Babbacombe

Date: Sunday 11th August            Dive Number: 176
Place: Babbacombe, Torquay       Buddy: Jade K, Elliott N 
Time Down: 1130                         Dive Time: 00:32 + 00:10
Time Up: 1215                               Max Depth: 8.8m
Visibility: 0-1m                             Water Speed: 0kn
Weather: F3 BKN015 W18C         Entry: Pier steps

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Dave and Adrian managed to get away for a club dive relatively early on, and visibility was good to the south of the pier. We ourselves eventually got kitted up after a lot of mucking about with cylinder fills! There was a wedding on at the hotel which also choked up the car park, and Elliott was getting rather hot in his semi-dry. It was Elliott's first ever sea dive and Jade's final Ocean Diver lesson - leading the dive. I constructed a plan that would fulfil both OO1 and OO5 requirements, getting Elliott to do some simple drills at shallow depth before Jade lead the dive to a greater depth.

After letting my wife (dive marshal, keeper of the diveslate) Jen know our air and time in, the fishers on the pier know we would be swimming around the base of the pier before descending, we entered via the steps where I felt the biggest leak in my drysuit I have ever had. Becky on surface support checked my drysuit zip but it appeared fine. I thought my dump valve was letting it in, but it seemed to taper off within a few minutes so I thought no more about it.

We circumnavigated the pier avoiding all the fishers and descended to the base, a depth of around 2m. Elliott did a good fin pivot, it seemed he had the correct weights at the time. Jade then buddied with Elliott and lead the dive with myself behind, with the intention of using the rock wall as a navigation aid, but the silt had been stirred up rather rotten and at times all I could see were the end of Jade and Elliott's fins. I was keeping an eye on our direction with my compass, which Jade did not have or anticipate needing. Jade turned round and signalled to surface so we could get a look at where we were. We were a far way off the wall and about 150m away from the pier. We gained our bearings again and started to go down again but Elliott had problems equalising (popping his ears). We surface swam back to the pier where I suggested we complete Elliott's mask clear drills but he was uncomfortable, so asked if he could get out. This was no problem and probably a good idea, as noone should dive if they are uncertain or uncomfortable, as this could lead to major incidents.

Becky helped Elliott back to the car park while Jade lead the dive back from the pier to the shore, which gave her more of an opportunity in clearer water to check my air, check I was okay and generally navigate to the shore which was successful  At chest depth we did a low-air buoyancy check which was fine, and finally Jade jettisoned her weightbelt to complete the lesson. 

Date: Sunday 11th August            Dive Number: 177
Place: Babbacombe, Torquay       Buddy: Becky H, David C
Time Down: 1515                         Dive Time: 00:31
Time Up: 1600                               Max Depth: 4.3m
Visibility: 2-3m                             Water Speed: 0kn
Weather: F3 SCT020 W18C         Entry: Shelving shore

The second wave was later getting away than planned but it was mid afternoon and noone seemed too rushed. My wife had to take the boys home so Jade looked after the dive slate. We planned the same lesson, but the tide was a lot lower, almost at low tide, and the best bet at any visibility was in the bay where Jade and I found it to be a lot clearer previously.

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Elliott kindly lent me his semi-drysuit (I have never worn one until today!) which I managed to squeeeeeeze into as my drysuit was incapable of being a dry suit. We stumbled over rocks and boulders to get to the water's edge to the amusement of everyone watching from the beach and cafe! We did buddy checks and Becky have a good brief to David as part of her exercise. The plan was to use her brand new compass to navigate in a straight line out of the bay, turn round after 70 bar (one third) of our air had been used and come back on the reciprocal bearing. 

It was difficult putting fins on in such shallow water so we instead put helped each other on with fins slightly further out. The seaweed was a nuisance as well. We didn't get a very inspirational depth but it was sufficient to stay underwater. David was on the light side of neutrally buoyant when doing the fin pivots, but otherwise seemed comfortable in the water. Becky did a good job leading the dive, checking David's air and that he was 'okay', but found the compass a challenge. This didn't impede on the lesson (aside from ending up at the same dead end twice!) as she took assertive corrective action when she realised the error, and directed David accordingly. Becky signalled that David had finished his first third of air and lead us on the reciprocal bearing back to the shore. Visibility was slightly better, but not as good as earlier. Certainly not the most inspiring dive where marine biology was concerned, I saw a few dead crabs but nothing else of interest! Towards the end of the dive the partial-flood mask clear drill was carried out, Becky maintained a mid water hover on low air at 2m depth, and finally when they were chest deep they both jettisoned their weightbelts. I picked up both weightbelts and unfortunately this caused my compass to slip off into the silty seaweedy tidal waters. I hope someone finds it and has many an enjoyable and memorable dive navigating with my compass! 

The best moment of the day however was watching an overloaded motorhome trying and failing to leave the steep sharp bend on the hill out of the carpark!

shoredive.co.uk

Ocean Diver Training

Over the past eight weeks I have had the honour and privilege of introducing new club members to scuba diving.

