What a blast! Literally.
Yesterday I had the pleasure of experiencing (and it is SOME experience) of diving to 50m for a bottom time of 6minutes and deco of 15mins at Cumbrae on perhaps one of the best diving days of our limited summer period.Organised by DemonDave (who now goes by the epithet of "Narked-at-Nothing" ) eventually only 6 of us managed to take part, which permitted more room for us all in the already capacious chamber.
Ah, did I not mention this was a Chamber Dive?
I should also mention, with gratitude, that whilst Dave organised it, Ross Goldie, owner of Seren Las the latest Clyde dive/charter boat, sponsored this "dive" to the full amount. Many thanks for that Ross.
On arrival, three of us who got there early, we met Ross at the Marine Station's pier for a tour of the boat. An ice, tidy and well found boat it is too, complete with a diver lift! Looking forward to repaying Ross' generosity later and taking a few dives from the Seren Lass.
Our allotted time, 10am, approached and after waiting for the stragglers (coming by various means, the Inverclyde rib and Hughie in his van) we were introduced to the Pot by Phil (Diverrepair on the forums) who runs the treatment facility with his crew.
All loose metallic items, mobile phones, catalytic hand warmers (if you had any...) and, since this is a medical facility, our outdoor shoes were left outside the Pot tho' we were allowed to take in our diving cameras and dive computers (tho' Dave forgot his camera...aargh! Narked at Nothing ).
A bucket of water, to activate some of the computers, was also taken in but with the proviso that, if anyone, due to narcosis, were to think it funny to chuck it over us in the pot, THEY would be mopping up afterwards...
The chamber is large and roomy, with two access doors and includes a re-entry/exit section to the rear and a medical access port. Windows all around, lights, sound equipment and recording video cameras.
Once the door shuts and everyone is asked if they're feeling fine the air is rushed in.
To 6 metres or so first and even to this depth your have to pretty much constantly clear your ears, far more frequently than in a normal water dive.
Another check and then down to 30m.
Wow! Far more ear clearing...it seems like we're going down really fast, but as we found later, the descent was only a 8m/minute! It felt a lot faster than that, and, due to the physics of gas compression, it also got very warm as we descended (if only it were that way in water diving).
Now, as we descended past 30m we started to hear our voices change, as if we were on Helium. Narked at Nothing said he thought we, Hughie and me, were putting it on, til he tried to tell us so... then everyone started the chatter.
Now, as we descended past 30m we started to hear our voices change, as if we were on Helium. Narked at Nothing said he thought we, Hughie and me, were putting it on, til he tried to tell us so... then everyone started the chatter.
Stew Russell (a Commercial Diver friend) had suggested we try to whistle as we got past 30m. He's right, it's impossible, but so funny (narcosis?) trying.
15m at 50m, in the peace and quiet since there's no air being blown in, flew by prompting Dave (N-a-N) to say he didn't think it was that long (see Dave, narked?)
Hughie was videoing the whole time (getting some good stuff I hope) and as we began our "ascent" I crushed the plastic bottle I'd brought in and popped the lid on. Hugh filmed this at various stages of our ascent, getting closer to the object as the quite severe misting (and sudden coldness) that occurs on ascent meant we could hardly see one another even across the small room.
Not much happened in respect of "re-inflation" on the ascent (as you'd expect) til we got to the 15-10m mark where the pressure differentials have their largest effect and the bottle came back to nearly full size with just a couple of dents left.
Since this was a Deco dive, we halted (with perfect buoyancy, BSAC Gold Star Rating :Ha Ha: ) at 6m for 5mins then again at 3m, this time for 10mins then came to the "surface" where the bottle finally re-gained it's full shape.
As the door swung open (it's nice to see that they can ONLY be opened from the outside!) the temperature had equalised and we all filed out to line up alongside the Pot for some Post Pressure physiological checks (a nice, necessary touch).
In all we were down for 26min, and when asked if we had felt the Narcosis, only one person (Phil said there'd be one...) said he hadn't felt anything change, but then Dave did add that he feels Narked at The Surface anyway...hence his new name of Narked-at-Nothing
Phil then gave a most interesting presentation, with some scary anecdotes (which I'll leave for him to tell) about the system, processes and treatment of all DCI's.
All in all a very nice way to spend a morning, and it's very nice to see the dedication and professionalism of the team in action, even tho' this was just a "jolly"!
At only £25 per head (don't be conned by certain others who charge £45/person and pocket the difference) this experience is not to be missed, tho' it has to be said, it goes nowhere towards the actual money required annually to running the Pot at Cumbrae (some £180,000 was quoted) but every little counts!
Paradoxically, Phil commented that since the pot was not seeing so many divers lately, the cost implications for keeping it running were becoming difficult and they might have to re-evaluate the pricing of their services to the Scottish NHS in future.
I asked whether the reduction in casualties was due to better training etc, but the reply was, "No, there are simply fewer divers diving our waters...", as the divers numbers decline, so do the incidents, it appears.
I made the comment that since Britain's Secret Seas airing and the sudden influx of new divers to all agencies, that next year (when the newbies start venturing out on their own) things might change. (Let's hope not, in the case of chamber use at least )
15m at 50m, in the peace and quiet since there's no air being blown in, flew by prompting Dave (N-a-N) to say he didn't think it was that long (see Dave, narked?)
Hughie was videoing the whole time (getting some good stuff I hope) and as we began our "ascent" I crushed the plastic bottle I'd brought in and popped the lid on. Hugh filmed this at various stages of our ascent, getting closer to the object as the quite severe misting (and sudden coldness) that occurs on ascent meant we could hardly see one another even across the small room.
 |
| Back "on the surface" |
 |
| At 50m |
Since this was a Deco dive, we halted (with perfect buoyancy, BSAC Gold Star Rating :Ha Ha: ) at 6m for 5mins then again at 3m, this time for 10mins then came to the "surface" where the bottle finally re-gained it's full shape.
As the door swung open (it's nice to see that they can ONLY be opened from the outside!) the temperature had equalised and we all filed out to line up alongside the Pot for some Post Pressure physiological checks (a nice, necessary touch).
In all we were down for 26min, and when asked if we had felt the Narcosis, only one person (Phil said there'd be one...) said he hadn't felt anything change, but then Dave did add that he feels Narked at The Surface anyway...hence his new name of Narked-at-Nothing
Phil then gave a most interesting presentation, with some scary anecdotes (which I'll leave for him to tell) about the system, processes and treatment of all DCI's.
All in all a very nice way to spend a morning, and it's very nice to see the dedication and professionalism of the team in action, even tho' this was just a "jolly"!
At only £25 per head (don't be conned by certain others who charge £45/person and pocket the difference) this experience is not to be missed, tho' it has to be said, it goes nowhere towards the actual money required annually to running the Pot at Cumbrae (some £180,000 was quoted) but every little counts!
Paradoxically, Phil commented that since the pot was not seeing so many divers lately, the cost implications for keeping it running were becoming difficult and they might have to re-evaluate the pricing of their services to the Scottish NHS in future.
I asked whether the reduction in casualties was due to better training etc, but the reply was, "No, there are simply fewer divers diving our waters...", as the divers numbers decline, so do the incidents, it appears.
I made the comment that since Britain's Secret Seas airing and the sudden influx of new divers to all agencies, that next year (when the newbies start venturing out on their own) things might change. (Let's hope not, in the case of chamber use at least )
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