Salsette and Buccaneer, 3rd & 4th April 2005

[And]

Hi

Went diving over the weekend. Here's the report.

I wasn't looking forward to this very much it has to be said. There had been reports of .5 mtr viz and the forecast said 3's to 4's. Last year we had been doing our Tech1 checkout dives and we had done the same dives with very dark water and 2 mtrs viz. I was buddying Mark, and Bob was also on the boat with Howard, who I hadn't met before. We also met Depthjunkie on the boat and he was diving with some of his BSAC buddies.

The trip out was a little lumpy but not too bad, and I was sat chatting to Howard and the others, having a little pre dive banter as you do. Got to the Salsette and Jay, the skipper, dropped the shot. We didn't have to wait long before we dropped in, Mark and I dropping in first. I led down to 6 mtrs for the bubble check at which time I saw bubbles pissing out of Marks primary reg. Do I thumb the dive and sort it on the surface which was lumpy anyway or sort it here? I decided to sort it here and signalled him to swap regs whilst I unscrewed his first stage and put it back again, by which time Bob and Howard had passed us on the line. After filling his reg with saltwater there were no bubbles and Mark checked me before we continued on.

Dropping down to the bottom we were treated to about 1-2 mtrs viz and it was very dark, lots of shit in the water. I had no idea where we were going but I led the dive according to how the current was flowing and which bit of the wreck I could see next. The salsette is a bit funny with currents I feel as this is the third time I had dived it and it was always slightly uncomfortable, the currents seemingly changing often and pushing you into the wreck which is annoying. Anyway, we had no trouble staying together and we travelled along the wreck looking at the pollack and crabs and such and so forth, all very nice. We had agreed to ascend on 35 minutes or 80 bar and it was just about 33 or 34 minutes I think when Mark flashed me and showed me his gauge which read 80 bar. After a 'WTF are you telling me for' look I thumbed the dive and we started the ascent. Mark was running the deco and I was on bag duty. We did the deep stops and then the gas switch before I shot the bag. Shooting the bag with the light in my hand was OK but not great, and the rest of the dive was pretty uneventful. the water was 7 degrees and I started to get cold at the 6 mtr stop. It was interesting getting back on the boat as there was a bit of a swell on and it is quite unnerving seeing the boat slamming down only a couple of metres away. Bob and Howard surfaced a little later than us and after getting on the boat Bob decided to test the strength of his manifold and his twinset did a somersault on the the deck. The result was only a bent knob ( oo'er). For the first ocean dive of the season I thought it all went well and as I had not expected much I was pleasantly surprised that I enjoyed myself.

Howard wasn't diving the next day and so he left after dekitting and this left us with the afternoon to waste, which we did by going Bass fishing with Marks new rod and accompanied by Izzy and Nina from UE. Needless to say there was little fishing done but lots of hero stories and chatting in the sunshine.

The next day we were diving the Buccanneer. Jay had broken his fingers the previous day and so Dave aka Skipper was the stand in. Liisa was on board making sure he knew where the steering wheel was and we headed out. I noticed when signing the sheet that there were two air divers accompanied with a ccr diver who, for gas choice had simply put 'ccr'. Shaking my head I headed to the cabin for some sleep and to chat with Dave. We were at the site early and Dave shotted the wreck after three goes, so all was well, or so we thought. The air divers and the ccr diver where in first and they jumped in followed by Mark, Bob and I. I was leading, Mark second, Bob third. No probs at the bubble check and we headed down the shot, and down, and down, to be met with the grapple dragging a bit of pipe along the bottom. I turned around and looked at Bob, who signalled to swim along the track the pipe had made, so I led the way. The viz was good actually, nearly 4 mtrs, but there was still a current and I was soon getting a bit too far ahead of the other two. One of the first divers came swimming the other way towards the shot and then I only had shit to swim through (bloody air divers, bloody ccr divers moan moan grumble grumble) Anyway after about 10 minutes or so of swimming and having seen a couple of hermit crabs and bugger all else, I turned around to thumb the dive only to be met with Mark doing the same thing Starting to ascend I saw Marks drysuit hose hanging loose and pointed to it and got the 'its fucked' sign, and so we carried on. Mark ran the deco again and I did the bag. As we had only spent 10 minutes Mark shortened the deco and so I had to deploy the bag whilst on the move. It all went well though and I had got the deployment with the light sorted so I was happy with that. We only did 10 minutes deco and so we arrived at the surface relatively quickly and we were the last on board. Liisa said she should have sent us down first but the jury is still out for me. Was it the CCR diver and the air divers pulling the shot off the wreck or was it Daves use of the grapple? I guess we'll never know? I had a good time anyway overall and am looking forward to the rest of the season

Andy

PS Bobs got some photos somewhere. He might post them

[gunsentry]

Nice report And,

What gases were you using and what were the depths of the wrecks.

