Castaways Sub-Aqua Club
	A Branch (Branch No 2071) of The British Sub-Aqua Club

Messages from the Bottle

"It would be rude not to!"

The newsletter of Castaways Sub-Aqua Club
No: 12 - Winter 2000

Voice from the POT
(Editors comments)

I hope you have had a very festive holiday and are refreshed and relaxed for the coming year. I would like to take this opportunity to apologise for the lack of autumn newsletter this year; this was due to a rare and sometimes fatal condition called 'Editor's apathy'. This rare condition is brought on by too many other commitments and a lack of contributions. Thankfully the holiday season has brought about a near perfect remission. Normal service should be resumed with this newsletter.

Since the last newsletter the club has run a couple of trips, and lots of training. The club was represented at the BS-AC Diving Officers Conference and a full report appears later. Amongst the many useful topics discussed at the DOC was the very real threat to our privilege to dive on wrecks in UK waters. Before you dismiss this as a joke please take the time to read the report in this newsletter and seriously consider what you can do to help prevent the passing of laws that will stop us diving on many of our favourite wrecks.

The BS-AC publishes their diving incidents report at the DOC annually. This makes for very sober reading, and is a very useful aid in provoking thought and discussion about how incidents can be prevented. Last year the BS-AC report details 17 incidents where a diver died. While this is a small number compared to the total number of divers, it is something that we should all keep in mind. A discussion of the report is included in this newsletter.

As always, I would like to thank those that have provided contributions for this issue. If you have any ideas for articles you would like to see in the newsletter let me know. Please send me any pictures, stories, trip reports, humour, gossip or rumours for the next issue.

Safe diving
Anthony
31 December2000

Admin Corner

Castaways' membership is £10.00, due 1st January every year. Please send cheques to the Treasurer, all cheques should be made payable to "Castaways Sub-Aqua Club".

When you get your BS-AC reminder can you reply as promptly as possible. Anyone wanting to change his or her BS-AC 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.

NB Any administration queries should be directed to Katy Richens. Her contact details are at the end of this newsletter.

DO's Ramblings

Simple really, if you have any ideas for diving or have any training requirements please get in touch with the Diving Officer. He doesn't necessarily have to be invited on your trip.

"It was something they put in the tea, honest!"

Proposal for a trip fund

One of the hardest things about organising a trip is making sure that enough people will go to ensure that chartering a boat is viable. On a number of occasions over the last couple of years, trips have suddenly got expensive for those that had paid a deposit because other people pulled out at the last minute. This sort of situation is often unavoidable and nobody does this deliberately, but it does cause problems for the club and the trip organiser. At the AGM I made a proposal to set up a 'trip fund', which would help alleviate this problem.

It would work like this:

1. Everybody would pay into the club account a sum of money (£50).
2. No one is allowed to reserve a space on a club trip unless this 'fund' is fully paid up.
3. If (for whatever reason) somebody has to withdraw from a trip at short notice the club can use that person's 'fund' to cover any extra expense caused by the withdrawal.
4. The 'fund' should not be used instead of paying normal deposits; it is only there for emergencies.
5. Members who are not currently active divers wouldn't need to pay into the fund. But see point 2.
6. A member may ask for their fund back at any time. But see point 2.
7. The fund may be deposited in the club's interest paying account, but will not be used when budgeting for club expenditure.

Everybody that I have spoken to about this has been in favour of such a scheme (particularly those that organise trips. As the treasurer I can see many advantages to this scheme, without penalising people too much. I think the above description is adequate for a set of rules/regulations for the running of the scheme, but I would welcome any comments.

I don't think we can start such a scheme without a majority agreement amongst the membership, so please contact me or any other member of the committee to express your views. Unless there is major dissent about this I would hope that we could implement this without a formal vote at the AGM, but that is always an option.

Anyway, let the committee know what you think, this is your club and you have a say in how it is run.

Anthony Peacock

Anagram Competition

Can you think of some witty anagrams of club member's names? Here are some sent in by Carla Simson, can you do better?

Nigel Thompson = Molest phoning

Chas Spradbery = Ads hyper crabs

Anthony Peacock = Neon cock apathy

Carla Simson = Cross animal

Send your suggestions to the editor and we can print the best in the next newsletter.

