15th December "Do I look like your mum?"

[Freeflow]

15th December "Do I look like your mum?"

Having to use a day’s holiday before the end of the year meant a re-acquaintance with open circuit decompression at Chepstow-right up until the point where I managed to break my wing. So, it's off to Stoney for a bit of 30m+ on the Dolphin, with 70% as an open circuit deco mix in a sideslung 7L. Steve wasn't too unhappy with the change around as it meant a bit less driving and a longer lay in bed. Arriving at 0755, I still didn't manage to be first in the queue, Steve and MSD Keith having beaten me to the tape. A chat and mickey take was ruined by the demand for the £8 to get in for the splash. Sexydivebuddy [Leslie] was there as well, having dragged a buddy along for the day, and who fell for the mattabooboo joke on cue. There was a panic for a while as said buddy had lost a lot of regs. A couple of manic phone calls to the hotel where the party the night before followed, and they turned up in the bar, safe and sound. I imagine that an amount of falling down water was consumed the night before. Keith was joined by Alex who was having a couple of dives on his Vision equipped YBOD that he had just bought.

It was to be the first time I used a camera with the Drager, so diving with an experienced buddy was essential. Once in the pre dive checks on the Dolphin revealed a refreshing lack of scrubber dust getting into the mouth, and the positive and negative checks passed with flying colours. A bit of a boo boo on the camera front though as I had managed to leave the flash on, draining the batteries on the MM2. That was soon sorted and the 7L and camera joined Steve’s pair of 10L sidemounts on the bus stop. Clambering into the Dolphin and staggering down to the bus stop I joined Steve and we launched ourselves in the lack of grace that is the tech divers lot. For this dive I was using 40% through the 60% jet [5.8 L/min flow rate] to drop the loop fO2 to the mid twenties, which would both optimise the gas and have a low enough pO2 for the pit.



Care in the [diving] community day trip to Stoney Cove.

Dropping to 6m I swapped the suit gas from the 3L of the Drager to the 7L sidemount as we bubble checked and headed down the road. At 20m the right hand route was followed to the BOP and pole, then onwards to the rope that leads to the deep box. Steve and I went either side of the rope, admiring the somewhat spectacular vis with the box being visible from 25m. A quick bimble around the box and a couple of piccys later we headed up the West side of the pit to 20m and followed the wall on the Cessna ledge. I took the opportunity of 10m+ vis to swim away from the wall a bit and mimed to Steve 'look at the vis' by shading my eyes and moving my hands apart to show a large distance. Steve replied by pointing towards the aircraft. He thought I was saying that I couldn't see the way. The lack of miming ability explains why I am chosen last for 'charades' at parties.

Once at the plane I took a quick snap and then led the way to the barge across the silt. Normally there are crayfish tracks, but there were none to be seen on this dive. The vis from half way to the narrowboat allowed it to be seen one way with the Cessna still in view the other. We were 35 minutes into the dive at this point, and the water temperature of 9 degrees was getting slightly noticeable. We made our way to the Transit van and then back to the North East corner of the ledge where it drops into the pit. Staying at 20m makes for less of a swim back than beginning the ascent too soon and having to follow the extended curve near the shop. Of course you need the gas on your back to do this safely. With Steve lugging along a total of 44 litres of gas in his twin 12L with a pair of 10L sidemounts and me with a total of 15 litres, but on a rebreather we had plenty to play with. The swim back over the top of the pit is a touch on the dull side, and the other side of the 20m shelf is always a welcome sight. Passing the BOP and pole we were soon at the road and on our way back up the road to 12m where we gas switched to our deco mixes. I was on 71% from the left hand mounted 7L and Steve on 64% which was mounted on his right.

The gas switch was done smoothly by thinking ahead and getting everything ready. At 18m I was deploying the deco stage hose and hanging it over my arm, at 15 the rebreather gas was turned off as the loop is flushed to leave a loop fO2 in excess of 32%. This would provide a bail out that would not turn hypoxic in the event that there was a problem with the deco gas and the 21% bailout gas in the 3L. If both failed plan 'C' would be to go back onto the loop and then turn the loop supply gas back on after hitting the loop. With a semi closed rebreather leaving the gas on is a waste and the bubbling out from the over pressure valve gets to be an annoyance. It's important not to drain the loop as it's the last option in the event of some excitement with the gas supply, and until the loop gas is turned on the gas in the loop is being breathed. As the pO2 for any given loop fO2 drops with decreasing depth it is my practice to loop flush as the gas is turned off to ensure that the loop gas has the highest fO2 possible. As I had a loop mix of over 26% my decompression was marginally less than Steve’s, and when I switched to 71% it was another couple of minutes less. However Steve's back up computer is air only and committed us to 11 minutes once I had cleared. One thing not planned for was running into a pike heading down the road, but I scowled at it and then hid behind Steve. As I had a few shots left on the luddite film camera we wandered aimlessly around the 6m ledge to fire them off.



There may be a good reason for this. Can’t think of one though. The disconnected hose is a bit odd too.

I really need to change my aftershave as I was acting as a lure to just about every fish in the cove. First it was the roach that started to crowd me, and then the perch joined the party. This had happened on the previous Wednesday when I was diving with Keith, which I put down to being on the rebreather, however I was on OC deco this time. The fish completely ignored Steve and worked their way closer and closer in to me, getting to within eighteen inches. I was wondering if Ro had been rubbing fish food into my drysuit when she fitted a new neckseal for me a couple of weeks previously. Battering my way through the scaly blighters I was able to see Leslie dropping into the depths with her buddy in hot pursuit. Deco over Steve began to head towards the shore, and after 70 minutes in the water I was about ready to jump out and seek a bit of warmth. We clambered out at the step and hauled ourselves back up to the cars, just as Keith and Alex were getting in.

