Dive Fest success

By Jo Mattock

A crowd of nearly 1,000 UK divers joined scuba celebs Monty Halls and Miranda Krestovnikoff at Dive Fest in Cornwall last weekend.

Miranda gets a rebreather try dive with Martin
Parker of Ambient Pressure Diving
Photo: Ewan Rowden

Monty Halls, Andy Torbet and Reuben
Photo: Ewan Rowden

Beach bonfire Photo: Ewan Rowden

Band in Beanies Photo: Simon Rogerson

Sand sculpture Photo: Jo Mattock

Cricket Photo: Simon Rogerson

Pirates Photo: Ewan Rowden

Braving strong winds and bad weather at Pentewan Sands near Mevagissey, the divers enjoyed talks, films, try dives, competitions and live music.

Although the sea was too rough for boats to be launched on Saturday and Sunday, those who arrived early dived on Friday and shore dives took place on Saturday. Monty Halls and regular DIVE contributor Andy Torbet got in the water on Saturday morning off the west end of the beach.

Andy said: 'The wade in through the surf wasn't as bad as it looked and the rocking back and forth as we were shot 4m one way then back again was great fun. The vis was bad as the sand was being churned up but it picked up to 2-3m when was got a bit of depth. Most of the marine life was (sensibly) hiding, but on the rocks were a few hardier species like kelp, mussels and anything else that could hang on for dear life.

'There was the added bonus of feeling smug that regardless of what the weather threw at us, we'd got some kind of diving done. Despite the weather, both Monty and I had a great time.'

The on-site pool hosted try dives for novice divers, plus visiting divers were able to try kit courtesy of AP Valves and Apeks.

Even if they weren't diving, you couldn't keep some people out of the water. Tomoko Ishibashi, a member of University of London Sub Aqua Club, said: 'We couldn't dive on Saturday so we went to the other side of the harbour and went surfing - it was the first time I had tried it.'

Seven Tenths supplied the offical merchandise for Dive Fest, including the signature red beanie hat which every festival-goer received on arrival, and the offical festival T-shirt. The free beanie was a real hit with the Dive Festees and made for a surreal sight as hundreds of divers wandered the festival in Cousteau-style beanies.

The Underwater Channel captured some of the best moments of the weekend on film, and a programme about Dive Fest, presented by Miranda, will be available on their website www.theunderwaterchannel.tv from 1 June.

For those on dry(ish) land, there were speakers throughout the day, including talks by the Marine Conservation Society, the Shark Trust and Monty Halls. The British Underwater Image Festival held its prize-giving ceremony on Sunday, and awarded prizes to the best photos taken in the Splash-In competition over the weekend.

Exhibitors in the Dive Hub marquee included Cameras Underwater, Seven Tenths, Oceanic, Suunto, BSAC, PADI, the DDRC and the RNLI. Rick Juniper from Pisces dive club in north London said: 'It's great to have exhibitors here. You've got three days, and so you have more time to speak to people - it's not all rushed through in one day as it is at shows.'

A sand sculpting competition held on the beach was won by Ilfracombe and North Devon SAC, with a sculpture of Lundy Island. The competition was judged by professional sand sculptors Paul Hoggard and Remy Geerts, who created a special Dive Fest sculpture.

On Friday evening the premier of the PADI film Drop Zone was shown and on Saturday night, festival goers saw BSAC's own Go Diving UK. Live bands played in the clubhouse bar and the main marquee, and there was a hog roast and a bonfire on the beach.

DIVE editor Simon Rogerson said the diving public had entered the spirit of the event with great enthusiasm. 'This was very much an experiment, and despite the blustery weather it seems to have been welcomed by all the visiting divers. There were some great parties, a load of brilliant speakers and the true spirit of British diving triumphed. A few lessons have been learned for future events, but overall this was a great success!' More about Dive Fest...