Divers: Luke, Glen, Ian, Tim, Roger, Warren & Mark

On Sunday I had an experience that I never expected to have in a lifetime.
I heard that Mark & Warren Jackman with others were going down to the Rye Pier to do some Hard Hat Diving. I thought this would be interesting to watch, so off I went.
On arrival I watched to see what was happening and took notice of how they were setting up all the gear. For those of you that don’t know what is involved this is a quick rundown:
The Standard Dress consists of a metal copper and brass helmet or hat with 3 glass viewing windows. An Airline Hose that was attached to a dive tank with a gauge, a large canvas diving suit, heavy weighted Canvas Lead and Brass Boots. 1 large lead weight that goes in front on your chest (approx. 12kgs), 1 large lead weight for your back (approx. 12kgs). All this and more just to counteract the buoyancy of the helmet and the diving suit. After the set-up you then had to stand up turn around and walk backwards down a ladder, not an easy feet but rewarding when you got to the bottom. Walking around in this suit was quite interesting, giving me a great insight into the past on how they did things before scuba.

A great day was had by all and thanks and gratitude to Warren, Mark and his crew for allowing us to experience this type of diving. Special thanks to Luke & Glen as our safety divers.

Ian Peterson