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We have loads of trips arranged for the summer months (for warm water wimps
like me), and for the first time we’ve got two MegaTrips! Tricky’s
organising MegaTrip I (the original) for the last weekend in June, when the water
will be warm and the sun is guaranteed to be shining, and Tony’s planning
MegaTrip II (the sequel) for early September.
We’ve also got a choice of RIB trips and, for those fancying something
different, Maili is planning a trip down to Penzance in September.
You may have heard the rumours that we had some special guests training with us
recently. Hellfins Neale, Paul, Neil and Fran were joined in their Ocean Diver
lectures by journalists from the Sun and Express, together with Kelly who is working
on a campaign to increase BSAC’s profile. Kelly and the lucky journalists will
be flying off to the Cayman Islands for their pool and Open Water training, but needed
somewhere near London to learn their theory and Hellfins was first on HQ’s list
of suitable clubs!
Welcome!
We have loads of new Hellfins this month; some trainees and some experienced instructors.
Welcome to Hellfins Tomas, Neil, Paul, Michael, Andy and Bjarne.
Congratulations!
Congratulations to Leo and Laura for becoming Ocean Divers last weekend, and
congratulations also to Paul and Lee for qualifying as Sports Divers.
We now have 7 more Nitrox divers in the club: Dee, Julie, Katie and Mary are now
qualified Nitrox Divers, and Ellie, David, and Chris are Advanced Nitrox Divers. All
they need now are inverted twinsets and they’ll be fully fledged techies.
Ed is now an Advanced Instructor, and Faye is an Open Water Instructor.
Ian and Paul both passed their Compressor Operation SDC, which was the final bit Ian
needed to become a Diving Operations Specialist.
We also have 12 more VHF licence holders in the club: Alan, Andy, David, Ed, Faye,
Helen, Jamie, Komal, Mark, Paul, Phil and Sally.
Want To Do Some Training?
This is the ideal time of the year to get all those training dives out of the way
before you jet off on your holidays. If you still have a few dives to get signed off
then sign up for one of our training trips (they’re all in the
diary)
or approach an open water instructor and arrange a convenient time and place.
(Just slip it into the conversation on Wednesday between pints.)
Update Your Details
Pretty much everyone has sent in their updated membership and emergency contact
details. If you haven’t done it yet please spend a couple of minutes and do
it now and email them to webmaster@hellfins.com.
Ski Trip Photos
Easter Party Photos
Winter Diving For Softies
Ellie Hardman
There are some people in our club who would say that a trip to Stoney Cove in
the middle of March hardly constitutes winter diving. But when the first Hellfins
dive of the season is earlier in the calendar than the ski trip, a person has
to be suspicious. I was doubly suspicious, as not having been to Stoney Cove before
I was imagining a bit of a grimy, muddy puddle - and the anticipated water temperature
of five degrees did not fill me with enthusiasm. Suffice it to say that if anyone
apart from Paul Birkin had suggested the trip I might have raised my eyebrows in
disbelief and quietly backed out the room. Paul, while being Hellfins’
undisputed ski guru has somehow managed to cultivate the misrepresentative image
of being the ultimate dive softy.
 However,
not only was Paul proposing to dive in Stoney in early March - he was proposing
to accomplish this in a wetsuit, and to do so without showing his famous (by its
absence) face of concern! For many of us, this was an entertainment spectacle not
to be missed and Hellfins turned out in droves.
We were glad we did. In the glorious sunshine, Stoney could have been on a
picture postcard. Despite being forehead freezingly cold, the water was amazingly
clear, and I was surprised to find that it actually has quite a lot of life for a
puddle. I had a couple of very enjoyable dives and was hugely relieved to be in
the water again after what had seemed like a very long winter - so much so that
I was almost cross to be going skiing the next weekend and wanted to go back to
Stoney instead!
I now tell myself five degrees is nothing (as long as there’s a bit of
sunshine topside and I’ve a bacon sandwich to hand) I take my hood off to
those who took the challenge in wetsuits (or found new leaks in their drysuits) -
they aren’t softies at all. But snug in my drysuit, I decided that this was
the kind of winter diving I could get very used to. Huge thanks to Paul for
organising it and goading us in to being there.
Recompression chamber
Kathy Pelham & Leo Deng
On a Thursday evening a few weeks ago, ten Hellfins met to go for a dive.
