Diving From Copperhead II, Littlehampton, Sussex
September 2003

by Simon Nash

"Me, the 3rd Duke of Leamington, with a bottle of wine, in a girls' dormitory, in a youth hostel, after midnight, with my reputation?"

Well apart from the Duke bit it was all true! Unfortunately, it all ended too soon as the woman in the next room complained about the noise we were making and the party came to an end.

It was the Friday night at the start of Mike Dove’s Littlehampton trip and we were staying in the new Littlehampton YHA which was brand spanking new and great value. We had all met up in the "posh bar" across the road and proceeded to get pretty smashed in record time given the 11.00pm curfew at the hostel.

We then headed back to the hostel where we had smuggled in strategic supplies for a midnight feast in the girls' room; well really a midnight binge. It has to be said that one or two of the assembled multitude thought that given the steep price of drinks in the bar that this included the cost of the glasses as they were brought along as well (allegedly).

The next morning saw a quietish and chastened crew meeting up with Ruth & Andy who had slept right through last night's racket. The highlight of breakfast was Clare mistaking a poor innocent stranger for Graeme and giving him heaps of good natured abuse. Luckily the guy took it in good heart and Clare soon realised her error.

We then headed out to meet up with Sean the skipper of Copperhead II, a 7m RIB which was our boat for the weekend. She was more than ample to take 10 of us, even if Adrie and Clare were banished up to the bows along with Adrie's twinset.

The sea was flat calm as we headed off to dive the Shirala, a liner, which was sunk in WW1 by a U-Boat; she lies in about 24m. The water was a toasty 19°C and the viz was superb. The wreck was covered in life and a few lucky people saw cuttlefish. The post dive highlight once the kit had been stowed was that Sean handed everyone a lollypop; well, there is no room for a kettle on a RIB.

Unfortunately, after a late lunch and change of tanks, the weather blew up somewhat in the afternoon and we found ourselves making poor headway into a rough sea on the way to do a drift dive. A quick straw poll saw most voting to turn back to shore, with only a couple of hardy souls wanting to continue. Some unkind people have suggested that the reason why Tina wanted to continue was that she was afraid she would not get a lolly if we turned back. Luckily the lolly rations were soon broken out again. As we came back in to harbour we saw the RNLI heading out on a shout so we knew we had made the right call in caning the dive.

Mike and I headed off to fill tanks in Selsey which ended up as a 3hr round trip as we got stuck behind tractors and held up by level crossings and also had to contend with a broken compressor. Still, we made it back just in time for a cracking Chinese meal. Adrie and Mike were the chief gannets along with Graeme. Last night's party shenanigans were not repeated as everyone was tired out so it was an early bed for most.

Sunday morning everyone was expecting that we would be totally blown out given the previous night's weather forecast but we woke to find a flat sea and sunshine. Sean told us that all the Hard Boat skippers had cancelled their trips given the forecast, so we felt as though we had played our joker. Our first dive was a drift dive called Kingsmere Rocks; well Kingsmere Pebbles would have been a more accurate description as I don’t think anyone saw the reef. Still everyone had a great time annoying dogfish and Graeme and I were lucky enough to see a Thornback ray. Although I missed it, it is rumoured that Sandra may have put herself in with a good chance of picking up one of the Club's major awards at the Dinner Dance with her elegant entry into the water at the start of this dive.

The afternoon dive was the Iron Ore Wreck which as its name suggests was carrying iron ore. Its wooden hull has disintegrated leaving easy access to the engine, boilers, prop shaft and prop. I think the viz can be best summarised as being carp, and that is not a misprint. The wreck was teeming with fish, so many in fact that in places you could not see the wreck. Lobsters, crabs and conger eels were also spotted in great abundance.

Everyone was in really high spirits after this superb dive and so with a final lolly each we cruised back to harbour, packed up the cars and headed off home. Thanks Mike for organising such a cracking trip.

Leamington & Warwick SAC

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