28 July 2019 By Nic Faulks
This year we have had 8 people sign up and undergo training for the Ocean diver qualification. Of these keen divers, two have progressed on to Sports Diver training, plus a new member, making three trainees. The weekend of the 27/28th July was full of activity with the lectures being given on the Saturday, and the practical diving on the Sunday at Ellerton Lake.
The morning started early, with Si being 8 hours behind GMT and Nic being 5.5 hours in front of GMT (oh he joys of working abroad). For once Dave seemed to be in UK time, which was great. So with Five instructors: Andy M, Si, Nic, Melissa and Dave, we met and briefed the three trainees: Carl, Nick and Ken.
First up was the lesson BLS, and recovery from the lake. All broken down in to bite size chunks, the BLS lesson still took a couple of hours. Then we progressed to recovery. It is quite impressive how much weight you can carry out of the water with a person up on your back!
Dave was up next teaching navigation, using the divers hoods as blinkers, so that they could practice on dry land just following the compass. Quite a long in depth lesson. All the trainees seemed to enjoy it.
Then in to the water again for navigation, lining out and CBL. With so many instructors this could be run as a type of round robin, with everyone completing each skill. A few things were lost on the way, clips and a compass, however Nic was on hand to go and do some search and recover. All lost items were recovered, despite the now three metre high weed in the pond!
By the end, everyone, students and instructors looked tired but happy, just ready for a good debrief followed by bacon sandwiches and tea. A very good day had by all and lots of knowledge and learning shared.