Teapot Wreck - Two get tired at Selsey

[Lou]

Up at 3am for the second time in a fortnight, to go diving with YD's own Dave Applin on Dive Eclipse. Dave has had the boat out the water for a couple of weeks to change his somewhat troublesome Honda outboards for some Volvo inboards. When I called to check the dive was on, at 7.15pm on Friday night Dave was still at work testing them. In fact the boat had only been in the water for less than an hour!

Arrive at Selsey East beach car park at a little before 6am and for once the gates were open. This meant that we could get parked up and start sorting the kit straight aaway. Givent he early start we were only expecting a few others on the boat but as time passed and a couple of motor homes and several other cars arrived we figured it was a full house.

From the sea wall the sea state looked more promising than the forecast suggested and nothing prompted me to take my usual dose of anti-seasick tablets - a move I was later to regret!

We marched the gear up the short road to the wall at the top of the beach where Dave pulls up Eclipse and waited. Within a couple of minutes we could see Eclipse seemingly cutting through the water with ease. As we were alreadt "zipped up" Caroline and I slipped on the twinsets and made our way down the steep shingle, and when Eclipse arrived we calmbered on board.

The layout had changed slightly since the previous visit, two weeks earlier. The space needed for the inboards meant that two of the seats on the cetnral bench had been lost, and replaced with two narrow, forward facing seats on the engine cover. As we had twins we got positioned on the central bench - this was a "good thing"

After a short wait all were aboard, with the forward facing seats taken by two divers on singles. It is difficult to see how a twinset would fit in gap available, although we didn't try. Dave moved us away fro the beach and then gave his usual boat safety briefing.

With suits zipped up, tanks tied off and weightbelts removed we wedged ont ot he benches and Dave opened up the new engines. The site we were aiming for was the rweck of the Cambrian Princess - at least that is what it is known as, but i understand there are some differneces in opinion as to whether this is really the case! . The site is about 10 miles offshore and someone asked Dave how long it would take to get there - with a smile and a shrug the answer came back - "let's see!".

As we progressed out from land the sea state deteriorated rapidly and it got very bumpy and very wet - especially if you were in the new your "jumpseat". The poor lass there was on her first rib dive and in addition to being thrown around a little she was getting a bucket of cold water right in her face every 30 seconds. Someonehanded her a mask to wear, but after about 10 minutes she was heard to mumble "I'm not enjoying this". Bless her!

A while later and Dave eased up on the power. We had only gone a third of the distance and he said it would only get worse. We had the option of continuing or doing something else. the consensus onboard was to try something else!

So, the Teapot wreck, known in its lifetime as the Brigitte, found itself host to a boatload from Eclipse and another two ribs. Kitting up was trickie than usual with the sea state conspiring with the slightly reduced space, plus two Inspo divers. The Inspo guys had to kit up and then prebreathe, but whilst they sat on the tubes, breathing, there was no room for C & I to put our fins on and the lass on the end couldn't move at all - so a graceful "Mexican Wave" of fin donning folowed. The inspo guys bailed off the sides, I could slide up and put my fins on, gving C room to do hers and then the lass on the end could move!

A spot on drop by the shot from Dave (again - wouldn't expect less!) and we grabbed hold of the line. The waves encouraged me to sink quickly a few metres before switching on my torch and waiting for C to join me. In a couple of seconds she was there and we belted down the line.

Despite listening to Dave's briefing I hadn't a clue where to go on this wreck so we mainly pootled. The first thing we saw was an area of plating and ribs. This was when we had peered through the shoal of young cod that covered the end of the shot! MOving left there was a slightly higher sectionof plating, with caverns on a small scale hding a few decent sized conger.

Finning forward further took us off the side of the wreck and we moved up the legth of it along the edge of the plating, using our torches to light up an creatures hiding underneath. these were mainly poor cod and velvet swimming crabs, with a few goby dashing around on the sand. This viz was a bright 5m-ish at the seabed that averaged around 17-18m and torches weren't really needed except to see the beasties.

A few minutes later a shodow emerged from the furhest reaches of the voz and there was a large boiler sat intact but decaying. It was something in the reion of 3m in diameter and had several large holes. We investigated these for eels but found none. Moving around the side we saw the second boiler just behind so we moved to that. This one was far more interesting. Inhabiting almost each and every tube end was a tompot blenny, some even had two in with their cheeky little faces pressed together, cheek to cheek, looking out as us endearingly! This passed another five or so fun minutes before we moved on again.

We moved over a small patch of seabed to another, more open area of wreckage and poked around here. Ballan wrasse hid and the young cod made a reappearance. We hung quietly and let them comein very close. I love letting a shoal fill your view - it feels so priviledged, almost like you are accepted - the one reason why a rebreather would appeal to me!

Moving slowly we came back to the shot and decided to go past it and back around a bit. At this point we saw a lovely big lobster, but both Caroline and I were careful not to "notice" it too much - there were crustacean grabbers all over the place, so we shooed it under the plate and swam off, metaphorically whistling as we went - nothingto see here!

