UBUC

Survival Guide

We will be staying at a caravan site. Each caravan can house up to six people, and although basic they are comfortable. All are equipped with a TV, shower, and gas cooker. We try and allocate caravan spaces to achieve a balance of old and new club members in each caravan, so hopefully nobody should feel left out. You will need to bring your own sleeping bag and teddy bear, since the caravan site does not provide either! One very important point - please don't store your wet kit in the caravans, everything will get damp, and it will make a horrible smell (okay, so you won't notice it but the caravan owners will). Also try to keep your caravan tidy. If they are not left in the same state as when we first arrived, the occupants concerned will be charged a substantial clean-up fee!

Diving Equipment Checklist

This is just a quick checklist to make sure you don't forget anything!

Suit

Boots (if you are using a semi-dry)

Hood

Gloves

Mask

Fins

Snorkel

Weightbelt

Diving Watch (pressure tested to 100M, can get one from Argos Casio Smart Power Watch £17.99)

Compass

Knife

Torch (optional)

Delayed SMB (Sports Divers only)

Don't forget a boat bag to put it all in. Ideally a goody bag, but a holdall will do at a pinch.

Club Diving Kit

The club kit is transported by transit van and trailers, all of which will be packed on Friday night. You are expected to be present at the stores to help pack. You will be using the kit once it arrives at Porthkerris so it is only fair that you help with its transport. You will also be expected to help with the cleaning of the kit once it returns to stores at the end of the trip.

Packing

Diving holidays (not that Porthkerris is one!) and travelling light do not mix. In order for us to be able to transport everything down to Cornwall, we will need to split your gear up. Unless you want to end up repacking everything in the car park on Friday night, you are strongly encouraged to read this section very carefully.

Your kit should be divided up as follows:

Personal Gear: Spare clothing, towels, sleeping bag / bedding and wash kit items. Basically anything that will be staying in the caravan. ie. Not dive gear. Make sure anything that you need on the first night/ days goes in the car with you as the vans will arrive fairly late.

Diving Suit: If you have a wetsuit, you may be able to fit it in a bag with the rest of your dive kit. Drysuits should be kept separate. This is so that they can be packed on top of everything else in order that zips don't get crushed!

Personal Dive Gear: Mask, fins, snorkel etc. (Tucking your mask in the end of a fin will stop it from getting smashed).

Weight Belt: You must keep this separate and transport it down to PK in the car that you are travelling in. UNDER NO CIRCUMSTANCES SHOULD YOU PACK YOUR WEIGHTBELT IN YOUR DIVE BAG. Heavy bags resulting in crushed gear will not make you very popular! You are responsible for loading and unloading your own belt don't rely on anyone else to do it because they may forget.

If you are travelling down for individual days please make sure that you transport all your own kit home when you leave including weight. Therefore you must arrange transport for it. We cannot ensure the safety / security / return of kit left behind when you leave, so please only leave kit if you are lending it to someone. That person is then responsible for it. Since you have to get kit home, we leave it up to you to get it down there as well.

Logbooks

You will need a log book to write down all the details of your dives this can range from one line to an essay. It's a good idea to keep track of where you have dived and what you did to keep a record of the experience that you have gained and it's great to look back through months later. It can be simply a note book or a purpose made log book from a dive shop.

Qualification books

If you are training please bring along your qualification books so that we can sign them off once you have finished the assessments. It will make the instructors lives easier if you do it gradually rather than 30 people all in one go. If you have certificates of alternative training can you please bring them along too just so that we can check them.

Food

This is all organised for you, however you will need to cook it yourselves. If you are vegetarian, please let The Club Secretary know as soon as possible. We will provide ingredients and recipes for each day, it is entirely up to you whether you follow them or not, but once you have used everything up we won't be giving you any more! Some things, such as bread, milk and potatoes, need to be collected every day. Cereals and sandwich-making materials are also allocated to each caravan. Also you may want to bring along sneaky luxuries such as a large stockpile of chocolate. Its a good idea to bring some toilet roll for the first few days too :) If you need things like chocolate and alcohol, these are available from a shop in St Keverne that we pass on the way to Porthkerris.

