Spring clips for scuba diving fins

You scuba divers all know the silly dance and have probably done it yourself more than once. Dressed in full scuba gear and at the water's edge you are desperately trying to tighten your rubber fin straps.

With one leg cranked behind your back in a position even Houdini himself would have found a tad difficult you reach down with the other arm to grab the lively end of the strap that seems intent on escaping the pinch of your fingers all the while balancing on the other leg like some graceless overburdened flamingo.

Go to any dive site and the dance is obvious all to the repeated clicking tune of rubber running through plastic buckles.

Fed up with looking like a right plonker (after all, I have the rhythm of a concrete bollard) I decided to invest in some spring clips for my Scubapro Twin Jets. A lot of the PADI pros I work with told me they were the way to go and I was eventually won over.

As most things in life can never be simple, trying to find a pair of Scubapro's own spring straps at anything near a reasonable price proved a nightmare.

Thanks to the advice of Paull Goodall at Aquasport International, I managed to get around the problem with a little bit of work which I thought I'd share for any other Twin Jet users.

So in the style of a Haynes manual (all those people who had to repair their own cars a few years back with know the reference) hear goes......

I bought a set of IST Proline FS 12 finstraps (retailing about £22 sterling).

The first step is to remove the metal fixing plate at either end of the straps. You'll need two screwdrivers to removed the fixing bolt. The plate is now redundant but keep the fixing bolt and the two smooth black runners.

Next, remove the rubber straps from your fins using the buckle pinch clips. Flip them over and find the plastic runner that the strap runs behind and helps you to adjust the size of the strap. Using a flat-ended screwdriver prize the plastic runner out of the buckle. It is probably easier to break them in half with a bit of force.

Take the fixing bolt you removed from the steel buckle of the spring strap, feed it through the hole in the plastic buckle of the Scubapro fin, through the one half of the black plastic runner removed from the spring strap , through the end of the spring coil and the remaining half of the black plastic runner and through to the other end of the buckle. Take the other end of the fixing bolt and tighten together.

Again you will need two screwdrivers to get the bolt tight. Don't over tighten as you may damage the buckle and will need to replace the whole strap.

Repeat on the other end (remember to get them facing the same way) and do the same for the second fin and clip them back into the fixing buckle on the fin itself and there you go, no more hopping around with your leg cranked behind your back trying to tighten fin straps.

If you are unsure of carrying out the work yourself, get technicians at your local dive centre to do it for you. I take no responsibility for any damaged fin straps.

USS Vandenburg sinking

Quick follow up to previous blogs regarding the USS Vandenburg.

Here's some video of the sinking. It all went smoothly and she looks like she's going to be a great wreck to explore. And at about 30m depth it could be a good all-rounder for everyone to visit.



For more details head on over to Neutral Dive Gear's blog. It has pulled together some great facts and figures.

Divefest - or should it be DryFest

Bit late in posting a quick update on Divefest but after three hectic weeks I'm only now back in front of a computer (must take laptop next time).

For those who remember, Divefest was the first of its kind festival into the UK bringing diving and entertainment in one event.

Thanks to the British weather (great the weekends before and after but blowing a hoolie on the weekend of Divefest) we had to brave strong winds and bad weather at Pentewan Sands near Mevagissey, Cornwall.

As a result we didn't even manage to get in the water. Well technically not true.

Instead, the Aquasport lot donned our drysuits and headed to the beach for a game of cricket.



And when the ball was smashed into the sea we all decided on a bit of body surfing in the crashing waves, made all the easier with a buoyant drysuit. As soon as I can find the pics I'll post them.

The lack of diving led someone to suggest it should have been called DryFest, but knowing we couldn't dive we enjoyed a fair few beers and a barbecue as well.

Despite the lack of diving, we still had a fantastic time and can't wait to do it next year.

Apparently Monty Halls managed to get a bit of depth but the poor weather and churning seas (Force 8 Gale at one point apparently) knocked the viz down to about 2m and sent the marine life scurrying for shelter.

Read here for a full review.

USS Vandenburg becomes new artificial reef

A quick update on a previous post, by the time you read this (and lets not hope for any Spiegel Grove calamities) the USS Vandenburg should have become a new artificial reef for scuba divers.

Regular readers will remember back in February the story about plans to sink another to decommissioned US Navy warship in Florida. Well hopefully the 160m-long former Second World War missile tracking ship, USS Hoyt S Vandenberg should now be resting at the bottom of the sea some six miles off Key West.

The plan was to sink the ship today at 10am (EST).

No word yet on whether it has gone ahead. While we wait for video of the sinking which I'll bring as soon as its available, here's some earlier footage of the sinking of a replica at the Stevens Institute of Technology's Center for Maritime Systems test-sinks a scale model of the USS Vandenberg.




