More is in store for adventure junkies at TSAF’s water sports centre in Dimna, 10km from Jamshedpur

If depth gives you a high, Dimna Lake is your new dare destination.

Tata Steel Adventure Foundation (TSAF), which recently revived the four-year dormant water sports centre at the lake, has decided to introduce underwater diving to up its thrill quotient. Officials are, currently, working out logistics to confirm that Dimna Lake — situated some 10km from Jamshedpur — is suitable for the sport.

According to TSAF secretary P.P. Kapadia, diving gear and an experienced trainer are in place and it will not be very long before underwater adventure becomes a reality. “It will be an exciting add-on. Adventure junkies are sure to throng the lake once we start diving lessons,” he said, adding that interested members of the water sports centre would never get a better mentor than seasoned diver Mazharul Bari.

Bari, who took advanced underwater diving lessons from Calcutta’s Sea Explorer Institute and is an asset for Tata Steel’s security department, has been involved in several river search and rescue operations in the city and its suburbs, where drowning incidents are frequent.

Bari explained that underwater diving could be of three basic types — scuba (oxygen cylinder is carried on person), surface supplied (the source of oxygen remains on the ground) and free plunge (breath-holding dive).

“Here at Dimna, we plan the second. The oxygen cylinder will be kept on the surface, while the diver goes inside with a mask and a 100-metre-long pipe. Air pressure will be regulated from above. I am looking forward to train members of the centre,” he said.

Besides masks, other diving gear will include finned shoes, gloves and wetsuits. The last is mostly made of neoprene — a type of synthetic rubber — typically used in waters where the temperature is between 10°C and 25°C. The foamed neoprene thermally insulates the wearer.

Bari recently trained some TSAF instructors at Dimna Lake in the presence of its adventure programme chief and mountain maiden Bachendri Pal. “They went to a depth of 30ft, while I kept watch from the surface. I need to train them because we will need more hands once underwater diving becomes a part of this lake sports centre,” he said.

The experienced diver, who had descended 75ft into the high seas of Digha (Bengal) during his advanced training in 2008, pointed out that artificial weights played an important role the deeper you went. “The lead weights are fitted to the belt. My body needed an extra 5kg inside the water, but that figure varies depending on the weight of an individual diver,” he said, adding that lead was used instead of iron because it had no magnetic field.

Kapadia said the area under the jetty at Dimna Lake had been earmarked for underwater diving. “The depth there is some 50ft. We have already purchased oxygen cylinders, masks, regulators and ropes. We are working out the diving charges,” he said, adding that the otherwise one-time membership fee was Rs 250.

TSAF sources said enquiries were pouring in on a daily basis for other water sports disciplines too such as canoeing, rowing and rafting.

“Registration is being done at the TSAF office at JRD Tata Sports Complex. Membership will grow with time,” Kapadia said, adding that so far 10 Tata Steel employees had registered their names at the water sports centre.