It was getting near the end of our planned dive so we drifted off the wreck and away from the shot to each deploy an SMB on our back-up spools, just for practise. All went well and a nice ascent, followed by a 4 min stop at 6m got us to the surface on time. Dave was busy picking up so we had a bit of a wait on the surface - this did for me and the seasick demons came out o play. By the time I got on the ladder I was feeling decidedly dodgy and needed a yank I don't normally require to help me up.

I couldn't dekit fast enough and by the time I got to hang over the side i thought I was ready to turn inside out, but nothing happened. Instead a journey back with my head on the tube and I survived with brekkie intact. I must be improving! I still wished I could die however....

That feeling was amplified when we got off (I think Dave was a bit grumpy with us for being slow at getting off - the boat was a little lop-sided when the port side all bailed before the starboard team :O). There was a bit of surge and we were close to low water I think, so the normal hike up the beach was a piece of cake compared to yesterday. I got up the first ledge and held my hand out to help Caroline who struggled a little. Then we looked up for the big push - aaargh! Then, out of the blue, two gallant strangers came to our rescue. Two of the guys off the boat (Diving with an SAA club form London maybe?)who had dumped their kit came down the beach and "mine" stuck his hands under my ttanks and pushed - we both ran up that bloody shingle at a rate of knots! The other guy helped C and the help was very, very gratefully received - whoever they were - thankyou !!

So, an early start, an abandoned plan, a rough sea, a bout of the mal de mer, a killer beach and I still had a brilliant day!

Totally knackered by the time I got home though. .....

The Teapot is a wreck worth doing, even if it does sound a bit "second choice". Loads of life, lots of pokey around holes and nice and light on the white sandy bottom.

Thanks to Dave for another good trip - see you at YD Stock!

Lou

[David Wallace]

Cheers Lou,

Nice write up......

But I'm never grumpy!

Originally Posted by Lou

Up at 3am for the second time in a fortnight, to go diving with YD's own Dave Applin on Dive Eclipse. Dave has had the boat out the water for a couple of weeks to change his somewhat troublesome Honda outboards for some Volvo inboards. When I called to check the dive was on, at 7.15pm on Friday night Dave was still at work testing them. In fact the boat had only been in the water for less than an hour!

Arrive at Selsey East beach car park at a little before 6am and for once the gates were open. This meant that we could get parked up and start sorting the kit straight aaway. Givent he early start we were only expecting a few others on the boat but as time passed and a couple of motor homes and several other cars arrived we figured it was a full house.

From the sea wall the sea state looked more promising than the forecast suggested and nothing prompted me to take my usual dose of anti-seasick tablets - a move I was later to regret!

We marched the gear up the short road to the wall at the top of the beach where Dave pulls up Eclipse and waited. Within a couple of minutes we could see Eclipse seemingly cutting through the water with ease. As we were alreadt "zipped up" Caroline and I slipped on the twinsets and made our way down the steep shingle, and when Eclipse arrived we calmbered on board.

The layout had changed slightly since the previous visit, two weeks earlier. The space needed for the inboards meant that two of the seats on the cetnral bench had been lost, and replaced with two narrow, forward facing seats on the engine cover. As we had twins we got positioned on the central bench - this was a "good thing"

After a short wait all were aboard, with the forward facing seats taken by two divers on singles. It is difficult to see how a twinset would fit in gap available, although we didn't try. Dave moved us away fro the beach and then gave his usual boat safety briefing.

With suits zipped up, tanks tied off and weightbelts removed we wedged ont ot he benches and Dave opened up the new engines. The site we were aiming for was the rweck of the Cambrian Princess - at least that is what it is known as, but i understand there are some differneces in opinion as to whether this is really the case! . The site is about 10 miles offshore and someone asked Dave how long it would take to get there - with a smile and a shrug the answer came back - "let's see!".

As we progressed out from land the sea state deteriorated rapidly and it got very bumpy and very wet - especially if you were in the new your "jumpseat". The poor lass there was on her first rib dive and in addition to being thrown around a little she was getting a bucket of cold water right in her face every 30 seconds. Someonehanded her a mask to wear, but after about 10 minutes she was heard to mumble "I'm not enjoying this". Bless her!

A while later and Dave eased up on the power. We had only gone a third of the distance and he said it would only get worse. We had the option of continuing or doing something else. the consensus onboard was to try something else!

So, the Teapot wreck, known in its lifetime as the Brigitte, found itself host to a boatload from Eclipse and another two ribs. Kitting up was trickie than usual with the sea state conspiring with the slightly reduced space, plus two Inspo divers. The Inspo guys had to kit up and then prebreathe, but whilst they sat on the tubes, breathing, there was no room for C & I to put our fins on and the lass on the end couldn't move at all - so a graceful "Mexican Wave" of fin donning folowed. The inspo guys bailed off the sides, I could slide up and put my fins on, gving C room to do hers and then the lass on the end could move!

