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Words from The Sec
2008
30/01/08
At last night's meeting we were pleased to see Eng
again only to learn that she will be leaving Brunei on Friday and returning
to live in Malaysia. Eng was a "regular" with the club for the past
several years and through sheer determination gained her PADI Instructor certificate
and would have been an inspiration for anyone with motion sickness issues. Eng
never gave up and you really have to give her credit for that. All of us certainly
wish her the best and happy diving in the future.
Grant is also leaving on Friday for a new posting in the UK and the club is
thankful for his contributions and efforts as Treasurer. Over the past few years
Grant continued to upgrade his skill level to PADI Dive Master and we will miss
his professional approach to the sport.
Thanks again and please keep in touch.
Dick, and on Behalf of the committee and all of the club [DO]
28/1/08
The 2008 diving season kicked-off on Sunday and 16
divers and a boat load of gear departed Serasa shortly after 8 am for the first
dive on the Cement Wreck.........................................................................
Paul will write a more detailed report later or come to the meeting on Tuesday
to hear the rest of the story..
The sea was choppy and never relented the entire day and a couple of our divers
got a little green behind the gills. If YOU are "one of those" go
to www.diversalertnetwork.org
Diving Medicine
Medical Alerts
General
(motion sickness)
Maybe there is a cure and it may take time but don't give up.. Just be careful
of taking over-the-counter medication...................................
Dick
And again to-day some good advice particularly for the new members. (DO)
It was good to see a few new faces on the boat and
some divers relatively new to the sport. It's about this time that I go through
my annual pitch for dive Insurance so if you heard all this before just delete
it out now!
If you have medical insurance through your employer or private insurance company
and think it covers dive related injuries, better check the fine print. And
if it does, does it cover evacuation to a medical facility that deals with diving
accidents? The medevac charges could be as much or more than the actual treatment
and the medevac flight won't leave the ground unless there's a guarantee of
payment.
Planning on going to that remote and exotic dive site to see the fish that have
been driven almost to extinction? Well there's a reason it's called remote and
if you do get DCS, time to treatment is most important and you can't fool around
trying to arrange payment.
So what do you do? I am only familiar with DAN (divers alert network) and the
insurance and benefits that they offer. There may be other insurance companys
with equal or better deals so ask other divers what they are using. The choice
is yours..................
Dick
24/1/08
It's been a couple of months since we had a club
dive so all the tanks have been sitting around as well. If you are diving on
Sunday I would suggest that you check any club tanks that you are renting for
the proper pressure when you pick them up at Martin's.
Dick
Comment form Mark at PANAGA
Good advice Dick,
Mark S. had some tanks sitting around his house for a few months and when we
went to fill them we found that a mud wasp had built nests in the valves!
So give the valves a little squirt to blow out contaminants before putting a
reg or pressure gauge on them!
safe diving,
Mark
17/1/08 Link From Dick Goto Link
What's New on ScubaDiving.com
On the Newsstand: February 2008
Why wait for spring to get a jump on the 2008 dive season when you can get started
today with the latest issue of Scuba Diving? Get your copy today at major bookstores,
including Borders, Barnes & Noble, Books-a-Million and at more than 650
Golden Tank dive centers. To find a shop near you, visit www.scubadiving.com/goldentankretailers.
Inside you'll find: The Heart of Fiji, USVIs: Lessons in Downtime, Top 10 Dives
in Belize, Florida Keys Reader Ratings, Drive & Dive: Vancouver, British
Columbia and Queen Anne's Revenge, North Carolina, 15 Ways to Beat Seasickness,
Deconstructing Decompression Sickness, and more!
14/1/08
Just a reminder that there will be NO meeting tomorrow
(Tuesday 15th) but we will have one on the 22nd at the regular time.
Hopefully Martin can give us a favorable report on the status of the boat and
we can sign-up for a dive on the 27th.
Already have several interested in making the first dive of the year so be sure
you get on the list.
Dick
11/1/2008
In a couple of weeks the boat will be back and we
will start diving again and here are a few things to consider..
You have had your diving equipment serviced recently, right? Some would argue
that it's expensive to send gear out and how do you know that the parts replaced
really needed replacing? Good point and the short answer is that it's your call
and no one is going to look over your shoulder and check. Another way is to
wait until that day when you are at 40 meters and something fails and then you
will know for sure what actually broke. That's the hard way and not recommended.
Have your gear serviced on a regular basis...end of story.
How about carrying a save-a-dive kit? At a minimum you should have spare mask
and fin straps. A selection of spare o rings is aslo a good idea. You can't
carry a spare part for every piece of gear but the straps and o rings are the
most likely to fail.
Safety equipment: We strongly recommend that you carry a surface marker buoy
and a whistle when, during those rare times, you can't make it back to the shot
line. Tests have shown that beyond 200 meters in 2 meter swells that a diver
is not easily visable or heard from the boat. In a strong current or with other
boats in the area why would you want to take a chance?
You might also want to consider bringing your own medical kit. A small bottle
of vinegar and hydrogen peroxide plus a few plasters for treating cuts and stings
sometimes comes in handy. The boat does have an emergency medical kit but we
can't expect Martin to inventory and replace items that we can bring for our
own personal use.
Now that you have all this stuff to haul what are you going to carry it in?
The boat was designed so that your dive gear could be stowed under the seats
below the tanks allowing the diver easy access in gearing up and leaving the
floor area clear to move about. A dive bag or plastic basket works well but
I personally like the basket as I think it offers better protection and storage.
Check out the red plastic basket on the boat used for fin storage and this is
the size that works well.
After completing a dive the diver just goes back to his/her EMPTY tank slot
and secures his gear. Change over to a new tank when things settle down. When
we have 10 or more divers onboard this system works rather well and it can prevent
masks,computers and gloves etc from being lost or damaged.
