DPV Trial Evening – 10^th August

One Wednesday evening over the summer a group of divers from Newbury SAC with a few guests met up with Steve Mackay from Starlight Distribution at Horsea Island.  Steve had brought with him six Torpedo Diver Propulsion vehicles (DPVs) for us to play with.  With a warm clear day, warm water (20^oC) and new toys to play with, it was all set to be a great evening.   The Torpedo DPV comes in three models the 2000, 2500 and 3500; all have the same battery but the bigger the number the faster the DPV goes but the shorter the battery life and the more expensive it is.

With six DPVs and twelve divers we dived in two waves.  Steve had brought two of each model so each buddy pair got ten minutes on each model, giving a total of half an hour in water time with DPVs each.  Once you remembered you didn't need to fin and that to stop you have to let go of the power handle of the DPV, it was really easy to drive the Torpedoes and great fun.  Most of us preferred the 3500 model capable of travelling at a ripping speed of 3.5mph, we were all happy to sacrifice endurance for speed.  A couple of divers worked out they could surface 'swim' over to one of the buoyed underwater features; dive on that, tie off the SMB reel (that Horsea Management had insisted we use) and then spent 10mins blatting round the feature unencumbered by the SMB.

There were definitely some big grins at the end of the evening and latter on a discussion as to how we could persuade the Treasurer to get half a dozen for the club.  We all felt like 007, which would have been especially true if Steve had brought the twinning kit that lets you connect two of the torpedoes together.  We had got into the water at 19:00 and had to get out at 20:30 which meant everyone had a good go on all three models, sunset was 20:40 so it was just turning dusk as we were getting out of the water and packing up.

Unfortunately Steve had to head straight off home but some of the rest of us repaired back to an Indian in Port Solent to further scheme how to free up some club funds for a DPV purchase or two.

 Steve has offered to take another group in to Horsea if we can get ten interested divers together.  Of course he will also sell you a DPVs, see his website for details. www.torpedodpv.co.uk

Full Size Photos Can Be Seen Here

Words – Derek Wright

Photos – Cathy de Lara