I’m not a comedian and I’m not very imaginative so bear
with me however this is my write up of possibly one of the best weeks diving
you will have in the UK.
Unfortunately I was unable to make TekCamp last year due to work and I was determined to make this year’s event, so
as soon as the tickets went on sale I purchased the £350 5 session
package. For those of you who have never
heard or experienced TekCamp allow me to give you a brief history.
TekCamp was
originally started last year by Martin and Amy Stanton, owners of Vobster
Quay. Although
not completely sold out, it was a great success according to all that
went. This year TekCamp got even bigger
with 12 of the UK’s best diving instructors (up from last year’s 10) including;
Martin
Robson, Phil Short, Rich
Walker, Paul
Toomer, Mark Powell, Vikki Batten, Howard Payne, John Kendall, Jim
Dowling, Kieran
Hatton, Mike Potts and Phill Grigg
participating along with 40 budding technical divers. There were 2 packages available; a £350 5
dive session and a £575 9 dive session which included the following:
·
Five or nine in-water workshops tailored to your specific
needs with up to five different tech instructors!
·
Closed Circuit Rebreather try-dive.
·
DPV try-dive.
·
Daily two half hour talks each lunchtime covering everything from deco theory and expedition
planning to cave diving and rebreathers.
·
Unrivalled access to some of the world's top diving explorers!
·
Free BBQ every night!
·
Free camping within walking distance.
·
Discounted nitrox throughout!
So here’s my story of the week….
Monday 9th July
Leaving Birmingham at 0530 in the trusty camper it was a
long journey down to Vobby but the closer I got, the more excited
I got. The site opened at 0730 ready for
a 0830 brief to start the week. Arriving
at 0755 I was still one of the first in so into the shop I went and filled out
all the boring obligatory paperwork and renewed my membership card for another
12 months. As it turned out I didn’t
read the small print so it was off to the charging station to drain my freshly
filled twins of air to be replaced with Nitrox 32. Although, I wasn’t the only one as over the
next 30 minutes of so the hissing noise from the escaping air soon became
deafening when most of the other attendees did the same. In fact, it wasn’t just attendees as most of
the instructors required a fill as well.
Thinking he could beat the queue, Director of Technical
Training for GUE Rich
Walker tried to put his cylinders straight into the charging station with an air
of “don’t you know who I am?” only to be firmly told to join the queue like
everyone else. At around 0930, an hour
later than expected due to a late arrival (Mark
Powell), we were all
ushered into the main marquee for the arrival briefing. This included an outline of the week, what
mandatory skills were required on the first dive and most importantly, your
buddies and instructor. I was buddied up
with a Dutch couple and our instructor was Rich
Walker with Finbar
Taylor as the safety diver. |
|
Photo
courtesy of Jason Brown at BARDOCreative |
During the surface interval we
were able to collect our lunch (which was pre-ordered at breakfast) and we were
treated to the first of many presentations; Project Tiger by Rich Walker and Deep CCR by Martin
Robson. Both were equally awe-inspiring although I
don’t think I would dare to push the limits like Martin although I wish him all the very
best in his next venture. If you’re
interested in helping out on Project Tiger feel free to contact Rich here.
For those of us who had less than
120 bar remaining from the first dive we needed an air top, the remainder could
choose to dive with what they had left. In
the afternoon I wasn’t paired with any of the instructors so I managed to
persuade the Dutch couple from my previous dive and their fellow travelers to
allow me to join them in the afternoon.
Having never dived Vobster before, I agreed to lead
the dive and give them a ‘guided tour’ of the underwater attractions, and video
them on my GoPro. The dive was completed without a hiccup and
the visitors were treated to attractions such as the block house, Jacquin II, wheelhouse, tunnel, crushing works, swim throughs, aircraft, boat and car. Other groups started their various workshops
which included line laying, ascents and CCR try-dives.
.JPG)
After the
second dive it was the obligatory kit strip and then the cylinders were drained
and taken over to the charging station.
With over 70 twinsets and stage cylinders it was going to be a long
night for Tim and his team. The BBQ was soon underway and the drinks were flowing so it was off to the marquee for the first of the keynote speaker talks; World Record Diving in Pozo Azul by John Volanthen. After listening to his talk one can only imagine how you can possibly dive whist towing not only the equipment you need for the dive, including bail out, but camping and cooking equipment. John, along with Martin earlier really put our own diving achievements into insignificance.
