Ouroboros Course - Stoney Cove

Ant Slegg · 30th May 2006, 10:06

Ouroboros Course – Mod 1 Stoney Cove 20th to 24th May 2006-05-30

My final words - this was going to be a long summary of all the drills but if you want to know about those buy a unit and do the course

The course was…. Fun.
It was bloody hard work but it was seriously… Fun.

We spent more time in the water in four days than I normally spend in a full weeks diving, the water temperature wasn’t great (12°C at 6m dropping to 7°C at depth) and the vis’, by the standards of Stoney Cove was c**p (for those used to diving in the Netherlands or at Gildensludge this means 2m or less in places).

Phil chose the B&B out to the north-west of Stoney Stanton and very good it was too. Sharing a large room with Phil was OK, I was only occasionally woken by his sleepy mutterings of “precious – we want’s it!” and "We hates it!!! Hatesss it!....forever!!!!" I’m not sure what all that was about but all his talk about cave diving in Siberia centred around Mount Doom!

The weather was abysmal, even Mr Short complained. Bear in mind that this mans idea of fun is a month stuck at the back of a muddy cave in Siberia. It wasn’t particularly cold; the rain was never really heavy it was just that sort of “can’t quite make its mind up miserable” that England does so well. As my last dive had been off Porquerolles in the Mediterranean about 3 weeks earlier the contrast was extreme. Only the ducks seemed happy, although as Steve (the other trainee) decided, and later proved (please don’t ask), the ducks at Stoney are gay.

Fortunately, given the weather, the coffee was hot and the shop well stocked with Snickers bars (for those who have done OC Tech Nitrox or Trimix courses with Gollum there was little sign of him balancing his “Gabba” or any other such hippy nonsense) and if you are heading off on a course with him remember to take plenty of chocolate bars, biscuits and cakes. The cakes should be kept for after the theory sessions end and served with tea – Remember bringing good quality “theory cakes” could affect your exam score (Phil especially seemed to like the little pink iced cakes).

Stoney isn’t that big (see http://www.stoneycove.com/beneath.htm) so over the course of the course (er…) we got to know the route from the slip to the Viscount (short stop for drills) then down the roadway (drills) then left along the edge of the 20m ledge to the bus and then the Stanegarth (more drills) and after swimming around that four times (yes for drills) to the Wessex (suprisingly no drills), then onto the wall and deploying SMBs for an ascent back to the 6m ledge (and… you guessed more drills).

The actual drills are described in the manual and are firmly centred on the IANTD standards so there is little point in going over them here. Suffice to say that Phil’s demonstration of ALL drills was very clear (he’s of the old school – if the instructor can’t demonstrate it then they shouldn’t expect a trainee to do it) and any errors were swiftly highlighted, One advantage(?) of the CCR was that Phil’s dulcet tones, suitably modified by the acoustics of the loop were clearly heard generally indicating the error of our ways with (no doubt IANTD approved) soothing phrases such as “F**K!”, “Long Push – Long Push!!”, “Noo!!!”, “J*s*s!!!” all of which would be denied during the debrief. The drills centred on what to do if all the lovely electronics failed or the various isolators and bypasses failed OR if all the lot failed. Surprisingly for a lot of these scenarios the rebreather remains useable. During one of the early dives we even got to see the impact of a partial flood on the unit, in essence there was no real impact the dive continued for another 70 minutes or so.

The theory was very much centred on the Boris with rebreather history etc. thrown in. Phil made comparisons with other rebreathers without coming across as overly critical, on one or two occasions he even went as far as to say “if only they had… it would have been so much better”.

In between the dives and the theory we even managed to eat and socialise. The pub (The Blue Bell, Long Street) in Stoney Stanton does good food and is popular with the Stoney employees. Bearing in mind that the cove has its own pub that’s quite a recommendation. We also met up with the man from DUI UK (the name I heard was “Fluff” which is a really worrying nickname for a former mine rescue worker) and the man from Poseidon UK. The man from DUI couldn’t quite understand why people might buy other dry-suits when a fully tricked out version of theirs could set you back 1800 quid. The man from Poseidon was a bit more relaxed when I said I didn’t own a single one of their regs. That’s close to blasphemy in Short world but what the hell I like my teeth where they are not blasted down my throat.

One word of warning about one of Phil’s other alter egos no not his Smeagol persona (his Stoney Cove membership card has a photo of Gollum on it and that gets him in) but the Tidy Fairy persona (as Phil said it’s the voices in his head that keep him company on those long solo cave dives – and there seem to be so many of them). The Tidy Fairy likes things neat including his van, all your kit (especially the Boris) and Stoney Cove both above and below water. We watched Phil carefully tidy up two large metal clamps on the Stanegarth and I, for one, was wondering what the hell they had to do with the drills we had planned. The answer was nothing they were just untidy. On a slightly more reassuring note Phil’s memory for trivia, especially films and especially British comedy stuff (from Carry On to Monty Python and beyond) seems bottomless and for divers over the age of about 35 makes for a very entertaining evening.

