Brit diver’s world record four-and-a-half minute breath holding attempt
Exclusive
She’s known as Dolphin Girl – the diver who can hold her breath for an incredible four-and-a-half minutes.
She already has the world record for diving 90 metres deep. And next week Londoner Sara Campbell aims to go even deeper with her amazing monofin.
But that’s just the start of it… this summer she will become the first woman ever to “freedive” one of the world’s most awe-inspiring and challenging plunges – The Arch in Dahab, Egypt.
It is a huge archway, or tunnel, connecting the Blue Hole – a massive abyss – with the open ocean. To complete the dive Sara, 35, must first swim down 55 metres to the tunnel entrance.
After 10 metres the human body is no longer buoyant so she will use a “divebomb” technique to plummet further into the deep. She will then aim to take the shortest 35 metre route through the tunnel and then up to the surface threeand- a-half minutes later, swimming a total of 145m (475ft) – almost the height of Blackpool Tower.
Sara, who is just 4ft 11in and weighs only seven-and-a-half stone, will have to use every ounce of her strength – assisted by her £300 custom-made monofin – to ensure she doesn’t sink.
“Imagine holding your breath for three-and-a-half minutes,” she said. “Now imagine doing it while physically working your body at its limits, at depth.
Remaining calm is the only thing that will ensure I survive.”
The Arch has claimed the lives of countless scuba divers, and has been conquered by just a handful of male freedivers before.
Medical expert Dr Marios Anastasiadis last night explained the risks Sara will take. “Most normal people struggle to hold their breath for much longer than a minute, without exertion,” he said. “Any longer and they risk unconsciousness through oxygen starvation.
“Drowning is a real risk for Sara. At 50 metres her lungs will shrink. She will feel pressure on her whole body.
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It’s not just lack of oxygen, it’s also the fact the water is cold.
“She will start to feel the effects of dizziness, lack of concentration and her vision may blur. If she loses consciousness she will die.”
Sara, who is a three-time world record holder in freediving, said: “It will be a huge challenge for me. It is very dangerous.”
Incredibly, she only started competitive freediving nine months before setting her records last October.
Sara added: “When I’m at 90 metres without oxygen I feel utterly at home. My body and the water do the dive for me – I just relax and surrender to this magical space. Freediving is a totally natural expression of the human potential under water. It is a tangible link to our past as sea mammals.”
Sara’s £300 custommade monofin is made of carbon fibre with a rubber insert for her feet. It weighs around six kilos and is one metre wide.
She holds the world record for diving 90 metres without air tanks – as deep as Big Ben is high. Next week she plans to go even deeper… in training for The Arch.
Most people struggle to hold their breath for more than 60 seconds. Sara can hold hers for four-and-a-half minutes.
‘I’ll have to stay calm or I will die’
Shark Week calls for change
European Shark Week, for which the public are asked to run all manner of activities in support of shark conservation, takes place from 11-19 October.
In the UK, the event is being promoted by The Shark Trust, which describes it as “a unique opportunity for people across Europe to demonstrate their support for shark conservation in a way that can really effect change”.
Materials including banners, badges, posters, leaflets and stickers are available from the Trust, for those willing to promote the campaign to change European law for more effective shark conservation measures in EU waters.
A key element is the collection of campaign petition signatures. “During European Shark Week 2007, aquariums, dive clubs and other organisations helped host more than 100 events and collected more than 20,000 signatures,” says The Shark Trust. “This year is truly pivotal for European shark policy.”
To find out more about European Shark Week, obtain publicity materials or sign the petition online, go to www.sharktrust.org
Participants who get hold of the event’s big-fin posters are asked also to contribute digital photographs of people with them, for a campaigning online picture wall at www.sharkalliance.org, website of the European shark conservation umbrella group of which The Shark Trust is a member.
Source: Divenet
Harry diving with Royal Navy… while prosecutors prepare to rule on rare bird shooting
Prince Harry found himself in even deeper water yesterday following his brush with police investigating the illegal shooting of two rare birds at Sandringham.
But this time he clearly had plenty to smile about as he tried his hand at underwater engineering during a visit to the Royal Navy’s fleet diving squadron in Portsmouth.
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Harry smiles after being kitted out during the visit
Harry, 23, who completed challenging dives in Cyprus and Plymouth during his Sandhurst training, was kitted out with a lightweight dry suit, rubber fins and face mask – with his surname printed around the edge.
After watching a mock rescue of a casualty at the bottom of the 16ft deep training tank he took the plunge himself.
A water temperature of 15C (59F) did little to curb his enthusiasm as the prince clearly relished being back on royal duty following the furore over the killing of two hen harriers on the Queen’s Norfolk estate.
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Scuba kit: The Prince gets some help with his diving gear
A spokesman for Harry has flatly denied he was involved in the shooting last month.
Given the sensitivities of the affair, the prince could have been forgiven for picking up a few tips from the Royal Navy Bomb Disposal Unit he visited yesterday before his dive.
Dressed in his Blues and Royals combats, Harry was shown how to explode limpet mines, letter bombs and even a Second World War anti-submarine device found on the seabed.
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Action man: Harry helps with some underwater engineering
Cornet Wales, as he is known in the Army, sparked a laugh when he took control of a bomb disposal vehicle and swung the extending arm towards reporters.
He then used the remote-controlled device to blow open the boot of a car in a mock bomb scare 50 yards away.
Chief Petty Officer Diver Dan Archer said: “He had a good sense of humour. You could see exactly what he was doing moving that bomb disposal vehicle around.”
Last night attention was turning back to the Sandringham incident with the Crown Prosecution Service confirming it was expecting to receive the police file on the case today or tomorrow.
That will determine if Harry or other members of the shooting party should be charged.
The hen harriers were killed last week, according to three witnesses. But no one saw who fired the shots and no carcasses have been found.
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Helping hand: Harry appears relaxed underwater
All that has been confirmed is that the prince, a keen country sportsman who enjoys pheasant shoots, was in the area at the time and has been spoken to by police. In addition, police are understood to have interviewed two other people who were with him.
One is said to be a member of the Van Cutsem family, who have close ties with the Royal Family.
The third is believed to be a game keeper or royal protection officer.
The hen harrier: Anyone guilty of killing one of the birds could be jailed for up to six months
A senior royal source said yesterday: “The police are seriously examining the possibility that Harry’s party were responsible for the shooting.
“That’s not to say that they did it but detectives cannot find evidence of anyone else being in the area at the time.”
Birds of prey are protected under the 1981 Wildlife and Countryside Act. Anyone convicted of killing one faces a six-month jail sentence and £5,000 fine.
Blackbeard salvage under way
A three-week operation is under way to raise items from a wreck judged to be Blackbeard’s Queen Anne’s Revenge.
The 1718 wreck was found in 1996, in shallow water near Fishtown in North Carolina. Over the past 11 years, numerous surveys and recoveries have taken place at the site.
This time, the QAR Shipwreck Project team are excavating and recovering items from the wreck’s forward hold and midships areas. Among other things, an 8ft, 1-ton cannon is being raised to join eleven other cannon already ashore.
Dives began on 15 September and are due to continue until 7 November. Recovered artefacts are being taken to the project’s lab at East Carolina University for treatment and storage.
Source: Divenet
Amy Winehouse: PADI Scuba Drunk Rock Diver?
Amy Winehouse has taken up scuba diving and is enjoying her new hobby with Bryan Adams, according to reports. The embattled diva looks to have escaped the full glare of the media with her new aquatic hobby, holidaying off the island of Mustique.
She is said to be staying as the Canadian rocker’s holiday home and has found “the beauty of nature” a great distraction to her very public problems.
Speaking to a UK tabloid, Amy explained: “I’ve learned to appreciate simple things, like the beauty of nature. It’s taught me to face my fears.
“It’s a different world down there. I can look at things in a new way. I’ve come to the realization that life is short, so I want to make sure I live every minute of it.”
Winehouse’s husband, Blake Fielder-Civil, is currently on remand in Pentonville Prison, awaiting trial on allegations which include perverting the course of justice.
New Sonardyne system protects superyachts from divers
Harle A high performance diver detection sonar is being presented by Sonardyne International Ltd at the Monaco Yacht Show (Telemar Yachting Stand QS41). The new Sentinel system has been developed to close the envelope of security around superyachts which, until now, have always been vulnerable to intruders approaching from underwater. With the small, lightweight Sentinel sonar lowered into the water from a boom or through a dedicated hull opening, a yacht’s crew will be alerted to any divers or swimmers approaching the vessel from any direction. The long detection range capabilities of Sentinel mean that should a threat be identified, the crew has sufficient time to assess the situation and react accordingly.
Sentinel has been developed specifically for ease of use by a yacht’s crew and is set to become a vital component of a vessel’s security system. Within minutes of a yacht anchoring or berthing, the Sentinel sonar head can be deployed in the water and activated; ensuring complete peace of mind for all on-board.
The Sentinel system that is now available for installation aboard superyachts is based on the same technology chosen by the US Navy for its Integrated Swimmer Defence system. It combines state-of-the-art sonar with commercial off-the-shelf (COTS)-based processing units and automated detection and classification software that has been proved in extensive evaluations.