After the lectures it was a few more drinks before
heading over to the campsite just a short drive away. The site itself was pretty basic, just a
field with a couple of power units, drinking water tap and portaloos, so for
most divers it was the Ritz. Quite a few of the TekCamp attendees had arrived the previous night so were fully set up however my
buddy Mark and I
set up our mobile hotel next to Ian France of Diving Matrix. On a serious note, although basic, Martin has
plans to upgrade the site for next year to include a toilet and shower block
and more electric power units. For those
wishing to stay in style there is the adjacent B&B. Tuesday 10th July
With the alarm buzzing away at 0700 it was a quick change
parade and off to Vobster. On arrival my initial plan was to grab my
cylinders to I could be an apprentice German and grab a spot on the kitting up
benches. This idea was short lived when
I looked inside the charging station and realized mine were at the back. It was then off to the shower block for to
freshen up and then on to the burger van for breakfast and pre-order
lunch. I finally collected my cylinders
only to analyze the gas at 23% and not the requested 32%. I left them in the capable hands of Tim
whilst I attended the morning’s briefs.
Things were gathering pace today with more workshops and I found that I
was buddied with me mate Mark under the instruction of IANTD
UK Training
Director and the Dark Lord himself Phil Short doing “failures” with John
Shaw as safety.After the initial brief on the dive we did our top to toe checks and dropped in. John led the dive and we descended down to the Jacquin II however the third diver had ear problems and had to abort the dive so he ascended with John. The remaining three of us then went to the wheelhouse where we did another valve/isolation drill (spot on this time) followed by an OOG scenario. I was to be Phil's rescuer during the demo. At one end of the wheelhouse we were to simulate a primary regulator failure (switch and isolate) then a backup regulator failure, breathe out and then pull ourselves along the railings (without breathing, although you were to keep your regulator in your mouth) to your rescuer and give the OOG signal. Once you could breathe and the rescuer had sorted his long hose/light canister cable, you simulated “calling the dive” and both swam back along the railings to the start point. At this point the drill ended, all valves were turned on (checked by Phil) and hoses/regulators re-stowed. The demo went fine and I was the OOG diver for the first practice. The shut downs went well and I headed along the railings. At this point I will admit that I did breathe through my regulator. Oops. The rest of the drill was carried out fine. Our buddy’s ears had cleared so he and John joined us and watched Mark's practice. For some reason whilst switching regulators I had a free flow from my backup regulator. Although I had just proven that I could isolate, this actually helped reinforce the reasons behind team diving because as I started to reach for the valve, Phil reached over and turned it off, then re-pressurized the system. Problem solved. Once all 3 of us had had a go we then went to the Jacquin II for more propulsion techniques. With Phil's cave background we practiced modified frog, back kick and modified flutter at various points on the wreck. It is here that video footage definitely helps and is why I use it on my own courses (here). It was then back to the wheelhouse for more AS drills followed by an AS ascent. For this we split into pairs and again I was buddied with Mark. The drill went well and Mark deployed his 1 breath bag (DSMB). The ascent didn’t exactly go to plan as Mark nearly had a couple of buoyancy issues which resulted in the long hose nearly being pulled from my mouth and then he managed to pull the bag back under much to Phil's amusement. We all reached the surface and had the long swim back in. On the surface we de-kitted, put the cylinders (not singles, double or tanks for you Americans or GUE crew!) in for charging and de-briefed.
By now the
trade stands were set up so over lunch we could enjoy chatting to, seeing or
trying out the new kit from Hollis, VR Technology, Fourth Element and Oceanic.
PADI were also around selling their range
of tecrec courses and Sport Diver magazine were about reporting. In particular, Hollis had their new range of BioDry dry suits available to try and most
of the instructors and attendees who used them sang their praises. On inspection they seem very well built with
the added bonus of user replaceable neck and wrist seals using a ring
system. They also had the new
lightweight F2 fins; the only pair in the country. They are very light compared to my F1’s.
Fourth Element also had
their range of under suits available to try but the biggest hit proved to be
the new Core Bodywarmer.
All of these we gone by the end of the week, mainly to the instructors
(but I bet they didn’t pay!)..JPG)
Lunchtime
saw me tucking into my tuna cheese jacket potato whilst listening to today’s
presentations; Mark Powell on Deco Myths and Jim
Dowling on Sharm El
Sheikh cave projects. Another (not so)
brief from Martin informed me I wasn’t in a workshop in the afternoon (shoulda
gone for the 9 dive session) and because I was Billy no mates I couldn’t find a
buddy. After a few hours of walking
around filming and taking pictures I accepted I wasn’t diving so drained my
cylinders and packed up my kit. I should
praise Vobster as there were dry suit drying
rails set up above the wet area in the changing rooms and rails in the drying
room for any wet under suits. Mark was lucky enough to
trydive the VR Technology Sentinel CCR with Phill Grigg and by all accounts had a great time.
