COMMITTEE MEMBERS: 2008/2009
President Martin Brett 418 2332
Vice-President Stuart Morgan 446 1614
Secretary/Treas Margaret Howard 473 8069 Ph/Fax
Dive Trips Officer Bruce Nixon 478 7186
Adventure Trips Martin Saggers 410 2363
Editor Denis Adams 444 0501 Ph/Fax
Web Site John Freeman 478 4958
Committee
Tom Butler 624 3505 Angela Morgan 446 1614 Fiona Warwick 482-0135
Dave Dobbie 479 8334
Life & Honorary Members
Barry Barnes – Life Peter & Margaret Howard – Life Brian Horton – Life
Reg Lawson - Life Roberto Tonei – Life Dave Quinlan – Life
Graham Thumah – Honorary Eileen Slark – Honorary
Cover Page Photo: Ruakaka Cave Waves by Denis
Dolphin Underwater & Adventure Club Coming Events
4th - 6th July – Weekend Dive Trip on the Mazurka to the Poor Knights. http://www.oceanblue.co.nz/index.php/news/26/30 The weekend is fully catered and we can stay on the boat Friday night. As many dives as you can handle for only $300.00 each
Please register your name with Bruce (478 7186) ASAP to ensure your place
9th July - Wednesday– Dive Club Meeting 7.30pm – Guest speaker – John Scott – Cave Diving in the Yucatan. Photo and Video in the crystal clear waters of the Cenotes of North East Mexico – Club Rooms Northcote Road Extension – supper provided and drinks available.
12th July – Saturday – 7.00pm – Mid Winter Dinner at the Chand Indian Restaurant – 4/1056 Beach Road, Torbay. Please let Margaret know if you’re coming along.
20th July – Sunday – 10.30am – Lake Pupuke Cleanup – followed by BBQ lunch – meet at Club Rooms - bring your dive gear if you wish to have a dive and clean up the bottom or your kayak if you would prefer to kayak around the edge to pick up what you can – hot shower available – Club providing the BBQ – all helpers welcome as there is plenty of rubbish laying around.
13th August - Wednesday– Dive Club Meeting 7.30pm – Kennedy Warne, (Founding Editor, NZ Geographic Magazine) Sharks, Crocs and Wolves of the Sea -Tentative booking to be confirmed – Club Rooms Northcote Road Extension – supper provided and drinks available from the cash bar.
29th August – Friday – 6.30pm - Ten Pin Bowling and Pizza Night – Martin Saggers organizing Ph: 4102363 to put your name down
31st August – Sunday - Kelly Tarltons – Shark Dive – Midday. Check out the web site for details. http://www.kellytarltons.co.nz/aquarium-attraction-sharks-penguins/804/Shark+Survival%2f+Discover+Scuba.aspx
Let Bruce know if you are interested (478 7186) we need six to keep the price to around $110 each
6th September – Saturday – Mountain Biking – Woodhill State Forest – meet at 10am in car park at Boundary Road entrance to the Forest by State Highway 16. Bring your lunch, drinks etc. $6 each for a day pass with your own bike and helmet. No problem if you don’t own your own bike there are bikes and helmets to hire there, no excuses check out their website www.bikepark.co.nz for explicit directions and more details on hire etc.
5th October – Sunday – Kayak Waiwera River – to as far as you can go – meet 10am at Waiwera – swim hot pools after if you wish – Contact Brian Stafford-Bush Phone: 445 3073 for more details
10th – 12th October – Winter Special Dive Trip on the Mazurka to the Poor Knights. http://www.oceanblue.co.nz/index.php/news/26/30 The weekend is fully catered and we can stay on the boat Friday night. As many dives as you can handle for only $267.00 each (based on 6 divers). Please register your name with Bruce (478 7186) ASAP to ensure your place
22nd – 23rd November - Weekend sailing and fishing trip to Waiheke Island – This will be a fun weekend on Club Members boats. Bring your soft bait, rods, and togs. BBQ on the beach in the evening. (Donation towards fuel and food.) – More details later.
Matauri Bay – diving the Rainbow Warrior – This trip is booked and Bruce is waiting to hear back from Northland Dive to confirm dates, cost and other details, if you are interested get your name down now as this will be a very popular trip
Date to be confirmed – Aldermen Islands Weekend trip on ‘Taranui’ with skipper Jim Hope - 8 divers = $225 each plus food (approx $20). Arrive Tairua Friday evening to stay on board leaving first thing Saturday return Sunday afternoon.
