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The liveliest letters from the DIVER mailbag...
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With reference to August's First In (How Do You Feel About Jet-Bikes?), working in the Cayman Islands we struggle daily to keep waverunners a safe distance from the dive boat. Near-misses are common. Anybody with a few dollars can rent one from the beach and cause havoc.
Ironically, a few turn out to be driven by divers on the last day of their holiday, not able to dive because they are due to fly, but drawn by the lure of a dive flag anyway.
Once, an instructor on a boat succeeded in hitting one such waverunner with a 1kg weight, cracking the glass fibre cover.
When the driver doubled back to protest, the instructor suggested that he take the waverunner back to the rental shop and tell them how the damage had occurred.
One small victory for divers, but not a recommended or condoned solution (it makes us no better than them).
The local authorities seem reluctant to regulate use of these machines, so we have come up with a few non-fatal options:
1) Install a golf tee on the top of each dive boat. A nine iron should limit the distance sufficiently. A shout of "Fore!" is probably a more effective deterrent than a flag. I'm sure divers will be happy to pick up any golf balls they find.
2) We have plenty of compressed air on board. If anybody can come up with a clever design that will propel a small sandbag or rotten fruit up to 100m, please let me know.
3) String a long line between dive boats on neighbouring sites. As the waverunners pass between the boats (as happens frequently), we pull the line tight.
4) My favourite solution: paintball. If each dive shop had its own unique colour, they should be able to track down the owner of the "painted" waverunner and claim a case of beer. Hit them where it really hurts!
The only downside is that I envision a future of surface intervals degenerating into waverunner hunts - dive boats chasing hapless tourists around while the divers try to shoot any other vessels with paint! On reflection, I'd probably pay good money for that!
For now, I'll content myself with telling my divers to keep their heads down when they hear the annoying buzzing overhead.
Knowing that these things are driven by fools, the best we can do is try not to put ourselves in harm's way.
Tom Yeo, Grand Cayman
As a BSAC instructor, I often have to help trainees with their kit configuration. By far the most common adjustment to be made is the swapping of the octopus to the correct side - that is, opposite the main reg.
On a recent training day at Capernwray, I saw many examples of wrongly configured kit on trainees and instructors, not confined to any one training agency. I've even seen this set-up in training manuals, and now printed on a T-shirt!
My kit is set up to offer an alternative air source to my buddy without the need to bend the hose into an S-shape to avoid the reg being presented upside-down (Poseidons excepted).
This way he or she can use my octopus either face to face or swimming on my left, taking full advantage of that nice long yellow hose with no kinks. Seems simple to me.
So to all you instructors out there, if I'm wrong I'll admit to being a complete numpty. If I'm not, which side are you on?
Don Mcallister, Saltburn-by-Sea, Cleveland
I find your Medical Q&A pages informative and useful, and have just read Nicky's question Pain In the Jaw in September's issue, about her problem with temporomandibular joint dysfunction.
I suffer from the same problem. I am tiny in stature, and after trying various regulators and suffering with pain in the jaw after diving, I now use an Apex ATX40 regulator. It's wonderful and I don't get any pain at all. It is a small, light regulator and reduces breathing effort considerably.
Having a large, heavy mouthpiece makes me grip and clench my jaw, and I feel I have to work hard to get air. I have found that being tiny means that you have to search around a bit to get the right gear.
Bridgette Bradley, Allestree, Derby
The "nitrox for free" theory is already alive and kicking in the UK (Nitrox For Free, September). With nitrox as common as it is abroad and in the UK, it seems only fair that divers should at least understand what it is, if not necessarily choose to use it for all their diving. It's all about creating quality divers, not just certified ones.
We include PADI's Discover Enriched Air Nitrox qualification (equivalent to NRC level 1) in our Open Water course, and encourage all our divers to continue to earn the full Nitrox Speciality Diver certification (at a hefty discount). I'd be very surprised if we're the only UK school to be doing it - even if most UK schools (us included) still use partial-pressure blending rather than a membrane and can't afford to give the gas away after the course, we can still do our bit to raise the standard of diver education.
Kevin Evans, Diving Leisure, Poole
Horsea Island has a helicopter landing pad used by the Marine & Coastguard Agency when transporting casualties needing urgent hyperbaric treatment. The rescue helicopter is met by the emergencies services and the victim transported to Queen Alexandra Hospital in Portsmouth.
To help promote diver safety, Horsea Island Dive Centre invited the MCA to attend its Easter event. Since then MCA staff have been regular visitors, talking to divers and handing out safety information.
