Innovations 2004

[samdive]

Went over to the NDC yesterday and had a great meeting with Neil, Kieron and Stuart about 2004 and especially about that weekend in May you are all keeping clear in your diaries.

Anyway - we have designed the pontoon and it should be in place in the not too distant future. We are going to use three of the finger pontoons banded together to make a giant freediver trimaran. This can be moored wherever we want in the deep end, but being positive of thought - I asked for 70m!

I am meeting up with an engineer/welder friend in a couple of weeks to have him design two booms to take the lines out and over the edge of the pontoon. With a weight on the bottom of them and our famous bottom plates, we should then be able to raise and lower the lines from the surface to whatever depth we need. Safer and easier, as if we have someone strong enough at the top, we should be able to also pull you up with the line if you have not already been FHOFd... you'll see what I mean. Scubies will have their own line between the two freediver lines so they can see us, tell how deep they are and even hang on if necessary! The trimaran mooring lines will also be available for FI practice and warm ups (as the main lines will not be that heavy so we can pull them up if we need to)

We are going to buy our own ropes and pay for the booms ourselves so this will be saltFree's kit and will be locked up up top somewhere at NDC when we are not diving. I'm meeting the bank's small business advisor on Friday (scary!)

I am thinking of how to mark the ropes but they will be marked off every metre in such a way that lanyards slide down them easily. This might involve a weekend down in Cornwall soaking and stretching ropes with the car up and down the lane to my folks house - anyone who fancies coming along to help combined maybe with a bit of a snorkel round the coast if the weather is good - let me know.

So - lots going on for 2004. If you have any other ideas that we could get done over the quieter winter, let us know. Laura is also super busy getting the Angels team organised - we are gonna storm 2004!

Sam

PS Yesterday clearly was NOT a saltFree day - it was hailing and torrentially raining over there - good news as the water levels are rising much more quickly than they dropped!

[samdive]

Clearly the good ship saltFree will need a name

She is a trimaran, made out of three bits of pontoon. She sails only on the NDC and prefers to be moored over deep water.

Suggested names on a postcard please..................

[SASpearo]

I've always wanted a boat called Divercity.

[barry the poet]

Europa.

You ropa it up, we diva down....

Also one of Jupiter's moons, thought to be covered in liquid water with a frozen crust.

[guy]

Err..

"The Betty Page"

1. Well-known affinity with ropes
2. This story....

1958 - Skin Diving with a Pin-up Girl
Betty Page was one of the sexiest women alive in the ’40s and ’50s—she was America’s favorite pin-up girl. So, imagine a young skin diver’s excitement when her bikini-clad figure was spotted strolling down the beach he was lifeguarding. Ellsworth Boyd was an avid Skin Diver reader and a big fan. He seized the opportunity and approached her with an offer to take her snorkeling and write about it for the magazine. The next day, Ellsworth, Betty and a friend set out to Lauderdale-By-The-Sea, Florida, where they taught Betty how to skin dive. This chance encounter led Ellsworth to a long career as a Skin Diver contributor and inspired Betty to learn to scuba dive.

[laura storm]

Hot news for the safety team.
Two new innovations will be revealed to the Angels this weekend.
Angelfish has been busy with the toolbox
The Angels are gonna ROCK this year
L*

[samdive]

yes Angelfish had been busy - and she probably wants to announce them herself but the new innovations are fabulous. Not only will our Angels have HALOS but they will also be able to make beautiful music for us as we descend....
nice one Angelfish and thanks for great hospitality over weekend.

[laura storm]

Angelfish will be trying out her newly rigged halogen helmet at the eagerly awaited saltFree session (21st / 22nd).
If this works, The Angels will be adopting handsfree lighting to illuminate your way through the dark, green depths.
Respect and thanks to Martyn Farr for his valuable advice and help.
L*