SMB Diver

I have to confess to not being a big fan of Gildenburgh Water. This is mostly because the visibility is usually awful amongst other things. So on Saturday morning with lashings of rain and strong winds blowing I was not expecting a lot as I picked Gill up far too early in the morning.

We should have realised that fortune was on our side as we swept up the M11 having taken the back route rather than the M25 as the radio announced the M25 had been shut. Bad weather causing accidents. Both Gill and I wondered what on earth we were doing, but such is the draw of diving.

Gildenburgh offered no respite when we arrived. Luke warm tea, howling wind and waves on the water. When John and Lesley arrived I took care to warn them that given the conditions and the normal state of affairs at Gildenburgh the viz was likely to be really poor.

How wrong I was......... a good 10 metres viz and the best I have ever seen in the brick pit. Wow, we could see the whole length of the bus, we could spot it from the platform. We could see the lorry from the bus. I was gobsmacked and delighted.

Enough of that because you couldn't ignore the surface conditions were nothing less than bleak. In fact I was most definitely more comfortable in the water.


The order of the day was SMB Diver specialty. As usual we had already had a fair run at SMB

deployment in the 6m pool at the Film Studios so all that was left was planning the dive and making sure that communications were going to be understood. This is so important when you are working with a buddy to let of DSMBs.

The first dive is all about attached deployment. With plenty of DSMB on board and feeling like a Christmas tree we all headed of for a pleasurable dive. Normally I tell people to keep hold of the lines as we swim between the various attractions. It was good enough not to have to do that and it made such a change to be able to see all the fish.

Having toured around we stopped at the lorry so that Lesley and John could deploy two SMBs each. Both using an auto inflate as well as a traditional inflated version.

For the second dive the stakes changed as it was time to practice mid water deployment. Always a little more challenging. Undertaking a task and trying to keep buoyancy is never an easy task. By focusing on a set point it does become easier. As always we experimented with a couple of techniques. Once again everyone realised that the large reel is so much easier to use than the little small ones that most divers tend to carry. I swear by it, especially in the UK where there is the chance for cold hands.

With eight successfully launched DSMB's enough was enough and it was time to head off but I am very confident that both Les and John will be proficient at the vital skill of deploying and using SMB'.