5 divers all met up at the training quarry over flow car park in Leicestershire between 08:00 and 08:30. Even though they all arrived at different times they all managed to parked alongside each other in the main car park.

It was quite warm for late October, not very windy and the sun even came out occasionally. The purpose of our visit was to do some Sports Diver open water training. The first 2 dives could almost be classed as 1 dive with a group of 5 divers but Jane and Stu left the other 3 and did a different skill.

Dive 1

• Divers: Simon, Jason and Julie
• Max Depth: 21.1 metres
• Dive Time: 28 minutes
• Water temperature: 11 degrees C
• Viz: 5-6 metres
• Dive details: Julie, Simon, and Jason surface swam out to the Stanegarth Wreck marker buoy. We then descended to the wreck of the Stanegarth at 20 metres. Julie attached Simon’s distance reel to the shot line, and deployed the reel around the Stanegarth, securing the line to the wreck at every turn of direction. Thus, Julie led, and Jason followed the line around the wreck. Simon supervised. Once at the other side, Julie turned around and began reeling the line back in. Jason followed the line back to the shot line, untying each securement, whilst Julie reeled in the line. Once back at the datum line, Jason took the reel. We then repeated the exercise with Jason deploying the distance line and Julie following the line. We then ascended, practicing a 3-minute decompression stop at 6 metres. Both Julie and Jason stopped holding the shot line to prove that their buoyancy was under control. We then slowly ascended to the surface.

Dive 2

• Divers: Jane and Stu
• Max Depth: 18.8 metres
• Dive Time: 31 minutes
• Water temperature: 11 degrees C
• Viz: 5-6 metres
• Dive details: Surface swim, descended the shot line then practices DSMB deployment from the Stanegarth.

Dive 3

• Divers: Simon and Julie
• Max Depth: 5.5 metres
• Dive Time: 7 minutes
• Water temperature: 14 degrees C
• Viz: 5-6 metres
• Dive details: The first part of this lesson was spent at the surface, covering towing a casualty, rescue breaths, summoning help, and recovering casualties from the water. This is why there is only a short dive time of 7 minutes where we descended to the controlled buoyant lift from the wooden platform.

Dive 4

• Divers: Simon, Stu and Jason
• Max Depth: 6.1 metres
• Dive Time: 11 minutes
• Water temperature: 14 degrees C
• Viz: 5-6 metres
• Dive details: Same lesson as the previous dive, different students.

Dive 5

• Divers: Simon and Jason
• Max Depth: 11.5 metres
• Dive Time: 28 minutes
• Water temperature: 13 degrees C
• Viz: 5-6 metres
• Dive details: This lesson involved a dive using a surface marker buoy (SMB). We headed past the viscount cockpit down the slope as Jason used the reel and let out more line for the SMB as we descended. We reached our target depth and waited for Jane and Stu to arrive to witness the alternate source ascents. We then returned to the quayside, with Jason reeling in the line.

Dive 6

• Divers: Jane and Stu
• Max Depth: 12.4 metres
• Dive Time: 17 minutes
• Water temperature: 13 degrees C
• Viz: 5-6 metres
• Dive details: Stu had planned this dive and also had to lead it. He also had to do some mask clearing skills and alternate source ascent. After the ascent they swam on the surface back to the quayside.