Turning upside down

 

I have made a big change to my dive kit configuration over the last week. This as resulted in the fact that I was never any good at doing shutdowns in any grace but got there in the end. My last dive on the 5th April at Swanage Pier was the decision maker for me. While kitting up I pulled my shoulder which seems to be a reoccurring thing follow the car accident last year. The following days I spent looking on the internet for the best way to invert my twinset meaning that when diving the tanks are upside down so that reaching the valves is just a matter of reaching behind my backside instead of up and over behind my head.

I found a site that makes stands for twinsets, this bolts to the bands holding the two tanks together and then you can stand the set upside down with no problem of the valves and regulators getting damaged. A quick phone call to Mike at DiveKitUK and the order was placed. It took just over a week for it to be made and delivered and then it was fitted while I had a spare minute at work on night last week. 

The only other change I needed to make was to my low pressure inflator hoses. I decided that I would go with Miflex hoses as these route better due to them being more flexible. I needed to 1.5m hoses and this would of have to be a custom order putting the price around £60 each. I was then pointed in the direction of using regulator hoses with an adaptor on it to connect to the inflator on my wing and drysuit. This make it around 40% cheaper than custom lenght hoses.

All the pieces were put together today and will get tested in the North Sea on Saturday.

 

Whitespace and Werewolf

Today was a great day. After completing both Whitespace and Werewolf with a lot of help from other cachers it was time to find the two boxes in the wild.

Whitespace - GC1AF96

My 800th Find.
After walking around the moors to pick up two other caches because i'm rubbish at maths and would have missed a milestone here otherwise I made it to GZ. The sun was covered by cloud and the wind was as cold as it was when I left the car nearly one and a half hours before.
The hunt for this cache started about 4 months ago when I looked at the cache page and got stumped on the first hurdle, staring at the cache page thinking what the hell. Tried all sorts but it wasn't until I looked at it on a windows computer at work that I found the starting point. It was then the second puzzle that got me but got a hint from PCT at the After the gold rush event. I needed help for the 4th and 11th puzzles and a big thanks for this has to go to Emma (Scorpionqueen) and Mick and April (Nandad). The chance to get up onto the hill have been thin on the ground so with an invite to go looking for another great cache I decided to head for this one as well. I took a seat to watch the world go by while I signed the log and took some photos. Spent 5 mins having a brew and just enjoying the location. Took the Evil Wind geocoin to help it on its journey. Thanks for a great cache and all your hard work in setting it.
Its now time to meet up with some other cachers to head off for the other cache that will make this on great caching day.

Werewolf - GC1NH60

After my solo stomp to Whitespace it was great to have some company for this one. The puzzle was hard going but with some great hints from LFC4eva and Mongoose and a lot of hard work that really did give the brain a workout I got the numbers on Thursday evening. Then I arranged with Don (Syllogiser) to head over the hill on a joint find. The trip in total took us around 3 hours at a steady pace. The cache site was made in good time and then the hunt was on. The hint is very clear but it took some getting to put our hands on the cache. Taking a seat to sign the log and take in the views I was gutted to find out that I had put my camera back in the car after getting back from Whitespace and didn't replace it in my bag. Will have to wait for the email from Don with his pics on. Thanks for a great puzzle and a fantastic place for the cache, this is what I enjoy about caching. Beats searching for a nano in the city centre.
Congratulations to Syllogiser on this, his 1000th find