Couple of questions on UK diving

[sylpha]

i like o-three too, i would recommend them, but they are not cheap & some people prefer latex seals to neoprene.

the farne islands are superb - if you like friendly seals, the isle of man, west coast scotland, cornwall, dorset, isle of wight wreck diving we could go on forever.

many PADI divers have the impression that BSAC will not welcome them into clubs - it's all about bums on boats and if you dive within your training organisation rules there is no problem at all. Just don't expect what i saw recently & someone to completly kit you up before you go into the water without even checking your kit!.

i think you said you will be London based, i have heard that Ealing Dive Club are friendly & active, but i'm sure the others are too.

 

[Rhone Man]

I did a bit of UK diving after having spent my career diving in the Caribbean. To be honest, the cold is something you get past pretty quickly in a drysuit. The two biggest things that I found very challening about UK diving were:

• tides - dangerous m'f'ers
• depths - it seems to me Brits are much readier to plunge to greater depths (in worse conditions) than their North American bretheren. Nothing wrong with that, but just be ready for a bit more narcosis with the darker water. The line between recreational and technical gets very blurry with some clubs.

 

[rivers]

i like o-three too, i would recommend them, but they are not cheap & some people prefer latex seals to neoprene.

the farne islands are superb - if you like friendly seals, the isle of man, west coast scotland, cornwall, dorset, isle of wight wreck diving we could go on forever.

many PADI divers have the impression that BSAC will not welcome them into clubs - it's all about bums on boats and if you dive within your training organisation rules there is no problem at all. Just don't expect what i saw recently & someone to completly kit you up before you go into the water without even checking your kit!.

i think you said you will be London based, i have heard that Ealing Dive Club are friendly & active, but i'm sure the others are too.

I wouldn't expect anyone to kit me up. I do it myself most of the time. I prefer to assemble my own gear because I know how I like it set. Good to know about ealing because that's one of the places where we are looking at living (Ealing, Wimbeldon, Acton Town, and I forget where else my gf mentioned she was looking). I was looking at transferring to a BSAC program as I like what they have to offer. Club and training fees were not too expensive and most have pool access.

 

[sylpha]

frankly i was horrified when i saw her, but then i believe in taking responsibility for myself.

i like the BSAC programme, it assumes that you will be diving with one buddy & not in a large group so you don't spend half your time looking for the rest of the pack.

i will be seeing a friend who belongs to one of the West London clubs in January if you would like contact details remind me.

Yes our waters are tidal, but the BSAC programme teaches you how to predict those tides, it's not difficult.

 

[Mark Milburn]

Id argue with that. I've personally witnessed and heard of countless other cases of proper hypothermia resulting from people diving in wetsuits even in summer.

I would never dive in a wetsuit in the UK, I did it once and it was quite cool after 25 minutes @ 30m. A Semi-Dry is not a problem though. Come here now with snow on the ground and I'll dive with you in a semi-dry with no concerns about cold in the water.

I have been diving, a lot, for over 10 years in the U.K. and never seen anyone with hypothermia, whatever they were using. I have dived in 7C water in an old semi dry and was warmer than my buddy who was in a drysuit. Newer semi-dries are much better. When teaching, my students use Oceanic Shadow semi-dries and none of them have never complained about being cold. I wouldn't do 2 dives a day in the winter in a semi but have and would in the summer.

Semi dries are fine down to 10C, if you dive in a quarry then you need a drysuit as the temperature will go down to 4C. Anyone who dives in a quarry in anything but a drysuit in winter is a statistic waiting to happen.

There is also the lost-boat safety issue in a wetsuit.

You need a decent skipper then, never had or seen a lost boat scenario when using a local skipper. It only happens when people turn up without asking locals for info first.

 

[Mark Milburn]

• tides - dangerous m'f'ers
• depths - it seems to me Brits are much readier to plunge to greater depths (in worse conditions) than their North American bretheren. Nothing wrong with that, but just be ready for a bit more narcosis with the darker water. The line between recreational and technical gets very blurry with some clubs.

Tides, yes these are a concern but anyone visiting somewhere new should ask locals for information. A couple of years ago a group of divers turned up and did a shore dive, they were qualified and thought that was enough. Luckily they were spotted by walkers as they drifted off into the Atlantic.
Depths, I would agree apart from the darker water bit. I've completed many dives below 60m (200') and not even turned my torch on. I have also completed a dive in 4.5m and it was pitch black at midday.
The technical/recreational limit is very blurry and is different for everyone based on experience.

 

[sylpha]

Tides can be calculated, admiralty charts have tidal diamonds which give a fairly accurate picture of what the tide is doing at any one time. you can make these more accurate by writing a spreadsheet, but have to be aware that the sun has an effect on tides as well as the moon and the weather also has an effect so be prepared for some variation, but the point is you can calculate the tides with a reasonable degree of accuracy.

I agree that there is no substitute for local knowledge and any half decent local skipper should know about the local variations. As for turning up somewhere unknown & not checking if there is/likely to be a current well that's as bad as not checking your kit before starting to dive after a couple of month's rest - asking for trouble!

 

[Mark Milburn]

Tides can be calculated, admiralty charts have tidal diamonds which give a fairly accurate picture of what the tide is doing at any one time. you can make these more accurate by writing a spreadsheet, but have to be aware that the sun has an effect on tides as well as the moon and the weather also has an effect so be prepared for some variation, but the point is you can calculate the tides with a reasonable degree of accuracy.

I agree that there is no substitute for local knowledge and any half decent local skipper should know about the local variations. As for turning up somewhere unknown & not checking if there is/likely to be a current well that's as bad as not checking your kit before starting to dive after a couple of month's rest - asking for trouble!

Tidal diamonds are fine for an avergae of the area, you never see them where you want them. We have many local sites you have to have local knowledge. We have currents of up to 5.5 knots on the tidal diamonds, local sites can be as fast as 7.5 knots around islands etc.

It is very common for divers not to ask. We've had shore divers surface and were luckily spotted by cliff path walkers, their next stop was the USA. A club boat turns up, anchors , 1st wave in. 2nd wave goes in and they get seperated by currents. You can't do 2 waves on the north coast, you can on quite a few south coast sites but I'd never risk it on the north.

 

[sylpha]

There are times & places in the Channel where 2 waves are not possible, it is possible to get 2 dives in on different sites, but that requires a little more planning and some experience of the local currents - or even interpreting the tidal diamond correctly. i know places where i can put divers into slack water when the nearest tidal diamond is running 2-3kts; that's knowledge i've gained through experience and keeping records of tidal variations in my diving area. if i go somewhere else i ask, why few other people ask is beyone me!

 

[Edward3c]

... but if you are coming February/March then there is LIDS (Lindon International Dive Show) where you might be able to get a good deal on an off the peg suit.

There is a new dive show this year The Big SCUBA Show 19-20 February 2011.

As for continuing your diver education you can either:

* continue with PADI and dive to their standards, but with a BSAC Club.
* commence BSAC training at the appropriate level to gain the next higher BSAC grade, see here.

The biggest difference IMHO between diving wet or dry is out of the water between dives. In a wet-suit you will rarely warm up (I often bailed out of the second dive because I got to cold[1]), with a dry-suit you can easily take it off and ware nice warm cloths then re-dress for the second or third dive.

Regards

1. Water takes the heat 25 times faster than air; therefore a wet wet-suit may act like a fridge.