Commenting on the changes that Sentinel will bring, Ross Gooding, business development manager for maritme security at Sonardyne said; “It is extraordinary that vessels and shore installations have remained vulnerable to underwater attack for so long. Yachts and ports can be equipped with radar, night vision, armed guards, infra-red CCTV, electric fences and every conceivable device yet they remain fully accessible to any intruder with access to diving equipment. Sentinel now closes that gaping hole in a yacht’s security and offers safety and reassurance to all yacht owners and their guests. It is the first system to combine small size with exceptional performance that comes from having been designed specifically for the task of creating an underwater protective screen around vessels such as superyachts.”
During proving trials, Sentinel has shown a 100 per cent success rate in detecting targets at long ranges and in differentiating between divers, surface swimmers and non-threats such as pleasure craft, large fish and cetaceans. This high level of performance is attributed to the fact that unlike other diver detection systems, Sentinel is a not a hybrid of an existing sonar. It has been specifically designed to meet the challenge of tracking underwater targets reliably and cost-effectively.
Compact and easily deployed, the Sentinel sonar head is only 30cm in diameter, 40cm high and weighs just 29 kg (65lb). The 360 deg sonar can operate as a stand-alone portable system or can enable multiple heads to be networked together so that very wide areas, such as ports and water-front locations can be monitored. The new system features advanced software for target detection, classification and tracking that removes the need for continuous manual operation. Threat warnings received by the system’s control facility can be automatically forwarded by text message, internet or pre-recorded voice message to key personnel anywhere in the world.
Sonardyne International Ltd is recognised as a world leader in the design and manufacture of subsea acoustic navigation, communication and telemetry systems for use by the military, offshore oil and gas industries and the international scientific community. The company has headquarters in Yateley, England, with additional facilities in the Far East, USA and South America.
Pictured: Female British diver clings to life in a shark-filled sea during amazing three-day ordeal
As she clings desperately to a log in pitch darkness, terror in her eyes, British diver Charlotte Allin fears she will not make it through the night.
This moment was captured on camera by her boyfriend James Manning as their five-strong party drifted helplessly in shark-infested waters after being separated from their boat.
‘There were times when I thought we would die,’ admitted 25-year-old Charlotte yesterday as she described her ordeal to the Daily Mail.
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Clinging to life: Charlotte pictured by her boyfriend James Manning
‘But I quickly brushed those thoughts from my mind. We had to keep our spirits up. I knew that if we lost hope of being found, that would be it. Jim was a tower of strength, both in the water and back on land. He assured us all that we would get out of this predicament.’
Charlotte and 30-year-old James, a former Royal Marine who served in Iraq and Afghanistan, were recovering yesterday from cuts, bruises and the effects of dehydration after a three-day ordeal missing in the dangerous waters off Indonesia.
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Survivors: Charlotte Allin, Jim Manning and instructor Kathleen Mitchinson
The five divers are taken to safety
Charlotte, left, and her four friends receive medical treatment
But they were able to piece together a dramatic hour-by-hour diary of the nightmare which saw them carried away by the current and eventually stranded on an island with a deadly Komodo dragon – the world’s biggest lizard.
After taking diving courses in Thailand the couple, both from Devon, had worked their way through Indonesia before they reached Flores, the mysterious island where scientists claim to have found the sub-human they have named the Hobbit.
It is where pygmy elephants once roamed and where, on a tiny island to the west, the Komodo dragon still roams.
Charlotte Allin, left, Frenchman Lauren Pinel and Swede Helena Naradainen on the beach On Rinja island after spending 9 hours drifting in the sea off Flores, Indonesia
Divers aboard the Reefseekers boat shortly before they went missing
James Manning and his girlfriend Charlotte Allin smile on arrival in Bali’s Airport, Kuta, Indonesia, today. All five Europeans who went missing while scuba diving in treacherous waters were found alive Saturday on a remote island
The couple made contact with another Briton, Kath Mitchinson, who runs the Diveseekers Company on Flores.
They left for what was to be a three-day adventure among the spectacular coral reefs. Their first two days of diving left them awestruck by the underwater beauty. Then, last Thursday morning the couple set out with Miss Mitchinson, a French diver named Laurent Pinel and a Swedish woman, Helena Neradairen.
‘We had a wooden dive boat and spent the early part of the day on a walking trip before starting that day’s dive,’ says Charlotte, whose family live in Bideford. ‘We explored an underwater site called Hanging Garden, then at 3.05pm we went down a second time to explore an area called Manta Corner.’ James took pictures with his waterproof camera.
Charlotte Allin and Kathleen Mitchinson on the beach on Rinja Isand
Thursday, 4.10pm: The party surface after 65 minutes, as arranged, 30 yards from the boat but the crew have their backs to the divers and do not see them. ‘We blow whistles but still the crew don’t respond, so we put up an inflatable 4fthigh orange marker buoy, again to no avail,’ says Charlotte.
‘We have no cause for concern at that stage. We are sure they will see us and pick us up. But it doesn’t happen – the five of us find ourselves being swept further from the boat.
‘At 5.15pm we can still see the boat in the distance, but it is impossible for the crew to see us. We decide to swim for land, but the current takes us around the first island we head for.’
Alive: Charlotte Allin
6pm: Darkness begins to fall. ‘We all agree as we swim together, kept afloat with our dive vests, that we have to make land,’ says Charlotte. ‘But the currents have a different idea and push us around each island we approach.’
7pm: ‘We see lights of fishing boats but our shouts and whistles fail to attract attention. We are all becoming weak. Then a new problem arises – the cold. While we had been warm as we dived, being exposed from the chest up, with water splashing down inside of our wetsuits, we begin to feel a chill running through our bodies.
‘Weakness is going to be our main problem – will we have the strength to make it through the night? I am wondering that myself and I suspect the others are thinking the same.’
7.30pm: ‘We have an incredible stroke of luck. A dead tree trunk, about 6ft long, drifts by. We grab it and use it as a buoy to cling on to.
‘What is frightening me is the night. I don’t want to be out there in the dark, but we all know no one will be able to find us and we just have to hang on to that log. I hook my arm through the back of Jim’s wetsuit gear and my other arm is around the log.’
8pm: ‘The wind stirs up waves that crash over us. Helena, the Swedish girl, is badly seasick and getting weak and we have to make sure she hangs on to the log. But nobody is crying or grumbling – we just try to keep talking about anything that comes into our minds to keep everyone awake.’
10.45pm: ‘The sea becomes calm as the wind drops. By now we have discarded our weight belts, which were dragging us down. But we are suffering from cramp from constantly kicking our flippers, trying to force the log to take us to land.’
Midnight: ‘Jim and Kath decide to break away from the log and swim to land, believing they can see the outline of a white beach in the darkness. They are almost dashed against rocks by the surf and Kath has to return to the log. But Jim manages to make it to the beach – which turns out to be nothing but light-coloured large boulders and rocks. He believes the group can get in and eventually manages to help us all in to the beach, particularly Helena who is now pretty weak.’
Friday, 12.52am: ‘We’re all assembled on the beach, hugging one another, collapsing on to our knees,’ says Charlotte. ‘We’ve been in the water for nearly nine hours.’
By sunrise, the group are all bitterly cold after lying in their soaking wetsuits all night in the hope that it would be warmer than taking them off.
‘Jim decides to try to find help after Kath tells him she believes we are on Pandaua island, where there will be fishing boats moored off one of the bays,’ says Charlotte. In fact they are on a deserted island called Rindja – one of the homes of the Komodo dragon.
Kath tries to accompany Jim because she speaks the local language but as they scale a steep slope he tells her to go back because it is too dangerous.
It is now that he has to use all his training from his days in Iraq and Afghanistan as a member of 59 Independent Commando Squadron RE.
He has taken off his wetsuit and is now in an undervest, shorts and slim rubber diving boots.
8am: He is almost at the top of a cliff when a snake wriggles in front of him, causing him to reel back and almost fall.
10am: He suffers a second shock – knocking back a branch he almost disturbs a huge bee colony. ‘If the branch had hit them they would have gone berserk. It terrified me much more than the snake.’ There are dried stream beds all around but not a drop of water to be had.
11am: Back on the beach, the other four are desperately trying to make a fire, using a magnifying glass Kath had in her diving gear, but all they manage to make is smoke and no flame. ‘The thirst is terrible,’ says Charlotte.
‘My lips are swollen and white. It is just unbearable and we know we have to try to find water. There was shade from big rocks in the morning but the sun is getting higher and we are losing that shade. There are no trees. The sun is very, very, hot.’
Noon: ‘I find a coconut and break it open hoping to find milk, but it is rotten inside. Desperate for food and water, we turn to scooping mussels and other things off the rocks. At least we are getting protein and there are some juicy bits.’
1pm: The party build the letters SOS with huge white rocks on the side of the hill, hoping to attract a boat. ‘It is very hard work,’ says Charlotte. ‘The sun is beating down and the rocks are very heavy, but we have to do it to attract attention.’
2pm: As thirst attacks Charlotte again, Kath tells her: ‘Pretend that you have just had a long, cool, icy, drink.’ It helps her overcome the craving for water.