In July, HIDC staff-members were invited to visit Coastguard Rescue at Lee on Solent.
We were told how a hyperthermic lift using a double strop was used to lift casualties who had been in the water. The sudden reduction of pressure on the body when removed from water had been found to cause a significant drop in blood pressure that could lead to sudden heart failure. So casualties are now lifted in a sitting position if possible.
We were advised to keep our diving casualties in zipped-up drysuits, as these act as buoyancy aids and avoid having to get them into a lifejacket. At night and in poor visibility, the rescue team uses thermal imaging, and advises lost divers to remove their hoods when they hear the helicopter, as this will release the heat from their head and enable them to be tracked.
Every diver is taught to wear thermal protection to keep the heat in - which of us would have thought to remove our hoods?
As the helicopter flew over HIDC, we realised just how small a diver in the water is and how difficult, even on the flat calm of the lake, it is to spot one We were reminded of the importance of carrying location devices - yellow SMBs, strobes, torches, lightsticks etc.
HIDC is now organising an information session for the MCA on the physics and physiology of diving, with the chance for staff to do a try dive.The MCA hopes that by increasing its understanding of the sport it will be better placed to offer advice and reduce the number of incidents involving divers.
It's one helicopter ride no diver wants to take - and by following the safety rules, it's one we can all avoid!
Peter Male, Manager, HIDC
In reply to Reg Vallintine's letter (Welcome Back For Twin-Hose Regs, August), after pool training is complete all trainees in our club are taught on a twin-hose reg, shown how it works and how easily one can share air when it is used correctly. All our members past and present can share air with this kind of regulator, and I don't recall anyone ever having a problem.
The club has been going for 39 years, so that's a lot of divers in the North-east. Sadly we now have only one twin-hose, the Nemrod Snark Silver MKIII. Although in perfect working order, it is used only in pool training nowadays.
Bob Bills, NEI Divers, Newcastle
I have dived the Eight Acre Lake dive site in East Yorkshire and agree with Mike Ward's assessment (Five Sites of Summer, August). However, his statement that the "shark" is "genuinely startling" is the understatement of the year. The picture shows my first encounter, after I had calmed down.
I had always wondered what my reaction would be if I saw a shark, but even this one gave me a fright, and I was looking for it! I almost needed a new drysuit.
Paul Watson, Hedon, East Yorkshire
My house is next to the Old Lifeboat House in Bull Bay, a tiny beach on Anglesey used by divers, children, other boaters, sunbathers and rock-pool dabblers.
Throughout the year many divers visit Bull Bay, and while most are very aware of their impact on a small community, some groups blatantly abuse the facilities here. Some urinate on the beach, even though well-signposted free public toilets are within 50m of the slipway. The latest incident occurred when I was playing on the beach with my grand-daughters.
Confronting these people results in a shrug. How would they react to visitors using their gardens in this way? Minor by contrast, though equally unsociable, is the undressing of divers to their underwear in full public gaze.
Bull Bay's scarcity of parking space is exacerbated by the arrival of diver vehicles with trailers, each of which takes up the equivalent of three or four car spaces. The beach becomes gridlocked with parked vehicles and equipment, so other visitors and locals are hampered in using it.
What can be done? I would suggest allocating by prior agreement particular groups to particular slipways on a given day, making operations controlled, predictable and manageable. The problem is taking account of the rogue elements within the diving fraternity that take all and give nothing.
I am neither anti-English nor anti-diver - I am English-born, with joint Canadian-British citizenship. I hope that this letter results in some action to the benefit of both divers and the residents of communities in which they gather.
Tony Owen, Bull Bay, Anglesey
On reading Marie Jewkes' letter Rainbow Warrior regarding catsuits as bright-coloured wetsuits (August), I nearly fell off my chair.
Here was a woman saying that, as more and more divers are women, why not cater for them? What next? Will we see chav divers with Burberry-check wetsuits and hoods!
Will we have the Gucci, Prada or Armani designer look, rather than Mares or Scuba-pro? Imagine a model trying to walk up and down a catwalk wearing everything from fins to BC and weights!
OK, I understand that there may be a need to make certain items a bit more fun and colourful but please, some respectability is called for. What we need is more education to protect marine life, not to make diving a fashion show.
Franco Triglia, Enfield
I have just booked to Spain with Thomson Fly, and asked whether there was any extra allowance for diving equipment. I was gobsmacked to be told that it actually charges £15 extra each way.
"OK," I said, "I'll just take it as part of my normal luggage allowance."
"Oh no, sir, you'll still have to pay the extra!"
