UKRS Trip #94 - Icebreakers 2004.  3rd & 4th January 2004

Background

Icebreakers seems to be a slightly silly event that has been on the go for the past four years involving contributors to the uk.rec.scuba newsgroup getting together at Stoney Cove for a dive or two, a beer or two and lots of general socialising and kit-ogling, swapping, testing and buying/selling on the first weekend of the year.

I had planned to go last year (2003) but due to an unfortunate incident involving me, Horsea Island, cold water and a 7mm two-peice semi dry suit, I thought better of it!

2003, however, was to be the year of the drysuit.

Saturday 3rd January 2004

Driving up to Stoney Cove on Saturday 3rd I was quite excited - I had met only a couple of the rest of the attendees but has conversed online with most of them.  Then it started snowing.  I started questioning my sanity.

When I got there at quarter past nine the bottom carpark was just full and I was the fourth car in the middle one.  If only I had foregone that coffee...

So, kit lugged down to the waterside and UKRS located, it was introductions aplenty and my usual inability to remember anyone but I got the hang of it by the end of the day.

I was diving with Mike Forster, who informed me that his regs and cylinder had just been serviced, and with that in mind we decided to have a bit of a bimble along the 7m shelf from the bus-stop, past the viscount cockpit to the nautilus and if everything was well over the side and down to the wessex, along the wall and back up the roadway.

And so it was that we got kitted up for the first dive.

In we went and dropped a couple of metres to have a bubble check which revealed that my first stage wasn't seated right so I clambered back out and reseated it which cured the problem.  Back in the water and all was now well we set off past the viscount and on to the nautilus, where I think I took my only underwater photos of the whole weekend.  We were just about to drop over the edge to the wessex when I felt something happen behind me and something very large and cylindrical between my legs...

...a dry cam-band and all the climbing out and shaking about with the first stage seating had caused it to do its (now famous) dropping out trick.  So it was kit off to put it back in and at this point I realised another benefit of rigging your alternate on the left - if your kit is standing in front of you your primary (on a short hose) has a kink that wants to pull itself from your mouth - the alternate is perfect!  With the cylinder now secured properly we ventured out and over the ledge to the wessex (found first time, I might add!) and along the wall and up the road to exit at the quayside.  I was puzzled as to why Mike didn't wait to clear his safety stop, but he did stay in the water and kept an eye on me until I had finished mine.

We got out of the water and he told me that he thought his air tasted wrong and that he had a stinking headache.  We dekitted and I tried his air - it was *foul*.  Putting his regs on my cylinder and blowing them through for a while confirmed that it was the cylinder that was the source of the problem, but we also discovered that one of Mike's hoses was knackered.  So with a new hose fitted and a rented cylinder, bacon sarnie munched and coffee slurped we were ready for dive two.

This time it was, off the quayside to the viscount, off the ledge to the Stanegarth's anchor, along the anchor chain to the Stanegarth and back via the wessex to fire an SMB for the hell of it and up the wall and out.  This one went perfectly to plan and by the time we were out the rest were already making tracks to the pub...

...so we followed!  A pint and some chin-wagging about all things, well, just all things, really and I pootled off home, but minus a buddy for the Sunday as Mike's weekend had got more expensive than he had expected!

When I got home I decided to be really smart and put my gloves and hood on the radiator so as to be nice and dry for Sunday, then went out for a Chinese...

Sunday 4th January 2004

Drove back up to Stoney on Sunday and just as I was driving through Sharnford I thought "Oh [insert expletive]!  I left my hood and gloves on the radiator".  And so it was that I decided now would be a good time to buy my spare hood and spare gloves.  I got parked in the bottom carpark and met up with Simon N-K and as we were blethering about getting ready Digs came along with Mark and asked if we would take him to the Stanegarth as we were going that way anyway and we agreed and by the time we were ready to go in we had Paul too which was quite nice - Mark and I on OC singles and the other two on YBODs.

Off the bus-stop we went for my third dive and down for a bubble check, Simon decided on a spot of suit inflation and got more than he bargained for!  He disappeared upwards in a cloud of bubbles as the inflator button jammed in.  It turned out to be unrepairable on the fly so Paul, Mark and I headed off to the Stanegarth, in through the hold and out through the chart room and back to the landrover, wessex and van and up the wall to the pub, nautilus and out.

By this time Simon was ready for the pub having taken the award for shortest dive at about 60 seconds max...

And so it was back to the pub to mull over the possibilities of "UKRS Great Lakes" and "UKRS Key Largo" and various other exotic possibilities.

There will be photos coming in the near future which will prove the "compromising position award" - Nigel H with the snorkel in coat pocket.

Other notable mentions include Nigel H and Danny for the "I'm trying to break my car's suspension with far too much kit" award, Mark for the "longest distance travelled to dive a bloody cold quarry" award, Simon N-K for the "shortest bottom time per kit breakage or loss" award with the total of about 60 seconds for one suit inflator.

Thanks must go to Dave A for doing the organising, and absolutely everyone who was there for making it a cracking weekend.

And we all know that we'll be back next year to do it all again...