Castaways Sub-Aqua Club
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Castaways Sub-Aqua Club |
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A Branch (Branch No 2071) of The British Sub-Aqua Club |
The newsletter of Castaways Sub-Aqua Club
No: 3 - Autumn 1996
Voice from the POT
(Editors comments)
Well that was summer and autumn, winter is now upon us. Time for those not diving through the winter to do any necessary preventative maintenance before laying down their kit until spring next year.
Sorry for the delay in the issue of this newsletter, caused by technical difficulties...
Many thanks to the contributors who made this edition of the newsletter possible. Please send your contributions to SLAY who will be only to happy to include them.
Thank you to everyone who contributed material for this newsletter. If you have anything you feel other members would be interested in please send it to the editor.
Will all trip organisers please remember to send detailed accounts to the DO and treasurer, as well as completed dive detail sheets to the DO. If you need sheets to fill-in, please contact the DO.
To anyone who wants to organise a trip, will you please contact the DO with your idea. This will prevent date clashes. A meeting in December or January to discuss trips will take place if interest is shown.
Trips can only be organised by Advanced Divers or above, If you are not an Advanced Diver, you need to find one to over see your trip. The DO also has to approve the idea.
Club trips must have the knowledge and approval of the DO.
Any one with ideas as to suitable locations for a summer trip also contact the DO.
Will anybody who has a training need please contact the DO, who will then attempt to organise suitable training weekends.
If anyone has material that would be useful in a central training material repository, could they please contact William Howard.
The club has found a friendly dive school in Bucks who will organise most courses as long as we book at least 4 places.
William is currently getting names for those interested in an O2 Admin course to be held early 97.
Those interested in other courses such as First aid, PRM (practical Rescue Management), Lifesaver, Advanced Lifesaver, Search and Recovery etc... Please contact Slay.
The cost is in the order of £40 for a 1 day course and £80 for a 2 day course.
The club is in the process of purchasing an O2 Kit for use on club trips. The general outline of the conditions of use are:
Thank you to everyone for their overwhelming response to a request for articles. If we received many more, we may even be able to line a matchbox..
"It’s like walking back from the pub so pissed you only know the
way home, and you can’t stop or you’ll be sick..."
Description of being narked
Salcombe 17-18/05/97
Contact Bill or Anthony
Farnes 12-14/07/97 (Yes 3 days)
Contact Bill
Anyone interested in a Novice / Sports trip in late April.
Please contact Slay.
Could every one please fill in the attached forms and return them to the Editor at the below address.
Also could we please have photocopies of your blue qualification books. This will enable us to reissue a book with all the necessary information in if you are unfortunate enough to loose your book.
Answers to:
The Editor,
Castaways Newsletter
40 Meadow Gardens
Buckingham
Bucks
MK18 1BJ
Pictures for caption competitions greatly appreciated.
When you get your BSAC reminder can you reply as promptly as possible.
Please return the information sheets.
If you want badges or CMAS card please fill in the relevant attached form and return with the necessary money. (don’t forget postage) Please send to Suzanne before 17/01/96
CASTAWAYS membership is due 01/01/97. That is the sum of £12 from everyone, as promptly as possible please.
Anyone wanting to change their BSAC renewal month should contact the Secretary.
If your medical is due, let the secretary know and a medical form can be sent to you. Please allow a couple of weeks.
The following is a short overview of this years Diving Officers Conference. It started in the normal way with housekeeping talks. The interesting areas covered in no particular order were:
BSAC are planning a WWW site soon, it will appear after certain problems have been ironed out.
Silvia Earle gave an excellent presentation which got a standing ovation. The message was basically that we need to look after the sea as it is a vital part of the eco system we call earth. Her idea of arming everyone with a bit of 4 by 2 to hit the politicians between the eyes to get their attention went down very well.
Don Walsh (The man who went to the deepest point in the ocean, 7 miles, and returned) sees an interesting future where Branches will own their own submersibles.
BSAC X-files provided some light entertainment to counter the second half of the lecture given by Dr Maurice Cross. Maurice's lecture started with DDRC's move and history and ended with a video of a bent Indonesian diver with gangrene in his legs.
