The Moldavia strikes again.

MarkEm · April 8th, 2006, 10:35 PM

On Wednesday Clare and I dived the Moldavia off of Nauticat out of Brighton. We have now done quite a few skills/drills sessions over the winter and this was to be our first ‘proper’ dive together.

The boat roped off at 07:45 so I was up at 04:50 and on the road at 05:25, to hopefuly beat the rush hour traffic. I arrived at the marina at 07:15, unloaded then parked the car in the free multi-storey car park that is right next to the marina.

The skipper had fully booked the trip so the normally roomy Nauticat was pretty rammed with 12 divers on board! I think the boat only had few OC divers onboard. The rest were on rebreathers of one type or another.

The two and a half hour trip out to the wreck site was pretty uneventfull. Clare and I chatted to Mark Powell and Finbar Taylor who were also on the trip. One thing that did concern me a little was the state of the sea. There were a lot of white horses and some rather large waves. The shipping forcast had predicted a variable force 3-4 wind and slight to moderate sea state. I’d say that it was force 4 and moderate sea state. Not ideal conditions for a trimix dive.

At arrival over the wreck the sea looked rather milky so I didn’t expect much vis on the dive. We kitted up quickly and were about the third pair over the side. We stopped at 6m for a bubble check then proceeded to swim down a rather less then vertical shot. Everything went black at about 30m and we found the wreck at about 45m. On the wreck it was pitch black and the vis ranged from 2-3m. There was still a fair amount of tide running and it was not a particulaly pleasant experience finning hard to stay still so we quickly moved off around the wreck to get out of the flow.

I really dislike these conditions beacause it’s simply not much fun!

We proceeded with care so to avoid accidently penetrating the wreck and did a reasonable tour around the stern section where we spotted a good sized conger. We also found the 4.7″ gun which points skywards and another large gun laying on it’s side. After rounding the stern and heading foward and up along the port side of the ship we saw some huge and intact portholes. At least one of these had it’s glass still in place. Removal of these would be a serious undertaking to say the least!

We had expected an avarage max depth of about 48m based on previous dives but it was more like 43m (if that). We thumbed it at 28 mins actual BT. We were at 36m when we left the wreck so headed up to 33m where I started the deep stops. After our gas switch at 21m Clare shot her DSMB and as the skipper had requested each diver to deploy a bag we also sent my alert marker up Clare’s line (after she had helped me retrieve it from the storage pouch).

The deco was fun compared to the previous 33 minutes of darkness/crap vis/tide. I ran the deco and watched Clare using her spool as a yo-yo for entertainment.

Back on the surface and the boat was convenienetly right next to us. We approached the stern and Clare was going to be first up the lift. I tried to swim past the lift to get to the rope that hung into the water behind the boat but just as I passed behind Clare a large wave threw me hard against the corner of the lift. The metal caught me right on the ribs. I have never been hit so hard! I think the boat was moving down at the same time as the wave smashed me into the lift so the force was great. I let out a bit of a yelp. Ouch! If it had hit me on the head I think I may have not been around to write this trip report. The wave had also caused Clare some trouble as it threw her through the lift and she wrenched her shoulder.

It took a lot of effort to then get back on the boat as I was in a lot of pain (to say the least) and feeling in shock from the impact. I sat down and chilled for about 10 minutes before de-kitting (with Clare’s help). I felt sick, light headed and really cold so I then went and sat on my own in the sunshine. This worried Clare so she proceeded to fuss over me to make sure I was ok. She was a great help!

After about an hour we both nodded off in the wheel house. I felt a lot better after that but my ribs had not improved. The journey back was cold and uncomfortable but I was in good company and the prospect of some fish ‘n’ chips in Brighton kept my spirits up.

I have since had a check over by my Doctor and she thinks I have probably got at least one fractured rib which will take eight weeks to heal!

Sea diving in April is off from now on!

Regards,

Mark.

***EBT*** · April 8th, 2006, 10:58 PM

Now the versions I heard of this trip were far more amusing!!

Alledgedly some folks are booking onto advanced zip doing up courses and others are booking onto "f*ck, how did we get inside the wreck" workshops

All part of the fun of diving!

PS. Good luck with the ribs
PPS. Did I mention the marina is a 5 min drive?

Alex · April 8th, 2006, 11:21 PM

Sorry about your injury Mark- hope you ribs will heal soon, its usually painful but not dengerous

Quote: (Originally Posted by MarkEm)

On the wreck it was pitch black and the vis ranged from 2-3m.

