Carrying out decompression from the dSMB
The days were long and exhausting , with a massive amount of diving and theory to cram in . It is really intensive but a really good way to do it . We found the knowledge retention was much better , as everything we learned was backed up by a practice element of some sort .
We had delusions of grandeur about going to the pub and reminiscing about the day ’ s diving . In reality we were knackered and fell asleep ! Our final drill was to perfect the ‘ ring of roses ’ stage swap , a drill we spectacularly failed the first time , though I ’ m told everyone does .
For this , we had to be in trim at a depth of 6m to remove a stage , then hand it off to the right while receiving one from the left , remembering not to let go until everyone gave the ‘ all clear ’ with a nod of the head ; and then clipping the new stage back on . The aim of the game is to end up with your own stage back and not ending up on the surface or on the sea floor . Easier than it sounds for a newbie . We nailed it , and felt pretty pleased with ourselves .
Time flies ...
Two weeks later we headed to Portland , filled up with some Trimix like proper Gas Monkeys and went for a dive on the Warrior II with Sea Leopard . The Warrior II was a 1904 luxury steam yacht who met her demise in 1940 , attacked from the air . We had already submitted our plans in advance and then once we got our gases we came together as a team to make sure our plans aligned . Final kit checks , buddy checks and we were ready to go .
The tide was still running , so it took a bit of effort to get down initially but it meant
Perfect in pink
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