PORTLAND CAMPING WEEKEND - 26TH/27TH SEPTEMBER 2009

REPORT WRITTEN BY SUE

We couldn’t have picked a better weekend to go away, unseasonably warm, sunny weather, perfect for camping. With the car loaded with dive & camping gear we headed off late morning. When we arrived Sara was already at Sea Barn Farm Campsite with her new tent, which was far better then her ‘cow pat’! Our marquee went up superbly, the same couldn’t be said for Sara’s, the instructions were not very helpful & a difference of opinion as to how the guy ropes went but finally, after nearly an hour, with the help of Richard G & Richard H it was up. Steve was going to share Sara’s tent however, there wasn’t enough room for his airbed so change of tent & he bunked in the marquee.

The two Richards were going diving off Chesil Beach, after seeing the boys safely in the water, Sara, Steve & I made sure that the Cove Inn was still up to standard, while keeping an eye on their SMB. Just as we got our second round in, the intrepid divers returned having seen a John Dory, dog fish, pipe fish & much more. Kim had called to say she was well on her way & Ray arrived just as we sat down to our pints, after which the venue changed as there was no seating available at the Cove for us to eat, it was too chilly to eat outside. Off to the Breakwater for some welcomed hot food & more drink, hic! Having guiding Kim into Castletown via phone we were all present for our weekend of ‘deep’ diving!!!

With the temperature dropping a quick visit to ASDA to purchase another quilt was in order and we all snuggled down to sleep as it was an early start in the morning, ropes off at 8am! And there was nothing wrong with my pyjamas! Now the first dive has a bit of a tale, the dive was to be the Black Hawk, which according to Richard H was in 48m…..eeek! Everyone was sworn to secrecy so that Kim didn’t worry!

After MY sleepless night of worrying about the depth, we loaded the RIB, Sabre, the skipper gave us a briefing about the RIB & dive, the Black Hawk at 17m. Did he just say 17m? It turns out that the Black Hawk is in two sections, the bow is in 17m & the stern is in 48m, phew, thank goodness for that. This meant a lot of leg pulling for Richard, what with the antics of the previous weekends diving, running tides & sand bar etc etc, all in very good spirits of course…well most of the time!

The Black Haw k was a 7191 ton US Liberty Ship, built in 1943, with a gun on the stern (the bit in 48m!), she sunk on 29th December 1944 thanks to a torpedo from U-772 which blew off her stern (in 48m!!!) the bow stayed afloat & was towed to Worbarrow Bay where it was beached. The bow is a shallow dive, only 17m. A very broken, tangled wreck as it has twice been dispersed. A fabulous dive, one I haven’t done before.

A nice hot chocolate & chocolate biscuit back on board but we were all more than ready for a cooked breakfast. We had plenty of time before out next dive to the M2 on Scimitars hard boat, Cutless.

With our tanks & bellies full we loaded the gear onto the Cutless & ropes were off at 1:15pm, with the sun shinning & the sea flat the ride out to the M2 was very pleasant, with a loo on board too, perfect, well it would have been if the glass in the door had been a little bit more frosted….poor Steve, us girls still don’t believe its THAT big! We were the first at the site & the skipper shot the wreck, it wasn’t slack water yet (take note Richard!) so we had a little wait. First in were the two re-breathers followed shortly by the rest of us.

Most divers know the M2, she was a Royal Navy aircraft carrying submarine. She was laid down in Vickers shipyard in 1916 & launched in 1919. Armed with a 12 inch gun & torpedoes. She sank while on exercise on 26th January 1932. Maybe it might have been her hanger doors or maybe a failure of the rear hydroplanes, who knows, I don’t know anybody that was there?

The M2, even though I have dived it many times, still remains one of my favourite wrecks, Sara, Kim & myself were the last in, the shot line was over the sub about midway between the hanger & bow. This was Kim’s first time diving in Dorset, so I showed her the forward hydroplanes, torpedo tubes then back to the deck & hanger, spending what remained of our bottom time around the conning tower before making our way back to the surface. Sara had taken some fab photos, one of which was rather spooky, having aimed the camera into a hole to take a shot of a conga, the actual image had a no conga but a distinct ghost like shadow, where’s Scully & Mulder when you need them, oooer!

Back at the campsite for a cuppa & a warm shower before heading to the Ilchester Arms in Abbotsbury for some food, then early night and we were all cream crackered. Up early again on Sunday for our last dive the Binnendijk SS, locally known as the Benny.Built in 1921, she was 6,875 tons. She struck a mine on 7th October 1939 enroute to Rotterdam. She went down slowly & ablaze on 8th October 1939. She now lays in 27m of water & is very broken after salvage operations.

