Spike commemorated with new dive boat
One of Britain’s oldest dive schools, Divers Down in Swanage, has christened a new addition to its workboat force.
The new boat was officially christened Spike in a naming ceremony that took place recently with the crew from Swanage Lifeboats in attendance.
Pat Collins of Divers Down said, “Spike is already up and working and has recently taken divers out to wrecks such as the Kyarra, Everleigh, Hazlewood and Warwick Deeping.
"Spike was the next step in the progress of our business, designed to be flexible for use in commercial charter work and the leisure diving industry. Over the last few years divers expectations of comfort, space and speed to travel to the dive sites has been raised. The equipment they carry has increased and the need for the hydraulically driven rear diver lift is more or less a neccessity."
Spike is the new addition to the company’s family of vessels, which includes Skua, an 11m South Boats Catamaran, and Swanage Diver, a 12m ex-RNLI Medina Class rescue vessel.
The catamarans have enabled the company to carry our several workboat contracts including a three week survey for Osiris Marine, BBC Springwatch and the Bournemouth Air Festival. Pat continued, "In all these instances, the quality of the build of the South Boats Catamarans along with the workmanship of GRP Laminates has helped us provide a stable platform and a large work area which we believe is second to none."
Spike is a 12m catamaran, built by South Boats and GRP Laminates on the Isle of Wight, powered by twin 450 hp Iveco engines and cruises at around 22 knots, with a sprint speed of 28 knots.
The vessel is kitted out with a diver lift and ample space for 12 divers to kit up comfortably, with a cabin large enough to take all 12 divers when the weather is inclement. There is a toilet, generator, compressor and microwave on board.
At the naming ceremony, speeches were made by Russ Johnson, the pier master and Ian Brown from the Swanage Coastguard. The blessing on the boat was carried out by the Reverend John Staple.
The new vessel is named after a much loved workman called Spike who worked on Swanage Pier for many years. Nothing was ever a problem for him and he would do endless jobs for people who needed help. Unfortunately, he died at an early age, which came as a shock to many people. Thus, the new vessel comes as a fitting tribute to a hard working and much loved local man.
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