Web site

The Castaways' Web site has been updated. It now contains all trip reports and all back issues of the Castaways' newsletter.

URL: http://www.chime.ucl.ac.uk/castaways/

The Castaways' Heinekan Trophy

Nominations for 2000/2001

Nominations have already started to come in for this year's competition. If you feel you can better these two entries please send them to the editor.

Heinekan

The nominees are...

Anthony Peacock for…

"Suzanne will go all the way and beyond"
(I don't remember saying this, or the context. Ed.)

Rule

Nominations are open in 2 categories "Heinekan" and "Heinekan Export", these categories are described below. Nominations will be printed in the newsletter and decided at the AGM.

Heinekan

This category is awarded to the member who has made an outstanding contribution to the use of the English language in a diving context within the last year. The candidate must have been a member at the time of the goof.

Heinekan Export

This category is awarded to any non-member who has made an outstanding contribution to the use of the English language in a diving context within the last year. Subsequently joining the Club will not exclude nominations.

"Ninja Diver. But who is it?

Respect Our Wrecks

I hope that you have all heard about this initiative by now. There has been much talk about it in the diving press and also in national and local media. Please take the time to get to know what the issues are and how you can help, as there is a very real risk of laws being passed that will stop amateur divers from diving many wrecks in UK coastal waters. I have photocopied some leaflets and enclosed them with this newsletter if you want further information please contact any of the organisations listed in the leaflets or any member of the club's committee.

The law about what should happen when something is recovered from a wreck is very clear and has been for many years. All finds must, by law, be reported to The Receiver of Wreck, who will attempt to determine ownership and broker a salvage fee. This applies to anything found on or around a wreck. As you can see from the enclosed leaflet 90% of all finds are returned to the finder, where an owner is found a salvage fee will be negotiated.

A number of groups have been making a lot of noise about amateur divers 'plundering our national heritage' and 'desecrating war graves'. This has led to many stories in the national press about 'loutish' divers and the damage they cause. This has become so serious that questions have been raised in the House of Commons. The main thrust of this campaign has been from associations representing survivors, relatives and friends of people lost at sea whilst serving in the military, as well as some archaeologists. If you consider that many of the wrecks we dive on could be the last resting place of the crew of that vessel, you can understand the concerns. This hasn't been helped by some instances where divers have actually removed commemorative plaques that have been placed on wrecks. (The Royal Oak is a famous example)

BS-AC has got together with PADI, SAA and the Joint Nautical Archaeology Policy Committee to create an initiative called 'Respect Our Wrecks'. The aim is to educate and promote a responsible attitude to wreck diving, and in so doing show the authorities that the diving community can be self-governing in this area. Please read the enclosed leaflets and adopt the practices outlined in them. There are already laws on the statute books that would enable the government to prevent divers from diving any wreck in UK waters. It would be a trivial thing for the current government to bring these laws into action. We need to ensure that the whole diving community does not give them reason to do so. BS-AC also has appointed a 'Wreck Advisor', Jane Maddocks to coordinate their response to this issue.

So what can we do, well to start with report all of your finds to The Receiver of Wreck, there is still an amnesty for old finds. The process is very simple and you are not going to have your cherished find confiscated. The days of going diving with a lump hammer, cold chisel and crow bar clipped to your weight belt are gone, as divers we have to be squeaky clean and be seen to be squeaky clean. As a group, British divers have a reputation for being 'wreckers' we need to change that perception by both word and deed. Take every opportunity to 'spread the word' and encourage other divers to follow the guidance.

With regard to the risk of government intervention, we may all need to lobby our MPs by writing letters, attending meetings, etc. The views against amateur divers have so far had the ear of Parliament, as divers we will need to show that we are not all a bunch of grave robbers.

Or else we could all end up diving only on scenic sites, and then only those that don't have a wreck nearby.

Remember: "Take only memories, leave only bubbles!"