4pm:By now Jim has scrambled down cliffs and tried to make his way around the coast by clambering over rocks and swimming, but seems to be getting nowhere. It is dangerous work. Several times he knows he could have been smashed against rocks. And exhaustion is driving him to his knees.
‘One thing keeps me going,’ he says. ‘One phrase, over and over again, “You’ve got to get help for Char and the others. They are depending on you. You’re the scout – do your work”.’
At the same time, back at the beach, a Komodo dragon lumbers into view. More than 10ft long, it can easily kill a human with its massive jaws and toxic saliva. In its mouth is the wetsuit Jim left behind when he began his scouting.
The giant lizard almost bites Helena in the head as it snatches at her wetsuit hood, lying beside her. ‘We eventually chase it off using stones and Kath pokes at it with a stick,’ says Charlotte.
British divers Charlotte Allin and Jim Manning, diving at another site in Indonesia, before their fateful trip
5pm: ‘We’re desperate on the beach and we know by now we will have to spend another night in this rocky, isolated place, uncertain whether a major search has been launched for us. A plane has passed overhead but it didn’t see us. We’ve also seen boats in the distance, but again our frantic waving, whistling and calling went unheeded. I don’t know if Jim is alive or dead.’
5.15pm: On a rocky outcrop around the coast, Jim sees two people on a beach. ‘I yell and scream at them but they don’t turn around. Finally I realise they are just two rocks that look like people.’
6.45pm: He settles in for the night. He does not know what has happened to Charlotte and the others. He has gone too far to turn back. He just knows he must stay warm, find some strength to carry on looking for help when the next morning breaks. Back at the beach, the four try to sleep and ignore their crippling thirst.
Dawn: On their different parts of the island, the five pray for rain and rescue.
12.30pm: Jim’s prayers are answered. A speedboat comes into the bay, heading towards the rock on which he is lying. People on board are waving, cheering. There is Charlotte waving among them. The ordeal is over. German Frank Winkler, who runs another dive club, had worked out where the divers could be, taking account of the current and tides, and his calculation proved right.
Yesterday: Charlotte, Jim and Kath sit in a jungle clearing on an island off Flores. They are cut and bruised. Their throats are scarred from the chafing of their wetsuits. But they are alive.
On Monday Jim and Charlotte will fly home and start looking for work. ‘It will be lovely to see Devon again,’ says Charlotte. ‘I thought of the green hills and the moors when I was in the water. It will be lovely to touch it.’
Toxic saliva: Komodo Dragon
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British diver Kathleen Mitchinson hugs her husband Ernest Lewandowski after being rescued
Clockwork Orange
The last colour you see before the world goes black is orange.
Which is why orange watches are essential for scuba divers
1. Omega SeaMaster Planet Ocean
£2,000, omegawatches.com
The iconic, all-mechanical diver’s watch, waterproof to 300m and chronometer-certified (ie, it’s very accurate).
2. Doxa Sub 750T Dirk Pitt
£1,500, doxawatches.com
Re-issue of the 1967 watch designed for a fictitious adventurer, Clive Cussler’s Dirk Pitt. Waterproof to 750m.
3. TechnoMarine Abyss
£295, technomarine.com
A Swiss-made quartz timepiece that’s waterproof to a mind-boggling 10,900m. The bubble floating inside is deliberate.
4. Traser HS P 6504 Diver Orange
£200, traserh3watches.com
Water-resistant to 200m, the tritium dial on the H3 is 100 times brighter than a standard watch.
5. Audemars Piguet Royal Oak Offshore
£12,800, audemarspiguet.com
Limited-edition diver’s watch with tachymeter, which allows you to monitor the speed of passing fish… or something.
6. Hermès Clipper Chronograph
£2,100, hermes.com
This Swiss-made watch proves that Hermès is just as comfortable designing for the depths as it is for the catwalk.
The Art of Escape
Wreck diving skills Houdini would love
It was a calm, clear day when we descended 100 feet to the deck of the USCG Duane off Key Largo, Fla. The water was clear, the current was slow, and fish were so thick that they formed a living shroud over the intact hull. You couldn’t ask for better conditions for an easy, trouble-free dive.
Our dive was nearly complete and I was straggling behind my buddy as we swam along the portside rail. I turned my head to admire a school of huge barracuda when my forward motion stopped. It felt like an invisible hand had reached out from the wreck and grabbed my tank valve.
In fact, that’s about what had happened, only the hand was a tangle of monofilament fishing line. I didn’t know it yet, but another loop from the same snare of discarded line had also wedged between my tank and the BC. My hands and feet were free, but I was tethered to the wreck. I signaled my buddy for help, even grunted at him through my regulator, but he was already at the ascent line with his back to me. The barracuda just stared.
Learn from the Techies
Wrecks attract fish. Fish attract fishermen. Fishermen accidentally hook their fishing line, heavy tackle, nets and assorted ropes on the wrecks, creating entanglement hazards for divers.
In fact, getting caught in a web of monofilament is the major wreck-diving hazard facing open-water divers. Modern fishing line is not only strong, it’s designed to be invisible in water. The only time you can see it is when it’s been down so long it becomes encrusted. And when an angler hooks a wreck by mistake, he’s often forced to cut the line at the end of his pole, leaving long strands of the stuff to drift and weave itself into intricate patterns on the wreck’s exterior.
The danger of entanglement increases inside the wreck, where wires and loose wreckage also have a tendency to reach out and grab you when you least expect it. Wreck penetration divers are trained to recognize and deal with these hazards. Unfortunately, most open-water divers aren’t, and when confronted with an invisible snare of monofilament, they often make things worse. Take a page from the technical diver’s handbook, and you can learn to deal with entanglement hazards quickly, safely and effectively.
Get Streamlined
Dangling hoses, flapping straps and loose tank bands all create an increased risk of entanglement. To eliminate these potential snags:
- SECURE YOUR GAUGES. To keep gauges from dangling, place a bolt snap or other securing device on your console or SPG and connect it to a chest D-ring on your BC. When you need to check your gauges, the console is easy to locate and unsnap. Clip it back when you’re done. Another option: Use a retractor that automatically pulls the gauge console back to your BC when you let go.
- SECURE YOUR OCTOPUS. Place your alternate second stage in an octopus holder or attach it with a band of surgical tubing.
- ADJUST YOUR BC’S FIT. A loose-fitting BC can shift or flip at crucial moments, sending you right into a hazard you’re trying to avoid.
- TIGHTEN TANK BANDS. Make sure the loose ends of your tank bands–especially Velcro ones–are secured. It’s amazing how well Velcro can grab stuff that’s not Velcro.
- REVERSE YOUR FIN STRAPS. The loose ends will stay tucked inside the strap instead of dangling outside.
- THINK IN 3-D. As land-dwelling creatures, we tend to think of things in just two dimensions (what’s in front and behind us; what’s to either side), but divers should also be aware of depth–what’s above and below us.
Most divers swim along, focusing their vision down and slightly ahead. Unfortunately, some of the most common entanglements involve snags on the diver’s tank valve. Make it a point to look up and ahead frequently, watching for entanglements.
Don’t Fight It
When the Duane reached out and grabbed me, my first reaction was to freeze. Kicking, pulling, twisting–almost any movement–only make the problem worse. If you’re diving with a buddy, signal him for assistance (he is nearby, right?). Your buddy can see the problem better than you can and has the freedom of movement to deal with it effectively.
If there’s no one to help out, your first step is to determine where the entanglement is and, if possible, what it is. Gently move each part of your body and carefully feel for any restriction of movement. If you can’t locate a particular restriction, odds are the entanglement is on your BC or tank. Once you’ve located the restriction, hold it away from your body and slip away from it.
If you can’t find it, or if you can’t reach it, the best option is to back up. You most likely swam into the restriction, and if you haven’t made the problem worse, simply backing up may allow you to swim out of it.
What should you do if you can’t back up and you can’t find the entanglement? Look again. It’s there. Sweep your arms down and back along each side, then do an overhead sweep that begins behind the tank valve and goes forward.
The overhead sweep is how I discovered the first of the two tangles that had me anchored to the wreck. Working by feel I was able to remove the loop wedged between my tank and the BC. I was also able to feel the more complicated knot wrapped tightly around my tank valve. One problem down, one to go.
Cut and Run
Now for the hard part: Cutting myself free. Whenever cutting tools are involved, you’ve got to think before you act. Accidentally cutting a hose or your hand will only make matters worse. You’ll still be trapped, of course, only now with a rapidly dwindling gas supply or a bleeding appendage.
Once you’ve located the entanglement, position your body so that you can secure the object with one hand while you use the other hand to cut it away. Before you unsheathe your blade, get a good look at what you’re cutting. Figure out the best to approach the problem and determine whether you have the right tool for the job.
Blame the old Sea Hunt series and countless James Bond scuba battles for the propensity of divers–especially male divers–to buy the biggest machete they can find and strap it to their lower leg. Only in movies is this a good idea.
For starters, a knife that large serves no useful purpose unless you really are trying to vanquish underwater villains. Worse, strapping anything that large on your leg only invites entanglements while putting the knife out of reach should you really need it.
