In this instructor forum we discussed the first pool drysuit lesson, there is a lot to cover in this lesson and its not very well documented in the BSAC instructor notes. For the last few years we have been getting people to have a splash around in crookes valley pond when they collect their suits. This helps with the first pool lesson, but not everyone manages to get in the pond first so make sure you don’t skip any of the detail below.
The first things to note is that this lesson has a lot of pre-dive prep to do, which often eats into your in water time. The prep is important and needs to be covered, but make sure you keep things moving on efficiently so you don’t end up with only 10 mins dive time.
Getting the right kit from stores
First thing to consider is the need to make some adjustments to the kit the student has just got used to using. They will need to be shown how to fit a suit feed to their regulator, they will need to be shown how to put weight in their weight pouches or on a weight belt and they may need to move from pool fins to open heeled fins or change fin size. If youre lucky the STA weights will already be in the kit assigned to the student, but make sure they have the STA weight in their kit and be prepared for an impromptu lesson showing them how to fit it. Try get to this quickly so the student hasn’t already put their kit together and starts trying to fit a suit feed to a reg thats on a cylinder already.
Fetch the lube, its time to suit up
Ideally you want kit put together and ready to go pool side before you put on the suit. That way you can move onto the next steps and kits is ready and waiting for you. They may have done it a couple of times when buying/fitting the suit, but you will need to talk the student through fitting the suit and my personal experience is that it’s useful to have lube on hand. Over keen students might rush to do it themselves, but if they’re not careful they may rip a seal before they’ve got in the water. Remind students it’s a good idea to remove rings and watches and be cautious of necklaces and ear rings. For those with long hair its useful to tie it up – Alana/Amy/Cat style double plaits seems to be the best option. Guide the student on the order to put arms and head into the suit, then show them how to check that the seals are sat flat against the skin with no rogue hair or undersuit under them. Show them how to close their zip and check they are done up completely. If they have a telescopic suit show them how to tuck the waist and do up the crotch strap. Finally show them how to knee now and vent any excess air from the suit. At Ponds Forge this can all be done outside which helps avoid over heating, put pay close attention to the neck seal to make sure it’s not too tight. It is inevitable it will feel tight to the student when they’re not used to it, but if veins are starting to bulge, they’re changing colour or feeling light headed its a sign the neck seal is too tight. Likewise if fingers are swelling or going numb it’s a sign that wrist seals are too tight. Unless it’s causing a significant issue, you can usually proceed with the lesson with tight seals and sort the trimming of seals after the lesson. Keep an extra close eye on the student in the water though in case symptoms progress underwater.
By now the student is probably quite hot so the next step is usually to jump in the pool before putting on scuba kit. As well as cooling off, this is an opportunity for the student to get their first proper feel of how the suit affect buoyancy and how air migrates around in the suit. Talk them through the feeling of the suit squeezing against their legs, how air migration affects movement and how to vent the suit. This is a useful step in the lesson, but keep an eye on time.
Now its time to get into scuba kit, you will need to talk them through the new changes of attaching suit feed to suit and fitting weight pouches. The new elements also need incorporating into the buddy check so explain how to show suit buoyancy and weight release during the buddy check.
At last it is time to get into the water, you may have to adjust your lesson plan depending on how much time you have left but work though the list below:
- descent
- suit controls
- inversion recovery
- buoyancy and trim
- finning
- ascent
For the descent, get the student to dump all of the air from their wing and then vent their suit to descend. This step can take a while, don’t rush to add extra weight until you have checked that all the air is out of their wing, they are venting their suit correctly, they haven’t trapped air in their right arm and they are exhaling and not finning upwards. As experienced divers we are in good control of our suits and can usually move into trim quite quickly into the descend. Encourage students to descend vertically and not to rush into a trip position, make sure you demonstrate this yourself.
Suit controls can be practiced kneeling then in a hover. I like to show students that they can fully press their inflator and vent at the same time and not move up or down in the water.
Opinions differ a little on when is best to introduce the inversion recovery, although it is a more complicated technique, it gives the student confidence early on in the lesson and when they inevitably accidentally invert themselves they at least have the knowledge of how to recover. You can choose between the U shaped recovery or forward roll, I find the forward roll quite disorientating so I favour the U shaped recovery. Fin downwards while pushing your chest forward, as your head starts to come up lift arm to vent any excess air.
Buoyancy and trimming and finning exercises are just repeats of those used in earlier lessons.
Whatever you manage to cover in the lesson you will need to ascend at the end of it. Guide the student on venting their suit slowly and gradually ascending.
To exit the pool at Ponds Forge the easiest thing to do is to keep kit on and remove only fins. This may be the first time the student has done a ladder exit so guide them through it reminding the to keep 3 points of contact and not to be under someone going up the ladder. Rinse under the shower then take the kit straight outside. Incorporate the equipment changes into the de-kitting process by showing students how to remove weight pouches and if necessary remove suit feed. Talk through post dive suit care and show the student how to pack up their suit.
How much weight should the student start with?
A good starting point for most students is 4kg, thankfully there should be our lovely pool assistant on poolside to provide extra weight if this is insufficient. Clip weights are great for quickly adding extra weight but can get in the way and affect trim, so it may be worth adding to weight pouches to keep the student balanced. You may also consider adding clip weights to deliberately adjust trip.
Do I grab a student thats lost control of buoyancy or not?
Ultimately this is a personal choice as to whether you think you can safely stop or slow the student. While it is good to stop an uncontrolled ascent if you can, you don’t want to put yourself or your other students at excessive risk. Preempting when a student is likely to loose control and having a hand out ready to grab the can mean a quick reaction and resolution before student has gone very far. The pool is relatively shallow and student is unlikely to have any major issues if they loose control. It is worth briefing on the importance of exhaling and trying to slow themselves if they do find themselves uncontrollably going up. In open water when practicing skills where loss of buoyancy control is likely then position the lesson next to a shot line that you can grab as well as student to slow students if need. Don’t rush progressing to deeper water until you are confident that student has good buoyancy control.
Progressing to diving in sheltered water
Students usually only get one or two lessons in the pool before progressing to diving in sheltered water. It is likely that this will be cold and the student will need to be introduced to diving in gloves and hood. They may also need additional lead if they are wearing more base layers. The lesson should largely repeat the pool lesson and involve diving in a similar depth until they have mastered the basics. Don’t forget that suit inflation stuck open and weight ditching are two skills that need to be covered at capernwray and tie in with the drysuit lesson nicely.
