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The UKRS Portland "Break" |
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The Ultimate UKRS "Trip" Report |
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Keith L gets plastered in Portland again! |
| This hasn't been a brilliant diving year for me, I've
lost a lot of dive time due to the weather - little did I know what was
heading my way :-). This was the biggest UKRS Dive that had been
organised to date, 20 divers, 2 boats, all accommodation sorted... a
huge thanks to Al for taking this one on and organising it.
Logistics always being an "interesting" problem for UKRS dives the usual flurry of emails were flying about leading up to the dive, I had arranged to pick up Dave A en-route with a quick detour off the M25 on my way from Stansted to Portland. The weekend didn't exactly start well with the traditional M25 snarl up making my 40 mile pick-up drive last about 90 minutes. Still we met up (we'd never met - just look for the p*ssed off bloke sitting on the pavement surrounded by dive gear about to murder a school kid) and a reasonable run to Portland saw us arrive around 19:30. The bar at the Aquasport (Breakwater) was filling up when we got there, Al and several of the usual culprits were already there and a steady stream of lost divers looking for UKRS joined us as the evening progressed. Several of us went over the road for a meal, by the end of the evening we had virtually the whole group over there. It is of course just a nasty rumour that Al didn't leave until the early hours... We were staying at the Aquasport, I must say that it's not my favourite accommodation having stayed a few times. This time I had one of the single cabins, a small broom cupboard like room with a sink, a single bed and the worst worn-out lumpy mattress I've ever encountered. They STILL have that "we have limited hot water" sign up in the showers! Breakwater do a reasonable package overall of accommodation, food and diving - but I think that they are loosing out on the value-for-money stakes with the accommodation. For 25 quid a night I expect a reasonable bed and showers that work. |
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| Saturday dawned windy but at least dry, most down (even
Jason!!) for a 07:30 breakfast and an 08:30 depart on JBC. This
presented our only real organisational hitch of the weekend - a few of
the folk were hiring gear from the Scuba Centre, which didn't open until
08:30. Something we'll have to watch for next time as a couple of people
didn't make the first dive.
I feel that a quick note is in order about the quality of some of the hire kit, especially the dry suits. On the last UKRS Portland dive I hired a suit from the Scuba Centre and was delighted with the service, this time it was slightly different... I didn't need a suit myself, but what came on the dives as hired kit was pretty poor quality. Perished wrist seals, perished neck seals and one split boot to name but a few problems. Now, it could well be argued that the hirer should have checked but the shop should be doing the checking and not letting kit in that state out of the door. Is doesn't take much to glance at a wrist or neck seal to see if it needs replacing, on hire kit a simple maintenance plan should be in place. I'm sure that Nina/Izzy will get it sorted but that type of thing should not happen. It's not just the cost, people had missed or miserable dives because of the poor quality of hire equipment. |
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 I was in the group on JBC,
the second group on Saracen. Despite the wind and the slightly choppy
seas we actually did the planned dive, JBC is a slow old plodder but it
gets you there, eventually, Saracen beat us to it by a long way but had
to pull into Lulworth Cove for the kitting up phase, oh the joys of a
hardboat over a RIB :-) |
 It's
a couple of years since I used Breakwater (the last time was a UKRS
dive) and the main thing that struck me was that there is now proper
maintenance plan for the boats, something that seemed a bit lacking the
last time I was there. Several improvements have been made on the old
JBC, most noticeable being the cut-away stern entry and one of the best
diving ladders I've used. There is plenty of bungie around the side for
sets and a reasonable sitting area on the engine cover. Even Saracen was
sporting usable grab ropes and a working ladder, which is more than
could be said for it the last time I dived from it.
