The Farns

Em has loads of photos of todays events will put more on here soon, she has put most of them on her facebook and will get some disk's done .

For those that missed out this weekend all i will say is:
2 DAYS, 4 DIVES
2 LIFEBOATS
1 CHOPPER
LOADS OF BLOOD, GUTS AND GORE
FANTASTIC GROUP AND
ONE LEGEND

THANK YOU MR KILLA

PS, IT WAS TRAINING EXERCISE THAT WE HELPED STAGE.
IT WAS NICE TO GIVE SOMETHING BACK TO THE GUYS AND GIRLS WHO ARE OUT THERE 24/7 LOOKING AFTER THE LIKE'S OF YOU AND ME, IF WE GET IN TO TROUBLE. THE RESPONCE WAS LIGHTING QUICK THEY DID NOT KNOW THAT IT WAS AN EXERCISE UNTIL THE END.
UNFORTUNATLY THERE WAS A REAL EMERGENCY WHICH ENDED THE EXERCISE EARLY. IT WAS A CALL FOR THE HELICOPTER INVOLVING A MISSING DIVER IN BRIDLINTON. !!!

ALL OF THIS IS PAID FOR BY VOLUNTRY CONTRIBUTIONS AND THE RNLI IS MOSTLY MADE UP OF VOLUNTEERS RISKING THEIR LIVES TO SAVE OTHERS. ONE DAY IT MIGHT BE YOURS!!!!!!!!!!!

YOU CAN IF, YOU WISH, LIKE ME, AND A FEW OTHERS IN THE GROUP SET UP A DIRECT DEBIT TO DONATE TO THE RNLI. SOMETHING ALL DIVERS SHOULD SUPPORT, BECAUSE IT COULD HAPPEN TO ANYONE OF US, AT ANYTIME AND I FEEL THAT LITTLE BIT SAFER KNOWING THAT IF SOMETHING WAS TO GO WRONG ,AT LEAST HELP WOULD BE QUICK IN COMING.

Excellent trip this weekend.Those of you who didn't go missed a great do. Thanks to Mr Killa for organising it.I was one of those rescued by RNLI and second what Squirrel has said about them.I have supported the RNLI now for more years than I care to remember and would urge you all to consider doing so - they are all volunteers and do a great job and all supported by voluntary contributions - they receive no Government grants whatsoever.Will post some of my pics when I have had a chance to download them.Once again thanks to all who made it a great trip. :cheers: :bball: :bball:

You don't know what you missed

Thanks to Mr Killa for organising the trip, can't wait 'til next years trip.

Two dives on Saturday. The first one was ok but the second one was great. It was on a wreck near to Holy Island called the Cory Ton. This was a grain ship that ran aground and then the hugh seas washed it back out and she went down in 10m of water. The only loss of life was the captain who refused to leave her. The seabed was covered with small hermit crabs. The floor just moved . Amongst the wreckage were plenty of lobsters, some quite big ones too . Ange and meself managed to flush one into the open, (it didn't want to be photographed). It then tried to hide under a beam only to find it occupied by a massive lobster. It ran like the wind

The second day, 1st dive was at the Knife Stones on a wreck called the Abasyinian. Again, it was full of life but it also contained what we were all hoping for and that was plenty of seals :cheers: :cheers: :cheers: Squirrell, Ange and I were able to get very close to some of them, almost touching distance . They are so gentle and fluid in the water. Ange had here fin tweaked but I couldn't get a pic of it happening, only of the offender swiming away :x

I didn't do the second dive due to a non-dry dry suit.

But then the event of the weekend - the RNLI excercise. WOW - I'm still emotional about it know. I don't think any of us were prepared for how much involvement we were going to have. I feel so privaledged to have been involved in the thing. It was so good to see what is involved and there were many lessons to take from it. I now have a better idea what is needed from us to help them should it ever happen for real. It is nothing like 'Casualty' or any other such program nor do you see the full story on 'Highland Rescue'. It is so much more involved.

My many thanks and best wishes are extended to all our group for the brilliant way in which they 'performed' their given tasks. It must have been very strange to watch your dive boat disappearing into the distance.

Also, my thanks go to Willaim Shiels and the guys actually on the boat on the day but also the the Army people on the boat, to Ben, the doctor who had arranged it all, and to the crews of the helicopter and both boats for making this a weekend I will never forget.

Great bbq also.

Cannot say much more than what has been said.

We were staying in Luxury Tents, which turned out very good!! The BBQ was expertly cook by your truely and Mr Squirrel. Diving again as above excellent. Good boat - dodgy dive lift!!!!