For some it was the first dive of the year, for most it was going to be the
deepest dive they had ever done and for Leo it was his first dive outside of the shell pool!
Despite being early in the season and a cold evening in central London there
were none of the usual worries about those of us without dry suits being cold
and had anyone checked the weather forecast. We were off to the London Recompression
chamber at the Hospital of St John and St Elizabeth to do a dry dive.
We met at the hospital entrance and found our way through to the recompression
chamber. After having our medicals, training records and log books checked we
were given hospital scrubs to change into as we were warned it was going to be
very hot and damp in the chamber. So looking more like a group of doctors than
divers and with none of the usual heavy kit to slow us down we piled into the
chamber.
Leo’s Log Book - First Dive – The London Recompression Chamber
I had been looking forward to this dry dive for weeks!
I even took herbal medicine daily for a week just to ensure I would not catch any
cold or flu – call me a dedicated trainee! When we entered the chamber room
on the day, I wasn’t particularly nervous, thanks to all the sci-fi movies
I’d seen I looked at the chamber and thought “oh it’s just one
of those!”
The only thing that worried me was that my ears are
quite sensitive to pressures. I would have cursed myself (so would everyone else,
I’m sure) if we had have to abort the dive half way because of my ear pains.
Our descent time was only 5 minutes to 50 metres depth,
so I was literally clearing my ears at every other breath I took. Once we were
down there at 50 metres depth, I felt relieved and started to enjoy it. We all
sounded like monkeys with very high pitch voice. Before long I started to feel as
if I’d had 4 pints of beer – I guess that’s what people call
narcosis. It was a bit hot there as well, and we were all sweating heavily. Sadly
we were only allowed to stay at that depth for 5 minutes.
On the way up I noticed something amazing –
the sweat on our skins was vaporising and I could literally smell an assortment
of perfumes and body odours (it’s not as bad as it sounds). Temperature was
dropping as well on the way up.
When I got out of the chamber I felt fine and refreshed.
It was my first dive, and funny enough it was a dry one! A great experience I would
say and it certainly gave me a lot confidence when I did my open water training at
Stoney.
For the rest of us it was a good opportunity to test how easily we got narced
(and the effect being at 50m had on potential buddies). The narcosis kicked in on
the way down, making the time spent at fifty metres similar to a Wednesday night
in the pub with the added extra of comedic squeaky voices.
Paul Birkin was sure he spotted a Bib (or was it a Wrasse) and Janos insisted on
practicing his decompression stop dancing on the way up. The ascent took a lot
longer than the descent with plenty of deco stops on the way back to atmospheric
pressure. So in many ways it was like any other dive just with nine buddies instead
of the usual one or two and the added entertainment of being able to talk to each
other.
Let’s hope none of us ever end up there for real but it’s good to
know what to expect and that we’ve got the chamber ready and waiting for us
should anything go wrong.
On behalf of all of us that did the dry dive I’d like to say a massive thank
you to the guys that run the chamber.
For more information check out their website: www.londondivingchamber.co.uk
Species Of The Month:
Oaten Pipe Hydroid (Tubularia Indivisa)
Ellie Hardman
We saw this beauty on our Brighton trip in April - the first sea trip of the year.
Although it is usually more prolific on more westerly sections of the south coast
it’s listed in the Marine Conservation Society’s book on sea life in Sussex
— so I was very much hoping we’d catch a glimpse of it.
Dropping down the shot to the Pentrych I was absolutely amazed as we descended onto
a thick carpet of it - as we continued the dive it became clear it was covering pretty
much the whole of the wreck - growing on the ship’s structures, and even the
mussels which coated the starboard side. The yellow stems can be anything up to 15 cm long.
The white grape like bits at the top are actually the reproductive organs, and the
tentacles act as a defense mechanism. We were very lucky to see these hydroids in all
their glory, as the top parts (the grapes and the tentacles) are one of the
nudibranch’s favourite snacks - so they don’t usually last beyond mid spring.
SETT Trip
Do you fancy diving in water temp of 32ºC in England? Well you can! Kevin Latham
is organising a trip to SETT, a 30m deep tank at the Royal Navy Base, Gosport.
Date: 02/10/05 (morning session)
Location: Gosport, Royal Navy Base.
Min Qualification: Sports Diver (35 metre dive signed off)
Cost: £35
There are only five places left!
If you’re interested, contact Kevin (messy@scruffy.fsbusiness.co.uk)
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