As ever I have been involved in all sorts of courses over the last couple of weeks though undaunted I still can't wait until the next one. To be honest I am really looking forward to teaching the wreck specialty if no other reason that I have such a passion for the subject myself.
That all start with a presentation in the classroom at the weekend and completes with the open water dives at Stoney Cove and I can't wait to get on the new wreck the Defiant. It will be a real explore for me as well as the students.
Meanwhile the list of activities continues to grow. I recently completed another Equipment course and was delighted to see several returnee student who came for a repeat having done the course previously. The more the merrier and especially as I managed to get my grotty old Mares mask lovingly cleaned once again. Makes me think that I should book to run this course at least twice a year so that all my kit gets a regular going over.
I still love the variety of questions that come from running this course. This time round we spent quite some time on dry suits. One topic was the location of a dry suit dump valve. To cuff or shoulder that is the question. Personally I have always preferred a cuff dump. It is was what I learned to use and so now it feels comfortable. I have mine placed under the wrist to assist with my photography. Others prefer shoulder dumps for similar reasons, it is simply what they've been taught with and got used to. The important thing is that it all works so when you want to dump so to speak. you are certain that you have.
My own suit came with a shoulder dump and I had it changed. It does mean that under the carefully placed patch there is a big hole that will always be there but only I know that. I was intrigued to learn that despite having been on a dry suit course somebody else I have been speaking to recently had no idea of the options at all but then she also went on to confess that in open water she had not been asked to complete any skills. This type of thing really does worry me and I wonder how some Instructors can get away with such sloppy and poor standards.
In addition to the Equipment course I have been fortunate enough to start working with another two Divemaster students and once again I threw the into the deep end on the exam front so they are both underway with clean first time passes in Physics.
Finally I have been working on an Open Water course and have been very capably joined by Nick on the trainee DM side. I haven't told him this as yet so he may blush if he gets to read this but he is a natural. Helpful, friendly and very good at relaxing people. What a pleasure though we must both remember that a 12 litre tank in serious weight lifting for Liam!
Keep on Diving
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
No comments:
Post a Comment