26th January, 1st March, 12th April, 17th May, 12th July, 30th August, 4th October and 1st November.

The Annual General meeting is 29th November.

If a member has an item of business for discussion at any committee meeting, please contact Branch Secretary, Jo Kelly

As divers we all like to explore new dive locations so when it was suggested that we run a trip to the Black Sea in Bulgaria the places were snatched up.  The itinerary fuelled our excitement with promises of a jet aircraft, a Russian submarine, German landing crafts, torpedo boats, a cargo ship, steamship, and a Russian military ship.

The detailed briefing notes were distributed shortly before departure and we refused to let the realisation that we were diving from RIBs dampen our spirits.

Despite a slight delay to our flight to Budapest resulting in us running to catch our connecting flight to Bulgaria, we were still all very excited (particularly Bret Champion who experienced a rather thorough frisk going through security!)

On arrival in our resort – Golden Sands – excitement was still running high: the sun was shining, the hotel was good, and we were 2 minutes walk from the jetty and even closer to the Pirates Beach Bar!  It had all the ingredients for an exceptionally good diving experience – or so we thought…

Sunday – RIB resurrection day:

The warning signs were there when we arrived on the harbour-front on day 1 to be greeted by our dive guide, Scott, who we discovered was running his dive centre from the back of a white van!

Despite this and the usual first day faffing, we kept smiling and set off in 2 RIBs: 5 in a small yellow 1, and 8 in a larger orange 1, which was affectionately named the Muppet RIB for no other reason than it amused Bret!  But those on the Muppet RIB had the last laugh later as you’ll see…

Our check dive – a German torpedo boat – was a little disappointing with surprisingly poor visibility and colder than expected water temperature.  However, we did see hundreds of mussels both on the wreck and on the silty seabed.

Visibility on our 2^nd dive – a cargo ship – also disappointed but again there was no shortage of mussels to look at.

Safely back on the boats, warming up in the glorious sunshine, the poor vis was soon forgotten when the yellow RIB failed to start. Tow rope in place, we commenced a slow journey back…until the tow-rope broke!

Luck was on our side however and we succeeded in getting the yellow RIB started again. Within 5 minutes we all wished we hadn’t: the wind was up and the cox of the Muppet RIB – Geoff – wanted to make up some time (but clearly didn’t want to make any friends) and throttled forward through the waves making it an extremely uncomfortable ride.  Polite requests for him to slow down were met with less than friendly responses so we hung on, gritted our teeth, and after 20 minutes, breathed a sigh of relief when we arrived back on dry land.

Monday – one RIB day:

Refusing to allow the chaos and disappointments of day 1 dampen our spirits, we arrived on the jetty early all looking forward to diving the recently sunk jet aircraft.  On the basis that the yellow RIB wasn’t even in the water, it was pretty clear it wasn’t operational; diving in shifts from the Muppet RIB was the only option.

Group 1 went out and the first 2 buddy pairs descended the shot line only to surface again very quickly: they’d reached the wreck but couldn’t see it!

Changing plans and divers, the next dive site was an unknown wreck (probably a German patrol boat), which was an enjoyable little bimble, again with plenty of mussels to seen.

The last shift of the day was a local, shallow dive, again fairly uneventful other than Jackie Maskell losing her mask over the side of the boat; flooding her computer by failing to seal it properly after changing the battery; and losing her buddy in 3 meters of water – perhaps we now had a reason to call it the Muppet RIB!

We finished the day by celebrating Cynthia Doughty’s 65^th birthday with champagne (or Bulgarian sparkling wine), and dinner out where Gill and Kev ordered that traditional Bulgarian dish, spare ribs (could have done with some of those earlier in the day)!

Tuesday – yellow submarine RIB day:

Good news: the yellow RIB was working again and we were taking mechanic, Martin, with us as back-up!

The not so good news: chaos and indecision!

The plan was to dive a Russian submarine and stay out all day meaning we had to carry 2^nd cylinders.  Following disagreements between Scott (from the dive centre) and Geoff (cox of the Muppet RIB) about space and weight on the RIBs, we loaded our kit, a spare cylinder each and set off slowly…very slowly.

It was evident very quickly that taking spare cylinders with us wasn’t a good idea: the nose of the yellow RIB was so low in the water it was named the yellow submarine!