This type of weekends only work when everybody gets invloved and takes part and from the comments above you can see we all did. :cheers: :cheers: Many thanks for all who came and look forward to next years trip (when booked). The rescue senario was amazing and i feel very privilege to have taken part. What about doing a fund rasing event for the RNLI???

I will try and get the bunk barn for 12 but if more want to come then we can also get one of the tents. Will be looking at keeping to around 12-17 divers to get the better boat and lift :cheers: :cheers:

I will put info on here. It will be first come first served so keep watching.

Here are a few pics from Sunday at the farnes! The rest of my pics are on facebook.
I had a fab day, and I feel so lucky to dive with loads of seals!!!

Many thanks to Killa for organising the trip. The training exercise with the RNLI/RAF was amazing!!! Totally agree with comments about supporting the RNLI. My family have always supported the RNLI... a charity who save many lives of all those who ventue into the sea! I think a charity event for the RNLI would be great! We could do something daft... like being sponsered to spend as long as possible in the water (at the surface of course). We could get food and drink delivered by boat!

I only managed one dive on Sunday... which was fantastic. I buddied up with Ian and Teresa. For around the first 20 mins we were surrounded by loads of seals. AMAZING!!!! I can't believe how massive they were and they were so nosey! ... I really wish I had taken my camera down on this dive! The rest of the dive we discovered lots of other sea life, including thousands of sea urchins, star fish and fish of various sizes (dont know what type of fish they were tho).

With the assistance of Ian I successfully deployed my new SMB, which I was really pleased with. I now realise why SMB's are so important... from the boat the SMB's were very clear to spot in the water! The currents on this dive were mixed. At some points there was a very mild current, at other points the current was very strong! Teresa and I both mastered the "manta ray" look - as we enjoyed drifting with the strong current! lol

Unfortunatly at the end of the dive, when we were waiting to be picked up by the boat I consumed a lot of salt water - which made me very sick for the next few hours. Hence only one dive for me.
Fortunatly by the time the training exercise started - I was feeling much better!!!!

Thanks to everyone for a great day and thanks for all your help and support!
Looking forward to next year!
Lex

Come on peoples...

For those of us who were lucky enough to have missed it

What actually happenned, what was the scenario, who did what, what did the exercise feature, who was left in the water, who was winched, and what did anyone learn about if we ever need to do this for real?

Im sure were all curious!!

OK, the set up is that we have two army people onboard the dive boat that are going to act as 'seriously injured'. We will also be having divers in the water. The only people that are aware of this 'set up' are the dive boat crew, the doctor setting it all up, the lifeboat cox and the helicopter pilot. Everyone else will believe it to be a true 'shout'.

The basic premiss is that two divers have had a rapid ascent from 30m after a dive time of 30mins and that their pony cylinder has exploded. We have managed to get them onboard but have left the other divers in the water to try and get them to land as soon as possible. Then the 'shout' goes out.

The divers in the water were Ange, Squirrell, Killa, Rob, Jack, Ian and Teresa.

With the exception of Ian and Teresa they had just finished their dive, come onboard, removed their weights and were 'thrown back'. Ian and Teresa had only just surfaced as we set off towarsd Seahouses. God only knows what went through their minds as they come to the surface and see us 'setting off into the sunset'.

I was lucky enough to be asked to take a part on the diveboat. I had to keep my eye on the divers in the water and direct the inshore boat to their location by hand signals. Also I was to liase with the winchman as he came aboard.

Unfortunately, no-one was winched because a real 'shout' came in for the helicopter just before that would have taken place.

Lots to learn and understand and I suppose that the most important thing to learn is to give very clear answers to all questions asked, offer what help you can without getting in the way, always keep the DSMB deployed, that is the only sighting you can keep as you disappear and that it is nothing like you see on tv.

It was also very re-assuring to see how many of the other dive boats in already in the area came to assist the divers in the water only to be told on arrival that it was an excersise. As I said, they didn't know about it and the 'shout' was done on the open channel 16 so they all heard it.

It is very intense and very emotional and we knew it was an excerise :!: :!: :!:

Great to be involve and CAN WE DO IT AGAIN, please.

You're right there Tink, we did wonder what was happening as you disappeared from our view with the helicopter following.Teresa said she was getting a bit worried but I knew you'd seen us surface before you left us so I assumed everything was OK.We were actually picked up by one of the other dive boats who had responded to the 'Shout'.Good to know that they are all on the ball.The eventually transferred us to the lifeboat for the ride home in style.A brilliant day- yes please can we do it again. :cheers: :cheers:

PS Haven't forgotten about pics - just haven't had chance to upload them,but will do so asap.

Pics from Farne's weekend trip.