DIRF Capernwray 5th-8th October 2006 Part 1 of 4 LONG….

[KeyLimePie]

DIRF Capernwray 5th-8th October 2006 Part 1 of 4 LONG….

Participants: Dave (keylimepie); David (Moz); and Stephen (StephenT)
Instructor: Rich Walker Video: Gledders

We started organising this trip along time ago, or that’s how I remember it. Originally there were four of us, but an injury to Ian Smith’s knee meant we were down to three. Getting the dates sorted took forever, and the course was nearly postponed at the last minute, as Moz entered into protracted negotiations with his employer about holidays. However, all of that was forgotten as the alarm went off at 6:15 and I start to get ready pending Moz’s arrival a little over an hour later. The drive over to Capernwray was pretty uneventful and the promised 12mile traffic jam on the A66 thankfully failed to materialise. Moz’s sat nav obviously doesn’t like early mornings.

Soon enough we rolled into the car park to meet up with Rich, Clare and Stephen. I’d met Stephen earlier in the year, when we first hatched this plan, but had not seen him since. The three of us had tried to meet up before the course, but for various reasons that never happened. Rich, I had already met a few times. The last occasion was on a trip to the Farnes with Davey Willo. Clare, I hadn’t met before, but felt as though I knew her quite well .

With the intros over we were soon ensconced in the classroom, with cups of coffee and biccies. We each did an introduction of ourselves, before Rick kicked off with the presentation. Having spent some time on the boards over the last 15 months or so, some of the material was not entirely new, but some was and it was interesting to hear about the wider aims and philosophy of GUE. After this we went through discussions and videos about the various fin kicks. The folk in the videos manage to make these various kicks look like a piece of cake. I had a feeling it would be different in the water.

Time for lunch, and as we were waiting at the table, it emerges that there is a free 30min slot in the local pool. I wasn’t expecting to get wet at all on the first day, but there it was - no time for lingering over food. Was this a good idea? Aren’t you supposed to avoid swimming just after a meal? The pool was 18m long and we were to do 20 lengths. What? I’m no mathematician, but even my rudimentary maths skills told me that was more than I was anticipating. As I was still thinking about this, the Tynemouth Torpedo was off and swimming. Stephen, is an ex-competition swimmer and boy could you tell. I think he’d give a rib a good run for its money. Needless to say he cruised in well ahead of Moz and myself. But the important thing was we all passed.

Now for the breath hold swim. I was really anxious about this. I knew I could do the distance swim ok, even though I’m a rubbish swimmer. But the breath hold was causing me some anxiety. Stephen probably could have done two lengths easily. I struggled but got far enough on my first attempt to satisfy Rich. Moz was having a little more difficulty. Having just munched his way through a narcosis burger and having to cope with the after effects of the smoking (he gave up about 12 days ago), this exercise was taking it’s toll. It was time for deep breadths and encouragement. Magic! Rich was happy, the rest of us were happy, but Moz was just about dead. Did we bring any O2?

After a little rest, Rich now demonstrated the back kick. Moz can already do this, but not me. I had tried half heartedly a couple of times but got nowhere. Well, actually, that’s not quite true. I did get somewhere, but forward slowly. Rich made it look easy. Time for a practice, and hey after a few attempts it works. Fantastic! It probably didn’t look pretty and may not have been wonderfully efficient, but I was moving backwards. Can I go home now? No, back to the class room for the serious stuff.

First up was back plate adjustment. As it turned out none of had too much to do. Stephen’s youth and flexibility confounded Rich though. Even when the plate seemed correctly adjusted he could still reach well down the plate. I suspect it must be the years of swimming exercises. Or as Rich out it, you can obviously wipe your arse over your head. 

The best of the day was reserved for last. Tie wrapping our regs to the plates, we went through the process of how to do a S drill. Even though we had seen the video about 6 times we were still getting things wrong. After half an hour of constant drills, though, things were much better, if perhaps not perfect. And that was it: comprehensive; informative and tiring. Rich, Clare and Stephen headed off to their digs, whilst Moz and me headed for the campsite, followed by the pub. More to follow…

[And]

Hi

I was thinking the other day that there didn't seem to be many DIRF reports recently. Hope you do well and I look forward to reading your next episodes.

Andy

[CALLISTO]

..Cheers for write up Dave .....see what happens after youve been diving with strangers ....Andy

[sean0801]

Nice write up dave, lookin forward to the other 3 parts

[Chris L]

Originally Posted by And

Hi

I was thinking the other day that there didn't seem to be many DIRF reports recently. Hope you do well and I look forward to reading your next episodes.

Andy

i did a report in august, you must have missed it.

hope you guys do as well as we did.

chris

[KeyLimePie]

Only been back home a short while and absolutely exhausted. We all passed. Stephen and I got rec passes, Moz did really well and got a tec pass. I'll write it up soon.

Dave

[andy pandy]

OHHH cold water never again................m out of here soon, off to pastures new warm water here i COME!!!!!!!!!!!!!!




andy

[And]

Originally Posted by Chris L

i did a report in august, you must have missed it.

hope you guys do as well as we did.

chris

Hi

Yes, I have just found it, sorry. When you posted it I was on my honeymoon, so thats my excuse

Andy

[diablo]

Congratulations and jubilations. Nice write up, looking forward to the rest. Then you can give me some tips.

Dave

[Fiona]

Originally Posted by KeyLimePie

Only been back home a short while and absolutely exhausted. We all passed. Stephen and I got rec passes, Moz did really well and got a tec pass. I'll write it up soon.

Dave

Well done guys you certainly worked hard on the course. I was knackered and was only watching