Diving on the Ouroboros. Bearing in mind that we didn’t do much “just diving” on the Boris mainly just the swims between drills the overall impression is very good. The breathing resistance I found excellent (the other trainee had some issues with the effect orientation had on breathing resistance) although my only other rebreather experience was on a Drager Dolphin. Being left handed I did find the position of the HUD a little irritating when it came to clearing my ears but on the plus side the primary computer is on the left arm. Getting in and out of the wing (a CD piece of kit) took a little getting used to (again I don’t dive OC on anything similar). The loop mouthpiece is a Poseidon and I think it may go very soon as I found it a bit large. Pre and post dive preparations are fairly straightforward but I’d caution anyone to take it slowly at first as you can waste a fair amount of time and energy if you forget certain “tricks” such as using positive pressure to blow the dome off so you can access the stack. Thankfully the pre-dive checks are all noted on the primary. The worst (but most necessary part) of the pre-dive checks, the five minute pre-breathe does make you feel a bit of a wally (for Americans please substitute "fool") as you sit there breathing off the loop with your nose pinched. This process does get comments from OC divers including “Oh I couldn’t be bothered with all that hassle” and to a trainee diver from an instructor “it’s a rebreather, don’t bother they’re rubbish” (nothing like an open mind is there?) but you do feel better knowing that their 15 quid entry fee to Stoney Cove will buy them 2x30-40 minute dives to 20m whereas yours will get you 2x60-90 minute dives.

The dives went as follows:

Day One
1) 8.5m 79minutes 12°C Surface Interval: 2:41
2) 10.6m 91minutes 12°C

Surface Interval: 17:41

Day Two
1) 21.9m 93minutes 9°C Surface Interval: 2:05
2) 22.2m 70minutes 9°C

Surface Interval: 20:23

Day Three
1) 22.2m 76minutes 9°C Surface Interval 2:01
2) 23.4m 76minutes 9°C

Surface Interval: 19:10

Day Four
1) 32.6m 67minutes 7°C Surface Interval 2:19
2) 21.9m 64min 9°C

richc · 30th May 2006, 12:17

Congrats on passing the course. It is fun regardless of what anyone tells you.

I'd offer you some sympathy for taking the course in Stoney in May if it weren't for the fact me and my other half did the Boris course in Stoney with Phil in March.

The only pleasure I took was that he was also shivering after the 90 minute mark!

Rich

johnmaneely · 19th June 2006, 23:11

Good to read your report, thanks. Phils a good bloke, even with his habits.. Just wish I could folow in your steps, its a lotta dosh though.
John

Ant Slegg · 20th June 2006, 13:38

Quote: (Originally Posted by johnmaneely)

Good to read your report, thanks. Phils a good bloke, even with his habits.. Just wish I could folow in your steps, its a lotta dosh though.
John

You are of course correct about the cost, however when I did the trade-off between the Boris and my other "final" option, an Inspiration equipped with the Vision electronics the gap wasn't as great as I expected. Add in the 13-14 month delivery time for the Inspiration and the fact that my diving is going through a slow period (i.e. plenty of time to do non-challenging dives at a CCR novice) and the Boris' advantages came close to balancing out the cost.

Ant S

CCR900 · 29th June 2006, 16:37

Quote: (Originally Posted by Ant Slegg)

You are of course correct about the cost, however when I did the trade-off between the Boris and my other "final" option, an Inspiration equipped with the Vision electronics the gap wasn't as great as I expected. Add in the 13-14 month delivery time for the Inspiration and the fact that my diving is going through a slow period (i.e. plenty of time to do non-challenging dives at a CCR novice) and the Boris' advantages came close to balancing out the cost.
Ant S

Exact same thing here, not cheap but once people add what they need to other rigs to get them working i.e. wings, backplates, online deco with HUD most CCR's are not that far apart (price wise).