There is a burger van at PK beach, although its hours of opening have become increasingly short and erratic of late. You are best advised not to rely on it for your lunch. That said, the hot chocolate is killer and just the ticket to warm up any semi dry diver.

Money

This is very important because it is a long hike to get to the nearest cash point in Helston. Don't assume that the cash point at the Union will have any money in it first thing on Saturday morning because, in my experience, it never has money when you want it! Also remember to bring your chequebook the treasurer will be chasing you at some point to collect the balance of the trip cost.

Transport

Transport is organised by the vice president and is usually by car. If however we don't have enough space/ drivers we hire a mini bus. It will take about 4-5 hours to get to Cornwall but you should arrive in time to make the pub (as it seems to never close :) ).

The Weather

Hmm... Although we have been lucky some years, we can still guarantee that for at least part of the week it will be very cold and very wet. Therefore, please come prepared for the worst; waterproof jacket and leggings (if you have them) are a must. A hat and gloves are recommended. Waterproof footwear is also a very good idea, as is lip balm. The cold sea water will dry your lips out very quickly, so lip balm will ensure that you will still be able to talk at the end of the week! On top of all this, if you have a flask bring it along, fill it with soup and you will make lots of friends very quickly!

The Pub

They have always treated us very well in the past, so please try to keep the atmosphere friendly, and don't get too annoyed if they occasionally serve a regular before us. On a more serious note, remember that alcohol and diving don't mix. There is nothing wrong with having a few beers, but if you get pissed don't expect to find yourself being allowed to dive the following day. Just use some common sense.

IMPORTANT: Beach Etiquette

Each night we draw up a dive rota for the following day. We need to get an early start each morning so that everyone can get two dives in, this will mean wake up calls at 7.00am to leave the campsite for 8.00am. Ouch yep I know :)

As well as diving you will be expected to help out with dive marshalling and compressing, these are included on the rota. The dive marshal is responsible for logging divers in and out of the water, they also record dive time and depth. This not only keeps track of people in the water but it also enables you to calculate your surface interval and current tissue code. If you are acting as dive marshall you need to keep track of your divers. If people are late surfacing tell the diving officer straight away and send people to check the other beach and behind the MOD building. If people are diving with SMBs make sure you are in a position that you can see them, if this means moving far away from the beach designate the task to someone else and ask them to report back to you. DO NOT LEAVE THE BEACH IF YOU ARE SHORE MARSHALL!!!!!! Divers entering and exiting the water need to report to the shore marshall. DO NOT ENTER THE WATER WITHOUT LETTING THEM KNOW YOUR DIVE TIME.

After each dive the empty cylinders will need to be refilled. This is done using the club mobile compressor (see equipment section). If you have never used the compressor before, ask someone who knows how to use it to show you. Compressing the empty bottles is essential to the smooth running of the days diving and EVERYONE has their turn. It is dull and very noisy but it needs to be done. Bring a book or a magazine to help pass the time.

At the start of each day the dive rotas will be written on the whiteboard and the dive marshal will let you know the buddy pairings. Please make sure you stick to the times on the dive rota and check it regularly over the course of the day as it may change. If you are late you will keep people waiting and could miss out on dives. There are BSAC tables in all the shore and boat packs so make sure you check them, and have you kit ready in plenty of time for your dive. If you are diving from the club boats make sure you have checked your tables before you put your kit into the boats, we don't want to waste time checking tables whilst trying to drop divers. If you know that you are diving the volnay or the mohegan take the depth and time into consideration when planning your days diving you don't want to end up with a 5 min bottom time.

At the end of your dive make sure you have put the kit back in the correct place. IF THE KIT IS BROKEN GIVE IT TO THE EO OR SOMEONE ON THE COMMITTEE DON'T JUST PUT IT BACK IN THE PILE. ALL EMPTY CYLINDERS NEED TO BE WALKED AROUND TO THE COMPRESSOR. We need to make sure the diving is safe and enjoyable for everyone. If you have any questions about anything just ask an instructor or a member of the committee.

How to get there?

See the map. The nearest petrol station is Zoar garage which you will pass on your way to St Keverne, it may be an idea to fuel up here.

And Finally... The Porthkerris trip is an excellent way to begin your diving career. It's also a great way to get to know everyone and should be a really enjoyable week.

Have Fun!