Milford Haven/ Skomer – LSSAU dive weekend of 13 to 15 July 2012

Good planning or just good luck, Roger, Jim, Matt’s Davies and Drage, Ian, Sam, Rich, Tim, Dave and Geoff found glorious sunshine, not a lot of wind and gentle seas, not to mention a well stocked bar at the Haven yacht club where we met on the Friday night, having put Vixen to bed in their secure compound.

Launching off Gelliswick slip on Saturday morning, our boat handler, Roger, navigated to the east of the Mew Stone, on the south, and leeward, face of Skomer. Rich and Tim were first in, quickly followed by Jim and Geoff, all having a cracking 45 minute dive, with lots to see in the 8m vis, edible and spider crabs, lobster, dog fish, sea cucumbers, starfish, urchins, squirts to name but a few. The life was teeming, maximum depth being around 15m.

A short journey through Jack Sound took us to the mainland north east of Skomer and into Martins Haven where the first wave of divers were dropped off and the second, Matt Davies, Ian and Sam, along with boat crew member Dave, were picked up. Matt Drage stayed on shore, not feeling like diving. They had driven from Gelliswick and had a short shallow shore dive to check weights etc prior to Vixen’s arrival.  

They returned to dive the same site, albeit closer to the Mew Stone, but by then, the tide had turned and was starting to move. They had more of a drift dive which took them round to the seaward side of the Mew Stone. 

Returning to Martins Haven, we had lunch, took the air cylinders to Haven Diving in Milford Haven for filling and filled one of the boat petrol containers.

Ian and Matt Drage returned to the Haven Sea Scouts hut in Gelliswick to sort out tea and prepare the trailer for Vixen recovery whilst the rest took the short hop across to the North Wall of Skomer for a gentle drift dive, staying in the same pairs and dropping in at five minute intervals. An interesting 45 minute dive but not as much life as had been seen on the south side of the island. That said, we saw dolphins when on the surface, seals on the surface and a seal only feet away when concluding our dive. 

The return journey was with the wind and tide, making for a fairly quick and comfortable return and, following a radio message to provide advance warning of arrival, a very swift recovery from the slip. 

Tea was followed by a short visit to the yacht club, everyone being tired by this time. 

Tide times not being that convenient to allow a second dive and return to home at a sensible hour, there was only one dive on the Sunday. Launching at 9.15am we dropped our shot onto the Dakotian at 9.45am, with the same sequence of diving as the previous day, divers down at 10.05am. An enjoyable 45 minute dive ensued on the former liberty ship with lots to see, albeit visibility was only between 2-3m. 

Divers were swapped over on the pontoon at Dale just after 11am, with Matt Drage and Ian going in first to be followed by Matt Davies and Sam. They returned to Gelliswick for a swift recovery around 12.30pm following which Vixen was washed down in fresh water prior to us having lunch. Equipment was packed, cars loaded, hut cleaned and tidied and keys handed over and we left site around 2.45pm, arriving back in Leicester some 4 1/2 hours later. 

The cost worked out to £75 per head, travel fuel being the largest component, followed by food, boat fuel, scout hut and air. Having two waves of divers from one boat with a dedicated boat handler, made a significant difference to cost.  Two boats would have increased costs by c£30 per head. 

In summary, a very enjoyable weekend, made so by the help and involvement of all who went plus without doubt, the weather, with some very interesting diving. Haven Sea Scouts, Yacht club and diving all made us very welcome and were very helpful. Would we go back, yes.

LSSAU visit Portland 28 & 29 April

 

The first trip to the coast of the year and the weather was not kind to us – but didn’t stop us from having some fun - diving and boat handling.

 

The Team: Kyle, Sam, Nathan, Simon (aka Pils) and Marg.

 

Has ever we received a warm welcome at the Chickerell Scout hut.  The hut is having central heating installed so it will be even better in the future.  Slight down side - the local Fish & Chip shops seem to have taken to closing about 10pm on Friday nights, so we had to resort to the Chinese take away for our after journey supper on Friday evening.

 

Vixen was made welcome at Clarks Boat Yard in Castletown, where she spent 2 nights, getting her on to the grass by the Scout Hut is no longer a practical option.

 

After getting a permit to dive in the Harbour from the Sailing Academy we launched from Casteltown slip – which is free.  Portland Harbour was reasonably calm and close into the inside of the Harbour wall the sea was completely flat.  We dived the Countess of Erne.  The visibility as expected was about 1 – 2M there was a lot of sand in suspension, there had been storm force winds during the week.  The buddy pairs were Sam & Pils, Marg & Nathan.  All followed the outside of the wreck; there were plenty of sea squirts, some spider crabs, pink sea fan, sea slugs, and various sponges.  Kyle was boat handler (as well as towing Vixen down – thank you Kyle).  We were the only divers in and around Portland Harbour!

 

After the dive the wind (North Easterly) was picking up so we decided that after lunch boat handling was the best thing to do.  Saturday afternoon was spent going through the skills of the BSAC Boat handling course with Nathan & Sam; we got wet and laughed a lot.  For the confined area skills we went into the Sailing Academy Marina, and after admiring many of the boats moored there skills were achieved in difficult conditions as the wind was increasing the whole time.  Two boat handling lectures were completed Saturday evening

 

Over lunch chatting to Scimitar Divers we were told about their efforts to raise a yacht that had sunk on her moorings in the Harbour during a storm the previous Wednesday night – several other boats were damaged.  By the end of the Saturday the yacht was off the bottom and had been towed to the Harbour wall by Clarks Boat yard, ready to be craned up and pumped out on Monday.  However there was a North East gale on Saturday night and much of Sunday, and we suspect the partially submerged yacht will have been damaged further.

 

Gales were forecast for Sunday so when we took Vixen off the water Saturday evening we got her ready for the journey home.  Scimitar Diving generously allowed us to use their kit washing facilities to wash Vixen and ourselves down, and Smudge filled our cylinders – with no charge – thank you Smudge & Sarah this was greatly appreciated.

 

Sunday was a gale with lashing down rain so as planned we went to Vobster for a dive on the way home.  We dived in the same pairs as Saturday.  Sam & Pils explored down to 22M, Nathan & Marg visited the 12M area and found the aircraft which was full of tiny perch.  The vis was at least 5M and the water temperature about 9C about a degree colder than the sea. The diving was good and we all said we would dive Vobster again.

 

The ‘washing’ of Vixen continued on the journey back to Fox Box as we drove through torrential rain all the way home.

 

A good start to the season but let’s hope the future trips have better weather.

 

Marg

 

Nibbles and drinks before Christmas - update on time

We have only just been advised by Lutterworth Leisure Centre that they will
be closing on 19 December not to reopen until 27 December, so there will be
no meeting at the pool on 22 December.

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

LSSAU, members nights and special subjects

At last Thursday's meeting we continued the discussion regarding holding a
members night once a month. The intention of the members night was to have
the time and space available for a talk, presentation, discussion etc on a
wide variety of diving related topics that would be for the interest of and
benefit to members. It would also afford an opportunity for just the members
to get together, something which has been difficult for some time.

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

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

 

LSSAU Diving Trip - Lyme Regis - 8-10th July 2011

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

LSSAU Diving Trip - Farne Islands - 10-12th June 2011

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