Upon our arrival at the dive site there were already several other boats there. Richard G & I descended down the shot to the wreck, we found a lobster, tyres & a rubber glove, oh & some fish too!

Back to Castletown for some breakfast & rinse the kit before we went back to the camp site to pack up the tents & make our way home.

Another brilliant weekend, roll-on next year.

DIGITAL PHOTOGRAPHY EVENING WITH PAUL DUXFORD (CAMERAS UNDERWATER) MONDAY 7TH DECEMBER @ 7.30PM - CAVENDISH COMMUNICATIONS NEWHAVEN

SEEING THE SIGHTS - BUT CANT GET A SHOT TO MATCH

Newhaven Scuba are hosting an evening with Paul Duxfield of Cameras Underwater. Duxy has written for almost every diving magazine and is an expert on how to get the best from compact digital cameras.

You spend a fortune on equipment, trips and cameras so spend an evening to learn how to capture those magic moments from even the most basic of set-ups for FREE.

Learn the secrets:

1. Too blue? - the magic setting!
2. Composition
3. Focus lock and why you should use it
4. Lighting
5. Getting 'personality' from your shots
6. Trick dramatic shots

This is a FREE event but please register your interest so we can cater for the appropriate numbers.

VENUE:- CAVENDISH COMMUNICATIONS - AVIS WAY, NEWHAVEN

LITTLEHAMPTON TRIP

LITTLEHAMPTON DAY TRIP

Written By SUET
Photo's By Richard Garrett

LITTLEHAMPTON 19TH SEPTEMBER 2009

It was an early start for skippers & crew of Top Knots & MacD. To enable us to meet up with the divers for an 8:30 breakfast at Littlehampton we intended to leave Newhaven Harbour at 7:30. However, the tide was against us as both RIBs were still on the mud at 7am, an omen for the day maybe? I got us a take out coffee from the Captains Table, by the time we were afloat we had to then wait for the ferry that was entering the harbour. At 7:57 we were off.

The 23 mile trip was reasonably comfortable and we were more than ready for our breakfast, although we were a little later than the 8:30 arrangement. Ray kindly phone as we were making our way up the river to ask what we wanted for breakfast, Richard couldn’t make his mind up what he wanted & navigate the river too, multi tasking & making a decision, men! We moored the RIBs, Richard & Alan went off to sort the Marina fees while I trotted off to order breakfast & catch up with the divers. A welcomed pee, a cup of coffee & breakfast on it’s way. As I was tucking into my ‘Early Riser’ still no sign of the skippers so the café kindly kept theirs warm.

By the time we’d all had our fill of cuppas & grub three divers were still missing, Rocky, Kim & Suzy, stuck in traffic, the best plans & all that, another omen? Rocky arrived but still no sign of Kim & Suzy……time was passing & we needed to have the RIBs loaded & ropes off by 11am. Kim & Suzy finally turned up & it was all hands on the get them & their kit together…great team work.

Buddy pairs & RIBs sorted we were off to the Shirala¹, 7miles off shore. Upon arrival Richard expertly shot the wreck first time, however the tide was still running, we were nice & early for high water…..or so we thought? The tide never seemed to slacken & almost right before our eyes the tide turned & no slack…lack of local knowledge!! We all kitted up & jumped in as quickly as possible, it was quite a task to roll into the water & catch the buoy before you flew past it rather fast, there were some misses!

It was hard going dragging yourself down the line, it didn’t ease on the bottom either, Richard G & I passed Margarett, Derek & Ray who were making their back up the line, once on the bottom we dragged ourselves over the wreck hoping to find a lee of the tide but alas we ran out of wreck & the viz wasn’t as good as we’d all hoped, with the long spell of North Easterly winds we’ve had there was great expectations for excellent viz, so we let go of the wreck & flew along the seabed & shortly after sent up out SMB’s.

We surfaced quite some way for the buoy, Alan wasn’t too far away from us & he radioed Richard on Top Knots that we’d surfaced. Thanks guys for hauling me back into Top Knots fully kitted as I needed to go back down the line to send up the shot, with plenty of air but not much energy & an offer from Glenn to accompany me, I was dropped back at the buoy to begin another long hard drag 25m down the line, with several rest stops on the way down & hugging the shot to catch my breath I successfully deployed the lift bag & sent the shot to the surface…..I hoped?

