Trip Report - Sports Diver 1

The Beginning

After persuading Nick M to let me run the trip, it was a manic two weeks to get the trip up and running, but with only six trainees, things were looking doubtful. Nick then pulled it out of the bag and found me five more trainees and we were in business. Due to Kirk being ill and Helen being the ever attentive nurse, Martin B had his chance to step forward and impress all with his instructing abilities (which he no doubt stole!).

After several false starts on Friday, with people forgeting sleeping bags (is it going to be cold?) we drove through the snow over the Pennines to the accommodation, with Steve making out to Cal H and Adam L that this was going to the worst weekend ever due to the cold and so unsuprisingly, their conversation was sparse.

All retired to the pub, not before Steve, Si M, Sean and Jim C had a road trip to find the chippie, only to find that it resembled a scout hut and closes at 8.30. Still, the offie was more welcoming, as was the pub.

Saturday

The Delph now does breakfast if you book in advance, so after a nice lie in, we arrived early for bacon and sausage butties. After a classic pre-dive brief from me, it was off to do the first of the three dives. Everyone was suprisingly keen, despite the jolly sign announcing 'today's water temperature is 5C'. Everything went smoothly, with eveybody chipping in and being, bizzarely, very happy to be there. My DSMB, however, decided to fall apart during the DSMB lesson, much to Dave R's amusement.

Everything finished at half four, so we got back early for tea. Lou, who was sick to the back teeth with chilli, decided to cook spicy chicken with jackets plus Shrek was on the telly. Someone decided that the grill would be a good place to bake potatoes, so sadly there would be no post pub food, or so I thought.

In the pub we all settled for a couple of glasses of the local hospitality and a chin wag in the warm.

Back to the bunk barn in time for the end of Match of the Day, at which point Steve and Dave R decided to eat all the left over crisps and a selection of Sunday's.

Sunday

After an earlier rise in a vain attempt to clean and tidy the accommodation which failed due to lack of cleaning equipment, we arrived early at the Delph for breakfast and enjoyed another round of bacon and sauage butties before a morning of 'get colder and sucking noses'. That's right, it was rescue training time. After no complaints from any trainee, we moved on to lunch and the skills review. Martin B announced that his drysuit zip wouldn't unzip and he needed the loo. He therefore decided his group would go in again and finish SO5 and at 14.00 his group completed sports diver training. They proceeded to eat and smoke for three solid hours.

The rest of us took a more leisurely approach, but all was completed by 16.15 and the van packed not soon after, allowed for a relaxing drive home.

A big well done to all one the weekend, especially the trainees for making it run smoothly with no complaints about the pace or the cold, even when some drysuits switched sides and became wetsuits. Also to Lou for the cooking and for not having a padi (!) when I went over the dive time and for the instructors for being patient and organised. Ta