had dived with on Friday, along with our newest recruit and photographer Galobeast (better known as Daniel from Brazil) came back from his fundies resit announcing that he had passed as had Alex. Well done to you both.

Saturday evening was great fun... much piss taking had by all. Seeing Little Pete in Bob's twin 18s was memorable - they are as long as his legs. I think the DIRers and our YD guests all enjoyed the proceedings and the after dinner chat (I swear that I saw the odd glass of alcohol but it must have been my imagination - it was a DIR gig after all )

Sunday Al and I went in with Andy Kerslake for a scooter dive as I was still having difficulty with it. Difficult became impossible when it turned out that it wouldn't go at all - and Andy made some battlefield repairs - on top of those made by Bob the day before.

Still unhappy I went out with Bob and after much faffing finally got it comfortable. I don't know whether it was poorly directed prop wash or my grinning which made my mask flood but I felt great that it was finally coming together.

So that was the weekend from my perspective. I dived with Al, Tonytheteal, Galobeast, Bob Cooper, Mark Chase, AndyB, Little Pete, Alun, Andy Kerslake and Howard Radcliffe - a mix of non DIR, new DIR and scary DIR divers Bob, And, Rich and Andy worked like trojans running workshops, mending kit and answering questions.

One quote from a YD guest made my weekend when he said "I've had fun, really good fun. Just tell me one thing - everyone here is normal and nice - where have you hidden all the obnoxious DIR divers we hear so much about?"

Lets do it all again next year.

[Digger]

Nice reports guys. Good to see you having fun.

Just a reminder that dive gear does go missing at the Cove, and though I got it back, I will never leave it unattended, especially expensive gear like scooters!

I might come along to one of these things sometime. Might keep the twinset after all...

[Digger]

Originally Posted by Gledders

"I've had fun, really good fun. Just tell me one thing - everyone here is normal and nice - where have you hidden all the obnoxious DIR divers we hear so much about?"

Ahem, Florida.

[Alun]

One quote from a YD guest made my weekend when he said "I've had fun, really good fun. Just tell me one thing - everyone here is normal and nice - where have you hidden all the obnoxious DIR divers we hear so much about?"

Who'd say something like that?

[Clare Gledhill]

I have no idea at all Alun ..... but I love your new signature

[Al_Star]

Lots of comments about the weekend already. I met loads of people over the weekend and put a lot of faces to names. It was really good to meet Howard and Mark Chase. Howard's cry of glee when he saw my yellow backup lights was very funny! It really was what YD is all about - people getting together, having fun and going diving.

I just want to add my thanks to Andy Carroll, Clare, Andy Kerslake, Rich Walker and of course Bob Cooper. They all helped with workshops, kit fettling, repairs, kit loan (including scooters), scooter maintenance and made sure everyone had fun. I hope everyone else enjoyed it as much as I did.

Oh and by the way I did two scooter dives

Cheers
Al

[Diving Dude]

Well as Chasey states l was gutted (can you tell l'm a football fan) that Frank my YBOD MOD1 instructor was not feeling well, but he did the right thing by not taking me in, after all l want someone that is there to 'rescue' me to be on top of his game.

There was two reasons for me being there, one the inspo course and secondly to meet the YD dirers that l hadn't met, it's so much more fun taking the piss when you've met people, oh and of course the YD girlies begged me to be there

Originally Posted by Gledders

............. Howard with his (well Chase's actually) rebreather in the car hemmed in by Bob Cooper, Andy Carrol and Andy Kerslake.

l'd say it was more like moths drawn to the flame.

l was watching some wally try to park his car then realised it was Bob Cooper. then his mate Ian parked beside him then in true DIR fashion And, the third one, parked beside him and hemmed me in.

It was nice to meet Al, Clares other- other half or should it be third, poor fella has to put up with Clare much more than the rest of us.

l was amazed by Andy Kerslake and Rick W, l mentioned to Clare that they looked like real people, l thought they'd be GI3 robot clones, l really wanted to poke them to see, but l didn't.......so maybe they could be, spookily we've crossed into Finless world........robot clones.....maybe they're mods?

l was dissapointed that l couldn't stay for the evening do, l just wanted to see what everyone was drinking and if it was all the same

l decided to go home to make it easier for me, with the high dudess, to go and finish mod one on friday and sat, considering we were supposed to be diving wed as well.

Now l'm going to say this verrrry quietly............l've been thinking about DIRF for a while and will probally do it after l've got a few hrs on the inspo. l think Rich W may insist l go back to OC for it though, such a meanie

Originally Posted by Gledders

Lets do it all again next year.

Ok but l'll have to think of another very non DIR course to be doing at the time