Boy racer Richard got reprimanded for his entry into the harbour by a man in his aluminium bath tub, after a lot of micky taking he redeemed himself by salvaging a child’s sand bucket which had been dropped by a member of the public on the quayside. Hooray & cheers for Top Knots.

All back safe & sound we made our way back to Littlehampton for a tank change & cuppa. The café was very slow with the orders especially for food, skippers said ropes off at 3pm as we needed to get back before low water as the is a sand bar at the mouth of the harbour which prevents entry at low water. With divers arriving with their chip & sarnies in hand we left for the far Mulberry². Having eating most of Glenn’s chips we arrived at the Mulberry along with one hard boat & several other RIBs. I missed out on this dive as lets face it I’d already done two dives! Unfortunately the skippers had to put a limit on this dive due to the falling tide & sand bar. By the time all our divers were back most of the other boats had gone.

Upon our arrival at the harbour entry Richard approached with care, watching the sounder dropping slowly, 1.2, 1.0, 0.9, 0.8, a flashing 0.6, clunk, that’ll be the bottom then? Try a different angel, nope, run around again, local knowledge, you just can’t beat it! Oh well, plan B! With the depth only being ½m we evicted the divers to play commandos up the beach & walk back to the Marina, while we headed back to Newhaven with all the gear. Watching them to make sure they all made it to the beach as it was obvious that the current was running fast, it was dragging at their legs, it was so tempting to call the authorities to say that a bunch of illegals had landed! The sand was soft & the pebbles steep & they still had a mile walk back to their cars. Ian ran the mile to get his truck & they all piled in like an Egyptian taxi back to the Marina! Well done Ian.

We had a mirror flat sea & made it back to Newhaven in under an hour only to find that because of the extremely big spring tides we couldn’t get the RIB’s back on the moorings, it just wasn’t our day with the tide! However, we were able to get onto one of the pontoons & I got the trolley from NSC to start unloading all the gear, 15 sets! The drag back up the pontoon fully loaded was a hard task even for me & Alan, just as we got to NSC with the first of three loads, Ian arrived, our knight in shinning armour again! With his fitness & strength we got all the gear into the centre ready for collection the next day, thanks Ian. By now there was enough water to moor the RIB’s and a well earned pint & an early night, boy was I shattered!

So, although things didn’t exactly go to plan, it was a day full of fun & an awful lot of laughter. Thanks everyone for a great day trip…..next time skippers lets do it on a neap tide?

WEYMOUTH/PORTLAND TRIP 26TH /27TH SEPTEMBER 2009

********** 1 X SPACE LEFT *************

We still have one space left for the weekend to Weymouth, if anyone wishes to go please contact the Dive Centre urgently - we need to fill this space.

RED SEA LIVEABOARD - NOVEMBER 27TH 2009 - MEETING TO BE HELD ON SUNDAY 4TH OCTOBER @ 2.30PM

The Red Sea Trip to the Northern Wrecks is now full.

We will be holding a meeting on Sunday 4th October @ 2.30pm for all those who are on this trip - please make sure that you will be here.

DAY TRIP TO LITTLEHAMPTON - SATURDAY 19TH SEPTEMBER

THIS TRIP IS NOW FULL.

EACH DIVER MUST HAVE 2 X TANKS AS YOU WILL NOT BE ABLE TO GET AIR FILLS AT LITTLEHAMPTON - TANKS CAN BE HIRED FROM THE SHOP @ £4.00.

The arrangements for the trip to Littlehampton have now been made as follows:-

Both boat's (Top Knots & Macd) will be leaving Newhaven Marina early to travel down to Littlehampton. It is intended to meet first at the Cafe in the Harbour around 8.30 - 09.00 for breakfast (both skippers/crew will hopefully be joining you there). There will be 2 x dives. The first dive will be The Shirala - the Ribs will be ready to load the divers kit at 10.30 in the Harbour - please ensure that your kit is on the Rib at this time as we will be leaving the Harbour at 11.00am prompt and will not be waiting for late arrivals.

After a quick cuppa at the cafe and a tank change then it will be out for the second dive - The Mulberries.

1. Richard Garrett
2. Suzy
3. Kim
4. Sharon Palmer
5. Steve P
6. Derek
7. Margarett
8. Sue T
9. Leah
10. Andy
11. Ray Holt
12. Alan Doucette
13. Rocky
14. Ian Cottenham
15. Ron P
16. Dave A

Schedule's and maps are pinned up on the notice board in the shop if required.