Orkney + Plymouth Trip Report

Just a brief description for those interested.

Diving Orkney with John Thornton. 7 dives, 4 inside the flow on the windy
days - Derflinger (40m), Markgraf (40m), Karlsruhe (25m), Koln (30m) and 3
outside the flow HMS Phesant (80m), U297 (80m) and St Patrick (Undived
trawler, 96m). Vis inside the flow 5-10m, outside the flow 10-30m. Water
about 10C throughout. Runtimes from 60mins to 180mins.

Plymouth with Al House aboard Deep Blue's Seeker. 3 dives, Afric (White
Star Liner, 75m), HMS M1 (Sub, 75m), Lord Stone Haven (seldom dived trawler,
64m). Viz over 10m. Water 14C. Runtimes 100mins-150mins.

Cheers
Matt.

On Thu, 15 Jul 2004 19:08:36 +0100, Imorital wrote:

> Star Liner, 75m), HMS M1 (Sub, 75m), Lord Stone Haven (seldom dived trawler,
> 64m). Viz over 10m. Water 14C. Runtimes 100mins-150mins.

Never heard of the Lord Stone Haven. Was it any good?

Jason

--
http://www.scuba-addict.co.uk/ for Aussie diving reports including
Cape Tribulation, Cairns, Airlie Beach, Exmouth and the HMAS Swan

The message <2lnvh1Feei9qU1@uni-berlin.de>
from "Imorital" <me@privacy.net> contains these words:

> Just a brief description for those interested.

> Diving Orkney with John Thornton. 7 dives, 4 inside the flow on the windy
> days - Derflinger (40m), Markgraf (40m), Karlsruhe (25m), Koln (30m) and 3
> outside the flow HMS Phesant (80m), U297 (80m) and St Patrick (Undived
> trawler, 96m). Vis inside the flow 5-10m, outside the flow 10-30m. Water
> about 10C throughout. Runtimes from 60mins to 180mins.


Which bit of the Pheasant did you dive? I've spent time on the stern (no
tide at all for a good 25 minutes), and the bow ( exiting tide), but
never the middle bit , so I've yet to work out exactly how whe lies -
presumably the explosion was sufficiently cataclysmic to blow the thing
up and there is no structure left for the middle, but I'd still like to
get back to see for myself.
I'm green over the U297, a combination of weather and circumstances mean
that after 2 years of trying I've still not dived it :( - never mind 7
weeks till I'm back there again for another try - although Wick is where
we're really aiming for



> Plymouth with Al House aboard Deep Blue's Seeker. 3 dives, Afric (White
> Star Liner, 75m), HMS M1 (Sub, 75m), Lord Stone Haven (seldom dived trawler,
> 64m). Viz over 10m. Water 14C. Runtimes 100mins-150mins.

> Cheers
> Matt.

> Which bit of the Pheasant did you dive?

Bow section, on low water - no slack.

> I've spent time on the stern (no
> tide at all for a good 25 minutes), and the bow ( exiting tide), but
> never the middle bit , so I've yet to work out exactly how whe lies -
> presumably the explosion was sufficiently cataclysmic to blow the thing
> up and there is no structure left for the middle, but I'd still like to
> get back to see for myself.

We tried for a second dive, but the weather blew us out. I'm back up in 2
weeks time.

> I'm green over the U297, a combination of weather and circumstances mean
> that after 2 years of trying I've still not dived it :( - never mind 7
> weeks till I'm back there again for another try - although Wick is where
> we're really aiming for

U297 is a pretty good dive. Probably better than the M1. The memorial is
still there. I didn't see the bones, neither did I see any open hatches.
We could see the shot from both ends

She was shallower than reported - perhaps because of the neap tides.

Cheers
Matt.

In article <2lnvh1Feei9qU1@uni-berlin.de>, Imorital <me@privacy.net> wrote:
>Just a brief description for those interested.
>
>Diving Orkney with John Thornton. 7 dives, 4 inside the flow on the windy
>days - Derflinger (40m), Markgraf (40m), Karlsruhe (25m), Koln (30m) and 3
>outside the flow HMS Phesant (80m), U297 (80m) and St Patrick (Undived
>trawler, 96m). Vis inside the flow 5-10m, outside the flow 10-30m. Water
>about 10C throughout. Runtimes from 60mins to 180mins.
>
>Plymouth with Al House aboard Deep Blue's Seeker. 3 dives, Afric (White
>Star Liner, 75m), HMS M1 (Sub, 75m), Lord Stone Haven (seldom dived trawler,
>64m). Viz over 10m. Water 14C. Runtimes 100mins-150mins.

Out of curiosity, what dive software do you use and what were your
bottom times?