F

30th May 2006, 10:06	#21 (permalink)
Ant Slegg Still Learning.... Current Rebreather/s: Ouroboros Other Rebreather/s: Ouroboros Join Date: Nov 2005 Location: Grevenmacher, Luxembourg Posts: 167	Re: Ouroboros Course - Stoney Cove Ouroboros Course – Mod 1 Stoney Cove 20th to 24th May 2006-05-30 My final words - this was going to be a long summary of all the drills but if you want to know about those buy a unit and do the course The course was…. Fun. It was bloody hard work but it was seriously… Fun. We spent more time in the water in four days than I normally spend in a full weeks diving, the water temperature wasn’t great (12°C at 6m dropping to 7°C at depth) and the vis’, by the standards of Stoney Cove was c*p (for those used to diving in the Netherlands or at Gildensludge this means 2m or less in places). Phil chose the B&B out to the north-west of Stoney Stanton and very good it was too. Sharing a large room with Phil was OK, I was only occasionally woken by his sleepy mutterings of “precious – we want’s it!” and "We hates it!!! Hatesss it!....forever!!!!"* I’m not sure what all that was about but all his talk about cave diving in Siberia centred around Mount Doom! The weather was abysmal, even Mr Short complained. Bear in mind that this mans idea of fun is a month stuck at the back of a muddy cave in Siberia. It wasn’t particularly cold; the rain was never really heavy it was just that sort of “can’t quite make its mind up miserable” that England does so well. As my last dive had been off Porquerolles in the Mediterranean about 3 weeks earlier the contrast was extreme. Only the ducks seemed happy, although as Steve (the other trainee) decided, and later proved (please don’t ask), the ducks at Stoney are gay. Fortunately, given the weather, the coffee was hot and the shop well stocked with Snickers bars (for those who have done OC Tech Nitrox or Trimix courses with Gollum there was little sign of him balancing his “Gabba” or any other such hippy nonsense) and if you are heading off on a course with him remember to take plenty of chocolate bars, biscuits and cakes. The cakes should be kept for after the theory sessions end and served with tea – Remember bringing good quality “theory cakes” could affect your exam score (Phil especially seemed to like the little pink iced cakes). Stoney isn’t that big (see http://www.stoneycove.com/beneath.htm) so over the course of the course (er…) we got to know the route from the slip to the Viscount (short stop for drills) then down the roadway (drills) then left along the edge of the 20m ledge to the bus and then the Stanegarth (more drills) and after swimming around that four times (yes for drills) to the Wessex (suprisingly no drills), then onto the wall and deploying SMBs for an ascent back to the 6m ledge (and… you guessed more drills). The actual drills are described in the manual and are firmly centred on the IANTD standards so there is little point in going over them here. Suffice to say that Phil’s demonstration of ALL drills was very clear (he’s of the old school – if the instructor can’t demonstrate it then they shouldn’t expect a trainee to do it) and any errors were swiftly highlighted, One advantage(?) of the CCR was that Phil’s dulcet tones, suitably modified by the acoustics of the loop were clearly heard generally indicating the error of our ways with (no doubt IANTD approved) soothing phrases such as “F*K!”, “Long Push – Long Push!!”, “Noo!!!”, “Js*s!!!” all of which would be denied during the debrief. The drills centred on what to do if all the lovely electronics failed or the various isolators and bypasses failed OR if all the lot failed. Surprisingly for a lot of these scenarios the rebreather remains useable. During one of the early dives we even got to see the impact of a partial flood on the unit, in essence there was no real impact the dive continued for another 70 minutes or so. The theory was very much centred on the Boris with rebreather history etc. thrown in. Phil made comparisons with other rebreathers without coming across as overly critical, on one or two occasions he even went as far as to say “if only they had… it would have been so much better”. In between the dives and the theory we even managed to eat and socialise. The pub (The Blue Bell, Long Street) in Stoney Stanton does good food and is popular with the Stoney employees. Bearing in mind that the cove has its own pub that’s quite a recommendation. We also met up with the man from DUI UK (the name I heard was “Fluff” which is a really worrying nickname for a former mine rescue worker) and the man from Poseidon UK. The man from DUI couldn’t quite understand why people might buy other dry-suits when a fully tricked out version of theirs could set you back 1800 quid. The man from Poseidon was a bit more relaxed when I said I didn’t own a single one of their regs. That’s close to blasphemy in Short world but what the hell I like my teeth where they are not blasted down my throat. One word of warning about one of Phil’s other alter egos no not his Smeagol persona (his Stoney Cove membership card has a photo of Gollum on it and that gets him in) but the Tidy Fairy persona (as Phil said it’s the voices in his head that keep him company on those long solo cave dives – and there seem to be so many of them). The Tidy Fairy likes things neat including his van, all your kit (especially the Boris) and Stoney Cove both above and below water. We watched Phil carefully tidy up two large metal clamps on the Stanegarth and I, for one, was wondering what the hell they had to do with