The day was
wrapped up in a similar manor to the previous with a BBQ and beers followed by
a talk by Phil Short entitled The Good, The Bad and the Ugly; 20 years in diving
(technically 22 years). Delivered in Phil's typical manor it was informative and humorous; diving has
come a long way! 100m in Dorothea on a Buddy
Commando anyone?
Wednesday 11th
July
Wednesday
started in a similar vain to Tuesday except all the timings were brought
forward by an hour to allow everyone to get to Wookey
Hole for the evenings talk. This time my
cylinders were visible so I was able to grab them and get setup. To be honest I was feeling a little pikey
shaving in a sink next to a 3m long urinal but I’ve done far worse so I
couldn’t complain. Apeks and Atomics were onsite today to show their wares;
in particular the Apeks sidemount kit seemed popular.
.JPG)
Mark and I had decided the previous night we needed to get
some more in-water time in. 12 hours
each day was spent at Vobby and yet I had only done 3 dives. Lunch arrived and I collected my traditional
jacket potato before listening to talks by Director of Technical Training for SSI Paul Toomer and GUE instructor John Kendall. For whatever reasons both were put together
at short notice but were equally good. Paul's talk was on Bikini
Atoll and I quote “you need to sell a
lung/breast/testicle and get out there”.
Where else in the world would you find brass portholes and diver helmets
where they lie? Amazing. John's talk was on Micro-Projects and
about why not dive for a purpose; in particular a presentation about a cave
mapping survey he did and a project off Chesil
Beach where a number of cannons and
anchors have so far been found. The
history behind this would take too long however GUE strongly encourage their divers
to use their skills for a purpose and have set-up Project
Baseline. GUE-UK has their own webpage on it or look at their Facebook page.
If you’re interested in assisting in any of the planned projects feel
free to contact John here. .JPG)
One thing that was taking its toll was the cake the burger van sold. At £1.50 it was a little pricey but boy it was worth it. So, how should one burn off those calories? Probably go for a decent dive and burn it off with the finning. Mark and I decided to do the complete opposite instead opting for some scooter action with the Halcyon R14. Slightly different to the Silent Submersion we’re used to with regards to the trigger mechanism, we had a little fun underwater however this time Mark was sidemounting instead of using his twinset. After 45 minutes we got bored and called the dive, returned the scooters and headed back in to consolidate some skills and drills. Earlier on in the week I had asked Jason Brown from BARDOCreative to take a few photos that I could use on my website however being ambushed whilst exiting the water covered in snot wasn’t what I was expecting. Come on Jason, screw the nut! During the third dive the intention was to film each other using our GoPros however Mark's battery died whilst I was doing my valve drill. Mark then noticed one of his sidemounts was empty??? so switched and deployed his DSMB just as Phil Short decided to buzz us on his scooter. As we were about to ascend his working regulator decided to start free flowing from the first stage so I donated the long hose and we aborted the dive. On closer inspection at the surface whilst de-kitting the leak was coming from a loose hose. This was nipped up and to Mark's discovery the reason his cylinder was empty is because the valve has managed to roll off as he was moving his arm. A quick flick of the wrist and the SPG was happily reading 160 bar. Mental note; keep checking the valve. De-kit and dinner as usual before heading over to the evenings presentation; Guided Tour of Wookey Hole by Dr Duncan Price at Wookey Hole.
.JPG)
Wookey Hole was an amazing place and Duncan was a fantastic guide;
my write up wouldn’t be able to do it justice so I’m not even going to
try. Hopefully for those of you who have
never been will be able to experience it next year. Just one question; how do I get to dive the
place? I’m cave trained!
.JPG)
.JPG)
Once the tour was finished a few of us headed back and popped over to the Vobster Inn for a few beers before getting our head down at the camp site.
Thursday 12th July
I woke up
without the alarm, I don’t know how as the week was taking its toll (like this
blog). The standard morning routine
passed and I awaited the mornings brief from Martin. Today saw the arrival of more trade stands; Santi, Miflex and Poseidon.
Santi had a range of suits to try out
including the E.Lite.
I have to admit it’s an amazing suit but at around £1600 it ought to be. I can’t justify getting one as my O’Three is only 2 years old, BUT, it would be
at the top of my list when I do need a new one.
John was also trying out the new E.Motion suit.
Its super lightweight ripstop makes it ideal for travelling but because
of this it’s really thin. I don’t know
how it would hold up to lots of abuse around caves. Like Fourth
Element, Santi also had a bit hit with a certain
piece of kit; a blackout mask.