Back to the harbour to unload the spare cylinders and eventually we set off again, this time at a reasonable speed.

It was worth it.  The sub was great and a first for some of us.  Visibility wasn’t bad either (or perhaps we’d all just lowered our expectations by then!)  Lots of mussels too!

The 2^nd dive of the day was an upside-down tank landing craft.  A pleasant little dive with an abundance of mussels!

All-in-all a great day: 2 good dives and both RIBs working for the duration – a great way for Graham Harvey (non-club member) to celebrate his 50^th birthday.

Wednesday – two RIB day:

Both RIBs working again today – hurrah!

We returned to the jet aircraft again but visibility hadn’t improved sufficiently so we abandoned that and dived the Carole, a German cargo ship, and a 2^nd German landing craft, this time the right way up.

Both good dives with a reasonable amount of life.  Oh, and plenty of mussels!

Thursday – dead RIBs day:

The diving (and RIB reliability) had improved as the week progressed so we were all looking forward to a good day’s diving further around the coast.  We drove for an hour and met the 2 RIBs in a small fishing cove.

You can imagine our disbelief when the steering cable snapped on the Muppet RIB just after we set off!  Determined to reach the dive site, we took turns at manually steering.

Eventually we arrived at the site, kitted up, and the first buddy pairs descended… and quickly ascended – the water temperature went from 23˚ on the surface to 10˚ at about 4 meters!

Congratulations go to buddy pairs Len Hards and John Fowles, and Kevan Tulip and Gill Wilson who were the only divers who managed a recordable dive time of 36 minutes and 15 minutes respectively.

Having slowly manually steered the Muppet RIB back to the cove, 4 hardy (or daft) divers (Ros Hepple, Len Hards, Jim Molyneux and Kev Tulip) went back out again in the yellow RIB for a final dive of the holiday in 10˚ water.

What they got was a short ride around the corner, a completely dead engine, frustrated and sunburnt!  Fortunately, they got it working again long enough to be able to return to shore 1½ hours later.

At the end of the day we headed back to the resort with the option of visiting a mussel farm en route.  It probably comes as no surprise that we declined the offer, feeling we’d probably seen enough mussels to last us a lifetime.

With the diving over for the week, we enjoyed a few drinks to celebrate John Fowles’ birthday.  Who would believe we would be celebrating 3 birthdays in 1 week?  But then who would believe the saga of the 2 RIBs?!

Friday – no need for RIB day:

This was the usual chill-out day by the pool and on the beach with no worries about RIB reliability.  Ah, bliss!

Summary:

Despite the unreliable RIBs, disappointing visibility and water temperature, and a disorganised dive centre, this was a holiday to be remembered.  It was different, challenging, and above all, it was great fun.

I’m sure none of us will be rushing back to Bulgaria for the diving but if you don’t try it you’ll never know.  I guess there’s a reason people go back to the Red Sea year after year!

Thanks not only go to Ros Hepple for organising the trip but to all of you who made it what it was.

As divers we all like to explore new dive locations so when it was suggested that we run a trip to the Black Sea in Bulgaria the places were snatched up.  The itinerary fuelled our excitement with promises of a jet aircraft, a Russian submarine, German landing crafts, torpedo boats, a cargo ship, steamship, and a Russian military ship.

The detailed briefing notes were distributed shortly before departure and we refused to let the realisation that we were diving from RIBs dampen our spirits.

Despite a slight delay to our flight to Budapest resulting in us running to catch our connecting flight to Bulgaria, we were still all very excited (particularly Bret Champion who experienced a rather thorough frisk going through security!)

On arrival in our resort – Golden Sands – excitement was still running high: the sun was shining, the hotel was good, and we were 2 minutes walk from the jetty and even closer to the Pirates Beach Bar!  It had all the ingredients for an exceptionally good diving experience – or so we thought…

Sunday – RIB resurrection day:

The warning signs were there when we arrived on the harbour-front on day 1 to be greeted by our dive guide, Scott, who we discovered was running his dive centre from the back of a white van!