Your dive knife is a tool for cutting monofilament and trawl netting–not a weapon for cutting hoses and throats. A good 4-inch dive knife, a recessed Z-knife or shears are much more practical options. When diving wrecks, you should carry all three.
Mount your cutting instruments where you can reach them in any situation. For dive knives, try the BC chest strap or waistband, the forearm and even the low-pressure inflator hose. For shears, a BC pocket is the only location available unless the shears come with their own mounting sheath. Small Z-knives can be mounted on the side of a mask strap or on the strap of a wrist-mounted gauge.
Ditch It
If all else fails, you may have to resort to removing your BC, a skill we all learned in open-water class and promptly forgot. Removing your gear is always a last resort, particularly at depth. Removing a traditional BC, for example, leaves the diver wearing a weight belt while his source of buoyancy (and his air supply) attempts to float upward. Weight-integrated BCs have the opposite problem. They can leave the diver floating toward the surface while the BC heads toward the bottom.
That’s why the first critical step is to ensure that all of the air is dumped from the BC. If possible, settle onto a solid surface before beginning the removal. Make sure you have a secure grip on the regulator in your mouth before unbuckling the chest and waist straps and removing your left arm first. This allows you to rotate the BC toward your right side without jerking the regulator out of your mouth.
If possible, keep one arm hooked underneath or through the BC at all times. Once the BC is off, you should be able to easily cut or remove the entanglement. Before replacing your BC, swim away from the entangling object to ensure that you don’t have to repeat the process.
The Right Tool for the Job
THE TOOL: Standard dive knife
Look for a blade with a line-cutting notch, a sharp smooth edge and a serrated edge. Line-cutting notches and smooth blades make short work of monofilament, while a serrated edge is best for sawing through thicker rope and nylon lines.
The Technique: With one hand, form a tight loop of monofilament and snap it using the cutting notch or cut away from your body with the smooth blade. Serrated edges work like a saw on heavier lines.
THE TOOL: Z-knife
Developed to cut parachute shroud lines, the Z-knife blade is recessed inside a hook that ensures you cut only what you intend to cut–a good idea because the blade is razor-sharp. Z-knives slice through monofilament and small lines with ease and virtually eliminate the chance of accidentally cutting a hose, your fingers or your BC bladder.
The Technique: Loop the line tight, hook it with the Z-knife and pull.
THE TOOL: Shears
A quality pair of shears can take on darn near anything from monofilament to steel leaders and tackle. Put yours to the test: if it can cut through a penny, it’ll handle anything you encounter under water.
The Technique: Just cut. An advantage of shears is that you can use them effectively one-handed.
Source: Scuba Diving Magazine
The frogman who turned out to be a prince
Prince Harry on his scuba diving course
In tight-fitting wetsuit this is Prince Harry learning to scuba dive.
Rather than see his girlfriend Chelsy Davy during a break from Sandhurst, the 20-year-old royal has chosen to go on a training course instead.
Yesterday found him taking part in two 40-minute dives at Plymouth Harbour.
And while he was apparently perfectly at home once in the sea, it was a different story on dry land. First he found himself walking somewhat gingerly in the style of Charlie Chaplin, and later he slipped on some jetty steps.
An onlooker at the Fort Bovisands Ministry of Defence base said: ‘He seemed to be having trouble walking properly. His wetsuit looked very tight and uncomfortable.
‘Once he was in the boat he was fine though, and he really took to the diving.
‘But he did find it hard to get out of the boat again, and his feet kept slipping on the steps.’
The five-day diving session is one of the adventurous training courses that cadets at Sandhurst military academy are encouraged to take in their free time.
Harry arrived at the base – an MoD site which is used to train all the armed forces for diving – at around 9am, with his fellow cadets.
After helping to load a boat with equipment, the group set off for a rigorous training session off nearby Penlee Point accompanied by two of Harry’s protection officers.
Harry was wearing a wetsuit, diving mask and oxygen tank, with a diving knife strapped to his leg to free him in case of emergency.
He and his colleagues were tethered by ropes to a safety buoy before they went under the surface. Harry would have practised a series of safety drills such as removing his mask and retrieving his breathing equipment at depths of up to 50ft.
After safely completing the morning session – in waters where two divers have drowned this year – Harry was hauled back into the boat by one of his bodyguards and the group returned to the base.
The prince needed help getting out of the boat and then trudged off the jetty, with his air tank still on his back, to have a shower before attending diving classes in the afternoon.
Later, Harry and his fellow cadets completed a second 40-minute dive session before once again returning to base.
The prince is currently on a four-week summer break from Sandhurst, where he is training to be an Army officer. Since he began the year-long training course in April, he has been plagued by injury and illness, but during the diving course he has seemed fit and well.
As well as attending lessons in a classroom, he has also spent time practising in a water-filled quarry.
Koh Tao: Bio Rock
| Bio-Rock Projects |  |
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For the last 3 years, members of the local community have been testing the applicability of Bio Rock technology on Koh Tao through a small pilot project built by the Koh Tao Dive Operators Club and Bio Rock Thailand. In that time, we have observed dramatic improvements in coral health and biodiversity, and fish abundance in the area on and around the Bio Rock. With the success of the pilot project, Save Koh Tao and the local community of Dive Schools and businesses have decided to construct a larger Bio Rock that will act to improve the health of our reefs and reduce the damages caused by SCUBA diving on natural areas.
The construction is set for September 2008, and fund raising efforts are already underway. This project will further increase awareness and community involvement in environmental conservation projects and improve tourist perceptions of Koh Tao. See the Koh Tao Bio Rock 2008 Project Proposal for more detailed information or if you can assist with granting and fund raising efforts.
Bio Rock is an artificial reef structure that uses low voltage electrical current to improve the growing conditions for corals and other reef organisms. This process is called mineral accretion, and uses electrolysis of sea water to lower the surrounding water pH level which causes minerals to precipitate out and collect on the structure by. Corals, calms, and other calcium carbonate secreting organisms growing on the structure are able to grow on an average of 3 to 5 times faster, and in a wider range of environmental conditions, such as warmer, more acidic, or more nutrient rich waters. See also www.biorock.net or www.biorock-thailand.org
In order to make this project successful we need help to raise the funds required to purchase materials for the construction and maintenance of the structure. We will be funding the project primarily from money donated by the dive shops and affiliated businesses and organizations. But it is donations from the visitors and locals whom enjoy the reefs that will make the biggest difference. You can bring your donations to a participating dive school’s donation bin, or <!–
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// –>. We thank you for your support, to stay updated on this and other projects please come back to our site.
Finding Nancy
by LUKE SALKELD
It is a mystery that has perplexed treasure-hunters for centuries: how to find the wreck of a ship that sank carrying not only the world’s most famous actress, but her fantastic riches.
Now two British divers claim to have found the Nancy, which was smashed on rocks off Cornwall in a storm in 1784.
Among those on board the ill-fated voyage from Bombay to London was Ann Cargill, a beautiful opera singer as renowned for her scandalous love-life as her talents.
The 24-year-old took her fortune on board the ship after she was expelled from India for bringing shame to the country’s ‘pure shores’.
For as well as achieving huge fame and riches, she was also linked to a string of lovers and there were rumours she had given birth to an illegitimate child.
But she never made it home.
Instead the ship on which the young star was travelling sank off the Isles of Scilly, and after her unidentified body was found, she was buried in a pauper’s grave.
The former child star was adored by theatre audiences and charged ‘astonishing’ fees to play in the top theatres of London in the late 1700s.
The daughter of a coal merchant, she also embarked on numerous affairs – the first aged just 15 – and became the target of gossip and scandal.
As a teenager she eloped, ran away from theatres and her family, and eventually travelled to India where she had yet another lover and performed in packed theatres, often taking a share of the profits on top of her payment.
To the bosses of the East India Company, however, she was seen as immoral and she drowned en route to London from Bombay, carrying an estimated £200,000 fortune after they ordered her to leave.
Divers Todd Stevens and Ed Cummings say they have discovered the long-lost wreck of ‘The Nancy’, the ten-gun ship which smashed on rocks in February 1784, killing all 49 passengers.
Tragic accounts of Cargill’s death and her ‘floating in her shift’ with an infant at her bosom were published in English newspapers, and local legend has it that her lonely spirit still haunts the island spot where she died, singing a ghostly lullaby to her lost child.
As the discovery of the ship wreck was revealed yesterday, Mrs Cargill, was compared by one historian to a more modern star of the stage.
Marcus Risdell, librarian and archivist at London’s Garrick Club, said: ‘The records show that she was incredibly famous and enjoyed being in the limelight.
‘Actresses were plagued by scandal in those days – whether it was true or not – and Mrs Cargill seems to have encouraged it.
‘She once played the part of a young run away in a London theatre – and then ran away from it.’
He added: ‘But like an 18th Century version of Britney Spears, it is clear that she was also quite vulnerable – and often ended up with apparently unsuitable men.’
For over 200 years divers have been trying to find the wreck of the The Nancy, but may have simply been looking in the wrong place.
Mr Cummings, 62, said: ‘This has always been one of the most intriguing wrecks to go after. It has everything – a beautiful actress, a tragic shipwreck and a lost fortune.