A lot of the instructors also bought one, sometimes two of these as it’s
ideal for training; I was lucky enough to be one of the few non-pros who also
managed to get one. If you’re
interested in purchasing a Santi suit or have any questions feel
free to contact John here.
More
workshops started today with the addition of GUE training, line laying, Poseidon’s MKVI CCR but first there was breathing
techniques with Darth Phil.
In the upper car park Phil talked about how our bodies and
minds react in an emergency and how our breathing can affect us. He started off the demonstration by
conducting a minute of light exercise which would simulate our bodies’ behavior
whilst finning during a dive. After this
minute he breathed out and proceeded to walk as far as he could before giving
the OOG signal and simulating taking an AS and clearing it. Once recovered he repeated the same exercise,
this time after no exertion, and surprise surprise, managed a longer
distance. The third demonstration was
after a minute of relaxation breaths and the total distance was 2-3 time
further than the original. We then split
into 2 groups and tried the same exercises.
The result, if you can control your breathing during a problem you have
more time to resolve the problem before things descend into a blind panic.
Back to the
water’s edge I was with TDI Instructor Trainer Mark
Powell and two others
and the aim was personal development.
After we had all briefed Mark on our requirements it was
decided to work on team position, valve drills, buoyancy and trim, AS and gas
switching (me only). As an added
pressure Mark also made me watch the students
from an instructor point of view and lead the de- brief. Shelly was back on OC as she now normally
dives a VR Technology Sentinel, however it wasn’t hers which
meant she may have a few dramas. Couple
this with the fact it wasn’t fully charged (despite being told so) I had my
concerns. I opted to lead the dive as
the senior diver and we descended down and conducted our bubble check and
S-drill. This took longer than expected
due to class control issues as another joined the line after we were on it and
Shelly’s buoyancy issues. Once complete
we headed towards the Jacquin II where again Shelly had a few issues
so she called the dive and ascended with the safety diver. The remainder of us continued on our merry
way when Mark threw in a valve drill and to be
honest, I cocked it up. Would it have
worked? Yes. However my buoyancy wasn’t spot on and I
didn’t switch back onto my long hose before shutting off my left post but I
realized this half way through turning it off.
Moving on there was buoyancy and frog kick practices and then my buddy
has an OOG. We then moved onto back
finning (I still have a lazy right leg, and I ascend slightly due to being in a
slight head down position; should be fixed in the sea with a 2kg tail weight)
finishing off with a DSMB deployment. At
6m Mark made me do another valve drill however this one was completed without a
hitch and I also conducted my gas switch using Mark as my buddy, again without
a hitch. On the surface I led the
debrief using the GoPro footage and Mark finished off giving me a few
hints and tips which I will take on.
 |
| Photo courtesy of Jason Brown at BARDOCreative |
I collected
my lunch however by now the healthy option has been replaced by a double cheese
and bacon burger with a side order of cake.
In the words of Peter Kay “diet starts Monday…”.
.JPG)
During the
day there was a surprise visit from Kevin Gurr of VR Technology who was testing the new Hollis Explorer CCR.
I didn’t get to see too much of it and I certainly don’t know too much
about it other than it’s very white.
The
lunchtime presentation was by Kieran Hatton on diving in Norway which is
somewhere I’ve wanted to dive for ages.
After lunch Mark and I were buddied with Paul
Toomer on a Poseidon MKVI CCR try-dive
however as Mark had already got one booked with the Poseidon the following day we managed to do
stage handling with John Shaw as safety. All of us entered the water with 2 stage
cylinders (all Ali 80’s) and headed off towards the 6m platforms. En-route Paul started throwing cylinders about
so at times we were carry 4 stages. Once
at the aircraft all cylinders were left for a
ditch and retrieve exercise before heading over to the 9m platform. From here we waited whilst Paul laid out a line and we gave him
our cylinders. The scenario was you were
in a cave & had lost your mask/primary/backup lights (ie, pitch f-ing
black) and had to make you way out.
En-route you had to collect your own stage cylinders which had been
dropped on the way in. To simulate the blackout
we would be using the Santi blackout mask I discussed earlier. Simples… As I
had done cave training Mark volunteered me to go first so I
followed the line until the turnaround point and headed back where I came
across the selection of cylinders.
Bumbling around in the dark and kicking up the vis not doubt I
successfully managed to retrieve my cylinders; not Mark's, not Paul's
but mine. How did I do this? Well on mine I have a 12” (oh er) LP hose to
either a. act as a backup suit inflator when diving mixed gas or b. to connect
a RescuEAN to. Mark then carried out the same drill with
equal success as his cylinders were mounted for side-mount and had
non-traditional mounting kits fitted.
