’Tis the Season… to Take a Dip and Break Some Records in Vobster
“Buddy, you could help a little, you know,” Tim said, as he was pulling my leg, literally, the left one at that point, trying to get me into my outfit for the day, along with two other friendly helpers.
The only occasion one can imagine having multiple people trying to zip you into a piece of clothing, is probably the moment you’ve gone totally cuckoo and need to be removed from society, for your own and everybody else’s safety. Thinking about it, committing to such occasion does probably require a bit of insanity, or a slight speech impediment, something I suffer from, forcing me to say ‘yes’ on one too many occasions, this being one of them. But at least it served a good cause and is probably my biggest achievement on record so far.
You might be wondering how I can talk about achievements if I wasn’t even able to dress myself that day? Not the best start I have to admit, and not my finest moment either I’m sure — I’m very glad there’s no footage capturing my struggle, although it might actually be a good laugh now that it’s done and I never have to do it again.
The Challenge of the Day
So, what am I on about? It’s the annual ‘Vobster Santas’ charity event inviting divers from across the country to take a seasonal dip in an attempt to break the world record for the most divers flashing festive gear under water at the same time. 188 silly Santas gathered in 2015, a record that’s still standing and which I was lucky enough to be part of five years ago today.
In addition to the jolly record attempt, ‘Vobster Santas’ also raises money for the Royal National Lifeboat Institution (RNLI), a charity dear to the diving community which has been embracing the event since its inception in 2007. Special skills are not required. Divers of all levels are invited, be it recently certified Open Water divers to hardcore techies. I was at the lower end of the spectrum as I’d just done my Advanced Open Water Certification in August that year splashing about in the Red Sea wearing a shorty (a wetsuit with short legs and sleeves), probably the furthest one can get from a drysuit one might say, unless you reach your 100th dive which apparently requires to go commando, a ritual an Aussie tour guide told me about and apparently practiced himself — I happily passed on the photographic evidence. Luckily, I only clocked 43 dives so far, so not something I shall have to worry about in the near future.
But back to colder waters (where you definitely don’t want to hit that number), the event actually required me to wear a drysuit for the very first time which is not only a pain to get into but also affects your diving behaviour quite a bit as air travels through the entire suit and not just your BCD (buoyancy control device), which is the ‘vest’ divers wear to stabilise and control their ascents and descents as it contains an air-filled bladder the diver can in- and deflate as needed. If that isn’t hard enough, imagine that air traveling all around your body depending which limbs are up and down — heads-up if you ever want to give it a whirl, make sure you don’t get your feet above your head, something I had to learn in a little pool session before the actual event as I clearly had no idea what I got myself into.
How Did I Get Here?
So, given that lack of experience, how did I end up dressed as Santa Claus about to take a nippy dip? While getting my Advanced Open Water Certification on a Life Aboard trip in the Red Sea, I had the pleasure of being taught by one of the kindest and most enthusiastic people you’ll ever meet who just loves getting earthlings excited about the underwater world and the joys of diving, be it in hot or cold water, with or without a costume — a Santa costume that is, swimming costumes are usually a must during lessons. In addition to being an exceptionally patient teacher and dive buddy, Tim also possesses the gift of the gab and can talk you pretty much into anything. It was probably no coincidence that he asked about it whilst acclimatising next to a hotel pool in Sharm El-Sheikh before our return flight, enjoying the last few moments with our little diving family, dreading the goodbyes and returning to the real world.
My Personal Challenge(s)
Four months later, such glorious reunion slightly lost its shine as quickly jumping into my shorty was a long gone memory and I was facing various layers of drysuit, the main one having boots attached to it making it almost impossible to find a good grip and get your feet in all the way. The fact that I was slowly losing the feeling in my little digits due to the wintry temperatures wasn’t helping either, so I was cursing away trying desperately to wrestle my way into the non-cooperative garment.
My rather unfestive words summoned some helping hands that put me out of my misery and into that treacherous suit. Tim was one of them pretty much lifting me off the ground hoping gravity might do the trick to shove my sorry ass in there. His lovely wife Una joined in as well, whose suit I was (un)lucky enough to wear getting me involved in the first place — was it guilt that drove her? I guess we’ll never know, but the combined effort got me in and ready to go, only one zip away from a world record.
The more familiar smile slowly returned as I was munching away on the mince pies the brave divers were supplied with while waiting on the official signal to take the leap and wet those beards, the next challenge of the day.
Still a bit worried my introductory drysuit training session might not have been enough to deal with the air moving around in the suit, I ended up with a less airy but more hairy problem. A few seconds into the dive, my Santa beard decided to ascent and blocked my view completely making it rather hard to stick with Tim and follow his signals. Trying to deal with it wearing gloves that felt like oven mitts was anything but fun and messed with my mask that slowly filled with ice-cold water turning my dive into a shorter one than anticipated. But apparently it was long enough to clock that record and make me, and everybody else realise, that cold water diving is not my thing. See you again in Egypt, guys!
The Post-Event Rewards
But no, it wasn’t that bad actually. The whole event is definitely worth a try because it’s not only about the dive itself but the whole planning and build up to it, the costumes people come up with even bringing fully decorated underwater trees, the community feel around it, everybody helping each other, not just getting dressed but also sharing rides to Somerset, checking air and mince pie supplies, as well as ensuring post-event drinks to celebrate the glorious ten minutes that made me part of a world record holding event — what more can you want from a Sunday?!
While taking part was quite special, the memory and pictures cheer me up every year wherefore I wanted to share that little story and perhaps inspire you to look into it as well. If not a diver yourself, maybe get involved as supporter and talk diving friends and family into it — be prepared to squeeze one or the other into those suits, all for a good cause though, so definitely worth the effort, and who knows, you might get passed those 188.
If you do, don’t tell me, as I’d like to think I’m still a record holder and am not too keen on a repeat but rather embrace other silly events. One of those I did only a week before the Vobster dive, the event that provided the Santa suit for the seasonal dip — Battersea Park’s annual Santa Run, which not only attracted bearded men and women but red-nosed and pink-tailed creatures, most likely the nicest thighs I’ve come across on the streets of London! Brits do love dressing up, don’t they?! Any occasion shall do.
On that note, what’s the silliest event you got involved in so far, for a good or not so good reason? Comment below or drop me a note via my contact form. I’m all ears!
Also, if you want to know more about the Vobster Quay event or learn how to scuba dive to start with, I’m more than happy to pass you on to Tim, still one of my favourite teachers despite the cold water lapse but hey, we pick and choose our battles, so let’s see what the next one will be. Until then, enjoy the festive season and jolly celebrations — costumes are optional but highly recommended, cause… why not?!
When was I there? 15 December 2015