Despite this and the usual first day faffing, we kept smiling and set off in 2 RIBs: 5 in a small yellow 1, and 8 in a larger orange 1, which was affectionately named the Muppet RIB for no other reason than it amused Bret!  But those on the Muppet RIB had the last laugh later as you’ll see…

Our check dive – a German torpedo boat – was a little disappointing with surprisingly poor visibility and colder than expected water temperature.  However, we did see hundreds of mussels both on the wreck and on the silty seabed.

Visibility on our 2^nd dive – a cargo ship – also disappointed but again there was no shortage of mussels to look at.

Safely back on the boats, warming up in the glorious sunshine, the poor vis was soon forgotten when the yellow RIB failed to start. Tow rope in place, we commenced a slow journey back…until the tow-rope broke!

Luck was on our side however and we succeeded in getting the yellow RIB started again. Within 5 minutes we all wished we hadn’t: the wind was up and the cox of the Muppet RIB – Geoff – wanted to make up some time (but clearly didn’t want to make any friends) and throttled forward through the waves making it an extremely uncomfortable ride.  Polite requests for him to slow down were met with less than friendly responses so we hung on, gritted our teeth, and after 20 minutes, breathed a sigh of relief when we arrived back on dry land.

Monday – one RIB day:

Refusing to allow the chaos and disappointments of day 1 dampen our spirits, we arrived on the jetty early all looking forward to diving the recently sunk jet aircraft.  On the basis that the yellow RIB wasn’t even in the water, it was pretty clear it wasn’t operational; diving in shifts from the Muppet RIB was the only option.

Group 1 went out and the first 2 buddy pairs descended the shot line only to surface again very quickly: they’d reached the wreck but couldn’t see it!

Changing plans and divers, the next dive site was an unknown wreck (probably a German patrol boat), which was an enjoyable little bimble, again with plenty of mussels to seen.

The last shift of the day was a local, shallow dive, again fairly uneventful other than Jackie Maskell losing her mask over the side of the boat; flooding her computer by failing to seal it properly after changing the battery; and losing her buddy in 3 meters of water – perhaps we now had a reason to call it the Muppet RIB!

We finished the day by celebrating Cynthia Doughty’s 65^th birthday with champagne (or Bulgarian sparkling wine), and dinner out where Gill and Kev ordered that traditional Bulgarian dish, spare ribs (could have done with some of those earlier in the day)!

Tuesday – yellow submarine RIB day:

Good news: the yellow RIB was working again and we were taking mechanic, Martin, with us as back-up!

The not so good news: chaos and indecision!

The plan was to dive a Russian submarine and stay out all day meaning we had to carry 2^nd cylinders.  Following disagreements between Scott (from the dive centre) and Geoff (cox of the Muppet RIB) about space and weight on the RIBs, we loaded our kit, a spare cylinder each and set off slowly…very slowly.

It was evident very quickly that taking spare cylinders with us wasn’t a good idea: the nose of the yellow RIB was so low in the water it was named the yellow submarine!

Back to the harbour to unload the spare cylinders and eventually we set off again, this time at a reasonable speed.

It was worth it.  The sub was great and a first for some of us.  Visibility wasn’t bad either (or perhaps we’d all just lowered our expectations by then!)  Lots of mussels too!

The 2^nd dive of the day was an upside-down tank landing craft.  A pleasant little dive with an abundance of mussels!

All-in-all a great day: 2 good dives and both RIBs working for the duration – a great way for Graham Harvey (non-club member) to celebrate his 50^th birthday.

Wednesday – two RIB day:

Both RIBs working again today – hurrah!

We returned to the jet aircraft again but visibility hadn’t improved sufficiently so we abandoned that and dived the Carole, a German cargo ship, and a 2^nd German landing craft, this time the right way up.

Both good dives with a reasonable amount of life.  Oh, and plenty of mussels!

Thursday – dead RIBs day:

The diving (and RIB reliability) had improved as the week progressed so we were all looking forward to a good day’s diving further around the coast.  We drove for an hour and met the 2 RIBs in a small fishing cove.

You can imagine our disbelief when the steering cable snapped on the Muppet RIB just after we set off!  Determined to reach the dive site, we took turns at manually steering.

Eventually we arrived at the site, kitted up, and the first buddy pairs descended… and quickly ascended – the water temperature went from 23˚ on the surface to 10˚ at about 4 meters!