Once on the bottom the USS Vandenburg will join the USS Spiegel Grove and USS Oriskany as a diver's playground and the local economy and the attraction will benefit to the tune of an estimated $6.2 million a year.

For more, log on to www.sinkthevandenberg.com/

Thanks to Neutral Dive Gear blog for the heads' up. Live. Dive. Thrive is the author's moto. Doesn't get any better than that. The blog is certainly worth checking in with and the clothes look great too.

Scuba diver dies on the Britannic

After almost three weeks on the road doing a variety of stupid things - that sadly due to the weather did not involve scuba diving - I arrived back to some sad news.

British diver Carl Spencer who was devoted to providing “new angles” to the Titanic story died after an underwater filming mission exploring her sister ship.

The 37-year-old was part of a National Geographic crew exploring the Britannic, which sank in about 120m in the Aegean Sea, off Greece, in 1916 after being struck by a single mine.
Mr Spencer, described as an “extremely talented but modest man” was a director of Hednesford based firm Spencair.

He began experiencing discomfort during a routine dive on Sunday in the Straits of Kea, a small island about 150 nautical miles south-east of Athens.
When he began convulsing his dive team took the decision to bring him to the surface.
By the time he had been hauled up he was unconscious and he was taken to Athens Naval Hospital by helicopter, but did not regain consciousness and died 35 minutes later.

His cousin, Jayne Howarth, today told the Birmingham Post: “It has been a terrible shock for all of his family and we are devastated for his wife and two children.
“Carl was always such a careful diver and I’m sure he would have done everything absolutely by the book.
“But he was also a very modest man.
“Even though he was an expert diver and could fly helicopters he told people he was just a plumber from Cannock.
“He was a passionate diver and he loved everything about it.”

Richard Lundgren, a founder member of Global Underwater Explorers who has spent more time exploring Britannic than almost any other elite diver, said decompressing after diving on Britannic usually took up to four hours, with one or two hours spent 19ft below the surface.

The Britannic Foundation, headed by British businessman Simon Mills, wants to preserve the ship.
Mr Spencer previously joined a dive to video the RMS Carpathia, which picked up 705 survivors as the Titanic went down in 1912 but was sunk six years later by a German U-boat.
“The role of the Carpathia is often forgotten in the Titanic story, so if we can help provide a new angle to the story, that would be great,” he told the BBC in 2004.

He was also a member of the Bluebird Project, which is restoring Donald Campbell’s ill-fated craft.
Project leader Bill Smith wrote: “It was with absolute shock that I learned of the death of my good friend, Carl Spencer
“I dived Britannic with Carl in 2003 when he led a British expedition to penetrate the wreck and explore the minefield that sank it but we met in November 2000 on the Bluebird Project.
“We were short of a diver as I was being hauled away for press interviews so I asked if anyone knew a good diver with a disposition that would fit the team. Carl was immediately put forward so leaving word that he should be invited I went off to do more interviews.
“Carl was both the first and last diver to work on the recovery of Donald’s body in May 2001 demonstrating his immense skill under water; he was very methodical and completely natural in his element.
“We next worked together in 2003 when Carl led an expedition to Greece to dive Britannic. I headed up his sonar team and it was a privilege and a pleasure to support such a gifted leader.
“Since then we’ve worked on a joint project in Norway involving sonar work and diving in extreme conditions.
“He remained a staunch supporter of the Bluebird Project throughout and joined us again in early 2007 when we returned to the lake in search of a missing piece of frame. It was Carl who ultimately recovered it.
“We had planned to visit Norway again later this year but, sadly, we’ll never get there. It is absolutely heartbreaking that such a gentleman should be so tragically lost and he’ll leave a huge hole in the lives of so many people.”

Good news on Shark Finning and Seal products

A couple of bits of marine conservation news that slipped by last week.

Firstly, the European Parliament has voted to ban the sale of seal products in the 27-nation EU in light of continuing outrage over the clubbing of seal pups in places like Canada.

The EU law, which would exempt seal products from traditional hunters among Canada's Arctic Inuit community, still requires the agreement of EU ministers to take effect but it is likely to be imposed by next year.

Labour MEP Arlene McCarthy, (at last a Labour politician who has done something right this year) who helped draft the rules said: "The vast majority of people across Europe are horrified by the cruel clubbing to death of seals and this law will finally put an end to the cruel cull."

In the EU, seals are culled on a much smaller scale in Sweden, Finland and the UK, mainly for fish stock management. The ban will not apply to such culling.

More importantly, Europe’s threatened sharks have been thrown a lifeline as the European Council announced their conclusions and priority actions regarding the Community Plan of Action for Sharks.