We have three new young scuba diving members: Becky, Ollie and Elliot.All three have taken to pool sessions really well. From my memory of Ocean Diver training (only ten years ago!) the first theory and pool lessons feels like an information overload. You want to impress your instructor and appear to be a natural, especially in the pool sessions where you sometimes only have an hour to kit up, get in, complete a series of exercises, exit the pool, de-kit and debrief... Besides, everyone else is making it look easy! I remember glazing over when our pool instructor started to explain regulator stages, high pressure hoses, A-clamps, DIN valves, ponies... for a first timer this is all too much to take in. Fortunately I realise now that I was not in the wrong. The delivery of information available for a lesson is ranked in order of importance. They are as follows:

Need to Know

Should Know

Could Know   

The first time you see diving equipment is in the classroom during the theory lesson. They can be annotated diagrams, or the instructor may even bring in some for a dry practical and let you play with the valves! Setting equipment up at the poolside is another level up from this - in the back of your mind you know that the wrong configuration could slow down the lesson, annoy your instructor or even worse fail completely while underwater - and it would be all your fault! For some anxious people this may compound any reservations they have about going diving at all. 

http://www.bsac.com

I try to keep in mind the Need/Should/Could hierarchy. I have had to stop myself a few times from waffling on and going off on a technical tangent, instead of emphasising the important information relevant to the lesson. I am still quite new to instructing and find that I sometimes have to double back on things I've said because I haven't thought them through. One example is the emergency controlled buoyant lift, and explaining very carefully why the rescuer should inflate their own jacket and not the casualty's, before realising it should be the other way round. That example I felt particularly unprofessional, but my mistake was made during safely contained training session and the only person who suffered was myself from my own mild embarrassment!

You also need to understand the needs of the student and the requirements of the lesson. You can never assume anything. All throughout history lives have been lost where people assume the wrong things. Last Thursday I was asked to run Elliot through a full kit lesson. This came at very short notice, it was in fact my wife who took the phone call just as I was leaving the house. I assumed that I had to use full kit as well, as a good instructor leads by example. On arrival, Elliot was ready in his semi-dry while I kitted myself up in my drysuit. The swimming pool is warm enough without having to sweat buckets in a full body neoprene outfit. Just as we were about to get in the water, Andy our training officer leaned in and whispered, "You do realise that only the student needs to wear full kit?"

I briefly considered getting out of it, but time was getting on. So I chose instead to make progress with the lesson, even if I did look like a sweaty tomato. Sometimes I think that my learning curve as an instructor is as steep as my students!

http://www.ndiver.com

Becky, Ollie and Elliot are very patient with me and I like to think that I am patient with them. Although some exercise drills need a couple of attempts to refine the skill all three seem comfortable and confident in the water.   It is a testament to Andy and Paul and their effective delivery of the theory lessons that all three passed their theory exam with flying colours, and with their pool training drawing to a close the next step will be sheltered open water training in our very own British waters.

As instructors with the British Sub Aqua Club we volunteer our time and do not get paid. The broad smiles after a fun pool session and the feeling that you just may have started someone on their life-long love of diving makes instructing an absolute pleasure. No amount of money can buy that.

Try Dive (Guest Writer)

I convinced my wife Jenny to go on a try dive! Here is here guest spot on the BLog Book!

--Tony.

"I was finally encouraged to do a try dive with Tiverton BSAC. Although I'm not afraid of water I was concerned about being underwater with the breathing apparatus. When I got to Tiverton swimming pool, Linda - my instructor for the evening- put my mind at ease by reassuring me that she would go at whatever pace I felt happy with. Something to rememberr is to take some socks to wear under your flippers fins and also a t-shirt to wear under your jacket and tank.

"Linda went through safety first which included hand signals to use, as surprisingly you can't talk underwater ;-) We then put our equipment on in the pool. We started off nice and slowly, learning how to use the equipment and how to breath with the mouthpiece. Then once I was comfortable we went under for the first time - not too deep, just enough for our heads to be under the water.

"Learning to breathe under the water through the mouthpiece was a strange experience, it felt similar to gas and air (entonox) which I had when giving birth earlier this year. I quickly got used to it though I found I wanted to try the next step rather quickly! We sunk ourselves using the valves on the jacket and did a length along the bottom of the pool. This was when hand signals became useful. My fins kept slipping off the back of my feet, so I had to signal to Linda for her to help put them back on. This wasn't difficult at all, as long as you remember to stay calm!

"I got to the point where I was happy to swim on my own, and although Linda stayed with me we felt that she no longer needed to hold my hand. 

"When we got out I couldn't stop smiling! Considering I wasn't too sure to begin with, I know I can't wait for my husband's membership to come up for renewal so we can sign up for membership as joint members, and then I can start my lessons! I can't wait!"

--Jenny