On Sat, 15 Feb 2003 12:07:23 +1100, David Strike <[log in to unmask]>
wrote:

>On Saturday, February 15, 2003 7:06 AM, Fred Brown wrote:
>
>> 8C is for looneys and penguins. I no longer wish to dive in those
>> conditions.
>
>Andy and Huw only say that they enjoy diving there, but the rest of us know
>that they don't mean it! :-)

Funny you should mention that... :-)

The sea was 7 deg C this weekend, visibility ranging from less than half a
metre up to two, and even the skipper called us raving mad!  Maybe, but,
you could still get a good half hour in the water before your hands seize
up completely.

Dive two of four over the weekend is on HMS Hood, the 10,000 ton WWI pre-
dreadnought ironclad battleship deliberately sunk across an entrance to
Portland harbour to prevent submarine entry.  The permanent shotline
usually located just off the breakwater on the seaward side of the wreck
wasn't present, and the outgoing tide was still running slowly, so the
skipper pus us in the water just on the harbour side, quick down to the
bottom and swim due south.  You can't miss it.

I go in with Rich, as a typical UK wrekkie he doesn't carry a compass, so
we follow my bearing till the wreck looms out of the gloom.  It is
interesting seeing the harbour side of the old girl for a change, much more
crumpled and deteriorated than the seaward side, many weight bearing struts
buckled to near the point of collapse.

Still, Rich finds a couple of good dark holes, and heads off into the
middle for a good old poke around.  I hang around just inside the entrance,
even though conditions are quite good - very little current inside the
wreck, viz up to two metres and a sunny day so plenty of ambient light, I
still don't have a decent torch (or sufficient UK overhead experience), so
keep the exit in sight.  After a couple of minutes, Rich's torch beam re-
emerges from the darkness, and we head back outside.

We follow the hull over to the stones at the foot of the breakwater,
intending to nip over the top.  As we start to climb up the side, I see
Neil and Chris , and exchange a couple of 'hello' and 'great dive!' type
gestures.  Then Chris gives a signal that looks a bit like 'where is the
boat?' - but we are already right on it, so it can't be that.  Neil mumbles
something into his Inspiration mouthpiece, but Rich has already disappeared
off ahead so I shrug and give them an 'off to join my buddy, enjoy the rest
of the dive!' signal.

The top of the Hood is a huge crumpled iron reef in just six metres,
covered in Kelp.  Fortunately slack water has arrived, otherside we'd be
blown to France...  We find the stump of a propshaft, before dropping a
little down the ten metre-high vertical wall on the outside, and doing
another couple of short loops into the dark interior.

Thirty seven minutes in, the chill is really working its way through
drysuit, Weezle and two layers of thermals so we bang up a blob and rise
back into the sun.  Back on the boat, Chris says, 'So where was the Wreck
then...?' !!! :-)

10,000 tons, and they were close enough to touch it!

>> By "the Wembley of Diving" did Huw mean a) the home of diving, b) a place
>> that's as crowded a Tokyo bar, or c) a place that's being pulled down to
>> be replaced by something that'll cost even more than the millenium dome?

Option 'a', of course!

Cheers,
Huw
--
http://www.huwporter.com