Diving at the Mokohinau Islands or The Twin Wreck dive out from Tutukaka on the Tui and Waikato.
All Dives - Contact Bruce – 478 7186 – to put your name down – as soon as he has enough interest he will book a date.
Kayak Trips
Matakana or Saddle Island when the tides & weather are favourable.
From Greenhithe to Kell Park – paddle to Albany with the incoming tide & cruise back on the outgoing.
Any other suggestions? Just let a Committee member know.
Our Club’s Trip Rules
B. Bookings allowed on all trips.
C. A deposit or full payment to be made at time of booking.
D. Full payment MUST be paid at least two weeks before departure date.
D Trips Officer to handle trips & bookings, & Treasurer to handle finances. Cancellations due to weather will be refunded in full, or transferred to another trip.
E. Members cancelling for any reason will lose full monies unless they find a replacement for their position on the trip.
F The trips Officer will determine if there are enough people to run a trip & if not will notify cancellation two weeks prior to departure.
Non-Members & non-financial members will be charged an extra $10 on trips.
Two trips & club membership is a must.
Please send Club Fees to Margaret Howard, 14 Gails Drive, Okura, RD2, Albany.
Family Membership $55 – Single $45 – Junior $30 – Social $30
Do YOU have any suggestions as to where may take a trip or create an adventure, we need your feedback and interest contact either Bruce or a committee member.
From The President
Hi everyone, hope you are all enjoying our winter weather. Let's hope there are some nice clear days coming. We have a great selection of guest speakers lined up so no excuses for being a couch potato on the second Wednesday of each month. We will ensure the heaters are on well before you arrive!
I will be away for this months meeting unfortunately, and believe Stewart will be standing in to handle any curly questions.
I thought you may get a laugh from the street sign I came across.
See you next month or at the Mid Winter Dinner.
Martin
Pansies?
Some interesting “um!” facts for the men of our club. (& I know we are Kiwis).
Part of a news article from the “NZ Herald” on are “Aussie men a nation of pansies – Mal Meninga”. 5/6/08
Apparently “Popular Mechanics” (USA) magazine published a list of 25 skills every man should know:
Skill Our Kiwi solution
1. Patch a radiator hose Buy a Jap import. (Who would patch a hose? Replace it).
2. Protect your computer Anti this & that comes already installed.
3. Rescue a boater who has capsized Dive boats don’t capsize do they? Surf will beach boat.
4. Frame a wall Hire a builder – Council has to pass it anyway.
5. Retouch digital photos Take multi shots & pick the best, it is digital after all.
6. Back up a trailer Boring – even the missus can do that.
7. Build a camp fire Why? What’s wrong with the LPG BBQ?
8. Fix a dead outlet NZ Regs might stop you here.
9. Navigate with a map & compass Who gets lost? Or buy a GPS.
10. Use a torque wrench Careful with this one, in/lbs or ft/lbs bit tricky.
11. Sharpen a knife Wife been using the filleting knife on steaks again eh!
12. Perform CPR Just hope she’s good looking!
13. Fillet a fish Teach the wife! She likes the knife.
14. Manoeuvre a car out of a skid Jezz, we do it to relieve the boredom.
15. Get a car unstuck Fun! Us guys have to check out the tow rope sometime.
16. Back up data Yere! Yere! yere they do go on about it.
17. Paint a room Uh oh! Missus wants to put up new curtains.
18. Mix concrete One of boys is putting in a new drive, time to lend a hand.
19. Clean a bolt action rifle I did National Service, did you? Maybe you should’ve?
20. Change oil & filter That’s what I pay my garage to do.
21. Hook up an HDTV Well it does test the patience.
22. Bleed brakes Same answer as No.20. Make sure they do both together.
23. Paddle a canoe Heck! We are Kiwis! Second nature, eh?
24. Fix a bike flat Phone the wife to pick you up & go past bike shop.
25. Extend your wireless network Why? What are all the slots for? & they’re paid for!
Sir Peter Blake
Marine Education
and Recreation Centre
www.merc.org.nz
The Sea Around Us Winter Lecture Series
Friday Evenings, 7:30pm. 1045 Beach Road, Long Bay, Auckland
(Sir Peter Blake MERC’s facilities are situated on the beach front at Long Bay)
Admission: Adults $6; students and pensioners $5; Friends of MERC $2
(and/or gold coin donation to Sir Peter Blake MERC’s Disadvantaged Fund)
July 4th The Ecological and Fishery Benefits of Marine Reserves
Dr Roger Grace; Marine Biologist and Photographer
July 11th The Bailey Clan: 20th Century Boat Builders of Auckland
Harold Kidd; Lawyer, Author, Maritime Historian
July 18th The Return of the Viking Ships
Anne Rimmer; Author and Historian
July 25th Discovering the Underwater Life in New Zealand’s Marine Reserves
Tony and Jenny Enderby; Authors and photographers.