A spot on drop by the shot from Dave (again - wouldn't expect less!) and we grabbed hold of the line. The waves encouraged me to sink quickly a few metres before switching on my torch and waiting for C to join me. In a couple of seconds she was there and we belted down the line.

Despite listening to Dave's briefing I hadn't a clue where to go on this wreck so we mainly pootled. The first thing we saw was an area of plating and ribs. This was when we had peered through the shoal of young cod that covered the end of the shot! MOving left there was a slightly higher sectionof plating, with caverns on a small scale hding a few decent sized conger.

Finning forward further took us off the side of the wreck and we moved up the legth of it along the edge of the plating, using our torches to light up an creatures hiding underneath. these were mainly poor cod and velvet swimming crabs, with a few goby dashing around on the sand. This viz was a bright 5m-ish at the seabed that averaged around 17-18m and torches weren't really needed except to see the beasties.

A few minutes later a shodow emerged from the furhest reaches of the voz and there was a large boiler sat intact but decaying. It was something in the reion of 3m in diameter and had several large holes. We investigated these for eels but found none. Moving around the side we saw the second boiler just behind so we moved to that. This one was far more interesting. Inhabiting almost each and every tube end was a tompot blenny, some even had two in with their cheeky little faces pressed together, cheek to cheek, looking out as us endearingly! This passed another five or so fun minutes before we moved on again.

We moved over a small patch of seabed to another, more open area of wreckage and poked around here. Ballan wrasse hid and the young cod made a reappearance. We hung quietly and let them comein very close. I love letting a shoal fill your view - it feels so priviledged, almost like you are accepted - the one reason why a rebreather would appeal to me!

Moving slowly we came back to the shot and decided to go past it and back around a bit. At this point we saw a lovely big lobster, but both Caroline and I were careful not to "notice" it too much - there were crustacean grabbers all over the place, so we shooed it under the plate and swam off, metaphorically whistling as we went - nothingto see here!

It was getting near the end of our planned dive so we drifted off the wreck and away from the shot to each deploy an SMB on our back-up spools, just for practise. All went well and a nice ascent, followed by a 4 min stop at 6m got us to the surface on time. Dave was busy picking up so we had a bit of a wait on the surface - this did for me and the seasick demons came out o play. By the time I got on the ladder I was feeling decidedly dodgy and needed a yank I don't normally require to help me up.

I couldn't dekit fast enough and by the time I got to hang over the side i thought I was ready to turn inside out, but nothing happened. Instead a journey back with my head on the tube and I survived with brekkie intact. I must be improving! I still wished I could die however....

That feeling was amplified when we got off (I think Dave was a bit grumpy with us for being slow at getting off - the boat was a little lop-sided when the port side all bailed before the starboard team :O). There was a bit of surge and we were close to low water I think, so the normal hike up the beach was a piece of cake compared to yesterday. I got up the first ledge and held my hand out to help Caroline who struggled a little. Then we looked up for the big push - aaargh! Then, out of the blue, two gallant strangers came to our rescue. Two of the guys off the boat (Diving with an SAA club form London maybe?)who had dumped their kit came down the beach and "mine" stuck his hands under my ttanks and pushed - we both ran up that bloody shingle at a rate of knots! The other guy helped C and the help was very, very gratefully received - whoever they were - thankyou !!

So, an early start, an abandoned plan, a rough sea, a bout of the mal de mer, a killer beach and I still had a brilliant day!

Totally knackered by the time I got home though. .....

The Teapot is a wreck worth doing, even if it does sound a bit "second choice". Loads of life, lots of pokey around holes and nice and light on the white sandy bottom.

Thanks to Dave for another good trip - see you at YD Stock!

Lou

[zepp]

Some good info. on your write-up, Lou,........How long does it take you to type it???

[Janos]

Thanks Lou for the report. I love trip reports. (Smacks self on wrist for not writing enough).

I would green you but I can't.

Janos

[onthetrain]

Thanks for sharing lou, i like to read about areas I dont get to dive.

[Bogwoppit]

Originally Posted by Skipper

But I'm never grumpy!

Snigger...... No never ever..

[Paul Oliver]

Nice report

[Andy the Coastie]

Excellent write up Lou.


Can't wait for the YD 3..........

[David]

great report almost felt like I was there.

"there were crustacean grabbers all over the place, so we shooed it under the plate and swam off, metaphorically whistling as we went - nothingto see here! "

is Caroline my buddy from Plymouth if so she is good at hidding the lobsters :-)


David

[Lou]

Originally Posted by David

is Caroline my buddy from Plymouth if so she is good at hidding the lobsters :-)

No, but we are available for hire at a reasonable cost to ensure you don't catch anything!

The mesh bag that trailed past me with a couple fo small edibles in was very nearly too tempting for my shears....I did restrain myself though