Congratulations go to buddy pairs Len Hards and John Fowles, and Kevan Tulip and Gill Wilson who were the only divers who managed a recordable dive time of 36 minutes and 15 minutes respectively.

Having slowly manually steered the Muppet RIB back to the cove, 4 hardy (or daft) divers (Ros Hepple, Len Hards, Jim Molyneux and Kev Tulip) went back out again in the yellow RIB for a final dive of the holiday in 10˚ water.

What they got was a short ride around the corner, a completely dead engine, frustrated and sunburnt!  Fortunately, they got it working again long enough to be able to return to shore 1½ hours later.

At the end of the day we headed back to the resort with the option of visiting a mussel farm en route.  It probably comes as no surprise that we declined the offer, feeling we’d probably seen enough mussels to last us a lifetime.

With the diving over for the week, we enjoyed a few drinks to celebrate John Fowles’ birthday.  Who would believe we would be celebrating 3 birthdays in 1 week?  But then who would believe the saga of the 2 RIBs?!

Friday – no need for RIB day:

This was the usual chill-out day by the pool and on the beach with no worries about RIB reliability.  Ah, bliss!

Summary:

Despite the unreliable RIBs, disappointing visibility and water temperature, and a disorganised dive centre, this was a holiday to be remembered.  It was different, challenging, and above all, it was great fun.

I’m sure none of us will be rushing back to Bulgaria for the diving but if you don’t try it you’ll never know.  I guess there’s a reason people go back to the Red Sea year after year!

Thanks not only go to Ros Hepple for organising the trip but to all of you who made it what it was.

A tale of two RIBs

As divers we all like to explore new dive locations so when it was suggested that we run a trip to the Black Sea in Bulgaria the places were snatched up.  The itinerary fuelled our excitement with promises of a jet aircraft, a Russian submarine, German landing crafts, torpedo boats, a cargo ship, steamship, and a Russian military ship.

The detailed briefing notes were distributed shortly before departure and we refused to let the realisation that we were diving from RIBs dampen our spirits.

Despite a slight delay to our flight to Budapest resulting in us running to catch our connecting flight to Bulgaria, we were still all very excited (particularly Bret Champion who experienced a rather thorough frisk going through security!)

On arrival in our resort – Golden Sands – excitement was still running high: the sun was shining, the hotel was good, and we were 2 minutes walk from the jetty and even closer to the Pirates Beach Bar!  It had all the ingredients for an exceptionally good diving experience – or so we thought…

Sunday – RIB resurrection day:

The warning signs were there when we arrived on the harbour-front on day 1 to be greeted by our dive guide, Scott, who we discovered was running his dive centre from the back of a white van!

Despite this and the usual first day faffing, we kept smiling and set off in 2 RIBs: 5 in a small yellow 1, and 8 in a larger orange 1, which was affectionately named the Muppet RIB for no other reason than it amused Bret!  But those on the Muppet RIB had the last laugh later as you’ll see…

Our check dive – a German torpedo boat – was a little disappointing with surprisingly poor visibility and colder than expected water temperature.  However, we did see hundreds of mussels both on the wreck and on the silty seabed.

Visibility on our 2^nd dive – a cargo ship – also disappointed but again there was no shortage of mussels to look at.

Safely back on the boats, warming up in the glorious sunshine, the poor vis was soon forgotten when the yellow RIB failed to start. Tow rope in place, we commenced a slow journey back…until the tow-rope broke!

Luck was on our side however and we succeeded in getting the yellow RIB started again. Within 5 minutes we all wished we hadn’t: the wind was up and the cox of the Muppet RIB – Geoff – wanted to make up some time (but clearly didn’t want to make any friends) and throttled forward through the waves making it an extremely uncomfortable ride.  Polite requests for him to slow down were met with less than friendly responses so we hung on, gritted our teeth, and after 20 minutes, breathed a sigh of relief when we arrived back on dry land.

Monday – one RIB day:

Refusing to allow the chaos and disappointments of day 1 dampen our spirits, we arrived on the jetty early all looking forward to diving the recently sunk jet aircraft.  On the basis that the yellow RIB wasn’t even in the water, it was pretty clear it wasn’t operational; diving in shifts from the Muppet RIB was the only option.

