Now I know what F5- F6 off the Isle of Wight feels like July 25, 2007
Posted by Mark Gilmour in : General , trackbackIt was supposed to be a great days diving but most of July has been wiped out by the bad weather. ……….What has become the annual trip to Portsmouth for the YD Pompey Gig turned out to be a bit of a washout this year. Originally I was meant to be diving on the Friday 20th and Monday 23rd of this weekend extravaganza but had to pull out as I wasn’t certain I would be available. Due to a couple of last minute spaces on the Monday though I went out to do the Highland Brigade.
Arriving at Gosport marina half an hour before the agreed meet time I slowly got my kit out from the car and into the trolleys to take down to the boat Trojan, now skippered by Lee. It was at this point that I realised I had left my torch switched on and drained the battery down, not a good start but I had a back up HID torch so I was going to be fine.
After meeting up with everyone else and completing some major on the fly blending for Steve after a bit of a mix up on the calculations we were off, with the warning from Lee, “it might be a bit choppy on the way out”…….
After an hour of bouncing up and down and ploughing through the waves, we paused a couple of miles out to assess the situation, it was very borderline as to whether or not it would be safe to get back on the boat. Perhaps with a lift and a bit of protection leeward of the waves it would have been possible, but Trojan was being kicked high at the stern and then crashing down. The sensible decision was taken, it was a little too borderline and erring on the side of safety we turned and headed back to the marina. So no dive today but the wreck will be there another day. To top things off I even managed to suffer the mal de mer on the way back, after we had past all the big swell.
Back to the marina, got in the car, phoned work to come back in so as to save a bit of leave, and the place is threatened by the River Thames. Perhaps the lesson to learn is don’t go trying to go diving when the rest of south is being threatened with flood warnings from the excessive weather!!!
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