The Community Plan of Action for Sharks (CPOA) prioritise the need for a prompt review of the shark finning legislation and identify an urgent need to improve data collection to aid species management and conservation.

While shark finning is banned in Europe rules allow vessels to apply for a permit to remove shark fins at sea. Currently, five countries issue Special Fishing Permits: Spain, Portugal, Germany, Lithuania and the UK (where 80 tonnes of shark fins are landed per year).

The Shark Trust said it would continue to advocate for the UK Government to cease the provision of these permits.

Meanwhile, Fisheries Secretary Richard Lochhead said the plans for Scottish waters went further, only giving permission in exceptional circumstances.

Mr Lochhead said: "We know that some shark populations are critically endangered, and that is why we are proposing even tougher restrictions in Scotland, sending out a strong message."

Special fishing permits for taking sharks' fins were first issued in Scotland in 2004. If approved, the new restrictions would ban the granting of permits.

Mr Lockhead added: "In Scotland we will not sit back and wait for things to happen. We are determined to develop robust, workable procedures, proving beyond doubt that we are leading the rest of Europe on the conservation front."

Scuba Diving Paradise South Pacific on BBC

Sunday nights might have felt a bit barren for scuba divers after Monty Halls bid farewell to the west coast of Scotland (not that he did much underwater exploring).

But fear not, BBC2 will this weekend launch a new series to sate our appetites while we wait for the summer jollies scuba diving in far flung destinations.

The South Pacific Ocean of Islands series will explore the "isolation of the region's islands, the extraordinary journeys wildlife and humans have taken to reach these remote specks of land and what happened to both after their arrival".

The BBC promises the series will include footage of undersea volcanoes attempting to form new islands, tiger sharks snatching newly fledged albatross chicks and bizarre human rituals that involve people jumping from 20-metre wooden scaffolds with only forest vines to break their fall.

The first programme this Sunday features remarkable (that's what they say) footage of a huge ocean wave filmed from beneath the surface, revealing features never before captured on camera.

"It reveals the hidden power of a four-metre-tall monster barrel wave. It also shows the first images of underwater spiralling vortices created by the wave's action," the BBC reports.



"I really wanted to slow the wave down, so it was like being there, immersed in that environment," says the BBC's Huw Cordey, series producer of South Pacific.
"I wanted to capture the scale of the event."

South Pacific: Oceans of Islands will be broadcast on BBC Two from Sunday, 10 May 2009 at 2030 BST.

Hamilton Island winner

You've no doubt heard the news about the Brit who landed the "Best Job in the World" as the caretaker for Hamilton Island, on the Great Barrier Reef.

"I hope I can sell the reef as much as everybody is expecting," Ben Southall said after he was crowned the winner at a ceremony on Hamilton Island.

"My swimming hopefully is up to standard."

He starts "work" on July 1.

Well here's Southall's winning entry. Jammy so-and-so.

Scuba Diving Dosthill

Back in front of my computer again after a manic week at work what with people being shot, a man being found with what he feared was a bomb strapped to his chest and another cannabis factory being busted.

A reporter's life is not a happy one. Well technically that's not true. It's a great job - even if it means standing on street corners for hours on end.

Despite the manic week, I still managed to get a scuba diving session in the pool in to help a recently qualified diver get more practice in a dry suit and dump a few pounds of weight at the same time. And my wife and I got in another trip to Dosthill to give her a bit more practice UK diving again in readiness for a trip next month.

No camera this time but we still managed to see an awful lot, pike, perch, carp, golden orf. And I showed her a bit of the quarry she had not seen before, skirting the edge of the bowl at 17m to take in the cars, Land Rover, tree and van. She also got to see the wall that leads to the back shelf as well.

Thanks to Lee Hatton there is a new map of Dosthill which is well worth checking out and might provide a few new spots you may have missed.

Ocean Acidification Study

Good news for us scuba divers, the UK government has launched an ambitious £11m five-year study into the impacts of ocean acidification.

Researchers are growing concerned that seas are absorbing CO2 at unprecedented rates and risking upsetting the delicate balance for life in the oceans.

The issue is now considered one of the major environmental issues of this century.



The study, co-funded by the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (Defra) and the Natural Environment Research Council (Nerc), will also examine the implications for people and the economy.

In a statement, Nerc said: “The associated increases in ocean acidity over coming decades are likely to be at a rate and on a scale unprecedented in at least the last 20 million years.

"Under such conditions, organisms creating aragonite skeletons face serious challenges.”

The study will focus on the Atlantic, Antarctic and Arctic oceans and assess how marine ecosystems are affected.

It is thought as much as half of all CO2 released by burning fossil fuels over the past 200 years has been absorbed by world’s oceans.

This has lowered the pH value of seawater and researchers fear it could result in a massive extinction of life in the seas.