I dived the Duke on Friday- more-or-less similar conditions on the wreck. I managed to find a nice blue bowl though. Surface conditions were probably better - no dengerous waves!

Cheers
Alex

*Clare Gledhill* · April 9th, 2006, 08:58 AM

Oh no! I broke a buddy!

Mark's write up sums it all up quite well - a few bits from my perspective would be....

Getting up at 4:00am thinking "I must be mad - I need a new hobby" My husband then rolling over in bed saying "You must be mad". True huh?

My spirits improved slightly when I got on the road - and a lot more when I first laid eyes on the sea which was almost flat calm. I was first to arrive at Nauticat - by about an hour - so could have had extra time in bed. Grrrr.....

It is a loooong way out to the Mol - 30 miles - so chatted to Mark Powell and Finbar. Zak (EBT) who lives in Brighton had warned me off this trip on Monday saying sea state was awful - but Mark and Fin had encouraged us to come along and had brought chocolate cakes in case they had got it wrong!

Finally it was time to jump in. It was a difficult trip down the shot as it was running quite hard still. We had to go past Mark and Fin who were sorting something out on the surface but eventually got in sight of the wreck.

Almost immediately we were on the move, drifting over it and when we got our bearings we found that we had drifted into an overhead by a few feet. Turning back, we got into open water, but there was no green glow above us as it was too dark, and to avoid the same happening again we went over the side of the wreck to get out of the current, found the sea bed and the intact side of the wreck, and started a tour.

Viz was "interesting" but we saw a fair bit - including a conger out in open water. I was leading and given my reputation for missing stuff was chuffed to find both guns

Deco was fine - shorter than planned on the boat due to the shallower dive (low tide) and on surfacing found Nauticat right alongside.

As Mark described, we had a bit of a challenging time getting back on board. I was indeed very worried when I found Mark had gone to sit on his own - never a good idea after a dive - let alone an injury so had a chance to fuss

Turned out that Mark and Fin never overcame their problem on the shot and surfaced without seeing the wreck. A real shame as I would not have been there without their teasing - but at least we still had chocolate cake

Fish n chips in Brighton , followed by a beer with Zak who openly admitted to looking at the sea that morning and saying "jammy b!tch"

Maybe on reflection, all were right though, it WAS a fun dive, but conditions in early april are changeable and need careful monitoring.

Alex · April 9th, 2006, 01:27 PM

Quote: (Originally Posted by Gledders)

Fish n chips in Brighton

We discovered an excellent Italian (Sicilian) restourant in the Marina. Not very romantic name Pizza Express, but kitchen is great (if you like Italian food). Highly recommended!

Alex

***EBT*** · April 9th, 2006, 01:30 PM

tsk tsk alex..... now if you wanted a decent italian La Cappanina is just a mile or so away

(opposite the St James Tavern)

Alex · April 9th, 2006, 02:56 PM

Quote: (Originally Posted by EBT)

tsk tsk alex..... now if you wanted a decent italian La Cappanina is just a mile or so away

(opposite the St James Tavern)

OK, next time...

Mark Chase · April 9th, 2006, 03:39 PM

Great report,

Every year I dive in April, every year I say never again and yep every year I am daft enough to believe it will be better this time :D

Dover Friday should be hilarious

ATB

Mark Chase

And · April 9th, 2006, 03:41 PM

Hi

Congrats on getting a dive in, although I am not sorry that I decided to give April a miss

France here I come!

Andy

Rick · April 9th, 2006, 08:04 PM

Quote: (Originally Posted by And)

France here I come!

Andy

We!

