All quiet over here

It may seem like some time since I last wrote anything on the blog. The truth is there has been a slight lack of diving activity due the pesky swine flu. Fortunately mild cases all round but being sent home from work when you feel perfectly ok is weird.

Meanwhile Gary has started to run the scuba diving summer camp activities at South Woodham with the support of Chelmsford Borough. He had an excited group on the first day who all thoroughly enjoyed the experience as the got their first taste of diving. The summer camp is now set to run throughout the school holidays.

Incidentally Gary is now opening the Academy seven days a week and I am encouraging everyone to drop by and check out his tea making abilities, no promises mind you.

I did manage to get out and about towards the end of the week so my only involvement has been starting the DM theory for our next batch of DM's. There can be no substitute for thoroughly covering the knowledge reviews with DM students. Much of what is covered is about judgement and decision making. Some would say there is no substitute for experience in this area. My tendency would be to agree though it is not necessarily always true.

Do you need to make the mistake to realise it is a mistake; some would argue that you need to. I would say that you should learn from others mistakes whenever possible. But lets face it that takes a willingness to listen and a readiness to learn. Not everyone has both of those attributes and not everyone thinks things through and uses good judgement.

I can think easily of divers who despite what you may think exercise appalling judgement and make the type of mistake that could have sever and lasting consequences. One of our DM students lent me a book entitled "Raising the Dead" which really emphasises this point from the extreme world of technical cave diving.

Having the clarity of mind to think through the issues that you face when diving is a key skill that can be learnt. More importantly it is a key skill that can be practised repetitively.

As I sat discussing the DM role during dives you will not be surprised to learn that my favorite "Stop, Breathe, Think and Act" was mentioned. But the drill I really wanted to get some focus on is from the Rescue course once more. How to deal with the panicked diver underwater.

My DM trainee had been taught how to offer up his regulator and distance himself from the panic ridden diver. The truth is that a diver in a panic will most likely head upwards, especially if they are new to the sport.

Panic excites the brain, it stops clarity of thought and when excited unless very well drilled you are likely to act in a really damaging way.

Our conclusion was that for the DM trainee a lot of practice on dealing effectively with divers who might panic should be undertaken. All our new divers get excited, sometimes a little nervous so they are already pumped up with adrenalin. Our primary role is to keep them safe and let them experience how relaxing and enjoyable floating around under the water can actually be.

PS I have a replacement camera at last so pictures will be back on soon.