‘The Nancy was bound from Bombay to London when she ran into a dreadful storm near the treacherous rocks west of Scilly.’
‘It would have been an almost hopeless position,’ said Mr Cumming.
‘Up until then it has been a good passage, but then they hit the storm. There was no lighthouse to guide them as Bishops Rock had not been built.
‘They would not have been able to see the lighthouse at St Agnes either.’
He added: ‘We are still trying to piece together the human stories around the wreck but we are sure we have found her.’
The Nancy sank off the coast of the Isles of Scilly and official papers referred to the passengers being ‘driven’ into a small island.
But Mr Cummings and Mr Stevens realised the descriptions referred to the lifeboat – and not the Nancy itself.
Ed said: ‘We realised that after the ship had hit the rocks, the passengers had got into a smaller boat and that was the one that was ‘driven’ on to Rosevear.
‘So people were looking in the wrong place for the Nancy, they should have been looking further out.’
The ship sank in 1784 and the first thing the islanders knew about it was when paperwork began washing ashore and onto beaches.
It took seven full days for the storm to subside, but when it did a rescue boat was sent out in the vain hope there may be a survivor clinging to the rocks.
Bodies were found including a woman clutching her dead baby – who rescuers were unaware was Ann Cargill, then aged 24, whose fortune at the time was described as being ‘beyond the dreams of avarice’.
She had caused outrage aged 15 by running off with the playwright Miles Peter Andrews while starring in a production of the Fairy Prince.
She was later ejected from India on the orders of Prime Minister William Pitt The Younger who told Parliament: ‘An actress should not be defiling the pure shores of India’.
Following the crash she was buried in a pauper’s grave and her paperwork sent to London where officials realised who she was and her body was exhumed and reburied in the Scilly capital, St Mary’s.
Official logs in India showed she had been carrying all of her possessions including jewels and gifts from her various scandalous lovers and a £200,000 fortune.
Mr Stevens said the jewels on her body were used to fund a neat memorial although he has not yet managed to locate the grave.
Mr Stevens moved to Scilly a decade ago to pursue his passion for diving and has since discovered a number of shipwrecks.
After being put on the right track by his friend, he was able to locate the Nancy within the first few dives.
Mr Stevens said: ‘It has been a real thrill. This kind of discovery is what you go diving for.
‘We are still searching for the gold and jewels but if we find them we will hand them all over to the Isles of Scilly Museum.’
The wreck was actually found last year, but the two men have only just revealed their discovery because they were keen that the site should not be disturbed.
The pair have now written a book called the The Ghosts Of Rosevear.
Source: CDNN
URGENT RECALL: Aqua Lung Apeks Regulators
WE EXCLUSIVELY USE APEKS REGULATORS AND HAVE HAD OUR UNITS SERVICED AFTER THE RECALL. THIS DOESN’T EFFECT US BUT IT MIGHT EFFECT YOU.(this is what happens when a hand made regulator company in england gets bought out by a large corporation)URGENT RECALL:
Aqua Lung USA, of Vista, California, has announced a recall of about 25,000 Apeks 2nd Stage Scuba Regulators due to a defect that poses a drowning hazard. The defective regulators could be missing the diaphragm cover which can cause the diaphragm to become displaced during a dive, allowing water to enter the scuba regulator. There have been no reports of injuries or deaths due to the defective regulators. The recall affects the following regulators:
Owners of the regulators affected by the recall should stop using the equipment IMMEDIATELY and return the defective units to their local dealers. From the CPSC:
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Of Ice and Men
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Recently scientists at the National Snow and Ice Data Centre gave warning that Arctic sea ice has receded to its second-smallest area since satellite records began in 1979. The rate of shrinkage this year is the fastest ever and, with around a month still left of summer, the current ice coverage of 5.3m square km could fall to less than the record low seen last September of 4.1m square km. This is bad news for the environment: Arctic ice reflects sunlight, keeping the region cool, and polar bear populations are predicted to fall by a third over the next 50 years as the creatures’ habitat disappears.
Growing, Shaking and Moving
Thankfully as this is written the sun has returned to Koh Tao and graced us with it’s burning sweat inducing glory. Unfortunately that doesn’t bring as many people as it used to. With global economic uncertainty and growing problems in bangkok this high season is slowly becoming slow. This has had a great effect on other regions where tourism is down 40%. Thankfully however it hasn’t effected us. One of the nice things about technical diving is that it’s elite, exclusive and expensive and with that we’ve actually seen a rise in responses and communication along with course bookings.
To that extent we welcome Hanna Lusby to the Training Team who will be helping out while Niall Mackenzie is back in Scotland for 4 weeks and will remain on staff after to help with the increased customer and course flow. Hannah is not only now part of the team but a very close friend and it’s always great to have your working team like a family. Hannah’s role will be supervising and conducting pre-requisite courses along with developing the diving for disabilities program we’re hoping to introduce in the new year.
As Niall is probably somewhere in the air at the moment he’s probably looking forward to meeting up with former technical students Tim Klein and Malin Hermansson who are all attending a part in Amsterdam. But it’s not all fun and games for Niall as he’ll be meeting with several universities to discuss co-op programs for students in the future. The party sounds like fun but not the weather.
Also We’re getting into our Cave and Similans season as Koh Tao creeps closer and closer to not being viable for long range technical diving. We’ll be working with professionals in both industries to help bring the continued level of excellence to all our courses for our customers.
And finally the MV Trident departed today with the entire “Tech Gang” except James who’s busy cleaning tanks on land (sucker) Mv Trident departed for 7 days of technical exploration on their signature Hammer Head Tour which saw our resident Dive Medic Matt Rolph attend as a diver and emergency support if needed, we all think he’s going just to keep an eye on his girlfriend but we know its for the diving.
So the sun is back, the sea is flat and the beer is most definetly cold. Forget “Bangkok Dangerous” and remember this isour daily commute
World’s Oldest Shipwreck Artifacts to go to New York
New York’s Metroplitan Museum is to host a new exhibition called Beyond Babylon: Art, Trade, and Diplomacy in the Second Millennium B.C., and will feature artifacts found on the world’s oldest shipwreck, Uluburn, dating back to 1300 B.C. on loan from Turkey…
One hundred and forty unique items from the 3,300-year-old shipwreck willinclude: the golden seal of Egyptian Queen Nefertiti, glass beads, golden necklaces, precious jewels, a stone hoe, containers for food and hunting items used in ancient times.
The artifacts wil be on loan from the Bodrum Underwater Archeology Museum and will be displayed alongside other treasures sent by museums around the world.
In addition to being the oldest shipwreck discovered so far, Uluburun provides significant insight into the ancient commercial life of the Anatolia and Mediterranean basins. Furthermore, the artifacts from Uluburun are extremely well preserved. Egyptian Queen Nefertiti’s first and only golden seal in the world will be on display at the symposium.
Source: Turkish Daily News
Scuba accident kills wreck diving pioneer
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Divers go deep to overcome disabilities
BY BILL BLEYER
Jennifer Choi bobbed to the surface of a Pennsylvania lake, dropped the scuba regulator from her mouth and addressed instructor Martha Katz.
“I’m done?” she asked expectantly.
“You’re done,” Katz responded with a big smile.
What Choi, a 26-year-old New York University doctoral student from Westbury, had done at the Dutch Springs quarry was complete her 13th dive and her advanced open-water scuba diving certification.
Thousands of people every year do that. What made Choi’s accomplishment more unusual is that she is paraplegic. Born with spina bifida, she has been unable to walk since age 9. But she didn’t let that stop her from learning to dive.
Katz, a Glen Cove resident who owns the scuba Network shop in Carle Place, was able to help Choi accomplish her goal because she and three of her instructors have received training and certification from the Handicapped Scuba Association. They have trained more than a dozen disabled divers in the past five years.
Katz added the specialty because “I love teaching, and I love teaching disabled people. It gives me a very good feeling to see people enjoying the water and see them smile from ear to ear and accomplish something different.” She hopes eventually to include disabled veterans coming back from Iraq as students.
To be certified as an instructor by the 27-year-old California-based Handicapped Scuba Association, Katz said, regular instructors must take the association’s course, which already has been completed by 2,000 people in 45 countries.
“They teach you not only to teach people who are paralyzed from the waist down but also totally paralyzed from the head down, blind people, people with any kind of disability, deaf, blind,” she said. Those paralyzed from the head down are towed by instructors. “You have to practice with different people until you are able to control everybody.”
Learning how to dive can be complicated even without a disability. With the handicapped, Katz said, “it takes a lot of time, a lot of patience. You have to do things slower. Some of the handicapped are very independent and don’t want any help, and you have to be very close to them to make sure that they can achieve buoyancy and are not going to drop to the bottom.”
Katz said divers like Choi who cannot use their legs need different weight configurations. “Because their legs have no movement, they tend to float up, so we give them ankle weights,” she said. Paraplegic divers wear special webbed gloves that serve as paddles rather than wearing fins on their feet.
After becoming comfortable in the water, a disabled diver is usually accompanied by one or two instructors. But some of the divers can function on their own once they are in the water.
