Portland Report

**Alastair** · November 17th, 2005, 08:32 PM

Well back from diving weekend in Portland which was a lot of fun. We did 4 dives over the course of the days and spent the rest of the time chatting away. We met up with Bob Cooper, And and Greg for a curry on saturday night and the same crew along with Howard on sunday night.

Appparently the original DIR videos are a must see!

Dive 1 - Countess in the harbour. Skipper was Jay on Top Gun. After a bit of stress getting fills we managed to all get sorted. Plan was to use my AL80 as a bottom stage as it had 32% in it. Not a bad dive I led the team for a good chunk of it and we dropped into the holds for some swim throughs. Was rather silty so I ended up backing us out of the hold as I couldn't see the way through and wasn't laying line. We carried on and finally bagged off and ascended. Clare had some grief with her inflator constanly bubbling into her wing so didn't have a good dive.

Dive 2 - The Frognor. The trip out was on Goose which is a cool boat! We descended down the shot towards the wreck and had a bit of a drama. Clare didn't get hold of the shot and had to fin to keep up with the descent and was knackered when we reached the bottom. We re-ordered at the bottom and I then led the dive. The wreck was quite broken up and we toured round it trying to pick out features. Lots of fish life. It was quite dark and the lights worked a treat. As team dives go it was very good. At 40 minutes we started our ascent. We did the gas switch onto the 50% at 21m although I forgot to immediately bag off and had to be reminded by Fraser. The rest of the ascent then went very well with us arriving at the surface bang on schedule.

Dive 3 - The Ailsa Craig. Again out on Goose. We had a long trip out so I was careful not to over heat on this one. I carried the kit onto the boat before getting changed. We descended down the shot with Clare leading which was a good thing as she had a nasty sinus squeeze. We then toured round the wreck, it was quite small but relatively intact. We did manage to see most of the key features such as the boilers. Had a nasty moment where a loose rope got caught round my leg - the annoying thing was as I swam over it I thought "hmm that slack line looks dangerous"! I freed myself and swam on. On the ascent I ran deco and it all went as planned.

Dive 4 - Bow of the blackhawk. One of those dives where it just didn't quite come together. There was a bit of a current and I just found myself bumping into Clare and Fraser. Didn't really enjoy it and ended up with weird head down trim near the end of the dive which then vanished on the ascent.

Overall an excellent weekend and more valuable experience for us working as a team. We did all the planning for these dives as per our tech-1 course and I felt it was really coming together.

November 17th, 2005, 08:32 PM	#1 (permalink)
Alastair(Offline) DIRX Supporter Join Date: Nov 2005 Location: UK Posts: 693	Portland Report Well back from diving weekend in Portland which was a lot of fun. We did 4 dives over the course of the days and spent the rest of the time chatting away. We met up with Bob Cooper, And and Greg for a curry on saturday night and the same crew along with Howard on sunday night. Appparently the original DIR videos are a must see! Dive 1 - Countess in the harbour. Skipper was Jay on Top Gun. After a bit of stress getting fills we managed to all get sorted. Plan was to use my AL80 as a bottom stage as it had 32% in it. Not a bad dive I led the team for a good chunk of it and we dropped into the holds for some swim throughs. Was rather silty so I ended up backing us out of the hold as I couldn't see the way through and wasn't laying line. We carried on and finally bagged off and ascended. Clare had some grief with her inflator constanly bubbling into her wing so didn't have a good dive. Dive 2 - The Frognor. The trip out was on Goose which is a cool boat! We descended down the shot towards the wreck and had a bit of a drama. Clare didn't get hold of the shot and had to fin to keep up with the descent and was knackered when we reached the bottom. We re-ordered at the bottom and I then led the dive. The wreck was quite broken up and we toured round it trying to pick out features. Lots of fish life. It was quite dark and the lights worked a treat. As team dives go it was very good. At 40 minutes we started our ascent. We did the gas switch onto the 50% at 21m although I forgot to immediately bag off and had to be reminded by Fraser. The rest of the ascent then went very well with us arriving at the surface bang on schedule. Dive 3 - The Ailsa Craig. Again out on Goose. We had a long trip out so I was careful not to over heat on this one. I carried the kit onto the boat before getting changed. We descended down the shot with Clare leading which was a good thing as she had a nasty sinus squeeze. We then toured round the wreck, it was quite small but relatively intact. We did manage to see most of the key features such as the boilers. Had a nasty moment where a loose rope got caught round my leg - the annoying thing was as I swam over it I thought "hmm that slack line looks dangerous"! I freed myself and swam on. On the ascent I ran deco and it all went as planned. Dive 4 - Bow of the blackhawk. One of those dives where it just didn't quite come together. There was a bit of a current and I just found myself bumping into Clare and Fraser. Didn't really enjoy it and ended up with weird head down trim near the end of the dive which then vanished on the ascent. Overall an excellent weekend and more valuable experience for us working as a team. We did all the planning for these dives as per our tech-1 course and I felt it was really coming together. Last edited by Alastair; November 19th, 2005 at 11:41 PM.