Gordon

> Out of curiosity, what dive software do you use and what were your
> bottom times?

Humm, without the computer with me I can only give ball-park. For bail-out
I use ddplan and a fresh-water calibrated DTimer!, Mr Author.

For diving I use a VR3 with no link (and no calibration problems!).

From my vague memory I did a 25 min bottom time for a 181 min run on the St
Patrick. On the LSH we did a 28 min dive for a 113 runtime. May be I'll
fill out my logbook at the weekend and can then be more precise.

Contrary to some opinions about the usefulness of multilevel gas diving,
both those dives had a dive depth range of around 10m (LSH is 55m-64m and
the St Patrick 88m-96m). By matching the way you dive to suit the
multilevel nature of the dive-site a computer, IMHO, provides a very
economical way of diving when compared to square profile tables.

Cheers,
Matt.

In article <2lps4bFfiie1U1@uni-berlin.de>, Imorital <me@privacy.net> wrote:
>> Out of curiosity, what dive software do you use and what were your
>> bottom times?
>
>Humm, without the computer with me I can only give ball-park. For bail-out
>I use ddplan and a fresh-water calibrated DTimer!, Mr Author.

OK!

>For diving I use a VR3 with no link (and no calibration problems!).

Sounds like you've been reading too much on the Inspiration list recently... :)

>From my vague memory I did a 25 min bottom time for a 181 min run on the St
>Patrick. On the LSH we did a 28 min dive for a 113 runtime. May be I'll
>fill out my logbook at the weekend and can then be more precise.

It's not that important (for me anyway!) I'm just curious of things
like this and ball-park figures are OK. Decompression is hardly an exact
science...

>Contrary to some opinions about the usefulness of multilevel gas diving,
>both those dives had a dive depth range of around 10m (LSH is 55m-64m and
>the St Patrick 88m-96m). By matching the way you dive to suit the
>multilevel nature of the dive-site a computer, IMHO, provides a very
>economical way of diving when compared to square profile tables.

It depends on how you use the tables :) For a 88-96m dive, I'd use the
table which I felt was closest to my average depth - eg. a 90m table if
I was closer to 88 than 96 for most of the dive.

Gordon

> >Humm, without the computer with me I can only give ball-park. For
bail-out
> >I use ddplan and a fresh-water calibrated DTimer!, Mr Author.
>
> OK!

And a fine piece of kit it is too.

> >For diving I use a VR3 with no link (and no calibration problems!).
> Sounds like you've been reading too much on the Inspiration list
recently... :)

I only ever read the list whilst work is paying!

> It's not that important (for me anyway!) I'm just curious of things
> like this and ball-park figures are OK. Decompression is hardly an exact
> science...

Ball-park for gas diving, I aim mostly to go 20-30mins bottom time and to be
out in 2-3hours.

> It depends on how you use the tables :) For a 88-96m dive, I'd use the
> table which I felt was closest to my average depth - eg. a 90m table if
> I was closer to 88 than 96 for most of the dive.

Agreed. One fudge as good as the next mans

Cheers
Matt.

The message <2lpnguFf5gi2U1@uni-berlin.de>
from "Imorital" <me@privacy.net> contains these words:

>

> We tried for a second dive, but the weather blew us out. I'm back up in 2
> weeks time.

The north isles weather has not been kind this year - it's blown a
consistent NW5 for 2 weeks now, so guess there'll be triangles in the
sea there just now :( - when are you back, I'm kind of thinking about
going down for a weekend, as Boffin is leaving for Antarctica in 3
weeks, so I'll drag him out diving somewhere first :), preferably on the
Karin



> U297 is a pretty good dive. Probably better than the M1. The memorial is
> still there. I didn't see the bones, neither did I see any open hatches.
> We could see the shot from both ends

The others said it was great, after I'd had to head north again due to
work, but never mind - their report was a little different the the
'other one' too - although Bof has a couple of pictures looking down the
conning tower hatch which are good, there's no bones on that either.
I dived the M1 for the first time this year, I enjoyed it even though
the shot missed - the other one I want to see is the u18, of which I've
seen the sea nearby :)

> She was shallower than reported - perhaps because of the neap tides.

> Cheers
> Matt.

> The north isles weather has not been kind this year - it's blown a
> consistent NW5 for 2 weeks now, so guess there'll be triangles in the
> sea there just now :( - when are you back, I'm kind of thinking about
> going down for a weekend, as Boffin is leaving for Antarctica in 3
> weeks, so I'll drag him out diving somewhere first :), preferably on the
> Karin

I'm hoping the weather improves for my trip that starts a week today. If
you go south you get SW wind - go north, get NW wind! Sods law.

Matt.