Petrol Today!
I went into a petrol station today & asked for $10 worth of gas. The attendant passed wind & gave me a receipt.
Do You Belong?
Club Fees for 2008/2009 are now due :-
------Cut along dotted line
Name:…………………………………………………… Partner: ……………………………………………………
Address: ………………………………………………………………………………………………………………..
Phone: ………………………………………………….. Mobile:……………………………………………………
Email:……………………………………………………
Please indicate the membership category you require and make cheques payable to Dolphin Underwater Club or internet banking a direct credit into our National Bank Account Number 0122 0074227 00
Membership Categories:- Family ¨ Single ¨ Junior ¨ Social ¨ Please Tick
$55 $45 $30 $30
Send to :
Margaret Howard
14 Gails Drive
Okura RD2 Albany
North Shore City 0792
Phone: 09 473 8069 Mob: 0274 839 839
A news item that may save your life
Russian Diver Death Due To “Health And Safety Breakdown”: Fellow Diver
By Judith Evans in Malé
May 28, 2008
A diver present at last week’s diving accident in the Maldives, which led to the death of 41-year-old Russian tourist Roman Rudakov and injured nine others, has said “a complete systemic breakdown in health and safety procedures” led to the tragedy.
Citing the air poisoning which apparently caused the accident, a lack of first aid knowledge on the part of boat crew, and an “unusable” oxygen cylinder, the diver – himself an experienced divemaster – has called for an overhaul of safety measures in Maldives to ensure further accidents are prevented.
But spokespeople for police and Touring Maldives, owner of the Baani Adventurer safari boat from which the accident occurred, said they could not comment on any such failures until the ongoing investigation is complete.
Faulty Air Supply
The accident occurred on the morning of May 22 as tourists from the Baani Adventurer vessel dived on the Raydhigaa Thila reef. Initial reports from the tourism ministry said 11 were injured, but fellow divers say the total was ten.
Tourists from Australia, Germany, Denmark, Russia and New Zealand were affected. One was Kudarov, who died at the scene.
“This could so easily have been a six or seven death incident,” says the diver, who performed cardiopulmonary resuscitation (CPR) on Rudakov.
He believes the accident was caused by a long-term air supply problem, possibly relating to carbon monoxide contamination, which had not been addressed – constituting “criminal negligence”.
Following the accident, which is now under investigation by police, it became clear none of the boat crew were trained in emergency procedures, whilst the single bottle of oxygen available on the dive dhoni was “unusable”.
The Accident
Several of the tourists and one dive guide had experienced headaches in preceding days. The dive guide on May 21 requested a filter change on the compressors used to fill the air tanks for diving, but it appears problems then worsened.
After the diver’s companion felt ill during the May 22 dive, he surfaced to find most of the group semi-conscious or unconscious. The two dive guides were incapacitated, and according to the diver, “none of the topside crew on either boat appeared to have any training whatsoever in the provision of oxygen or emergency first aid”.
A spokesman for Touring Maldives said the crew were trained, but “panicked” and did not carry out correct procedures. In the event, the four unaffected tourists were left to assist the others and try to revive Rudakov.
The single bottle of oxygen available on the dive dhoni did not function, though there was a functioning bottle on the main boat, according to the diver. And crew initially attempted the 4 to 5 hour journey to the capital, Malé, before doctors from a local resort were called.
“At no point was I advised that there was a doctor at Rangali Resort, and that the resort was quite close by. This factored into my decision to stop CPR [on Kudarov], as it appeared that the nearest medical aid was over 2 hours away,” says the diver.
Rangali staff arrived about an hour after the accident, and were able to provide medical help and transport. But by this time, Roman Rudakov had died.
Contamination
It appears the accident was due to contaminated air from one of the boat’s two compressors, though the exact cause has not yet been confirmed. But a traveller who toured on sister boat the Baani Explorer in January and February wrote on dive forum ScubaBoard, “We had maintenance problems with the compressor on the dhoni that necessitated trips...to Malé to secure repairs.”