Choi is Katz’s star pupil, having gone on to complete her dive-master certification, a step in her plan to become an instructor herself. “It’s definitely something that’s on my to-do list,” Choi said.
“I tend to be one of those people that once I start something, I want to get really, really good at it,” said Choi, a Stony Brook University graduate studying neuroscience and physiology with the goal of becoming a college professor.
After she could no longer walk, Choi said, “I had a list starting in middle school of all the extreme sports I wanted to do with my friends, and scuba diving happened to be on that list. I’ve always been an adrenaline-addict kind of person.”
The first sport on her list was downhill skiing, and she began that in college. Scuba diving was number two, and she began that two years ago. “I decided to pick it up when one of my closest friends decided to get married in Belize, so I decided I might as well pick up scuba diving.” She wanted to dive on the coral reefs there. She said she wasn’t nervous about trying diving “because I was really into swimming. I did a little bit of competitive swimming in high school. The first day, I realized this is one thing I’m going to enjoy.”
Choi said she had always been fascinated by aquatic creatures, but the main attraction for diving was “not being burdened by gravity.”
“It’s the weightlessness,” she said. “It’s unique.”
After her initial open-water certification, Choi began the advanced open-water class that brought her to the flooded Dutch Springs quarry. Choi donned her wet suit, and then Scuba Network instructor Larry Mack rolled her wheelchair down a path to the water’s edge, lifted her and lowered her into the water and then checked her buoyancy.
Then, Katz and Choi dove to 60 feet to a downed helicopter for her required deep dive. Choi was required to write on a slate what the water depth was, how much air she had used and how long she had been in the water. She repeated the assignment at 50 feet before Katz led her into the helicopter to see if Choi could maintain her buoyancy.
“She did very good,” Katz said afterward. “She was completely neutrally buoyant, and she was very comfortable in her swimming. She was able to go in and out of the wreck without touching the top or the bottom.”
They ascended slowly to 20 feet to avoid decompression sickness, also known as the bends, and swam to a World War II fighter plane. Katz had Choi check her compass for the navigation requirement. This was followed by Katz and Choi doing an underwater chicken dance signifying the completion of the advanced open-water training before surfacing.
Choi spent the next three months becoming certified as a dive master, completing another seven dives and classroom training. The next step toward becoming an instructor would be a rescue-diver class. Rescuing another diver in trouble would mean swimming with only one hand while using the other to hold the second diver. “I think that will be the biggest challenge,” Choi said.
But Katz said, “I’m sure she will be able to manage it because of the drive she has.” Choi would then have to learn CPR and first aid and pass the training assistant, assistant instructor and finally the instructor courses. “I think she will be a very good instructor,” Katz said.
“It’s the freedom”
While Choi knew she wanted to learn how to dive, another of Katz’s students, Roger Tribelhorn of Bayville, backed into it two years ago.
A 53-year-old manager for an Oyster Bay electronic components firm, Tribelhorn ended up in a wheelchair after he was diagnosed with transverse myelitis eight years ago. The neurological disorder cost him the use of his legs.
His son and daughter wanted to learn how to dive because they were planning a trip to Australia. His daughter, Patricia, made a list of local dive shops and asked her dad to check them out with her.
When they got to Katz’s store, “Martha explained everything, and she told me, ‘You can do it, too,’ ” Tribelhorn said. “That’s all I needed to know, because I always was very active – skiing, swimming – so I needed something.”
Tribelhorn constructed his own PVC-pipe wheelchair with large wheels so he could get down to Long Island Sound to dive near his home. And last winter, he and his kids traveled to Bonaire, off the northern coast of South America, for his first diving trip, a weeklong vacation with Katz.
“It was very, very nice,” he said, “but; I told Martha I want to be able to dive with my kids” without an instructor. “I wanted to prove to myself that I could do it. I always was independent.” With the webbed gloves, he said, “I can keep up with anybody.”
So during his 14 dives on the trip, he completed the HSA course for independent diving as well as the advanced open-water course from the National Association of Underwater Instructors. Now, he’s planning a trip to Cozumel, Mexico, and hopes to do more wreck diving after visiting one hulk in Bonaire. “I’d really like to see caves,” he added.
“Because I’m a tool and die maker by trade, I like to see how things work,” Tribelhorn said. So he wants to become certified for maintaining scuba regulators so he can work part-time in Katz’s shop.
“It’s beautiful down there,” Tribelhorn said of one attraction of diving. But there is a bigger benefit. “It’s the freedom. Being neutrally buoyant is the most awesome feeling that I’ve ever experienced. Everything is so relaxed down there.”
Tribelhorn said that when he dives, he no longer feels disabled. “The chair is not an issue anymore. You don’t think about it. I can go up. I can go down. There is no limitation.”
Source: newsday.com
New Bush plan aims to overturn global whaling ban
by PATRICK RAMAGE
ST. PETE BEACH, Florida (11 Sep 2008) — In this season of political polarization, it is rare to find a massive issue on which we all agree. But thar’ she blows! From sea to shining sea and across the political spectrum, Americans love whales.
Polls conducted over the past decade consistently show overwhelming majorities of Republicans, Democrats and Independents want these magnificent creatures protected for future generations. Voters of all persuasions and subgroups – from rural, conservative GOP-types, to urban, liberal Democrats – want our government to take action to end resurgent commercial whaling by Japan, Iceland and Norway.
All the more stunning then to learn the latest bad idea from the Bush administration is to legitimize such predatory whaling in the 21st century.
Next week, representatives from 26 countries will gather in a secret, closed-door meeting at the Tradewinds Islands Grand Beach Resort in St. Pete Beach, Florida, to hear longtime presidential appointee Dr. William Hogarth push a Bush plan to overturn the global whaling ban and bow to Japanese demands for new whaling quotas.
The International Whaling Commission is an 80 nation body charged with the conservation of our planet’s great whales, not their decimation. In 1986, the IWC imposed a moratorium on commercial whaling, culminating in one of the 20th century’s most important conservation successes. Since then the IWC has issued quotas only for Aboriginal subsistence whaling such as that responsibly conducted by Alaska natives.
Yet more than 30,000 whales have been killed for commercial purposes since the ban.
The government of Japan, claiming it kills whales for science, has increased its whaling in international waters five-fold and is threatening to add the iconic humpback whale to its target list. Most of Japan’s annual scientific slaughter is conducted in an international whale sanctuary!
Even without this assault, whales face more threats today than ever before in history including marine pollution, destruction and degradation of critical habitats, entanglements in fishing gear, collisions with high speed vessels, ocean noise pollution from shipping, seismic testing and indiscriminate use of deadly sonar.
Scientists now tell us climate change already is affecting breeding, feeding and migration patterns for these marine mammals.
Taken together, these threats pose real challenges to whale populations just beginning to recover from more than two centuries of commercial slaughter.
If the situation in the water is bad for whales, the situation inside the commission established to protect them is worse. After years of U.S. drift and disinterest, conservation-minded countries find themselves outmanned and sometimes outmaneuvered by a 50 person strong Japanese delegation, Iceland, Norway and a steady stream of small island states and landlocked developing countries recruited to the IWC in recent years to vote in lockstep with Japan.
While United States influence inside the IWC is on the wane, Japan’s government is far more focused, engaged and aggressive, inside and outside the IWC, in pursuit of its declared objective – to kill more whales.
Faced with this challenge, the Bush administration has, for once, decided to retreat. Our delegation will sue for peace behind closed doors in St. Petersburg, ready to trade away the whaling ban for a package of empty measures it will insist result from compromise rather than defeat – a package even Dr. Hogarth admits the U.S. may never publicly support.
With ground rules better suited to Soviet Russia than sunny Florida, the St. Petersburg meeting will be closed to media, observers and nongovernmental experts, undoing years of transparency and openness at the IWC achieved with U.S. leadership.
Candidates please note: consistent majorities of Americans want their government to lead the fight to end commercial whaling. They want strong public statements and meaningful diplomatic action. Most would support measured trade sanctions.
Nearly 60 percent say they would be more likely to vote for a candidate for president who took a firm stand against Japanese whaling.
If we take the issue seriously – and it’s not too late – the United States has the power to change the situation in the IWC and in the water for our planet’s great whales.
Sadly, it appears the governments of Japan, Iceland and Norway care more about killing whales than the Bush administration cares about conserving and protecting them.
Source: Cyber Divers News Network
Wreck Wednesday
Today the crew and customers ventured out on our weekly wreck exploration trips to the Hishidaiya Maru (Unicorn Wreck)
From our side was Niall Mackenzie who was organizing a whole collection of activites from full decompression technical dives to recreational experience dives. Even one customer was getting his Wreck Instructor Rating after completing his IDC. Thankfully there’s plenty of staff to help get these things done.
With the weather at the moment being iffy with spots of rain and sun the visibility might not be the best but the water is warm and poor visibility’s poses a challenge which is why we’re diving anyway, to do something different.
In addition the last big trip of the year, the Hammer Head Tour will be departing on Sept 22 for 6 days of world class wreck exploration. For experienced technical divers only. Representing Big Blue Tech is our own divemaster Craig and Dive Medic Matt Rolph.
