Random Jottings
Another winter project......
Following on from my back operation in 2018 recovery has been a bit slow so with diving dried up due to UK winter conditions it has been time to start hitting those weights.....
But to what extent? I remember years ago, 2010 I think it was when I was working on the Indian Sub-continent that I reduced my weight to the 90kg mark and it was damned cold when I got back to diving in the UK as I had lost all of my 'bioprene', so the target this year is going to be down to a steady 95kg.
So how am I going to get down to that level, well I have gone and joined a local gym, which has a national footprint and it's going well so far, but first who have I decided to use?
https://www.snapfitness.com/uk/gyms/darlington
The problem with some gyms is that they are full of 'meat-heads' hurling large amounts of metal about and whilst this was me in my early 20's when I was actively playing Rugby at quite a high level here and now I have to be very, very careful about lifting too much weight if it is acting in a compressive fashion.
The main great thing about this set-up is that you can just go in and 'do your thing' with weights that are suitable for what you are trying to achieve, super!
The next advantage for a guy like me who wants to visit at 'odd' times is that they are open 24/7 so that means I can call in at 'silly o clock' before I set off to work on a Monday morning, sure you may be the only person there but so what?
Will losing a bit of weight help me next diving season? Who knows, I have already adjusted my dive kit configuration to minimise weight acting through my shoulders and spine so no longer do I use a weight harness I now use a belt so that the weight is applied at waist level below the site of the operation. I am hoping that it will allow me to start using 12l tanks for my general shore diving in the summer so I can get back to 90 minute dives!
Oh and as an aside next dive is at Ullswater looking for more old bottles, and then off to the Wishing Well!
Dive safe
RichW
Latest Photographs


Part of the engine assembly, in this case a con rod on the main shaft, not easy to get a sense of scale but it's B----I----G.
Bits of MV Yewglen wedged and jammed into the Little Rock
The capstan on the fore-deck...again!
A view of the business end of an Angler-fish (Lophius piscatorious) there are loads about the sites and once you've spotted one they become easier to see.
Just off the starboard side near the bows on SS Thesis, you can see that the existing supporting structure is rapidly giving up the ghost.
There are 'odd' sections of phosphor bronze pipe dotted around the site, I have put a fishing weight on this one to give some sense of scale. I may be forced to attack it with a hammer and chisel in 2017!
I was trying to show how much sand had been scoured out of the iste, you can see here that there is a section of shale wall that's maybe fifty centimeters high where there was no weed hence it was covered prior to the last storms.
Lobsters (Hommarus gammarus) in a pot, I think that these will be put back as they are 'borderline'.
Another footballer work of some description.......
I think part of a mast, I did think prop shaft from a smaller vessel but winter storms revealed that at least one of the ends is sealed.
Kelp (Family laminariales) does tend to be quite a long lived plant with the stem above say the first twenty centimeters quite a safe place for a plant to grow without the risk of sea-urchins 'browsing' you away. In this case dulse and other sea-weed encases the stem, making an eco-system up in the water column!
Storm Emma or the Beast from the East, arguably the worst conditions I have witnessed at Beadnell, I was cut off for 3 days!
A shot down the length of the 'horizontal boiler'.
I had to add one shot of wreckage that could be identified, so you have the stern of SS Rondo which of course you recognised despite the dirty water!
And closer.......
A very large, well the largest that I have ever seen Common Octopus (Octopus vulgaris), if hunting occies look for the eyes, they cannot change their 'slitted' eyes which look at you as an equal rather than some other sea creatures which appear not to have the intellegence of this species.
Typical geology, the surfaces are covered in Dead mans fingers (Alcyonium digitatum), the bottom being small vertical faces, rocks and large boulders....all very scenic and pretty in good vis!
On the West side of the site, towards the North end. It looks ideal for scallops but no sign of any or indeed empty predated shells.
A scaling shot of the thinnest section, this one doesnt seem as tapered as others and may be a spar rather than mast......
Bits of MV Yewglen wedged and jammed into the Little Rock
Starting near the stern, this is the top of the steering assembly and the guy here is thinking 'how do I get in?'
Another 'arty farty', sunbeams in shallow water!
Scenic stuff with light coming through the hull where the plates have gone and we are left with ribs and bits only
This one was probably killed by a dolphin, we get quite a few white sided dolphins in the area and despite the popular public conception about friendly dolphins they actively kill porpoises so you rarely if ever see dolphins and porpoise in close proximity