Group 1 went out and the first 2 buddy pairs descended the shot line only to surface again very quickly: they’d reached the wreck but couldn’t see it!

Changing plans and divers, the next dive site was an unknown wreck (probably a German patrol boat), which was an enjoyable little bimble, again with plenty of mussels to seen.

The last shift of the day was a local, shallow dive, again fairly uneventful other than Jackie Maskell losing her mask over the side of the boat; flooding her computer by failing to seal it properly after changing the battery; and losing her buddy in 3 meters of water – perhaps we now had a reason to call it the Muppet RIB!

We finished the day by celebrating Cynthia Doughty’s 65^th birthday with champagne (or Bulgarian sparkling wine), and dinner out where Gill and Kev ordered that traditional Bulgarian dish, spare ribs (could have done with some of those earlier in the day)!

Tuesday – yellow submarine RIB day:

Good news: the yellow RIB was working again and we were taking mechanic, Martin, with us as back-up!

The not so good news: chaos and indecision!

The plan was to dive a Russian submarine and stay out all day meaning we had to carry 2^nd cylinders.  Following disagreements between Scott (from the dive centre) and Geoff (cox of the Muppet RIB) about space and weight on the RIBs, we loaded our kit, a spare cylinder each and set off slowly…very slowly.

It was evident very quickly that taking spare cylinders with us wasn’t a good idea: the nose of the yellow RIB was so low in the water it was named the yellow submarine!

Back to the harbour to unload the spare cylinders and eventually we set off again, this time at a reasonable speed.

It was worth it.  The sub was great and a first for some of us.  Visibility wasn’t bad either (or perhaps we’d all just lowered our expectations by then!)  Lots of mussels too!

The 2^nd dive of the day was an upside-down tank landing craft.  A pleasant little dive with an abundance of mussels!

All-in-all a great day: 2 good dives and both RIBs working for the duration – a great way for Graham Harvey (non-club member) to celebrate his 50^th birthday.

Wednesday – two RIB day:

Both RIBs working again today – hurrah!

We returned to the jet aircraft again but visibility hadn’t improved sufficiently so we abandoned that and dived the Carole, a German cargo ship, and a 2^nd German landing craft, this time the right way up.

Both good dives with a reasonable amount of life.  Oh, and plenty of mussels!

Thursday – dead RIBs day:

The diving (and RIB reliability) had improved as the week progressed so we were all looking forward to a good day’s diving further around the coast.  We drove for an hour and met the 2 RIBs in a small fishing cove.

You can imagine our disbelief when the steering cable snapped on the Muppet RIB just after we set off!  Determined to reach the dive site, we took turns at manually steering.

Eventually we arrived at the site, kitted up, and the first buddy pairs descended… and quickly ascended – the water temperature went from 23˚ on the surface to 10˚ at about 4 meters!

Congratulations go to buddy pairs Len Hards and John Fowles, and Kevan Tulip and Gill Wilson who were the only divers who managed a recordable dive time of 36 minutes and 15 minutes respectively.

Having slowly manually steered the Muppet RIB back to the cove, 4 hardy (or daft) divers (Ros Hepple, Len Hards, Jim Molyneux and Kev Tulip) went back out again in the yellow RIB for a final dive of the holiday in 10˚ water.

What they got was a short ride around the corner, a completely dead engine, frustrated and sunburnt!  Fortunately, they got it working again long enough to be able to return to shore 1½ hours later.

At the end of the day we headed back to the resort with the option of visiting a mussel farm en route.  It probably comes as no surprise that we declined the offer, feeling we’d probably seen enough mussels to last us a lifetime.

With the diving over for the week, we enjoyed a few drinks to celebrate John Fowles’ birthday.  Who would believe we would be celebrating 3 birthdays in 1 week?  But then who would believe the saga of the 2 RIBs?!

Friday – no need for RIB day:

This was the usual chill-out day by the pool and on the beach with no worries about RIB reliability.  Ah, bliss!

Summary:

Despite the unreliable RIBs, disappointing visibility and water temperature, and a disorganised dive centre, this was a holiday to be remembered.  It was different, challenging, and above all, it was great fun.

I’m sure none of us will be rushing back to Bulgaria for the diving but if you don’t try it you’ll never know.  I guess there’s a reason people go back to the Red Sea year after year!

