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

Club Diver training weekend or...
It would be rude not to!

Portland

29-31 May 1999

The Friday night rush down to the South West left its usual casualties of tired and dishevelled divers turning up at the Caravan Park at all hours. A wrong turning which lead to me driving through Dorchester proved to be an expensive mistake as I got stopped by Dorset's finest, who wanted a word about my faulty headlight. After getting directions from the friendly policeman (and a 14-day to repair noticeL), we had enough time for a quick pint in the Smuggler's arms before getting to the Caravan Park. Once there everybody seemed to slip into the relaxed atmosphere that was to characterise the weekend. The instructors lead by example, by finishing off some more beer, a bottle of wine and a flask of whiskey.

The plan for Saturday was for 1st time open water dives off Chesil Beach. While Anthony, Kevin and Gill went in to get some Dive Leader drills done for Gill, the people who were hiring kit went off to the shop. The morning started bright and hot, and although the climb up the beach was just as horrendous as usual the conditions in the water were great with the viz over 10m. There was plenty of marine life for people to see including Wrasse, Cuttlefish, Snakelocks Anemones and Spider Crabs Jake even found some wreckage to keep him happy.

The plan for the day was progressing well until an unexpected problem appeared on the horizan, in the form of a violant thunderstorm and its accompanying high winds. For those on the beach the lightening strikes at sea were very impressive. However, for those diving at the time, the sudden drop in light levels was slightly disturbing. Standing on the beach leaning into the wind with hailstones the size of footballs [shurley shome mishtake Ed.] finally convinced the marshall to call off the day's activities.

With diving terminated early the divers were able to return to the Caravan Park and have a lazy afternoon. After showering, the group went to a local pub for a very pleasant dinner (well "it would be rude not to!").

The following day was the first of two using shuttle RIBs based in Portland harbour. The first dive was on the Countess of Earne in the harbour. Despite its reputation for having bad viz the dive was quite a nice pootle for trainees and instructors alike. After this dive most people made their way to the Breakwater Hotel for breakfast. This was to become a common activity, between dives, as Jake said "It would be rude not to!". For those with an inclination for big breakfasts the café certainly hit the spot.

Suitably fortified the group took a trip outside the harbour to the Dredger in Balaclava Bay. More training dives, but I did get to see some Black Headed Blennies, which apparantly are only found in these waters.

While most people returned to the Caravan Park to wash and change for the evening Anthony and Suzanne had found a RIB that they could use to run the Dive Leader "tow and land to a boat" drill for Gill, and 2 members of the club whose boat we were using. So this group ran out into the harbour and moored up. By the time that the drill had been demonstrated once, and three trainees had had a go, time was getting on and the group didn't get back to the Caravan Park 'till late.

By the time we got to the Caravan park the rest had decided to find the hotspots of Weymouth and headed off to paint the town red. Those that were late back didn't have the energy for Weymouth's nightlife and opted to try the same pub again. This wasn't to be as the pub was packed, which was the start of a hunt through the streets of Dorchester for food. Dorchester seems to close on Sunday evenings, which left the only option of a Chinese takeaway. The food (and alcohol - "it would be rude not to!") was appreciated by all.

The next day was similar to the previous, the group dived the outside wall of Portland harbour to try and accomplish a 20m dive for the trainees. Despite appearances this is actually a very nice drift site now. Amy and Diane had a short 6m drift dive due to a jammed reel. In the afternoon it was back to Balaclava bay for navigation drills, mixed with SMB drills. The really evil instructors made their trainees take the SMB through the wreckage of the dredger. Of course the obligatory breakfast at the Breakwater Hotel (along with carabiner shopping) was made between dives (well "it would be rude not to!")

Congratulations to Gill for finishing her Dive Leader training, to all the other trainees for the progress they made and thanks to the instructors for giving up their time.

Anthony Peacock