So, just what were Rugby Divers up to 10 years ago? A brief selection from the newsletters of Summer 1990
Dive trips that summer included a John Cooper jaunt to Flamborough Head. Quite a trip from memory. On the Friday night we all camped. One night was enough though and on the Saturday night Jerry and I found a B&B in Filey. Then there was a dive in what I'll politely call 'pollution' off Filey Brigg, and of course the fog which came in very quickly while we had divers down off Flamborough itself. Other trips included Weymouth, Anglesey and Pembroke, and a Sunday day out at Gildenborough over near Peterborough. Looking ahead to 1991, the first ever Rugby Divers Scilly trip was being advertised, as was a week on the Harry Slater out of Oban, the Farnes, Pembroke and Scapa Flow.
To show how kit and equipment has changed, the 'for sales' was all wet or semi-dry suits. You too could have bought a Beaver wet suit for £60. Not a dry suit in sight. Meanwhile the Club was selling decent quality T-shirts for £4 (not the Indian ones we saw a few years later) and sweatshirts for £10, complete with Club logo.
An 8 page article from Wilf looked at Diving Computers - What they tell us and how to understand it. In those days 'bendys' as Wilf called them, were still very much a new 'toy' and Wilf was dispelling the fairly widely held idea that they extended the time in the water on all dives.
The press cuttings included one with the headline 'Skin diver shoots his chubby mother-in-law with a spear gun'! The 'hard hearted hubby harpooned massive Marlene' before trying to convince the cops that he mistook her for a great white shark. 'I thought Jaws was out there' he told the court. He got 15 years.
What No? - A dive report... featured an 'interesting' weekend to what seems to have been all the South West. After an exciting journey down (What no accident), they went looking for air. 'A fairly successful diving weekend relies heavily on planning. A fairly major requirement is air. Both editions of the Devon divers guide state air is available in Exmouth. Both are wrong.' (What no air) They went shopping for inflatable ducks instead (it doesn't say why, but perhaps it's better not to ask). Next up, the caravan found itself in the middle of a power cut (What no electricity). Now if you're going to turn things on to check for power, remember to turn them off again. When you don't you wake the whole campsite up at 2.30am with very loud brass band music. Having found air in Exeter, next day was spent at Padstow (What no air take 2), followed by a midnight swim in the campsite swimming pool (What no heat). On what seems to have been a tour of the south west, day three saw our foursome being tossed around in big breakers on Chesil Cove (What no flat water) (What no vis)!
Rugby Scubanauts Distillery Trip was the second report. The highlights of the week seem to be distilleries, breakfasts and the top shelves of pubs. The biggest worry of the week seems to have been where to put the optic on the boat! Does Jerry remember 'As We Get It', 103% proof?
There was also a report from 1989 about a week diving the Channel Islands. Now there's a thought for somewhere different.