Ice and a Slice? (Or diving by committees)

The first Sunday in January, there were not many members present at the Blue Lagoon. Most judged the weather too cold for diving ( a lot of people have adopted the Greek view that cold water starts at 20° C). The hardy few who congregated round the gate at about 10:30 thought it was too warm for an ice dive but went in for a look anyway. To their surprise, the lake was frozen solid. With some ingenuity and a few bits and pieces they each had a dive although the longest submerged time was only five minutes. They resolved to come back next week and try again.

The week between was warm and, once again, no one held out much hope of an ice dive. Nevertheless, there were far more divers (and spectators) present. One of the problems the previous week had been that the rope was too short. For this second attempt, everyone had come prepared.

I mentioned that the rope on the first week had been too short. For the second attempt we had a length of rope 220 metres long, generously donated by our area coach (after an explosion in a rope factory or some such). A rope committee was quickly set up under the guidance of two Nationally Qualified Instructors, one a First Class Diver. Twenty minutes later, a Sports Diver was given the end of the rope and instructed to walk towards the Oxfordshire border. Apparently, this was done in an effort to find the approximate centre point of the rope. At the same time, an ice breaking committee was set up. The second committee was quickly disbanded when it was found that the hole from the previous week was still there.

After another twenty minutes, the rope committee had nearly finished. We now had five members ready to take a dip under the ice. After a quick decision whether to tie the end of the rope to a tree or to the jetty, we were ready. In view of the cold weather, I had abandoned my policy of no gloves. I also wanted to try my full face mask to keep the water off my face. I checked my rope, ducked under the ice and swam off. At first, the feeling was of utter freedom. After a while, the drag on the rope increased and I abandoned my attempt to find the Wayfarer sailing Dinghy. I turned right and swam in an arc around the jetty then back to the left towards the Capri. Soon, it was time to return and let the next person have a go.

The next two dives took place without serious incident. However, one of our members suffered a slight freeflow and had to retire after only a few minutes. It was about this time that there was a cry from a visiting club on the other side of the jetty. We looked up and found their Dive Marshall with a worried look on his face, clutching both ends of a length of rope.

A feeling of panic descended on both the divers and the spectators. We quickly determined where the missing divers were by their bubbles, clearly visible under the ice. One party went to chip a hole in the ice as close as possible to their current position. The MK standby diver set out to locate the missing pair and escort them to safety. In a short time, the errant divers were escorted back to fresh air and safety. They seemed remarkably ungrateful and gave the impression that they would have been quite happy looking for the exit on their own. However, better safe than sorry.

As our last diver entered the water, we thought all our surprises were over. At first we were slightly concerned by a knocking sound from under the ice. Since our rope signals were answered correctly, we continued to watch. Suddenly a small hole appeared in the ice and a gloved hand emerged, first finger and thumb touching in the universal ‘OK’ signal. After a short pause, the hand withdrew and the diver continued his way. He admitted later that it was hard work making that small hole and there was no way he could have got himself through the ice in case of emergency.

Adrian.

N.B. Although the above is meant to be a humorous account of what happened that day, we took all the proper precautions for diving with no clear surface. Please do not attempt what we did without proper training and experience.