April 8th, 2006, 10:35 PM	#1 (permalink)
MarkEm(Offline) Site Sponsor Join Date: Nov 2005 Location: Essex, UK Posts: 220	The Moldavia strikes again. On Wednesday Clare and I dived the Moldavia off of Nauticat out of Brighton. We have now done quite a few skills/drills sessions over the winter and this was to be our first ‘proper’ dive together. The boat roped off at 07:45 so I was up at 04:50 and on the road at 05:25, to hopefuly beat the rush hour traffic. I arrived at the marina at 07:15, unloaded then parked the car in the free multi-storey car park that is right next to the marina. The skipper had fully booked the trip so the normally roomy Nauticat was pretty rammed with 12 divers on board! I think the boat only had few OC divers onboard. The rest were on rebreathers of one type or another. The two and a half hour trip out to the wreck site was pretty uneventfull. Clare and I chatted to Mark Powell and Finbar Taylor who were also on the trip. One thing that did concern me a little was the state of the sea. There were a lot of white horses and some rather large waves. The shipping forcast had predicted a variable force 3-4 wind and slight to moderate sea state. I’d say that it was force 4 and moderate sea state. Not ideal conditions for a trimix dive. At arrival over the wreck the sea looked rather milky so I didn’t expect much vis on the dive. We kitted up quickly and were about the third pair over the side. We stopped at 6m for a bubble check then proceeded to swim down a rather less then vertical shot. Everything went black at about 30m and we found the wreck at about 45m. On the wreck it was pitch black and the vis ranged from 2-3m. There was still a fair amount of tide running and it was not a particulaly pleasant experience finning hard to stay still so we quickly moved off around the wreck to get out of the flow. I really dislike these conditions beacause it’s simply not much fun! We proceeded with care so to avoid accidently penetrating the wreck and did a reasonable tour around the stern section where we spotted a good sized conger. We also found the 4.7″ gun which points skywards and another large gun laying on it’s side. After rounding the stern and heading foward and up along the port side of the ship we saw some huge and intact portholes. At least one of these had it’s glass still in place. Removal of these would be a serious undertaking to say the least! We had expected an avarage max depth of about 48m based on previous dives but it was more like 43m (if that). We thumbed it at 28 mins actual BT. We were at 36m when we left the wreck so headed up to 33m where I started the deep stops. After our gas switch at 21m Clare shot her DSMB and as the skipper had requested each diver to deploy a bag we also sent my alert marker up Clare’s line (after she had helped me retrieve it from the storage pouch). The deco was fun compared to the previous 33 minutes of darkness/crap vis/tide. I ran the deco and watched Clare using her spool as a yo-yo for entertainment. Back on the surface and the boat was convenienetly right next to us. We approached the stern and Clare was going to be first up the lift. I tried to swim past the lift to get to the rope that hung into the water behind the boat but just as I passed behind Clare a large wave threw me hard against the corner of the lift. The metal caught me right on the ribs. I have never been hit so hard! I think the boat was moving down at the same time as the wave smashed me into the lift so the force was great. I let out a bit of a yelp. Ouch! If it had hit me on the head I think I may have not been around to write this trip report. The wave had also caused Clare some trouble as it threw her through the lift and she wrenched her shoulder. It took a lot of effort to then get back on the boat as I was in a lot of pain (to say the least) and feeling in shock from the impact. I sat down and chilled for about 10 minutes before de-kitting (with Clare’s help). I felt sick, light headed and really cold so I then went and sat on my own in the sunshine. This worried Clare so she proceeded to fuss over me to make sure I was ok. She was a great help! After about an hour we both nodded off in the wheel house. I felt a lot better after that but my ribs had not improved. The journey back was cold and uncomfortable but I was in good company and the prospect of some fish ‘n’ chips in Brighton kept my spirits up. I have since had a check over by my Doctor and she thinks I have probably got at least one fractured rib which will take eight weeks to heal! Sea diving in April is off from now on! Regards, Mark. __________________ *WWW.DIVESIGNS.COM* Last edited by MarkEm; April 9th, 2006 at 01:24 AM.

April 8th, 2006, 10:58 PM	#2 (permalink)
*EBT*(Offline) Just another crouton... Join Date: Nov 2005 Location: Brighton Posts: 414	Now the versions I heard of this trip were far more amusing!! Alledgedly some folks are booking onto advanced zip doing up courses and others are booking onto "fck, how did we get inside the wreck" workshops All part of the fun of diving! PS. Good luck with the ribs PPS. Did I mention the marina is a 5 min drive? Last edited by EBT; April 8th, 2006 at 11:03 PM.*

April 8th, 2006, 11:21 PM	#3 (permalink)
Alex(Offline) New Member Join Date: Nov 2005 Location: Nottingham Posts: 74	Sorry about your injury Mark- hope you ribs will heal soon, its usually painful but not dengerous Quote: (Originally Posted by MarkEm) On the wreck it was pitch black and the vis ranged from 2-3m. I dived the Duke on Friday- more-or-less similar conditions on the wreck. I managed to find a nice blue bowl though. Surface conditions were probably better - no dengerous waves! Cheers Alex __________________ "Some of the positions in the Kama Sutra are only possible in a weightless environment..."

