As a result we will bring forward the time when we meet at the Royal Oak in
Bitteswell to around 8.30pm with nibbles etc from 9.00pm.
Hopefully many of us will be able to make it.
Cheers
Geoff
We thought we could start things off on the 24 November with Jim telling us
about his recent trip to Croatia during which the team he was with, had some
interesting historical dives. There will be an article in the new Dive
magazine around that time hence the timing of his talk.
As many of you will be aware, we start the new year with a dive weekend
planning meeting, choosing dive sites for the coming year and volunteers
putting their hands up to organise a given weekend. For the less experienced
members this can be a little daunting, however there are many willing
experienced hands who are more than happy to jointly organise a weekend.
This will be on 12 January, so please make every effort to be there.
With that in mind, we thought it might be useful to have a members night in
January but after 12th, where we take a look at why we organise weekends and
the sorts of things and skills that are required. As I shall be progressing
my
diving skills by starting Advanced Diver, it fits in nicely for me to take
this on.
In February, following the theme of organising and planning, Coops will take
us through the trip he organised in c1985 to Roatan. It will be interesting
for many of us to understand the complexities of organising such a
challenging exercise. For those of you who maybe don't know, it was
following
the trip to Roatan that LSSAU was formed.
In March, Marg will take us through the sorts of things she encounters on
her overseas trips, this time telling us about her most recent trip to Fiji.
It is always interesting to learn about the various things we divers find on
the seabed and deem sufficiently interesting, important, essential that we
have to bring them to the surface - broadly described as tat. As a well
experienced collector of tat, in April Rich will bring along various items
that
he has "saved" and invites everyone else to bring something along, along
with
some comment/ pictures etc as to where it came from and something as to what
it is and its origins if you know them. Who knows, there may be gold, buried
treasure!
For May, with the weather hopefully warming up and the diving weekends
almost upon
us, we thought a session on how to correctly use the radio would be useful.
The current thinking is for us to invite someone with a fair degree of
specialist skills along to take us through the use and protocol of inshore
VHF radio.
Rather than continuing on and planning more for the rest of the year, we
thought it would be best to stop for now in June with Coops telling us about
Leicestershire's contribution to the space race with "The Skylark Years"
which he presented last year to the 50th anniversary of Leicester University
X-Ray Astronomy Group.
That leaves us with an open book for further subjects during the year and
for any member to volunteer to enthuse the rest of us in some chosen subject
or field of their choice. The great thing is that anyone can step forward.
The actual dates for each month are noted on the calendar in
scubascouts.co.uk website, so please take a look and note them in your
diary. Hopefully this will give you all plenty of notice. I am sure that
they will be both enjoyable and interesting, more so if we get a good
turnout, so can I please encourage you to make a note to attend.
Cheers
Geoff
If I have missed names from this email, please forward it on to them as such
omission is by default not by design.
LSSAU – weekend away to Lyme Regis on 8 to 10 July 2011
This is the first time that LSSAU has dived out of Lyme Regis for many years. Attendees were Roger Cooper, Matt Davies, Geoff Duggan, Mark Hartburn, Matt Drage, Ben Lomax, Jack Hall, Jack Walker, Simon Pilsworth, Tim Beaver and Dan Pilsworth.
Dive sites for ocean divers were limited, the best being the Baygitano (Baggy), a steam collier torpedoed in 1917. Whilst much of the vessel is flattened, the two boilers stand 3m high along with some sections and the bows remain intact. The Baggy is at 18 - 22m and is located one and a half miles due south of Lyme Regis. It is said by many to be one of the all time favourite dives, known by divers everywhere as The Baggy. There is loads of life, fish congers, lobsters, crabs etc and it is an ideal training wreck, perfect for observing the construction of a WW1 steamship. The LP cylinder is broken open so the 60” piston can be seen. There are no tidal problems and it is ideal for RIB divers. 
Other potential sites were scenic, other wrecks being too deep. A scenic dive was also close by at Pinhay, c2m due west.
Mindful of costs, it was decided to take one boat, Vixen, with the aim of shuttling back and fore with two separate waves of divers and Coops helming.
Saturday morning was delayed due to launching without a four by four, the harbour drying out at low tide. All bar one dived the Baggy, albeit the weather was force 4/5 rising 6 from the south west – straight into the bay. We went for a walk in the afternoon, returning at 5pm to agree that there was time for one boat load to dive off Pinhay. Matt Drage and Geoff returned to the scout hut at Uplyme to prepare tea.
Vixen was left overnight on a pontoon in the outer harbour, so allowing an early start without the problems of launching. All had an enjoyable 45min dive on the baggy, four returning after lunch for a second dive, the rest either returning to the hut to clean up or retrieving Vixen. Vixen was washed down at the hut ready to be dropped off at a secure boat yard in Castletown for use the following weekend by Marg.
All inclusive cost came to £60 per head.
The Baggy was an interesting wreck with huge boilers, a couple of swim throughs and lots of sea life. There were shoals of fish all over the top of the wreck and we saw a couple of huge conger eels side by side under the plating, they looked ten inches in diameter, five feet long and had huge heads. We also saw a couple of smaller ones elsewhere along with lobster, edible crabs, spider crabs, a multitude of different fish, including Dab, and filter feeders galore.
The Pinhay site was interesting but nothing special indicating that maybe it wasn’t right on the site that had been recommended.
Buddy pairs were Matt Drage/ Geoff Duggan, Matt Davies/ Jack Walker, Mark Hartburn/ Ben Lomax/ Tim Beaver, Simon Pilsworth/ Jack Hall.
From a planning viewpoint, due to the lack of an air-bar in Lyme, air was only available in the evening from a very helpful local farmer called John, each diver therefore having to have two cylinders. Additionally, as the harbour dried out at low tide, equipment had to be carried/ carted round the harbour to the far side which remains in water throughout. We had to plan this carefully to avoid loss of time when switching over for the second dive.
Thanks go to everyone for mucking in and making it an enjoyable and successful weekend.
11/7/11
Good morning everyone,
The next dive weekend is rapidly coming upon us.
Can you please let me know if you are interested in this trip?
Accommodation......scout hut in Uplyme. Sleeping on floor but good facilities with great kitchen and showers.
Dive Sites......Loads to choose from, a mixture of scenic. wildlife and wreck dives suitable for all active divers.
If I have missed anyone from the list, please forward this email to them.
Many thanks
Geoff
Hi All,
Can you please let me know if you are interested in this trip?
Accomodation......Probably the village hall used in 2009. Sleeping on floor but good facilities with great kitchen.
Dive Sites......Loads to choose from, a mixture of scenic. wildlife and wreck dives suitable for all active divers.
Many thanks
Matt / Mark - mark.hartburn@btinternet.com
Hi All
Fox and Vixen are now located in their new home.
The open water dive season is fast approaching, with a boat handling course imminent.
Both boats need some TLC before they can be used. Without this work there will not be any trips away!!
We are proposing Sunday Morning 20th February, at 10.30am, to try and get the boats prepared.
Many hands make light work!
For more details either drop us a email or attend next Thursday.
Regards
Richard