AP valves presented their Inspiration rebreather, available June (97?) at £2000 approx. and a £350 basic course in how to use it.
The BSAC Basic Nitrox, Advanced Nitrox and combined Basic and Advanced Nitrox courses were now up and running and the Extended Range Course is due late next year. BSAC have also published their waterproof Nitrox tables which include CNS and PPO2 look up tables. These have been calculated from scratch using the same algorithm as the standard BSAC 88 tables.
A talk on Equipment configurations was given by Dave Roberts which raised a lot of issues that people considering more adventurous diving should take into account.
The November 1996 Safe Diving Practice was issued at the conference, If anyone wants a copy contact Slay.
The most serious and also most entertaining talk was as usual the incidents report summary. The main point that echoed throughout the presentation and is clear in a lot of the incidents is carelessness and poor planning causes problems. It was estimated the in excess of 60% of the incidents would not have occurred if proper care had been taken in the planning phase of the dives, and all equipment, including boat engines, had been properly serviced.
A distressing trend is the relatively low percentage of DCI cases that get reported through BSAC incident reporting. 77 DCI cases were reported to BSAC, but the British Hyperbaric Association (BHA) reported 203 incidents. This could be that BSAC divers only represents 38% of all the DCI incidents, and other agencies don't encourage the reporting of incidents. It is also apparent that the use of oxygen as a first aid measure is becoming more common, hopefully reducing the number of residual symptoms after full treatment.
The number of fatalities is down on last year, and it was pointed out that 3 of the fatalities appeared to involve divers diving alone.
The largest single group of incidents are described as surface/boating. These include everything from engine failure to being run over by boats and being fished up by anglers. In this group there are several comments attached to some of the reports that indicate the carrying of surface detection aids makes it easier to located if your dive boat looses you. It is also noted that if you own a VHF radio it is more use with the boat than left ashore.
The largest single group of incidents are described as surface/boating. These include everything from engine failure to being run over by boats and being fished up by anglers. In this group there are several comments attached to some of the reports that indicate the carrying of surface detection aids makes it easier to located if your dive boat looses you. It is also noted that if you own a VHF radio it is more use with the boat than left ashore.
The injury section included the diver who's stab jacket clip broke while he was lowering his cylinder, causing it to land on his big toe, resulting in a double fracture. Several of the incidents in this section involves divers landing on each other while entering the water.
It is well worth reading through the incident reports to get an idea of what sort of things can go wrong, and think about ways of minimising the danger from that potential hazard. It is important to not under estimate the inherent difficulties and dangers of diving, thereby treating the water with due respect. Dive within your capabilities and enjoy your diving.
Norfolk
A group of hardy souls braved the uncivilised area of the UK to dive the Norfolk coast. The trip was a reasonable success, despite a minor incident that resulted in the need for recompression treatment.
Several wrecks were successfully dived over the August Bank holiday weekend.
Oban
8-14 September 1996
(or ... Rebreathers the best thing since sliced bread)
The eight brave and adventurous souls arrived during the Saturday.
After arriving in Oban, finding they had changed the road layout and having to go on the ‘tour de Oban’ to locate the road out to Oban Divers.
The mini bus arrived last and after much searching was finally able to locate Puffin Divers, required for Nitrox, despite Charlie having a cold.
After people deposited kit at the camp site we set off in search of food, well after a quick pint. We finally ended up in an ‘interesting’ local eating house, enjoying an evening of ‘traditional Scottish entertainment’, strangled cats, men in skirts and the like.
A civil start time for the first days diving, and a civil weeks diving. Several of the dives were best described as roller coaster rides
The following are some photos kindly donated by Suzanne.
The 'Hispania'.
The congers were very friendly, especially to those who had fish inserted in to various points of their stabs.
Another view of the conger dive :
"Team effort along another cliff looking for the ‘tame’ congers. First we found a shy big black ‘un which only came 6 - 8ft out of his hole. A bit further on we were joined by at first one, then a second, free swimming 5ft eels who wanted food - from Charlie’s pocket, or any bit of Slay really. Friendly but over curious and great fun!"
Feeding time at the zoo.
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