Cheers,

Gary.

[And]

Hi

Gasses were 18/45 bottom mix and 50% deco.

Depths were 40 ish for the Salsette and 45 for the Buccanneer (or the seabed somewhere near the Buccanneer )

Andy

[Al_Star]

Nice report And - thanks for posting it.

Cheers
Al

[Mark Chase]

Thanks for the report Andy

Being realistic, the skipper shots the wreck ahead of slack and the shot should be on the lee side of the wreck. If the tide and the drag on 45m of shot line and the buoy cant pull the shot off the wreck its pretty unlikely the divers can.

Having attempted to move a shot closer to a wreck once I had all my strength and a wing about to burst trying to lift the dammed 28lb weight and move it. If the skipper was using a grapple I would suggest its not been set properly. I assume it wasn’t a grapple, as the first in would have to tie it into the wreck. This would normally be a ''trusted / experienced teem" who can descend properly and tie in properly.

Diving out of Folkestone I have gone in on a few 45-degree shots where you’re dragging your self down against the current because the slack window is so small. The wreck was on the end of the shot most of the time.

Its lovely to dive on big neeps and drop down hardly touching the shot line but it doesn’t always work out that way

This entire diver pulling the shot of the wreck stuff I usually take with a pinch of salt.

ATB

Mark Chase

[andy_chesney]

We had the same problem a couple of years ago funnily enough that was in April as well, when we was diving the Salsette. Got down the shot and know wreck in site. All 12 divers where on sea bed not very amused to say the least.

[Depth-junkie]

It was great to meet some other YD'ers on this trip, overall it was not to bad a weekend.

the viz on the salsette was better than expected but there was a lot of shit floating around in the water. Me and Phil planned to do a 30 min BT but got a little bored and chilly around the 26min mark so we thumbed the dive early.

As for the Buccaner on the Sunday......well me and Phil went in 3rd, 40m no wreck 42m...43m...44m.......47.7m oh look theres the sea bed BOLLOKS we were met with viz around 2m so we decided to swim off following the grapel drag lines after about 4m of finning we were met with viz of i cant see my hand in front of my face (either from the grapel diging the shit out of the sea bed or other divers beating the bottom) and from AND's report i presume it was from the 2 air divers and CCR diver beating the bottom.

after only 12 min on the bottom we decided to go up, all the way up to the gas switch i was thinking bastards have pulled the shot off the wreck.... THATS THE LAST TIME WE GO 3RD .
After completing our very small deco obligation we got back on board Top Gun to be met with group 1 and 4 already back on board and AND & Bob only a few mins behind us. NO body else had the wreck either so at least it gave me and Phil some consellation as we were not the only ones who had a sea bed dive. oh well thems the breaks some times.

I came out with 160bar of 21/30 and nearly a full stage of 50% so at least i can use that in dorry next week

[Bob Cooper]

Nice report Andy, thanks.

I can't say it was the best weekends diving I've ever had but nevertheless we made up for it with a nice meal, some friendly banter and some fishing (!). Becky sorted my knob out for me (oooh err!) and now I've got some spares. I must say the scubatec manifold took the full hit when my whole rig did a somesault on the deck of topgun with no damage apart from the knob. Testament to the strength of the centrepiece.

Anyway, here are a few pics..........


We disturbed this vagrant who we found sleping under the bridge.



3 go mad in Dorset?


Is that a bream??

Sorry no diving pics. We spent more time fishing than actually diving.

Thanks for a good weekend guys.

Bob

[Bob Cooper]

Did you like the pics Andy?

Mark?

Izzy?

Bob

[Ainsleyberryman]

I was interested to read your report. Why do you shoot you bag late into the dive. Why not as you leave the wreck ? Whats your (DIR) thinking behind your bagging off practice ?

Personally I bag off from as deep as I can, I use my reel as a method of controlling ascent, visual upward reference etc and it informs the surface cover as early as possible as to my location. In a current you may drift for somewhile before shooting your bag up and by then may be a bit too far for the boat to see.