Comments or suggestions are appreciated.
====================
Martin reported that the boat maintenance is coming
along and not as extensive as originally thought. Appears that a regular schedule
of preventative maintenance is the key and we all owe Martin our thanks in keeping
us afloat.
The first scheduled dive will be on the 27th of January and we will keep you
posted if there are any changes.
No meeting is scheduled next week but there will be a general meeting on Tuesday
22/Feb (THINK THAT SHOULD BE 22/JAN [ED]) at the normal time (7:30 pm).
The AGM date has been set: 5/Feb/2008
The location is scheduled to be at Danielle's house.
More info later but this is your chance to bring up issues or concerns that
can benefit the club. Your opinion counts but we need to hear it from you.
Rob Wenden has been appointed Treasurer to replace Grant, who will be leaving
soon. Thank you Rob for volunteering...
===================
Just informed (1st Jan 08) that the dive boat will
be going in for maintenance on Friday so it will be out of action for---as long
as it takes.
We'll start diving as soon as it's back.
Dick
Previous Words
2007
In the November issue of "Scuba Diving"
magazine in the Ask an Instructor column, they deal with the issue of equalization
and troubles of clearing your ears.
Maybe you are one of those who, by design, have Eustachian tubes that due to
position or shape do not allow air to pass from the throat to the middle ear.
The article gives you some information and tips on dealing with this problem..............
Also in the magazine is a review of their test on 18 new fins and the results
may surprise you. It's not too late to return that necktie you received for
Christmas and exchange it for a set of new fins......
Anyone up for a dive next Sunday?
In the Nov/Dec issue of Action Asia they list the
10 best wreck dives Asia and the Cement Wreck is right there among the 10. I
guess we should consider ourselves lucky to have this wreck right in our backyard
and maybe with the new fishing ban coming into effect this year the fish life
should only get better.
Also in the magazine was a DVD from PADI (boo boo) titled "Go Dive"
and actually it isn't too bad for introducing someone into learning more about
scuba diving. If you would like to borrow it just let me know.
I haven't heard for sure but I would imagine that our first regular Tuesday
night meeting will be held on the 8th of Jan. Everyone should be back from holidays
by then and back to normal schedules. The date that the boat comes out for maintenance
should be announced and maybe we can get in a dive or two before then.
Also don't forget that the AGM will be held in Feburary. The date and place
have yet to be determined but keep in mind that this your opportunity to take
a position on the Committee and also bring up any issues or concerns. Just write
them down and email to me so that I can include them in the agenda. It is also
the time when we renew our annual subscriptions and you must be a paid-up member
to run for office, vote for the Committee or raise issues from the floor. We
lost a good man, Richard Hills, this year and early next year Grant will be
leaving Brunei so we need members to help pick up the slack in 2008.
Have a Happy and Safe New Year.
Dick
One of the members asked me the other day where you would send your regulators for servicing. My recommendation would be to send them to a factory authorized service center. In the case of SCUBAPRO the only shop that I am familiar with is Richmond Supplies & Services Pte Ltd in Singapore. Their phone number is: (65) 6295 5618 and their email is: rmond@signet.com.sg
You will have to check with them about method of payment. Unless
you are going to SIN or know someone who is then you might have to ship your
regs via FedEx. A little expensive but you can be sure (usually) that they will
get there and back. Also you can arrange for the return shipping here.
In the case of UWATEC dive computers you will probably have to use SCUBAPRO ASIA PACIFIC LTD in HK. They have a web site to get more info. The only down I had with them was that I had to use a bank TT and the charges were rather high. If you have a HSBC account it would be simpler and less expensive.
I think there is a Mares dealer in KK. O2 Divers??????
With the poor weather, holidays and the planned boat maintenance in January
this is a good time to get everything in order.
Dick
Maybe you didn't realize that you don't have to be content with
the length of hoses that come with your regulator set. Usually what they sell
you is quite long, in my opinion, but if you want to customize your gear to
your style of diving then you might want to check out
www.miflexhoses.co.uk and see what they have to offer.
Also when you send your regs off for servicing you might check with the service
centre to see what they have to offer. We have had a couple of hoses develop
leaks recently so replacement every few years is always a safe bet.
Dick
Paul has now taken on the Equipment Officer duties from Martin. So contact Paul if you need equipment. Bottles are still withy Martin.
Nigel DO
In regards to club rental dive gear:
In the past the policy of BSADC was to place a limit of 10 hires on the club's
BC's and regulators at $5 each.
After that the charge for rental equipment would go to $10. The Club now feels that we should monitor the rental of club equipment more closely and charge accordingly.
This equipment is expensive to buy and maintain and the club's position is that it is in the best interest of each member to purchase their own gear and be responsible for it's maintenance.
The Club will continue to have a limited supply of tanks for hire at the regular
charge of $5 rental and additional $5 for air fill.
Helping out on the boat:
Some of the "old timers" are starting to feel the aches and pains
of life and could use a hand in throwing and retrieving the shot and anchor
lines and other duties while on a dive.
Why not volunteer to learn some new skills and gain a better overall knowledge of this great sport.
The Committee has agreed to adopt the new standards BS EN 1968 and BS EN 1802
for testing of steel and aluminium air cylinders.
The new standards has been adopted and by BSADC effective from 7 Nov 2006.
The new standard adopted the requirement of a Hydrostatic Test
every 5 Years
A good web site to clarify this is: UKDivers.net-Clyinders
Nigel
DO
go to
http://www.nswseakayaker.asn.au/mag/47/stingrays.html
This is a Stingray Barb I found on the Cement Wreck in 2004
ACTUAL SIZE
The size of this Barb is from a Ray about the same size as the two that we see quite regularly (One on the American and One on the Cement)
Nigel (DO)