‘To Stan from Flo’ – 90-year-old love story that neither time nor tide could tarnish
HMS Opal foundered on rocks in 1918, killing 187 seamen
By JOHN ROSS
STANLEY Cubiss had been married for less than a year when he perished with 187 other men in a wartime tragedy. He died when HMS Opal crashed into rocks 90 years ago, in one of the most violent storms to hit Orkney.
And with the 25-year-old went the future he had planned with his wife Florence – and a ring she had given him just two years before.
For the next 89 years the gold band lay buried on the seabed until it was found by chance by a diver, who at first thought it was a worthless piece of metal.
But when it was realised it was a poignant connection to one of the drowned crew and his widowed sweetheart an investigation was launched.
Yesterday the ring was back in Orkney, where it will stay as an exhibit in a museum dedicated to wartime memorabilia.
Mr Cubiss was working in the engine room of the destroyer when it sank, along with HMS Narborough, after running ashore at Windwick Bay, South Ronaldsay, in a blizzard in January, 1918.
Last year, amateur diver Peter Brady picked up a piece of metal he originally thought was a piece of HMS Opal’s plumbing.
Returning to the surface he found it was a gold ring bearing the inscription “To Stanley from Flo, March 1916″.
After finding the ship’s casualty list on the internet, Mr Brady and diving partner, Bob Hamilton, found there were two Stanleys on board, including Ernest Stanley Cubiss, husband of Florence.
The list also mentioned he was from Keighley, west Yorkshire, and the pair eventually tracked down Mr Cubiss’s nephew, Malcolm Cubiss, 78, a retired brigadier, who lives near York.
Mr Cubiss’s nephew has now donated the ring, along with other artefacts including photographs and medals, to the Scapa Flow Visitor Centre on the Orkney island of Hoy.
Peter Brady, who handed over the ring to the museum yesterday, said: “I was just scraping around in the sand when it suddenly popped up.
“At first I thought it was the sort of copper pipe fitting a plumber might use. But I put it on my finger and brought it up to the surface for a closer look. And that’s when I noticed the hallmark and realised this was something pretty special.”
Mr Hamilton added: “When we saw it the hairs on the back of my neck stood on end and the happy mood on the boat changed to something far more sombre. It seemed incredible Peter should have found something so small and so perfect – and that the inscription should still be so clearly visible.”
Mr Cubiss said he was amazed when the divers turned up with the ring.
He added: “If I had kept this ring which was kindly offered to me I would have only put it in a drawer, and in time it would have been thrown out or sold.
“I had one or two other pieces, medals and photos and other things, and it struck me that if there is a museum there then that would be a much more appropriate place for them.”
Florence, who died aged 82 in 1971, was the great aunt of retired pilot Michael Foster, 65, from Windlesham, near Ascot.
Yesterday he was shown the ring for the first time. He said: “It’s lovely, but I dare not touch it. I take a great interest in the history of my family, so this is a very emotional moment for me.
“This was a desperate tragedy and it’s very, very sad that two people’s lives should have been torn apart in this way.”
After so many years on the seabed, the ring is still in near perfect condition.
Janette Park, curator of social history with the Orkney Museums Service, said: “It brings the reality of the loss of so many lives into sharp focus. And it makes you reflect on how all the hopes of a young couple were shattered by one night of bad weather.”
BACKGROUND
HMS Opal had a short, eventful life that ended just two and a half years after she was built in 1915. The destroyer served with the Grand Fleet at Scapa Flow, and took part in the Battle of Jutland.
On 12 January, 1918, HMS Opal joined her sister ship HMS Narborough and the light cruiser Boadicea in a night patrol to hunt German warships.
In near zero visibility, Boadicea ordered the Opal and Narborough back to Scapa. However, a garbled message was later received, followed by silence. The ships were found two days later with only one survivor, and later broke up.
Source: The Scotsman
Finding Nancy
| CORNWALL, UK (18 Sep 2008) — It is a mystery that has perplexed treasure-hunters for centuries: how to find the wreck of a ship that sank carrying not only the world’s most famous actress, but her fantastic riches.
Now two British divers claim to have found the Nancy, which was smashed on rocks off Cornwall in a storm in 1784. Among those on board the ill-fated voyage from Bombay to London was Ann Cargill, a beautiful opera singer as renowned for her scandalous love-life as her talents. The 24-year-old took her fortune on board the ship after she was expelled from India for bringing shame to the country’s ‘pure shores’. For as well as achieving huge fame and riches, she was also linked to a string of lovers and there were rumours she had given birth to an illegitimate child. But she never made it home. Instead the ship on which the young star was travelling sank off the Isles of Scilly, and after her unidentified body was found, she was buried in a pauper’s grave. The former child star was adored by theatre audiences and charged ‘astonishing’ fees to play in the top theatres of London in the late 1700s. The daughter of a coal merchant, she also embarked on numerous affairs – the first aged just 15 – and became the target of gossip and scandal. As a teenager she eloped, ran away from theatres and her family, and eventually travelled to India where she had yet another lover and performed in packed theatres, often taking a share of the profits on top of her payment. To the bosses of the East India Company, however, she was seen as immoral and she drowned en route to London from Bombay, carrying an estimated £200,000 fortune after they ordered her to leave. Divers Todd Stevens and Ed Cummings say they have discovered the long-lost wreck of ‘The Nancy’, the ten-gun ship which smashed on rocks in February 1784, killing all 49 passengers. Tragic accounts of Cargill’s death and her ‘floating in her shift’ with an infant at her bosom were published in English newspapers, and local legend has it that her lonely spirit still haunts the island spot where she died, singing a ghostly lullaby to her lost child. As the discovery of the ship wreck was revealed yesterday, Mrs Cargill, was compared by one historian to a more modern star of the stage. Marcus Risdell, librarian and archivist at London’s Garrick Club, said: ‘The records show that she was incredibly famous and enjoyed being in the limelight. ‘Actresses were plagued by scandal in those days – whether it was true or not – and Mrs Cargill seems to have encouraged it. ‘She once played the part of a young run away in a London theatre – and then ran away from it.’ He added: ‘But like an 18th Century version of Britney Spears, it is clear that she was also quite vulnerable – and often ended up with apparently unsuitable men.’ For over 200 years divers have been trying to find the wreck of the The Nancy, but may have simply been looking in the wrong place. Mr Cummings, 62, said: ‘This has always been one of the most intriguing wrecks to go after. It has everything – a beautiful actress, a tragic shipwreck and a lost fortune. ‘The Nancy was bound from Bombay to London when she ran into a dreadful storm near the treacherous rocks west of Scilly.’
‘We are still searching for the gold and jewels but if we find them we will hand them all over to the Isles of Scilly Museum.’ Ed Cumming and Todd Stevens |
Divers Ed Cumming and Todd Stevens have discovered the wreck of The Nancy which sunk off the Isles of Scilly. Here, one of the divers sizes up its anchor. ‘It would have been an almost hopeless position,’ said Mr Cumming. ‘Up until then it has been a good passage, but then they hit the storm. There was no lighthouse to guide them as Bishops Rock had not been built. ‘They would not have been able to see the lighthouse at St Agnes either.’ He added: ‘We are still trying to piece together the human stories around the wreck but we are sure we have found her.’ The Nancy sank off the coast of the Isles of Scilly and official papers referred to the passengers being ‘driven’ into a small island. But Mr Cummings and Mr Stevens realised the descriptions referred to the lifeboat – and not the Nancy itself. Ed said: ‘We realised that after the ship had hit the rocks, the passengers had got into a smaller boat and that was the one that was ‘driven’ on to Rosevear. ‘So people were looking in the wrong place for the Nancy, they should have been looking further out.’ The ship sank in 1784 and the first thing the islanders knew about it was when paperwork began washing ashore and onto beaches. It took seven full days for the storm to subside, but when it did a rescue boat was sent out in the vain hope there may be a survivor clinging to the rocks. Bodies were found including a woman clutching her dead baby – who rescuers were unaware was Ann Cargill, then aged 24, whose fortune at the time was described as being ‘beyond the dreams of avarice’. She had caused outrage aged 15 by running off with the playwright Miles Peter Andrews while starring in a production of the Fairy Prince. She was later ejected from India on the orders of Prime Minister William Pitt The Younger who told Parliament: ‘An actress should not be defiling the pure shores of India’. Following the crash she was buried in a pauper’s grave and her paperwork sent to London where officials realised who she was and her body was exhumed and reburied in the Scilly capital, St Mary’s. Official logs in India showed she had been carrying all of her possessions including jewels and gifts from her various scandalous lovers and a £200,000 fortune. Mr Stevens said the jewels on her body were used to fund a neat memorial although he has not yet managed to locate the grave. Mr Stevens moved to Scilly a decade ago to pursue his passion for diving and has since discovered a number of shipwrecks. After being put on the right track by his friend, he was able to locate the Nancy within the first few dives. Mr Stevens said: ‘It has been a real thrill. This kind of discovery is what you go diving for. ‘We are still searching for the gold and jewels but if we find them we will hand them all over to the Isles of Scilly Museum.’ The wreck was actually found last year, but the two men have only just revealed their discovery because they were keen that the site should not be disturbed. The pair have now written a book called the The Ghosts Of Rosevear. |
Pictured: A majestic rare albino whale shark graces the ocean
Sometimes, Nature puts on a show that leaves Man awestruck.