Anthony Peacock

The Diving Officers Conference

London, 9th December 2000

The annual Diving Officers' Conference has this year reverted back to a single day format and was held in London. The last few years it was a two-day event but this proved to be too costly. In my opinion this is for the best, although there was a lot to get through it is easier to give up one day than it is for two. The format consisted of a mixture of reports, presentations and open forums.

The report from Lizzie Bird (National Diving Officer) was very upbeat. Given the problems that existed last year it definitely looks like the BS-AC has managed to turn itself around and is once more on track to provide the members with the sort of organisation they need. The report from Brian Cumming (NDC Incidents Advisor) once again proved very thought provoking, and I go into more detail across the page.

For the more technically minded amongst us there were two major announcements about using rebreathers and trimix within the branch structure. The National Diving Committee (NDC) has enabled the use of rebreathers within the branch. This is currently limited to a small number of specific units, with specific depth limits. Trimix has been enabled within branch diving from January 2001 on a much more equitable basis. All major qualifications will be recognized and diving can take place within the safe diving practices of those qualifications. A booklet detailing safe diving practices for rebreather diving has been produced as a guide to diving officers and anybody that needs to marshal dives with rebreathers. A similar booklet will be produced to cover trimix diving. In my opinion both of these decisions are a breath of fresh air compared with the restrictive nitrox regulations that were introduced in the past.

Presentations were made on the proposals for improving the diver and instructor training programs. On the whole the proposed changes for the diver grades look sensible (move some material from Club Diver to Sports Diver, and an improved Dive Leader. Advanced Diver will be modified so that it is easier to achieve within the branches). The proposed changes to the instructor training scheme are far more radical and in my opinion need more thought. For instance it is proposed to split Club Instructor into two parts a theory part and a practical part, so you could end up with someone who is only qualified to teach in the classroom, or someone who is only qualified to teach in the pool?

On the whole The Diving Officers' conference was very useful. It is hard to say that spending a Saturday sitting in a dark conference hall was enjoyable, but I was left with a general feeling of optimism about the direction the BS-AC is now going.

Anthony Peacock

Diving Incidents

The BS-AC Diving Incidents Report is published annually at the Diving Officers' Conference. This details all diving related incidents that have been reported to the BS-AC in the previous year (Oct - Sept). Incidents are reported either by members filling in an incident report form, from the Coast Guard, RNLI, hyperbaric chambers and a press cutting service. The report is well worth reading not only as a reminder that things do go wrong but also as an exercise in prevention and planning. Printed copies are available from BS-AC HQ, or on their web site.

I don't intend to detail the report here but I would like to raise some points. This year there were 17 diving fatalities (6 involving BS-AC members), this is generally in line with previous years.

This year has seen a large increase in DCI cases (from 86 to 120) and at least 76% of those can be attributed to bad buoyancy control. The clear message here is that good buoyancy control skills are not an optional extra, they are vital to your safety. When was the last time you practised fine buoyancy control in a safe environment? Another factor was depth 47% of DCI cases involved dives to depths greater than 30m. This illustrates the fact that any dive to depths of 30m or more should be planned and undertaken with extra care and consideration.

Well preaching over, I would like to share a couple of reports that tickled my humour button:

March 2000: A known drug addict decided to go shore diving, for the first time ever, alone. A member of the public found him lying on the beach suffering from hypothermia. Diving was attempted due to his drug induced state. He was taken into police custody.

August 2000: A hazardous incident report was generated after a dive charter boat, after hurling abuse and profanities, proceeded to run over a tender being towed astern of a private yacht, who accidentally got too close to a SMB. [A case of water rage?]

Anthony Peacock

Dive Trips / Training for 2001

Notes

As you can see the final details of some of these trips can only be determined once we know how many people are interested, please contact the trip organiser as soon as possible if your are interested.

If anybody has ideas for dive trips, please can they let the Diving Officer know. You do not have to be an Advanced Diver to organise trips, providing the trip has the approval of the Diving Officer and an Advanced Diver agrees to marshal the diving activities.

Trip Reports

Underwater crunchy bits?

Falmouth, Cornwall
22nd & 23rd July 2000

Sometime in the recent beer blurred past

Falmouth, Cornwall
22nd & 23rd July 2000

Training weekend

Hallsands, Devon
5th & 6th August 2000