With the coastal diving season starting to draw to a close there's nothing definite to report. However, there may well be a PORTLAND weekend in MID-LATE OCTOBER. If you might be interested, keep your eye on the Noticeboard or talk to Fletch.

Meanwhile, it's time to start musing about where you might like to go diving next year. So, if you have a new location you think we should try, or an old favourite you want to go back to, again, talk to Fletch.

160m and back in under 3 minutes!

Thanks to Chris Stuart who forwarded a newspaper cutting about Tanya Streeter's recent record breaking freedive to 525ft/160m. Rather than reproduce that however, I thought "a sort of journal" as she put it on her own website may be a bit more interesting. So, here is her own account of that record-breaking dip... www.onscuba.com/Streeter/streeter.html

CYLINDER TEST REQUIREMENTS CHANGED

OK, you should all have read about this, but just in case, BS 5430 Parts 1 and 3, concerning the testing of cylinders, have been withdrawn and replaced by two new European standards. As a result:

• · Cylinders now require a full test every 5 years (was 4) and a visual inspection every 2½ years (from 2).
• · Cylinders must have the test date stamped on it, as before, but also have a stick-on label stating the date of the next test.
• · The 'intended contents' must also be clearly shown on the cylinder, eg Breathing Air, Nitrox or Trimix.

Where a cylinder was tested on the old standard, the old certificate expiry date applies. The validity period has not been extended. The new test periods apply from the next test.

Found on the BS-AC website and...

REPORTEDLY HEARD IN OTHER BRANCHES...

Two comments apparently uttered in seriousness on 2002 trips:

"What time is slack for this drift dive?"

"Who is boat-handling this shore dive?"

And in another branch...

Innocent diver to the DO: "Can I go solo diving on the branch outing at the week-end?" DO: "If you go solo diving - then you're on your own!"

And finally, it's claimed this one is "partly" based on fact...

A diver accused of sexually assaulting Freddie the Dolphin (that's the one in Amble Harbour, Nothumberland) gets taken to court. Although found not guilty he is told to keep away from the dolphin. After the verdict a newspaper reporter asks what he's going to do now. The diver replies "Oh well, there's plenty more fish in the sea..."

ON THE WEB

Describing itself as "the UK's premier information gateway to quality maritime websites and resources", www.port.nmm.ac.uk is worth checking out. It has links to loads of other sites, conveniently divided by category and is easy to find your way around.