"OK," I said, "I'll just not tell them at check-in that it's diving equipment."
"Well, that's your privilege, sir," I was told. I was left speechless.
Mike Nicholls
I recently booked a holiday to Ibiza with First Choice, and considered taking my diving equipment for a spot of R&R in between the clubbing. The holiday confirmation gave an allowance of 20kg per person, so I thought I'd phone to see if an increase was possible.
The very helpful assistant in Passenger Services told me that a 10kg increase was available for any diver at no extra charge. Just a few details and she sent me a receipt to accompany my tickets to confirm the extra allowance.
Unlucky for my friend who wanted to take his golf clubs - they are charged at £15 per set!
David O'Grady, Stourbridge
I had a flight booked with FlyBe to Malaga for a family holiday and noticed on its website that there were restrictions on carrying scuba equipment. However, I did not intend to carry any cylinders and planned to put all my gear in a standard suitcase.
The baggage allowance is 20kg per person, my "diving" suitcase came to 17kg and the rest of our family's clothes etc came to under the 20kg each, so I reckoned we were within the baggage limit with my kit. Just in case, I thought I would check with FlyBe's "help" desk.
I asked if I could take my scuba kit in a standard suitcase within my baggage allowance, without getting charged extra. The reply was no. So could I take a suitcase full of bricks within my baggage allowance? I asked. The answer - you guessed it - was yes!
The other point is that even if you pay, FlyBe will not guarantee that your equipment will go on the plane, even within the baggage allow-ance. Not much good on a diving holiday!
Roy Adair, Bristol
Last November, a friend and I booked a last-minute holiday to Hurghada, Egypt. It came as a shock when he announced that he wanted to learn to freedive.
I had no idea what the sport would involve but finally, through peer pressure and curiosity, I signed up for a two-day course with Emperor Divers at the Soma Bay Resort.
Our instructor Andy Laurie appears to be Hurghada's only freediving instructor. His down-to-earth professional attitude put me at ease. He outlined breathing techniques, theory, safety issues and the in-water work and said it would all be taken a step at a time.
We started in the pool before continuing on a 20m line over the house reef. After two days my meagre 30-second breath-hold had turned into two minutes, and I dived to 17m, which I never would have thought possible!
It was a challenging and rewarding experience. Many aspects cross over into scuba: equalisation techniques and buoyancy control can be improved; air consumption decreased; and closer contact with marine life and more comfort in the water enabled.
The ability to "have a word with oneself" during stressful situations (psychological and physical self-rescue) is something we all have to employ at one time or another.
Freediving is also an incredible sport in itself. Try it, to understand the quiet, calm glide into the blue, and you will never look back. I would recommend it to everyone, irrespective of qualification level or in-water experience. It's about as all-inclusive as scuba, providing you are fit to dive.
Could we have more articles about this fantastic sport? It seems a shame that there is so little accessible information about something that could benefit so many people.
Georgina Miller, London
I breathed a sad sigh as I read the news item on the Mary Rose Museum (July). When I was younger, the discovery of that wreck had made me determined to spend my life making fantastic discoveries of my own. Now, many years later, I realise that my quest wasn't so easy, and that for all but a lucky few, finding a new wreck takes a lot of research, effort and time.
Then I started thinking: over the years I've witnessed many wonderful sights that only divers can see at first hand, and though I have not discovered anything new on my own, the revisiting of what other people have found is still a thrill.
With this new museum, some big strides can be made in the journey to final conservation of the Mary Rose, but, as Clive Cussler says at the end of his book The Sea-Hunters: "Now it's your turn to get off that couch."
If you're struggling for something to do with the kids, or looking for a winter expedition for your club, why not visit the Historic Dockyard at Plymouth and see the Mary Rose? It's an ongoing project, and if like me you haven't made your own wreck discovery yet, get involved with this one and become part of it.
Paul Henson, Nottingham
If you are looking at Croatia as a possible diving destination, be warned that it can be quite expensive. If you intend to do all your dives with a dive centre, a dive card issued by the Croatian Diving Federation costs 100 kuna, about £10.
However, if you wish to dive independently, a one-year permit costs 2400 kuna, or about £240, from the harbourmaster's office in most coastal towns. Each member of a buddy pair has to pay this amount, in addition to the £10 for the diver's card.
I cannot find out what this £250 charge is for, but add this to travel and accommodation and it would be almost as cheap to go the Caribbean.
Thanks for an excellent magazine, and I hope this may prevent some people getting out of pocket or incurring a hefty fine
James Pepper, Syston, Leics
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