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 The dive pairings had been chosen to mix the
experienced UKRS'rs with the newer people, this worked well for most
people but Paul ended up with me:-) Paul had just come back from the Red
Sea where he had been on a liveaboard (lucky b*gger), we had decided
between us that Paul should actually lead the dive and go where HE
wanted to go on the wreck. There was a bit of current running and a 35m
shot line on a 14m wreck makes for a long descent, but the shot was spot
on and lead us straight in. I kept very close tabs on Paul (sorry Paul,
I didn't see the going of that reel) and we had a good little wreck
tour. Viz was between about 4m and zero depending on who else was
nearby. As usual the Black Hawk sported quite a variety of marine life
under the plates and in the wreck. A very enjoyable dive, 33mins, 14m,
nice slow ascent with a three minute stop.
Paul was to become the first casualty of the weekend. It turned out that he wasn't completely well and I had noticed a couple of hesitant moments on an otherwise perfect dive. Paul decided that enough was enough and that he would be better off skipping the remaining dives as he definitely wasn't 100%. So I lost my buddy for the weekend - "pass me another newbie, I've finished with the last one". Thanks for the dive though Paul, hope to see you on another UKRS bash. So, I decided to wimp out of the second dive (it was to be the Dredger) and grab some of that scarce Breakwater hot water. By the time the group got back I was showered and changed. |
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| With everybody back on shore a large group gathered
outside, sitting around chatting, drinking teas etc. etc. There was
certainly some interest in kit, Pete has his new toy in bits
(Inspiration Rebreather) and people were generally talking diving. Nigel
had his inverted twin-set for people to try, so I got out my (lighter)
twin 10's and went through it with some of the group. We took it apart,
put it back together, went through the options and purpose of each bit.
As usual when you've got a full SS backplated twin-set people were looking and muttering "uncomfortable, heavy, unwieldy...". There is only one way to convince people that it's a VERY comfortable and well balanced system - get them to try it on. So everyone who wanted to was given the chance to try out the twin-sets for size, remember that by now most people were in light T-shirts rather than dry suits and padding. Even the smallest of the girls managed to lift Nigel's quite heavy inverted set, the lighter twin 10's proved very popular with most people remarking how comfortable and well balanced the set was. |
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| It was that kit demo that was the undoing of me, people
were looking at the small set of snips that I carry on my set, so off to
the beach for a bit of scrap rope to demonstrate them with. On the way
back I fell over, a simple trip, a stumble. I fell grazing my hands and
arm and twisting my right foot. This was at about 16:00.
We carried on with the demos with me hobbling around and cursing. About 18:30 with the foot feeling a little better I hobbled over to the pub for a meal. By around 19:30 it bloody hurt and I could hardly walk, I went back to the AquaSport and had a look - to discover a large and VERY painful swelling.
It was around 01:30 Sunday morning (around 5 hours...) that I found myself outside of Dorchester A&E, waiting for a taxi, up to my knee in plaster, wearing a loaned pair of hospital scrubs and clutching a carrier bag containing my X-rays etc. It was fractured, I'd put a large crack in the joint of the bone on the outside of my right foot. I got back to the AquaSport at around 02:00, phoned the RAC to arrange for recovery of me, the car and Dave A. Poor Dave, he missed the first dive due to the timing and the hiring of kit, did the second, then missed the entire Sunday due to his transport injuring himself. I knew what was coming, the traditional UKRS p*ss take, so I had arranged for RAC recovery mid morning to allow for the comments, the gags and the photos. I must say that UKRS lived up to its reputation with a constant stream of quips and comments. In honour of my supreme achievement the group have unanimously decided to formally instigate a special UKRS award for all future dives (alongside the Alasdair Allen Kit Breakage Award). So we are pleased to announce the entirely new UKRS Dive Trip award of the Keith Lawrence Self Mutilation Award. |
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| Overall a good weekend in Portland, although personally I
think that it could have been a bit better for me :-) We did some
diving, made some new friends, had a few laughs. That's what it's all
about really, a group of people with a common interest. Thanks to all
for making it happen.
Keith L |
A
quick phone call to the group and Pete S (THANKS Pete!) came to my
rescue with a lift to the local Portland hospital for a quick look, I
was issued with crutches and told to get to Dorchester where the full
A&E department could sort me out. Again Pete came to my rescue with
a lift.