Sea state Plymouth

[Simon B]

How's it looking at Plymouth for diving this weekend; Scylla, JEL, Elk etc?

Leaving soon!

[David G]

Not fantastic

Inshore Forecast has SW4-5:
http://www.metoffice.gov.uk/weather/..._forecast.html

Lyme Regis to Lands End including the Isles of Scilly
Strong winds are forecast
Inshore waters forecast
24 hour forecast: 0700 Fri 27 Jun 0700 Sat 28 Jun
Wind Southwesterly 5 or 6, decreasing 4 or 5.
Sea state Moderate or rough, occasionally very rough in far west at first.
Weather Occasional rain or drizzle.
Visibility Moderate or good, occasionally poor.
Outlook: 0700 Sat 28 Jun 0700 Sun 29 Jun
Wind Southwesterly 4 or 5.
Sea state Moderate or rough.
Weather Rain or drizzle dying out.
Visibility Moderate or good, occasionally poor.

WindMap has SW 3 to 4
http://www.xcweather.co.uk/

Sorry..................

Sunday might be a tad better though.............

Orve

[Pete7]

Simon,

Might see you out there, we are diving from Bovisand this weekend, if the weather holds,

Pete

[ribraff]

Pretty shocking here in Dartmouth........ blowing SE pretty hard, .... summer's gone south again.

[PeterM]

Went from Christchurch to Yarmouth & back last night - not nice at all - only otherboat out was Yarmouth All weather lifeboat - what did that tell me ? Should have stayed at home !

[ian parkes]

weather is horrible here and has been rough in the bay for over a week now so I expect visibility will be poor .

I hope it cheers up my daughter is doing a sponsored surf board paddle tomorrow from Milendreath to looe with the surf lifesaving club and its Looe festival of the sea this weekend .

[Pete7]

Well we went out for a quick dive on Sunday morning, flat calm until a couple of Princess Gin Palaces came through, but was builing again by lunchtime.

Air now available again in Bovisand, hopefully the fort will be restored to a proper diving centre again.

Pete

[ian parkes]

if you were out in whitsand bay diving it waqs probably you i was watching from the beach . It was surprisingly nice weather until early afternoon .
I don't suppose it was that clear ?

[Simon B]

We were on the Scylla and then on sunday the JEL, old picture of boat attached. I've now got an orange SAR suit and our console looks like a hammerhead shark!

We went out of Bovisand too, which boat were you on Pete 7?

[Pete7]

Simon hi,

We were on the orange 6.4m Delta with 135 hp Optimax on the back, £44k worth. Dived the Glen Strathalan a mile south of Bovisand as a refresher weekend for dive supervisors, sorry didn't have time to ask around to find you, instructors keen to crack on with the course. However did see a tall bloke stood on the side of the harbour about 0930 hrs Sunday in an orange SAR suit which we though was unusual.

Vis on the East side of the sound was about 8m, which made a nice change from the >3m of the IOW this year.

Pete

[Simon B]

Yep, that was me in an eBay cheapy!

Excellent suit, knee pads, butt pads, breathable. We'd been drooling over your boat and were impressed how it moved with only 35hp more than ours which did struggle 6 divers up and 2 crew.

All our lot enjoyed the JEL, we'll check out the Glen Strathallan next time.

[Pete7]

Wish it was our boat, belongs to Joint Services Diving Centre and they have 4 of them Yes I was suprised how well it went as well, its quite a heavy boat, presumably well propped down to give 20 - 25 knots with a boat full of kit. Couldn't wrench the Chief Instructor away from the controls though unfortunately to have a play.

The Glen Strathalan is a small (80 metres) flat broken up wreck site with large boiler and condensor and some big congers . At 16 - 18m tops it's a second dive type of site especially as its so close to Bovi. The danger is the yachts that transit the dive site from the East into Plymouth sound, sharp boat handling needed to fend them off.

Learnt the BSAC want to move to all qualified boat handlers having BSAC Coxn certs oveer the next 3 years. We have some work to do in our club to achieve that and there is a training opportunity for some RYA Powerboat schools there. However the RYA level two course is not suficient to cover basic boat handling they want the BSAC Boat Handling Course used instead before taking the assessment.

Pete

[Simon B]

From Plymouth, weather not that bad;
A John Dory; we didnt catch it, cook it or eat it.
Red Sea Fans quite rare.
Ye Olde Tompot blenny
Has any Ribnetter lost a pick axe?

