BSAC London No. 1 Branch

This Easter Diving Holidays was my first time in the driving seat of one of our club trips. Not any trip I might add, but our traditional Plymouth Easter bank holidays diving trip. A BSAC London No.1 tradition which can be traced back to the origin of the club itself when, according to Keith, the said club had so many numbers (400!) and boats that they had to run 6 to 12 waves a day, with 2 to 3 dive Marshals and many more Assistants. There were air divers, oxygen divers, snorkelers and even hard hat divers! Well, we certainly didn't become the Number One diving club out of nothing...

I had already been on the trip two years running and had a good idea of what to expect. No matter how well you have prepared and planned your trip, it will, in the end come down to the weather (which is true for most trips). Two years ago the weather was good, last year it was horrible.

For the past two weeks prior to the trip, I started to surf the Met Office's website like a maniac. D-Day minus one and the forecast was awful, I was so disappointed. Prediction for the weekend was strong South/South West wind. You can't get any worse. Well, after all, the weather was in fact... fantastic! I mean really really good. Sunshine, flat sea and everything, almost no wind... perfect!

So we managed to dive most of the sites I had planned to dive except for Hands Deep (sorry George). For those who have yet to organise a trip, and yes we know who you are! Here is my recipe:

1. Good weather (pretty obvious)

2. Good Assistant to the DM: I have to admit that I had a smashing assistant who really put all her heart and both feet in it and helped a lot. Thank you Wendy, the weekend went through like a charm.

3. Finally, I had a good bunch of happy divers, ready to help and to wake up every day with a smile, at dawn.

In the end we did seven waves plus in-between short sorties to the Breakwater for training purposes; not bad. OK, a little bit weaker than the 3 to 4 dives a day plus night hard boat diving initially planned but...

I wish to welcome Andy, who for his first trip with the club proved himself a real Loup de Mer with an impressive 30 minutes dive in very cold water wearing a wet suit (plus a pair of shorts!) so thin that even Chris and Keith looked incredulous. I suspect this was only a stratagem to get a warm double cuddle from Wendy and Megan.

I also wish to welcome James who also showed what he was made of, by being on most waves, diving or not.

Thank you all for coming along.
Al.

PS: recipe for a good trip continued:

4. Always a good idea to have someone as knowledgeable as Keith to proofread any decisions...