Return to Capernwray - 14/04/2019

I always chuckle when I go to Capernwray. To me it's just a big swimming pool - ideal for training and an occasional fun day. However, you can always hear people telling bold, daring tales of when they were down to 60 bar and still at the wreck of the Podsnap as though being 15m deep and 50m from shore in confined water is some kind of hair-raising experience. 

Myself and Chairman G had taken a few newish divers from the club to do a little training and also to help some get their numbers up.

First up I took the two least experienced divers in for a wee saunter around the shallow attractions at 8m after teaching some very basic reg skills. The dive was more of a test to check out one of the divers air consumption before taking him a little deeper to the aeroplane on the second dive.

It was dive two where I first saw the sign of nerves. I had Chairman G teach stride entries, then I demo'd it - as an instructor you always have to be in the water first. We sank down, but  I could tell psychology of being deeper was stressing out the least experienced of my trainees so I took him back up and out the water safely. He seemed to love it though.  Asking afterwards about the scariest dives I've ever done - this wasn't one of them.

The Devil

The Devil

Heavy Lifting - 03/03/2019

Instructing when everything is brilliant is quite good fun and somewhat rewarding. However, it's when things are going wrong that you're actually earning you're money - metaphorically speaking. Today was one of those days.

Myself and the Barrman had a trainee each and were attempting 20m assisted ascents, with the two trainees. We had been down for a few minutes before we started the "ascent". I watched for a few minutes as they made no progress. Both Barrman and I had been about to call cut when the attempt naturally split and one trainee headed for the surface and another slumped into a vast cloud silt.

We had agreed which trainee we'd each go and help. I headed into the zero visibility silt found her and guided her back to clear water.

The second dive I took the less experienced person in for a potter about twin piers and found a couple of nice nudies. 

I wasn't a totally wasted day.

 

Nervous Passenger - 24/02/2019

When teaching, some dives stick out way more than others. The ones you remember tend to be when something goes wrong. We don't tend to remember the dives when you complete your objective without incident. However, today it went so well, and I learned a lot.

The plan was fot me to do three training dives with three different people:

• A 30m ascent
• A 2 minute swim with mask removal
• Drysuit buoyancy skills

The first two passed without a hitch, but the trainee I was taking in for the third dive, Prawn, had proven to be somewhat spooked and had refused to dive initially. 

I had a chat with her and convinced her it was worth trying again. I offered to physically hold her hand the whole time. I broke the dive down into stages.

1. Breath face down in the water

2. Kneel down in 2-3m of water(or swimming pool depth as I put it)

3. If we want to continue drop down a little deeper to 10m 

4. If she was happy, go for a wee swim

I spoke softly ( I always speak softly - I actually have a lovely voice, with a singing Scottish lilt), I reassured her.

We went in and had an excellent dive. Confidence restored. It was one of those occasions when it was all genuinely rewarding.

Growing Pains - 27/01/2019

A trip to Twin Piers is never the most inspiring dive, but as a ScotSAC Instructor I had agreed to help with club training. I had experienced some sinus pain while helping in the pool the night before, but thought nothing of it.

Today I was going to be doing some skills with Vadar. He's a pretty decent fellow and for a very new diver actually shows considerable promise. 

Our dive was to be unspectacular, down to 7m do some mask stuff, have a swim about and head out the water. We did it, but not before my sinuses screamed and Vadar had a suit leak. I couldn't get out the water fast enough.

These things are sent to try us.

The Next Generation - 11/11/2018

It's interesting watching the next generation of scuba divers come through the ranks. They are the guys who will be the club instructors in 3-4 years time. I may or may not even be diving.

At Drishaig Reef I took in three different trainees.

• Freeflow Bob (Master Diver Trainee)
• Smyler (Drysuit Diver Trainee)
• Chico (Branch Diver Trainee)

It was genuinely fascinating watching them all psyche themselves up for things that I now don't even think about, but 8 years ago would of caused nerves. It dawned on me - no one likes being assessed. The one plus they all have is that they all had me as an instructor. 😁

First up was Ol' Freeflow who needed a 30m assisted ascent assessed. He'd failed one and passed one before. It should of been pretty straightforward..... and it was. Afterwards we chatted about ascent rates and how it's better to be slower than too fast.

Then I moved onto drysuit skills with Smyler. He's a PADI AOW diver with limited experience and no drysuit experience. Like Freeflow, it all went exceptionally well except for a wee wobble just before we did a safety stop. I held him down, righted him and then proceeded.

Finally, it was Chico time! I was taking him in for his second dive. We went down to 9m and finned about, turned and came back up slowly. He too had a wee wobble at 4m, but I was expecting it. 

All in I emerged kind of proud of myself. Three training dives, three passes. What's more, they all loved it. That was a win. 

Chico on his 2nd dive

We may have misread the tide

 

Deep & Done - 30/06/2018

When Chairman G asked me to take him deep, I decided to return to the site of my own Scotsac Deep Diving course. We kitted up and headed down to 37m and generally speaking had a pretty pleasant dive.

We chatted, had some bants with some other divers on the site then after a couple of hours we did our buddy check and headed back in. As we entered the water, the explosion happened as Chairman G's HP hose blew. We took it as a sign to abort the dive!

Eastbound And Down - 29/04/2018

Since the turn of the year I have been the "Expedition Officer" for my dive club. I'm selfish and like diving, so it is well suited to my interests. The better the diving, the better it is for me. So it was without hesitation that I booked Pathfinder for a few days throughout the year. This was the first of those days. 

Myself and Gill.I.Am had arrived the night before in the van to save me getting up too early in the morning. It's a pretty decent deal as you can park a campervan overnight for a £10 donation to the St Abbs Harbour Trust. 

In the morning I awoke to sunshine and an eerily quiet harbour. However, soon enough the troops had arrived along with groups of day trippers. I had agreed to take responsibility for a club Branch Diver and, if she felt comfortable after her first boat dive, a little instruction on the second. 

Once on the boat it all went swimmingly and the only thing that let us down was the visibility which was pretty poor (2m). However, we endured the cold for 41 minutes which meant Sarah could log her longest ever dive. 

After a quick trip back to shore for snacks and some chat we all headed out again. This time Sarah was going to finish her Sport Diver compass work before enjoying a little pootle around rocks.

It was reciprocal heading. Pretty basic stuff. It did mean that we were unlikely to get back to our starting point, but with improving visibility I could see the Black Carr Rock that was enough for a pass. From there, Sarah and I just went from rock to rock looking for the famous wolf fish residents of St Abbs. We never found any, but we did find a nice scorpionfish, beadlet anemones  colourful bloody henry starfish. Not bad for a training dive.

Parked up for the night

Setting up for the day

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My buddy

Pathfinder

Scorpionfish