Exams are over and Easter is approaching which means one thing, no not the Six Nations, it Capernwray season. In our latest Instructor Forum we discussed what we need to consider when diving at Capernwray.
Who can do what?
As assistant dive instructors (ADI), what you can teach and how you teach it depends on your current diving grade. When teaching you can teach up to the dive grade you are qualified to SD can teach OD and SD trainees and DL can teach OD, SD and DL trainees. Dive Leaders can teach with in direct supervision, this means that there is an OWI or higher on site who you can run your plans past or go chat to if you have any questions. However, you don’t need to have an instructor in the water with you watching your lesson. If you want to have a qualified instructor with you for your lesson to support your training then discuss this with the trip planner/dive manager before the trip, otherwise expect to be taking the students in yourself. Sports Divers need direct supervision, this means a qualified instructor will be with you for your lesson. They will watch over everything from the brief to the debrief and will be in the water with you and the students.
As qualified divers you can dive with other qualified divers within the limits of your qualification in a non-teaching role. This gives the opportunity to go for dives where you’re using and practicing skills that have already been taught to your buddy. This often gets referred to a rust removal, which is simply going for a dive together following good diving practice.
Is it my students first time at Capernwray?
At the Capernwrays early in the new year it is often your students first time at the site so they wont know what needs to be done when or where everything is. Taking 5 mins at the start of the day to show them around can help settle some nerves. Walk down to the water and show them where theyre going to be diving and how they’ll get in and out the water. Show them where the toilets, cafe, shop and fill station is.
What helps the day run smoothly?
Know if tanks need filling on arrival, especially if you’re also driving. It doesn’t take that long to fill tanks, but they will they’re not going to be magically filled if they’re left by a car in the carpark, so getting them in pronto avoids delays. Equally important is making sure students know when to fill tanks throughout the day. Most student will jump at the opportunity to save a few pounds so don’t be tempted to let them go diving on a low volume tank. As a general rule if the tank is 140 or below then they need to fill, but also check if that fits with their next dives plan. We should all be returning to the surface with at least 50 bar still in our tanks. Direct students to get their tanks in to fill as soon as possible after the dive (and make sure you do the same).
The day usually starts with a team brief and this is when students usually find out who will be instructing them. Try getting your students together just after this and explaining the timeline of the day and when they should expect to be doing what. If you want to do your first two dives in quick succession make sure your second students know when they should be ready by means they wont be mid-burger while your waiting to go in. If you’re wanting to space the dives out more, make sure that your plans aren’t going to clash with anyone else the student is diving with.
Having a platform to put on/take off kit on is really useful (especially when adjusting kit), but remember the platforms are shared so if people leave kit on or around them they cant be used by all. Try keep your time sat on the platform to a minimum so its available to others, and make sure all kit is moved away and stored neatly so the space is available to all.
One useful suggestion was to narrate what you are doing while kitting up and dekitting. “Ive unclipped my suit feed and octopus, now Im going to ask you to hold my tank while I sit here and take off my kit. Now Im going to move it over here, lie it down and tuck the regulators in.” gives the verbal and visual cue for what the student needs to do when its their turn to dekit.
How do I do a rust removal?
Diving as a qualified diving pair is an opportunity for you to lead by example. Plan the dive at minimum looking at max time and depth and your longer deeper plan, gas requirements and deco requirements. Get your buddy involved in making the plan too. Agree your route and how your going to navigate it including how you plan to ascend and descend. Discuss and skills you want to practice between you. Remember you are not in a teaching role so this should only be skills the student has already learnt. If you’re going to practice skills make sure you have adequate time to do so, and practice in shallow water. Make sure you have appropriate equipment for the dive. For example, if your buddy is practicing compass make sure you both have a compass so you can follow what they’re doing. If youre practicing DSMB and need to ascend on a DSMB make sure you have one you can launch if theirs fails. Lead the dive showing good diving and buddy management. Lead by example and ensure dive details are logged with the dive manager and the dive is briefed and debriefed appropriately. If your dive was a lead up to a formal lesson then feedback to their instructor if there was anything the struggled with or did very well.
What do I do when I’m being shadowed?
Plan ahead for any lessons where you are being supervised, look on the BSAC lesson guides and the SUSAC lesson record sheets for what needs to be covered in the lesson. Think about what you are happy teaching your self and what you want to observe being taught. Next, have a brief with you instructor and formulate your lesson plan and agree who is doing what. You will be encouraged to cover as many elements as you are comfortable doing, anything from you observing the whole lesson to you teaching the whole lesson is fine and will change depending where you are at in your instructor development. You will now follow the usual brief, kit up, lesson, de-kit, debrief process with you or the instructor covering all off the elements as agreed. Finally wrap up with an instructor debrief where you can also discuss completing the students training records.
What do I need to think about thats different from teaching in the pool?
Early in the year Capernwray is cold, so dont feel you have to push your dive time to complete everything outlined in the lesson. If you complete partial lessons or elements from multiple lessons update the training record appropriately and missed elements can be picked up later. Remember, most new trainees have at least 8 dives to complete 4 lessons.
Instructors are usually asked to do 3 dives a day at Capernwray which would be very easy to fit in if diving with peers, and is much harder with students. Do your best to keep things moving along to plan but flag to the dive manager if there are any significant delays, they will be able to help reshuffle plans if needed.
In the pool lessons are limited to the depth of the pool, but in Capernwray you will often want to limit your lesson to much shallower than the max depth of Capernwray. This about where you do your lesson to limit the possibility of accidentally going deeper. Drifting off the 6m platform in the training area to the right can put you into 18m of water, where as drifting off the 6m platform to the left put you in around 7m depth for considerable distance. The quarry walls can be used to limit where students can drift too and serve as a visual reference. Make use of shot lines so you have a grab point if you find you need to slow a students ascent or if you need a visual reference. Take a datum in if you think platforms or shot lines will be busy and you can find a clear area in the appropriate depth without relying on the platforms.
Keeping track of students is much easier in the pool, so this about the diving position you want your students to be in. Most will gravitate to the above and behind you position, which means they can see you but you cant see them, so some find a mirror useful to help keep track. Briefing students where you want them and stopping to correct if they fall out of position can make keeping track much easier. Use the topography of the site to help position students in the safest position, for example if youre doing a vertical descent off the cliff, turn around and look at the cliff so you have a visual reference. Another example is if you’re swimming along a slope put yourself closest to the deepest water so you can block them drifting deeper than planned.
Remind students that they need to keep warm and warm up between dives. Eating some warm food helps with this so try encourage them to at least go sit in the cafe for a bit if they are choosing not to eat in there. Water is free and it important to stay well hydrated.
Its the first time they will be taking tanks off to fill between dives so keep an eagle eye out for them putting dust caps on as soon as they remove their regs. Also make sure kit is stored safely between dives – remember its a carpark and cars could be moving round at any time.
As always if there is anything you’re not sure on please just ask, all qualified instructors are happy to help out whenever you need it. Remember Caths box of useful things which is usually around her car, theres things like the dive plan, who’s got what equipment, lesson plans and training records in there (and flapjacks nearby if you’re lucky). If you’re not comfortable with the dives you been assigned have a chat with the dive manager and they will reshuffle the plans to make them work for everyone.