Thanks not only go to Ros Hepple for organising the trip but to all of you who made it what it was.

We welcome “new blood” on the Committee, so don’t just expect the incumbent will stand again – often they do only because no-one else comes forward. So take the opportunity to get more involved in the running of the Branch!

Positions that will be voted for at the AGM on the 24th November 2011 are:

Chairman

Diving Officer

Treasurer

Secretary

Training Officer

Membership Secretary

Boats Officer

Compressor Officer

Equipment Officer

Bar Manager

Social Secretary

Buildings Officer

Pool Manager New Malden

If you would like to put yourself forward for a position, you need to be proposed and seconded for the role. Should you have any queries regarding the positions and what their duties include, please feel free to approach anyone on the committee.

Remember…. Your club needs you!

Rules:

1. Members can submit one photograph per category.

2. All photos have to be taken since the last competition i.e. from December 2010 to date.

3. The winner for each of the four categories (Underwater Wildlife, UK Waters, Wreck & Social) will be voted for by members at a slide show evening (as in past years), to be held on Thursday 17th November.

4. High resolution digital images to be supplied to Brian Deluce by email – please include what category the photos are being entered for. Email entries to brian_deluce@yahoo.co.uk

5. You agree to allow your photos to be displayed on the K&E website.

6. The Committee agree the winner of Best Overall Photo.

7. All winners will receive a cup for their category.

Any queries to Jonathan Markwell (jmarkwell01@sky.com)

1. The presentation of the Minutes of the Previous Annual General Meeting held on 25th November 2010.
2. The appointment of tellers for any vote by show of hands that may be required.
3. The Chairman’s Report.
4. The Diving Officer’s Report.
5. The Membership Secretary’s Report.
6. The Treasurer’s Report, the presentation and adoption, if approved, of the audited accounts and balance sheet for financial year to end September 2011 and the appointment of independent person(s) as auditor.
7. Presentation of trophies.
8. Proposal to allow payment of membership fees by instalment.
9. Election of Officers of the Branch and the Committee members.
10. Consideration of Any Other Business as the Chairman of the meeting may select.

The AGM will be held at the Clubhouse, King George V Car Park, Queen Mary Close (off Hook Rise South), Tolworth, Surrey.

Kingston & Elmbridge BSAC holds personal data that is used in a limited number of ways for branch purposes only, as set out in the Branch constitution. The Committee intends to make available (to any member who requests it) a list containing members’ name, contact telephone number and email address. Please advise the Branch Secretary if you do not wish to have your details on this list (which will be maintained by the Branch Secretary).

Jonathan Markwell, Branch Secretary. For and on behalf of Kingston & Elmbridge BSAC Branch Committee

The Chairman’s Artefact Trophy is awarded for the Best Presented Find, whilst the Jeff Betts Trophy is awarded for the Best Find. Entries must have been brought up in 2011 and of course declared to the Receiver of Wreck (evidence required for the item to be judged).

The Photographic Competition has a number of trophies, so you need to select your best pictures and chose which category they will be entered for. Details of image format, where to send them and by when will follow.

The five photographic categories are:

1. Underwater Wildlife Photo – at home or abroad;
2. Social Photo – should include Branch member(s), but doesn’t have to be a dive trip;
3. UK photo – of anything, but taken in UK waters;
4. Wreck photo – any wreck, anywhere;
5. Best Overall Photo – selected by the Committee.

Entries for the Find trophies should be brought to the club on Thursday 17th November and displayed on a table. Members present will vote by a show of hands for each trophy.

Images for each category in the Photographic Competition will be projected on Thursday 17th November and members present will be given a voting slip to select their winning image in each category.

Please speak to Jonathan Markwell, Branch Secretary, if you have any queries on the rules.

Best Trainee – for the trainee who has gained, or improved, their skills in the past year;

Crawley Cup – the heaviest crustacean caught in 2011 – must be verified with evidence of the weight!;

Lady Diver – presented to the lady who has developed their diving the most;

Marion Trophy – awarded to someone who has made a significant contribution to the club;

Wooden Spoon – for an amusing tale when things just haven’t gone right!

All nominations to our Chairman, Brian Deluce, by COB Thursday 17th November please.