The evenings keynote talk was RMS Titanic: 2 1/2 Miles Down by Kevin Gurr however I missed it as I was doing my SDI RescuEAN instructor course with Mark Powell The BBQ was as ever fantastic and the alcohol was flowing when it suddenly dawned; only one day left. The evening was again finished off with a few beers at the Vobster Inn.
The evenings keynote talk was RMS Titanic: 2 1/2 Miles Down by Kevin Gurr however I missed it as I was doing my SDI RescuEAN instructor course with Mark Powell The BBQ was as ever fantastic and the alcohol was flowing when it suddenly dawned; only one day left. The evening was again finished off with a few beers at the Vobster Inn.
Friday 13th
July
Unlucky for
some? Not for the intrepid TekCamp as not only was today the final
day it was party night and the day of the prize draw. The weather had been mixed to
say the least and the final day was typical; rain! After the usual routine Martin informed me
that I wasn’t with an instructor this morning so I asked if he needed a safety
diver and to my amazement he said yes so I ended up working with Vikki Batten on Poseidon MKVI CCR try-dives. After the mandatory HSE paperwork with Martin I was officially the bitch and proceeded to gather Vikki's student paperwork and equipment. Vikki had two students so it was decided to
give a centralized brief followed by an individual confined water experience
then an open water dive to a maximum of 5m.
Apart from Vikki's suit flooding things went fine. I collected my lunch (diet starts Monday) and was about to settle down and
listen to The Shipwreck Project by Simon
Brown when Mark announced that he needed a safety
diver for his Poseidon MKVI CCR.
Begrudgingly I agreed so the two of us plus Adam from Poseidon jumped in and had an uneventful dive
with us getting out just in time for me to check out the talk on EuroTek by Roz Lunn of The
Underwater Marketing Company. I had also missed a talk by Vikki
but never mind. 
For the
final dive I was to be with Jim Dowling and Kieran Hatton on DPVs using the Halcyon
T16.
Similar to the Halcyon R14 I used earlier (R= recreational T=
Technical), either would suit most divers wishing to explore wrecks in the UK
with an impressive run time; the T16 is slightly quicker but they’re
both so simple to use. Adjust the leash,
attach to scooter ring, select correct speed, operate trigger, scooter… We basically kept to a rough depth of 10 m
and did a complete lap of the lake. I
however did school boy it as I hadn’t re-filled my suit inflation setup since
Tuesday (although I had been checking the contents daily) which ran dry about
10 minutes into dive. 40 minutes later
we emerged where we started with big smiles on our faces (if a little shrink-wrapped). .JPG)
Well that was it, TekCamp was done. We all sorted out our kit and loaded up
before being herded into the marquee for the prize draw. There
was a host of prizes on offer including an OLED
VRX, Hollis SMS 50 Sidemount System, Fourth Element Core Bodywarmer, Apeks
Regulators, Poseidon
Xstreme Regulators, Santi
Softshell Jacket, 2x Halcyon Defender Pro Spools, Atomic
Frameless Mask, 2x Miflex vouchers, £250 DiveRite voucher and 2x Sport
Diver magazine subscriptions. In addition to these prizes, Gareth Lock was conduction a survey for his research and as an incentive there was a GUE
coaching day on offer courtesy of James
Sanderson. We all
waited in anticipation for the first draw and would you believe it; Trudy only
one the OLED
VRX. She won
one last year!!! Next my buddy Mark won the Hollis SMS 50. Throughout the draw there were varied
reactions to the prizes; some were eager to win; some hoped they didn’t. The Poseidon and Miflex prizes in particular were met with mixed
reactions..JPG)
.JPG)
Following the draw we headed out for the group photograph (see below)
and then it was party time with a hog roast and bar. Unfortunately I couldn’t stay because there
was some sports day going
on in London and I was drafted back to Ipswich.Well thanks for reading. Next year’s event is 8-12 July 2013 with the instructors increased to 15. If you’re even contemplating attending next year then I strongly advise you put down your deposit now as 20% were sold on the first day alone. Tickets are now available here.
My video of the week can be seen below.
Don’t believe me! Well listen directly from the mouths of Martin and the TekCamp instructors (plus me) here. For official pictures of the event check out BARDOCreative’s pictures here.
All opinions expressed in my
articles are my own and may differ to other instructor’s and agency guidelines;
by no means are they wrong and I would not wish to disrepute any of them. This article is for information only and
should not replace proper training.
Safe diving!
Timothy Gort
BSAC, PADI and SDI/TDI
diver training
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