Dropping the kit off we headed down for a hot chocolate and a chat about mutual diving acquaintances. Steve broke out his cheese and marmite sarnies, which made me think he was pregnant. I had to decline his offer of a bite as I will eat cheese or marmite, but not the two together. Comparing notes on planned dives killed the time until Leslie emerged in time to ponce a chemical handwarmer. We had a chance to discuss the smashing of the gnome garden under the 36m box, the removal of the memorial plaque and the dumping into the pit of the cairn near the coach as examples of general dickhead behaviour on the part of some of the less intelligent members of the diving world. A chomp on a banana later saw Keith and Alex emerging after a 45 minute splash around. Leslie wandered up a while later with her buddy after a wander to look for the APC now it has been moved from the 6m ledge to the 20m level. The five of us were surrounding Steve in an attempt to assimilate him into the YD massive.



After 70 minutes in water that is a chilly nine degrees, this makes nice reading.

After an hour and a half Steve and I kitted up for round two. As I am moderately paranoid about water and electronic gear I put the housing for my digital camera in my thigh pocket with a load of kitchen towel inside to check for leaks before filling it with my camera. The bus stop was used as the entry point again, Steve sitting down to fit his sidemounts and flopping into the water gracefully as I gassed, gauged and gagged before getting in. The 6m ledge hitting me full on controlled my descent. Memo to self-even connecting the drysuit hose inflator is no use if the deco mix is turned off when you are using it for suit inflation. The road was followed to 12m where we dropped over the edge to the blockhouse, which was visible as soon as we began our descent. This time the descent was a bit smoother than the first part of the dive and a crash into the blockhouse was avoided. The swim to the coach was used to check the camera housing was waterproof and wouldn't leak when the controls were in use. As we hit the pit on dive one I had to leave it on the shore as the housing is only rated to 30m. At the coach we turned left to the Stanegarth that was pretty much visible from the coach. Steve grabbed a Santa hat he found on the bottom and wore it for a while before handing it to me to carry back to shore. We passed the Stanegarth and headed South to the Mini and skirted around a silt cloud. Back under the blunt end of the tug we headed over to the Wessex via the climbing frame. There was a Tweety Pie strapped to one of the uprights of the frame, so it looks like the Blonde Mafia are getting in some winter practice before a summer of enforcing the code.

From the helicopter we hit the white van before ascending to the 6m level to off gas. Both Steve and I stayed on our bottom mix as we were on a non deco dive and completed the 3 min stop. We headed back to the step and out for another tea. Steve always manages to get upright wearing four tanks easier than I can wearing two, so I will have to start kicking his fins back into the water after we get out. Another hot chocolate was drunk on the surface interval and I swapped tanks on the Dolphin. More tall tales of diving were exchanged and Leslie scrounged another handwarmer to defrost her mitts. Her buddy was made of sterner stuff and didn't need defrosting, although there may have been a bit of medicinal antifreeze still traveling around the circulatory system. Keith and Alex wandered off for their second dive after a bit. Steve and I had to wait out a while longer. I dried the housing for the digital camera and broke out the fag papers. Housings usually need a bit of a defogging, and a tip from a dive trip to Ireland a few years ago resulted in a conversation concerning the cleaning of O rings. Kitchen roll or [worse] tissue paper can leave dust on the O rings so the French chap I was talking to used fag papers, a hint I have been using ever since. Steve lost his spidge hat to a group of divers a few cars down, one of whom was fully rigged out as Santa.



Steve tries not to laugh after I crash into the bottom muttering ‘turn the bloody sidemount on’.

Steve decided that 4 tanks were a bit excessive for a 6m dive, so he dropped his sidemounts off. He also put on a total of 10kg of lead-for a twinset! For some reason Steve needs a lot of weight to sink, which is unusual as he is not a big bloke. I imagine that his bones are made of polystyrene rather than calcium. Alex and Keith were just emerging at this point after their second dive. The divers dressed up in their festive clobber were jumping in just before us and we saw them on the 6m ledge-with their BC inflator hoses disconnected. We spent a little time looking for a bunch of drowned reindeer, so venison was off the menu for later. As we hadn't already discussed the location of the APC with Leslie at this point Steve and I were on a search for it on the 6m ledge, getting as far as the 4m blockhouse before turning back. I was pleasantly unharrassed by the fish this dive, so if Ro had glued fish flakes to my suit they had all washed off at this point. We wandered back looking down to see a couple of divers at about 18m ascending from the white van. It's a shame that vis is like this only in winter, but hey ho, if it was this good all the time us British divers wouldn't appreciate the vis when we get it. Of course good vis and a warm water temperature going hand in hand would be nice in the UK more than four days of the year, all of which I usually end up working. We dekitted and joined the others in the pub, except for Alex who was off early. No hot food was available, so I wolfed down a healthily large piece of apple crumble. Steve's exit was preceded by Keith, leaving just the three of us to drink coffee until dark, which is not too late in the middle of December.

Dive Data:

Dive 1

32.9m
70 min
vO2 = 0.93

SI 1 h 35 min

Dive 2

21.3m
33 min
vO2 = 0.96

SI 1 h 32 min

Dive 3

8.2m
30 min