the drills we had planned. The answer was nothing they were just untidy. On a slightly more reassuring note Phil’s memory for trivia, especially films and especially British comedy stuff (from Carry On to Monty Python and beyond) seems bottomless and for divers over the age of about 35 makes for a very entertaining evening. Diving on the Ouroboros. Bearing in mind that we didn’t do much “just diving” on the Boris mainly just the swims between drills the overall impression is very good. The breathing resistance I found excellent (the other trainee had some issues with the effect orientation had on breathing resistance) although my only other rebreather experience was on a Drager Dolphin. Being left handed I did find the position of the HUD a little irritating when it came to clearing my ears but on the plus side the primary computer is on the left arm. Getting in and out of the wing (a CD piece of kit) took a little getting used to (again I don’t dive OC on anything similar). The loop mouthpiece is a Poseidon and I think it may go very soon as I found it a bit large. Pre and post dive preparations are fairly straightforward but I’d caution anyone to take it slowly at first as you can waste a fair amount of time and energy if you forget certain “tricks” such as using positive pressure to blow the dome off so you can access the stack. Thankfully the pre-dive checks are all noted on the primary. The worst (but most necessary part) of the pre-dive checks, the five minute pre-breathe does make you feel a bit of a wally (for Americans please substitute "fool") as you sit there breathing off the loop with your nose pinched. This process does get comments from OC divers including “Oh I couldn’t be bothered with all that hassle” and to a trainee diver from an instructor “it’s a rebreather, don’t bother they’re rubbish” (nothing like an open mind is there?) but you do feel better knowing that their 15 quid entry fee to Stoney Cove will buy them 2x30-40 minute dives to 20m whereas yours will get you 2x60-90 minute dives. The dives went as follows: Day One 1) 8.5m 79minutes 12°C Surface Interval: 2:41 2) 10.6m 91minutes 12°C Surface Interval: 17:41 Day Two 1) 21.9m 93minutes 9°C Surface Interval: 2:05 2) 22.2m 70minutes 9°C Surface Interval: 20:23 Day Three 1) 22.2m 76minutes 9°C Surface Interval 2:01 2) 23.4m 76minutes 9°C Surface Interval: 19:10 Day Four 1) 32.6m 67minutes 7°C Surface Interval 2:19 2) 21.9m 64min 9°C __________________ Ant' S Learning to dive since 1990...
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30th May 2006, 12:17	#22 (permalink)
richc New Member Current Rebreather/s: Ouroboros Other Rebreather/s: Join Date: Nov 2005 Location: Hove actually Posts: 40	Re: Ouroboros Course - Stoney Cove Congrats on passing the course. It is fun regardless of what anyone tells you. I'd offer you some sympathy for taking the course in Stoney in May if it weren't for the fact me and my other half did the Boris course in Stoney with Phil in March. The only pleasure I took was that he was also shivering after the 90 minute mark! Rich
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19th June 2006, 23:11	#23 (permalink)
johnmaneely New Member Current Rebreather/s: Inspiration Classic Home Build Other Rebreather/s: Inspiration Classic Classic Kiss Home Build Join Date: Aug 2005 Location: shoreham-by-sea uk Posts: 22	Re: Ouroboros Course - Stoney Cove Good to read your report, thanks. Phils a good bloke, even with his habits.. Just wish I could folow in your steps, its a lotta dosh though. John
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20th June 2006, 13:38	#24 (permalink)
Ant Slegg Still Learning.... Current Rebreather/s: Ouroboros Other Rebreather/s: Ouroboros Join Date: Nov 2005 Location: Grevenmacher, Luxembourg Posts: 167	Re: Ouroboros Course - Stoney Cove Quote: (Originally Posted by johnmaneely) Good to read your report, thanks. Phils a good bloke, even with his habits.. Just wish I could folow in your steps, its a lotta dosh though. John You are of course correct about the cost, however when I did the trade-off between the Boris and my other "final" option, an Inspiration equipped with the Vision electronics the gap wasn't as great as I expected. Add in the 13-14 month delivery time for the Inspiration and the fact that my diving is going through a slow period (i.e. plenty of time to do non-challenging dives at a CCR novice) and the Boris' advantages came close to balancing out the cost. Ant S __________________ Ant' S Learning to dive since 1990...
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29th June 2006, 16:37	#25 (permalink)
CCR900 Custom Title Allowed! Current Rebreather/s: Ouroboros Other Rebreather/s: Inspiration Classic Inspiration Vision Join Date: Nov 2005 Location: England Posts: 332	Re: Ouroboros Course - Stoney Cove Quote: (Originally Posted by Ant Slegg) You are of course correct about the cost, however when I did the trade-off between the Boris and my other "final" option, an Inspiration equipped with the Vision electronics the gap wasn't as great as I expected. Add in the 13-14 month delivery time for the Inspiration and the fact that my diving is going through a slow period (i.e. plenty of time to do non-challenging dives at a CCR novice) and the Boris' advantages came close to balancing out the cost. Ant S Exact same thing here, not cheap but once people add what they need to other rigs to get them working i.e. wings, backplates, online deco with HUD most CCR's are not that far apart (price wise). F
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