[David G]

Originally Posted by Pete7

Learnt the BSAC want to move to all qualified boat handlers having BSAC Coxn certs oveer the next 3 years.

Pete

Where did you learn this Pete?

Orve (BSAC Diver Coxn Assessor )

[Pete7]

Originally Posted by Orville

Where did you learn this Pete?
Orve (BSAC Diver Coxn Assessor )

From Joint Service Diving Centre at the weekend. I think it's an aspiration that the BSAC have as a long term goal. Bit like the one they had in the early 90s when they wanted to drastically increase the numbers of instructors in the organisation so that training was conducted by a qualified instructor, to a set standard. Looking back I think they achieved that one and certainly substantially raised the numbers of CI within branches.

As to everyone qualifying as coxn's, I am in favour of this. That way everyone is actually assessed against a national standard that they are safe to command a dive boat. So Orve, if you could put aside about 40 weekends next year for Dive Coxn assessments the BSAC would be grateful

Could be some changes in the way Nitrox courses are run too.

Pete

[Simon B]

Pete, Orville,

I dont know how to attach files (our qualification progression is in pdf) I can email this to you both if required. My personal view is that even BSAC Diver C'xn leaves a lot of knowledge to be assumed than is tested. A lot of the diver specifics, which are very different from the more general RYA assessment that I believe Diver C'xn is based on, are not dwelt upon enough.

Our boathandlers certainly felt that the theory of things like rough water handling and it's practical application need to be taught.

[David G]

Originally Posted by Simon B

Pete, Orville,

I dont know how to attach files (our qualification progression is in pdf) I can email this to you both if required. My personal view is that even BSAC Diver C'xn leaves a lot of knowledge to be assumed than is tested. A lot of the diver specifics, which are very different from the more general RYA assessment that I believe Diver C'xn is based on, are not dwelt upon enough.

Our boathandlers certainly felt that the theory of things like rough water handling and it's practical application need to be taught.

Simon,
I think the problem is where to draw the line..........
No-one is going to be able to teach someone to be a fully competent boat handler and diver-support person in a weekend course whether it is BSAC or RYA Level2.

Practise after the course is essential.

And then again, a halfday Diver Coxn Assessment is not going to give the time to test every last skill a candidate possesses (or not).

Regarding your thoughts on rough water; off the top of my head I would suggest the following rationale: BSAC recommend a limit for Diving Operations of Beaufort Scale Force 4. SOLAS V planning says that you should have a place to run to if it all turns nasty (safe haven). Therefore it is probably thought unlikely that you will need to encounter water rough enough to warrant a lot of time spent on it during a 2 day course.

Just my two-penneth.

Orve

[Simon B]

That's a pretty fair Orville, however, it wasnt until BSAC diver C'xn that I'd ever recieved a demo of how to take larger waves and swell in a RIB. I was aware of the theory and the quick demo to instruct on the timing was excellent. To me this is pretty basic stuff, enabling one to actually reach your SOLAS planned safe haven.

As you said drawing a line or striking a balance is not easy and a longer course will impact on time and the pocket. Our club approved boathandlers accepted the idea of progression and logging of more hours and demonstrating more set piece bits of diving boathandling. We are not the best but I feel we have achieved a level of competence that allows our diving members to confidently rely on us to take them to dive sites.

Furthemore, if it is possible I'd happily work to give back some the skills taught to me. Via BSAC SDCs.

[David G]

Originally Posted by Pete7

So Orve, if you could put aside about 40 weekends next year for Dive Coxn assessments

lol...and when am I supposed to go diving or Ribbing with the family

Originally Posted by Simon B

Our club approved boathandlers accepted the idea of progression and logging of more hours and demonstrating more set piece bits of diving boathandling.

I wish I had that level of confidence towards some of my club members.......there often tends to be the "I've got the ticket, I can do it all" mentality

Originally Posted by Simon B

Furthemore, if it is possible I'd happily work to give back some the skills taught to me. Via BSAC SDCs.

If you're a BSAC QI then get in touch with your regional coach; I'm sure they would be keen to use your skills.

Orve.

[Simon B]

Originally Posted by Orville

I wish I had that level of confidence towards some of my club members.......there often tends to be the "I've got the ticket, I can do it all" mentality
Orve.

I've seen some who have exhibitted this trait! They appear to go all sheepish when something complicated turns up. You are only ever as good as your last outing. It was tad lumpy last weekend drawing some criticism from my divers new to UK rib diving. I explained how the boat operated in these conditions then took one wave quite well, I then showed them how not to do it, this appeared to keep all on board happy!