April 9th, 2006, 08:58 AM	#4 (permalink)
Clare Gledhill(Offline) GUE Instructor Site Admin Pacman Champion! Join Date: Nov 2005 Location: UK Posts: 1,541	Oh no! I broke a buddy! Mark's write up sums it all up quite well - a few bits from my perspective would be.... Getting up at 4:00am thinking "I must be mad - I need a new hobby" My husband then rolling over in bed saying "You must be mad". True huh? My spirits improved slightly when I got on the road - and a lot more when I first laid eyes on the sea which was almost flat calm. I was first to arrive at Nauticat - by about an hour - so could have had extra time in bed. Grrrr..... It is a loooong way out to the Mol - 30 miles - so chatted to Mark Powell and Finbar. Zak (EBT) who lives in Brighton had warned me off this trip on Monday saying sea state was awful - but Mark and Fin had encouraged us to come along and had brought chocolate cakes in case they had got it wrong! Finally it was time to jump in. It was a difficult trip down the shot as it was running quite hard still. We had to go past Mark and Fin who were sorting something out on the surface but eventually got in sight of the wreck. Almost immediately we were on the move, drifting over it and when we got our bearings we found that we had drifted into an overhead by a few feet. Turning back, we got into open water, but there was no green glow above us as it was too dark, and to avoid the same happening again we went over the side of the wreck to get out of the current, found the sea bed and the intact side of the wreck, and started a tour. Viz was "interesting" but we saw a fair bit - including a conger out in open water. I was leading and given my reputation for missing stuff was chuffed to find both guns Deco was fine - shorter than planned on the boat due to the shallower dive (low tide) and on surfacing found Nauticat right alongside. As Mark described, we had a bit of a challenging time getting back on board. I was indeed very worried when I found Mark had gone to sit on his own - never a good idea after a dive - let alone an injury so had a chance to fuss Turned out that Mark and Fin never overcame their problem on the shot and surfaced without seeing the wreck. A real shame as I would not have been there without their teasing - but at least we still had chocolate cake Fish n chips in Brighton , followed by a beer with Zak who openly admitted to looking at the sea that morning and saying "jammy b!tch" Maybe on reflection, all were right though, it WAS a fun dive, but conditions in early april are changeable and need careful monitoring. __________________ Clare . "Keep away from people who try to belittle your ambitions....Small people always do that, but the really great make you feel that you too can become great." Interested in DIR dive training? Always happy to chat/answer questions so get in touch via PM or visit www.dirdiver.co.uk

April 9th, 2006, 01:27 PM	#5 (permalink)
Alex(Offline) New Member Join Date: Nov 2005 Location: Nottingham Posts: 74	Quote: (Originally Posted by Gledders) Fish n chips in Brighton We discovered an excellent Italian (Sicilian) restourant in the Marina. Not very romantic name Pizza Express, but kitchen is great (if you like Italian food). Highly recommended! Alex __________________ "Some of the positions in the Kama Sutra are only possible in a weightless environment..."

April 9th, 2006, 01:30 PM	#6 (permalink)
*EBT*(Offline) Just another crouton... Join Date: Nov 2005 Location: Brighton Posts: 414	tsk tsk alex..... now if you wanted a decent italian La Cappanina is just a mile or so away (opposite the St James Tavern)

April 9th, 2006, 02:56 PM	#7 (permalink)
Alex(Offline) New Member Join Date: Nov 2005 Location: Nottingham Posts: 74	Quote: (Originally Posted by EBT) tsk tsk alex..... now if you wanted a decent italian La Cappanina is just a mile or so away (opposite the St James Tavern) OK, next time... __________________ "Some of the positions in the Kama Sutra are only possible in a weightless environment..."

April 9th, 2006, 03:39 PM	#8 (permalink)
Mark Chase(Offline) New Member Join Date: Nov 2005 Location: Kent England Posts: 905	Great report, Every year I dive in April, every year I say never again and yep every year I am daft enough to believe it will be better this time :D Dover Friday should be hilarious ATB Mark Chase __________________ The only DIR Inspiration diver in the village

April 9th, 2006, 03:41 PM	#9 (permalink)
And(Offline) New Member Join Date: Nov 2005 Location: Yorkshire, UK Posts: 49	Hi Congrats on getting a dive in, although I am not sorry that I decided to give April a miss France here I come! Andy __________________

April 9th, 2006, 08:04 PM	#10 (permalink)
Rick(Offline) Jock Exley Join Date: Nov 2005 Location: Falkirk/Stratford UK Posts: 730	Quote: (Originally Posted by And) France here I come! Andy We! __________________ Forget Everything And Remember http://phreaticzone.thedeepstop.com/ http://www.dublinbaydiving.com/