Diving the Ice Prince?

[Ferg3333]

If people are sufficiently qualified then the in water stuff should be of no concern to the skipper IMHO. If he sees all your credentials then in my eyes his ass is covered.

However, if the conditions are not safe, for recovery of divers i.e bad vis, big swell (this is of course not an exhaustive list, as it can get worse while your under) then its the skippers responsibility to make the call. Although in this case from the way I have read it, the skipper largely made a decision based on peoples in water abilities which he has no need to, all he should be doing is saying yes or no, after all he has agreed to take your money so unless the weather is bad you should have been able to dive, and i would have risked the ride out there

Good luck on getting on it next time, if it fits in with university I'll be putting my name down.

[milldog]

Originally Posted by Howard Payne

I doubt whether any of you would say this to his face - so why say it on the internet?

I would

Graham

[Mark Chase]

Originally Posted by Howard Payne

Oh b*llox Gary - Grahame has a "special" relationship with Chatterton and Kohler, Leigh Bishop, the late keith Morris etc etc etc.

The reason DIR-UK use him is because he's a lovely guy and one of the best skippers you could possibly hope for.

I'll say again: there was no advance "plan" to dive the Ice Prince before the spur of the moment call last Sunday night.

Was Grahame happy to be the first skipper on the wreck. I'm sure he was delighted. It was hardly exploration - plenty of people knew where it was. In your professional life would you take an opportunity to further your repuation in any positive way you could?

Was he happy to have the DIR-UK mob on the wreck first? Probably. The situation and no take policy surrounding the wreck at the moment are delicate and it's very close to the shipping lane. If he tells us: you can't take anything and can you limit the bottom time to 30 minutes and bags up off the wreck at a certain time - he knows that's exactly what he'll get ten times out of ten.

Was it a very borderline call on the weather? Yes very - but it was a bloody long way to go and find that the fog hadn't lifted and then everyone would have had to pay.

I really find this internet trashing of his reputation for sport to be very distasteful. I doubt whether any of you would say this to his face - so why say it on the internet?

Like it isn't hard enough being a dive boat skipper as it is at the moment FFS

Isnt that exactly what we all agreed to do on the phone the night before?

I couldent beleive the fog wouldent burn off by 1pm.

No one is trashing Graham we are just lamenting the missed oportunity in near perfict conditions. We should have stuck with the plan and gone out and had a go. I talked to Graham a lot before the dive and argued for the station and the go in the fog but it didnt help. In the end we have to accept the skippers recomendation but it still hurts when I got out and did see the conditions. Unlimited viz and glas flat sea.

Tell me? by 1.00pm was there any fog in Weymouth we were 80miles away so it could have been diferent there?

ATB

Mark

[MixedUp]

Originally Posted by Ferg3333

Although in this case from the way I have read it, the skipper largely made a decision based on peoples in water abilities which he has no need to,

I hope skippers don't start to make decisions based on my in-water abilities. Especially if that means that I am supposed to return with a buddy.

I can't think of the last sea dive when that happened.

Steve

[purple vonny]

Originally Posted by Mark Chase

I couldent beleive the fog wouldent burn off by 1pm.


Tell me? by 1.00pm was there any fog in Weymouth we were 80miles away so it could have been diferent there?

ATB

Mark

As I looked out over the bay at 10am, the sky was blue and the fog had cleared. Shame.

[milldog]

I am there are some big gaps in the skippers call heres 2

1, If he was unhappy at the divers returning to the shot he should have said so sooner, also if something goes wrong on a dive and a pair or individual bags off what would he have done then?

2, the guys were happy to go out and see and take the chance they had to pay, it would have been worth it as the fog lifted by 1pm, however that was never going to happen

the biggest point was telling the divers point 1 to late for them to arrange another skipper

Graham

would you like more?

[Mark Chase]

Originally Posted by purple vonny

As I looked out over the bay at 10am, the sky was blue and the fog had cleared. Shame.

I kind of suspected it would


ATB

Mark

[MixedUp]

Originally Posted by milldog

would you like more?

Yes please.

Steve

[Miss Roxy Chablis]

Bear in mind I've missed diving this bloody wreck twice now - so if anyone deserves to be cheesed off it's me
I don't understand the bit about not being prepared to dive it the Friday before Mark? You didn't post that on the thread? What changed?
Was the talking him into using a lazy shot an issue? When I spoke to him on the Tues/Weds - he was suggesting 40 min bottom times and bags off the wreck?

[Mark Chase]

Originally Posted by Howard Payne

Bear in mind I've missed diving this bloody wreck twice now - so if anyone deserves to be cheesed off it's me
I don't understand the bit about not being prepared to dive it the Friday before Mark? You didn't post that on the thread? What changed?
Was the talking him into using a lazy shot an issue? When I spoke to him on the Tues/Weds - he was suggesting 40 min bottom times and bags off the wreck?

On the Friday i was told categorically he wouldn't dive the Ice Prince. He said he had grave concerns over liability and that there was an exclusion zone in force so we couldn't dive it any way. I was told skippers had been told not to dive it. I pointed out Phil Corbin spoke to the coast guard and they said it was OK to dive. He said Phil was not telling the truth!!!! I have dived with Phil many times and i doubted this very much.

On the Monday Graham put the GUE divers on it which after all the "no you cant dive it" stuff was a bit odd but not an issue for me.


PS there was no issue about using a station it was just he didnt trust us to use it properly.

If its "so close to the lanes" bagging off is dangerous thats one of the reasions we use a station. Graham said "what if someone dosent make it back". I said that was not an option but he didnt accept this. If we dont have the trust of the skipper we can work, its as simple as that.

Again bottom times should not be an issue with a station. If however the tide is 2 knots we couldent dive in such a current anyway so its not relevent.





ATB

Mark