Tinkering about in Trefor

We’re quite lucky to be relatively close to the Welsh coast and the splendid diving it offers. Here, Mark Hammond tells us about one of his favourite dives.

One of my favourite dive sites has to be Trefor Pier on the North Wales coast near Caernarton. Gary first introduced it to me and I was keen to try it out, so in the wee hours one Saturday morning I set off for a tiny village I’d never heard of.

 

After several phone calls, I finally managed to find the elusive Pier. Gary and I waited for the tide to come in – for those who have not yet dived Trefor, it’s best dived on a high rising tide, otherwise it’s a long walk through the mud!

 

But don’t let that deter you. During the season this makes a fantastic dive site with good visibility. You can easily can spend 60-90 minutes bimbling around as there’s so much marine life to see – you could spot spider crabs, wrasse, skate, lobster, the list goes on.

 

Now, for those who like to get 23-30 meters under their belt – forget it. On a good day you’ll get about 8 meters, but it’s still well worth the trip – there’s also a beautiful unspoilt beach with fantastic walks along the cliff top.

 

Fishermen do fish from the end of the pier and on my second dive there, I managed to get myself tangled up in a line. I had a knife, but unfortunately it was in my BCD pocket where I couldn’t reach it, so Gary had to come to the rescue!

 

Three lessons were learned on that dive: 1) keep your dive knife where you can easily reach it, 2) stay close to your buddy and 3) wear a dry suit! As much as I enjoyed diving in a semi-dry, to spend any length of time in UK waters a dry suit was a must for me.

 

Last year, I dived Trefor five or six times with different people, novices and experienced divers alike who had not dived there before and were amazed at what they’d been missing – everyone commented what a relaxing and pleasurable dive Trefor Pier was.

 

For myself, each dive was as good as the next for different reasons – it’s one of those places where you’re always going to see something different, and I’m already looking forward to my next trip!

 

By Mark Hammond

Tank Bangers sing for our oceans

Conservation group The Tank Bankers have just released this incredible song and video made purely by divers to help raise awareness of the fragility of our oceans.

The Tank Bangers are a passionate collective of oceanic conservationists who aim to promote, inspire and educate a better knowledge and understanding of the intricate and delicate machine that is our oceans.

They raise awareness by using music, comedy and social media to encourage more co-operation and unity amongst the diving community, ocean lovers and any other marine conservation groups.

Their first project, this incredible video called ‘Our Blue’, is designed to portray the beauty and fragility of the ocean and convey how we are mistreating and neglecting it.

The video was put together over 10 months through hundreds of dives and thousands of takes, and the seven-minute-long production has cost the Tank Bankers a small fortune in production fees.

The song is now available to purchase online and through sales of the song, the Tank Bangers are hoping to raise vital funds for selected marine conservation groups and organisations.

Watch the video and read more about the Tank Bangers.

Your say on Marine Conservation Zones

The Marine Conservation Society have been running a ‘Your Seas Your Voice’ website where you can vote for Marine Conservation Zones in England and Wales.

They closed the voting for England last year and will be closing the Welsh voting at the end of this month. If you haven’t already done so, do visit the YSYV website here and place your vote.
  
Once released, the Marine Conservation Society will be updating the website with the information provided in the Welsh Government’s Marine Conservation Zone consultation with their list of potential sites around Wales.

Their aim is to encourage people to respond to the consultation and raise awareness of the need for highly protected MCZs. They will be promoting this via the website, social media and promotional materials.

Stay up to date with the Marine Conservation Society’s website.

A very worthy winner

We’ve never entered BSAC’s Volunteer of the Year, but since one club member shines out every year we felt it was time to recognise how much time, effort and passion he puts into our club.

So we sneakily nominated the inimitable Mr Richard Burdekin, and we are absolutely thrilled to report that Richard was selected as one of this year’s 30 Branch Volunteer of the Year winners!

Richard is a cherished and selfless member for whom nothing is too much trouble. It’s hard to pinpoint everything he’s done for our club as he’s done so much, and ultimately helped us become the thriving community of active divers that we are today.

At the age of 66, Richard’s enthusiasm for all things BSAC remains undimmed and he is as passionate about diving today as he was when he first became an enthusiastic Ocean Diver.

Despite the commitments of a demanding day job, Richard has not only found the time to develop his own qualifications from Sports Diver to Advanced Instructor, but has patiently nurtured many fledgling divers over the years, helping them to progress confidently through the sport and discover the sheer joy and fun of diving.

Richard continues to dedicate much of his spare time to the club and is actively involved in all levels of diver instruction, as well as running courses in Oxygen Administration, First Aid and Basic Life Support.

His BSAC training in First Aid and BLS have become a primary interest for Richard, and he has since become an Emergency First Responder for the ambulance service on a voluntary basis.

Crucially, Richard participated in the successful resuscitation of a collapsed heart attack victim at Amsterdam Airport whilst on holiday. Although he is characteristically modest about the event, he admits that he was able to help as a direct result of his initial BSAC training. 

As well as this, Richard took on the position of Club Chairman which he maintained for six years, during which time he recognised the talents in individual members and fostered a caring attitude of inclusion and camaraderie.

BSAC told us that the standard of entries this year was exceptionally high and Richard was a worthy winner!

They are currently putting a feature on the initiative for the next issue of BSAC’s magazine SCUBA which will list all the winners – keep a lookout for it!

Kit review: IST Rubber Jet Fins

We’re really keen to hear from our members about their favourite pieces of dive kit, and first up we’ve got a great review and useful recommendation from Mark Hammond.

 

In the years I’ve been diving, I’ve often noticed a number of divers trundling off to their local dive site with the latest and sometimes very expensive fins, ankle weights in tow.

 

After every dive, I always hear the same story: ‘I struggled with my buoyancy, I kicked the sand up, my legs are tired’ and so on.

 

I must confess I had exactly the same problems until I spoke to a commercial diver who set me on the straight and narrow – he advised me to get rid of my long floppy expensive fins, get rid of my ankle weights, and to purchase a pair of jet fins.

 

Jet fins were developed some time ago for the US Navy Seals, but since the patent ran out a number of manufactures make them including Scubapro, IST and Poseidon. I thought the fins I had were already jet fins, but he then showed me a pair of IST rubber fins, which he’d been using for a long time.

 

Initially I thought they were quite heavy, but he explained that I could now dump my ankle weights, and because they have vents on the back stroke, I wouldn’t be moving as much water – the water passes through the vents and you don’t have to work so hard.

 

Better still, they’re short so you don’t kick up the sea bed, they grip well in a current, I can frog fin with ease, and they are very robust.

 

Having owned a pair for three years, I’d never contemplate changing them. It was probably the best £40 I’ve ever spent on dive kit!

 

By Mark Hammond

SSAC’s AGM report and update

On 11^th January we had a very important meeting to consider adopting  a ‘New Constitution’ in Working Draft form.

 

This was important because there has not been a Constitution in place, which had been ratified by the members for some time. A ratified Constitution is necessary under BSAC rules and is also a legal requirement to protect the Officers of the club should anything go wrong.

 

Click ‘read the rest of this story’ to see the full report.

The prize-winning picture!

AquaVenture, who we dived with on our club trip to Malta last October, recently ran a photo competition – and who do you think came third?

Our very own Diving Officer, Gary Coles, with his excellent shot of an inquisitive moray eel surrounded by colourful coral. Congrats to Gary!

Check out more awesome pictures of our Malta trip from Gary, Solty, Jane and Clare, as well as an excellent dive report from Jane, in our story Malteaser: The Lighter Way To Dive.