David Blunkett diving at NewHaven

[RonProwse]

As promised, Saturday three of as drove down to Newhaven to meet Alan, Skipper of the Humber rib we were diving on. We had no trouble finding him as we parked right by the café which is right by dive shop (Alan is not associated with the shop by the way). So in to the café we went for a bite to eat, a few tea’s and the good old paperwork, at this point I was a little worried about having too much as the weather had turns bad over night, in fact we opted to stay in local and head for Brighton as it was rough.

First impression: The Rib is Brand new and you can clearly see that a lot of money has been ploughed into it, it’s has all the safety equipment including o2 on board state of art electronics.

Our plan was for ropes at 09:00 but with all my messing around we didn’t get away till about 09:45, we left the slip and headed for Brighton, the sea was a little rough to say the least this rib flies, Christ I don’t know if the adrenaline was flowing because of fear or because of the fun but I can only say that the trip was like sitting on a roller coaster for 30mins.

When we got to the pier we kitted up and rolled, the decent was a non starter Jnr had ear problems and the third person in our team needed 2kgs extra, so Jnr returned to the boat and Dave (third buddy) and I went down, well we got down to about below 2.5 meters and all of a sudden the lights went out! The vis was poor in fact I felt like David Blunkett, communications with Dave were difficult, without touches there is no way I would have had a clue where he was and he was right next to me. We did 17 mins before I thumbed the dive as I could not see the point and I was feeling sick in the water from being thrown around.

Once back on the rib I was as sick as a parrot, once I’d finished I felt right as rain and we headed into the marina at Brighton for a cup of tea before heading back to Newhaven, this time we went with the surf and wind so we managed about 25 knots in fact that trip back took 10mins less once than the one out, once on dry land we headed for the café and some more tea.

Overall we had a great day despite the weather, the rib is a great piece of kit and is all brand new, Alan is a experienced skipper and diver, he made a point of showing us the MCA rating (I think that’s what’s its called) and saying that he would reduce the amount of divers he would carry if people were running twins.

So now I cant wait for a calm day when I can see this beast hit 40+ knots..

We going back and im sure that he will be well booked next season.

Ron

[jimbob]

Hello Ron.
Sounds like an interesting day. I'm sorry to hear the viz wasn't so good. MacD is quite a boat isn't it. I was out on it last weekend and was very impressed. I was particularly pleased that the skipper had some spare clothing on board as my neck seal ripped under the pier and I came up very cold and wet. Looking forward to bumping into you guys at Newhaven one day.
Jimbob

[RonProwse]

we are hoping that the vis will clear in the coming week Alan said that he will give us a ring and let us know, I cant wait to get back out there, maybe you will bump into me and ScubaLord.

Ron

[The ScubaLord]

Hi Ron, get some work done!!! instead of day dreaming about Newhaven and diving Ha Ha. I will concure that the rib was great and the skipper was very proffessional. Shame about the viz. I would recommend this boat to everyone and will be back out this weekend if weather permits.