And these spectacular displays by two denizens of the deep left all who saw them beguiled by their grace and beauty.
Divers were stunned by the sight of a 33ft albino whale shark as it glided through the waters off the coast of Darwin, an island in the Galapagos group.
Close and personal: The rare creatures are known to be very placid
Half a world away, a rare snow-white albino whale calf held spectators spellbound as it swam off western Australia – so white, in fact that one observer described it as ‘sticking out like a neon lollipop’.
Both creatures are believed to be white because of a lack of pigmentation in the skin but they are expected to gradually turn to a darker colour as the years go by.
The female whale shark, believed to be the only one of its kind, was first spotted by diver and naturalist Antonio Moreano in the Galapagos islands when he took a group of tourists on a nature cruise.
Antonio knew he had to get up close and personal with the placid creature and see the whale shark in its own domain.
‘It was 4:30pm and I and six guests were at Darwin’s Island, set to make the fourth dive of the day,’ said Mr Moreano, who hails from the Puerto Ayora-Galapagos.
‘As we were on the boat checking our equipment I saw a big white thing by the surface of the water.
‘At the beginning I could not tell what it was – i had never seen anything like it before.
‘So I decided to put my mask on and put my face over into the water.
‘Right after this I explained to my guests that it looked like a white whale shark and we were going to all jump in the water and try to follow it.
Rare: The whale shark has not been seen since it was spotted last August
‘I told everyone to keep a distance and not disturb it so we all jumped in the water and followed it for five minutes.’
Mr Moreano dived to around 50 feet as he attempted to catch up with the whale shark.
‘I free dove 50ft down and is when I finally managed to get some pictures of it,’ he explained.
‘It was difficult because I did not want to frighten it away so I stayed a few metres away.
‘After a few minutes the albino disappeared and nobody has ever seen it again!
‘The whole experience from the moment I first saw it to the time it swam away lasted around 30 minutes.
‘I was very excited but it was not until we came back to the boat that I finally realised and understood how special this sighting was.
‘I realised it was a unique experience and was maybe the best gift that my beautiful islands could”ve ever given to me.
‘I kept up swimming with it and I got very close – even the eye was white.
From the size and shape of its fins, Mr Moreano identified the albino animal as a female.
‘All whale sharks found in Darwin’s Arch are big fat females, we have never seen a male or at least I haven’t,’ he said.
‘There is big mystery about our whale shakes: they all show up at Darwin and Wolf from June until November and they all go in circles around the arch dive sites.
‘Sometimes we have seen like five of them together but never seen one with mouth wide open neither males and the smallest whale shark we have seen is probably nine to 12ft.
‘But no-one has seen this albino whale shark since.’
Beautiful: A rare albino Southern Right Whale calf at West Australia’s Flinder’s Bay, is becoming a big tourist attraction
Antonio works for M/V Deep Blue is a licensed Tour operating Company and yacht agency authorised by the Ecuadorian Navy, to guide private yachts around the protected areas of the Galapagos.
‘Our job is to arrange everything for Captain, owners and crew,’ he explains.
‘Some of our clients are among the richest people in the world. We are also arranging trips for these type of yachts for Cocos Island, Malpel Island from Colombia.
‘I am now organising dive and naturalist trips to the Galapagos but trips with a special interest.
‘I know my islands quite well and want to make completely different trips as well as now organise trips for private yachts that would like to visit Galapagos Cocos, Mlapelo as well as in the future Antarctica.’
The whale shark is the largest known fish and can measure between 50 to 60ft in length and up to 10 tons in weight.
Usually a blend of blue sprinkled with white spots, the whale shark ranges all tropical waters, it is considered to be harmless to humans.
Scuba divers and underwater swimmers have clambered unmolested over its body.
The whale shark feeds chiefly on plankton, but also consumes sardines and anchovies.
Off the west coast of Australia, where whales pass on their migration between northern waters and the Southern Ocean, a two-month-old albino southern right whale, swimming with its mother, has been proving a big attraction for tourists.
Named Wilgi Manung, the Aboriginal for ‘white whale’, it is believed to be one of only ten in the world.
Senior wildlife officer Doug Coughran described Wilgi Manung, which will grow 50ft long and weigh 50 tons, as ‘ultra-white.’
Trimix: What’s the plan?
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It’s 7.30AM on a cool, clear summer morning. The sea around the boat is mirror-smooth, in stark contrast to the hive of activity on the deck. To the outsider, it’s chaos; in fact, every action has been carefully planned. In less than an hour, the first two of eight divers will be in the water, with the last pair climbing out a few hours later. This is mixed-gas, or trimix, diving. Each diver has already made a heavy commitment in terms of training and equipment, and will make a more personal commitment as soon as they switch to the trimix carried on their backs. A mistake from this point onwards will be painful – or worse. Thorough planning, so important in recreational diving, is absolutely essential for safe mixed-gas diving. Mixed-gas diving is all about establishing a purpose, and doing whatever needs to be done to safely achieve that aim. Planning for mixed-gas diving trips starts months in advance and can roughly be broken down into five main areas. The Team The dive manager’s role is to co-ordinate the diving activities, liaise with the skipper and deal with any emergencies that may arise. The dive manager does not necessarily need to be a mixed-gas diver, but should have a thorough understanding of the implications. The Boat Particular features to look out for are a sturdy kitting-up bench, sufficient deck space for equipment, and unobstructed level decking that allows a diver in full kit and fins to walk to and from the entry and exit points. Some boats have a hydraulic lift, which is ideal. As important as the boat is a good skipper who is happy to work with mixed-gas divers, and who understands their needs and concerns. Equipment All mixed-gas dives involve mandatory decompression stops, which can be lengthy and are generally carried out on a deco station of some sort. A decision needs to be made about whether to leave the station attached to the main shot-line for the duration of the decompression, or to detach it to drift with the current. With a current running at up to 1.5 knots, decompressing on an attached station is excellent. The diver uses a Jon line to clip on and is pulled out level by the current. Where currents or tidal flows are stronger, the deco station can be detached to drift free once all the divers are safely in position. This requires a tagging system, where the descending divers each clip a tag onto the point at which the transfer line meets the main shot-line, retrieving it again on the ascent and unclipping once the last tag has been removed. The boat then follows the drifting trapeze. A free-drifting decompression is extremely comfortable, but is not practicable in areas where the divers may drift into danger or obstruct shipping. The Dive Once the evacuation and recompression situation in the pre-trip planning has been checked, the emergency kit should be kept together with telephone numbers, diver details and next-of-kin information. Emergency oxygen supplies should be plentiful, as should isotonic drinks and water. As the divers may have extended decompression stop times, care needs to be taken to ensure that they will not drift into danger during a free-drifting decompression. They cannot be brought to the surface prematurely, so it is important to keep an eye on the weather forecast. If the weather is due to deteriorate before or close to when the divers are expected out of the water, it may be wiser to change plans or even abandon diving for the day. Confirm the diver-to-surface signalling protocol with the dive team. A simple system, which has been in use for several years, is as follows: a red delayed SMB indicates that the diver is there and okay; a yellow delayed SMB indicates that there is a problem that requires immediate investigation. Both red and yellow delayed SMBs deployed simultaneously indicate that the diver is low or out of gas. Consider the best way to remove an unconscious diver from the water. On average, each diver will be wearing some 45-60kg of equipment, and most will struggle to put on their own stage cylinders on board the boat. Trying to climb a ladder while wearing this weight at the end of a dive could trigger decompression illness (DCI), so it is normal for the divers to remove their stage bottles in the water. Surface support can greatly ease the burden of kitting and de-kitting, while shallow support divers waiting at the deco station to remove bulky items, such as cameras, will be appreciated. Gas Blending If blending on board, the boat will need a compressor with the capacity to support this volume of gas filling, in addition to having sufficient space for the large helium and oxygen cylinders. The gas must be ordered well in advance, and delivery or collection arranged. Basic equipment required for gas blending consists of oxygen-clean blending hoses and gauges, a compressor and gas analysers. Mixed-gas planning tips ✓ Select the boat and the skipper the same way you select the team – by reputation. A good skipper will be pleased to answer questions and discuss contingency plans for bad weather. Ensure that the skipper is happy to work with mixed-gas divers ✓ Prepare a rota for gas blending, support divers and dive manager ✓ Have a designated non-diving dive manager each day to co-ordinate the diving and ensure appropriate response to problems ✓ Prepare a list of required team equipment. Send it out and ask the team to fill in items they can bring. Anything still needed can be hired or bought and the expenses shared ✓ Send out a list of emergency signalling equipment in advance. If just one diver in the group has the wrong colour of emergency signalling equipment, you run the risk of an inappropriate response when seconds count ✓ Plan for the worst – have a list of emergency contact numbers and next-of-kin details at all times ✓ Contact your nearest recompression chamber and local coastguard to discuss your plans in advance ✓ Never be afraid to cancel a dive if the conditions aren’t right, irrespective of the financial cost ✓ Enforce a ‘no alcohol’ rule until all the trip’s diving is over |
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