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4. |
Diving Officer's Report
A group of twelve members of our club have
just returned from a trip to Wales. There
were to be some ‘first experiences’ for
some of them. It was the first visit for
all of us to the accommodation, deep in
the countryside of North Wales, At first
sight, it looked a bit grim. The
facilities were very basic and the whole
place looked held together with a
collection of strange bits of spliced
cord. However, it was very clean, there
was everything there that we needed and
the whole setup had eccentric charm. Sadly
the hard boat trip to Bardsey Island was
blown out. While Britain basked in the
hottest weather of the year, Wales was
getting some strong South Westerlies.
However we were told that we could do a
RIB dive off the North Coast. Several of
our group had never done RIB diving
before.
Our Dive Marshall, Ray, did everything
right. He collected the names and numbers
of all the emergency contacts, explained
to people about RIB procedures and got all
the details about where to go etc. The RIB
was excellent, not huge but a powerful
engine and a brilliant skipper. He did a
good boat briefing, explained about the
sites and clearly had great enthusiasm
about the diving in the area. He was happy
to time us in and out of the water but did
not want to be seen as the DM. Quite
rightly the responsibilities of the DM lie
with us. He contacted the Holyhead
Coastguard and informed him of our
intentions. The sea was calm, the diving
proved to be superb with dog fish in
abundance, lots of unusual critters and
good viz. The first group had a great time
but some members of the second group were
not so happy. One pairing only had a very
short dive and the first-time experience
for one had not been good. So what had
gone wrong?
Four of the second group decided to do a
shore dive while they were waiting. This
again was a new experience for one. I had
offered to dive that day with this
inexperienced member but was given every
assurance that she would be diving with
her two friends who would ‘look after’
her. During the shore dive, they promptly
went off to dive together, leaving her
with another member, who had also not
expected to be hauling kit about in the
heat. This pairing struggled with the
kit-handling that a shore dive can entail
and were exhausted. When it came to the
RIB dive, they were already tired. When it
was too late to do anything about it, one
found she had only 150 bar in her borrowed
cylinder and spent time sharing air on a
drift dive. This was not acceptable for a
first cold-water sea dive. This explained
the short duration of the dive and was a
stressful experience. Their second dive
was better but on the Sunday, divers were
again struggling with kit and the one
person who had said he would look after
them, did not bother with buddy checks.
While one laughed his way through the
weekend, another was literally sick with
exhaustion and the stress of mistakes. I
like cheerful, laid-back people who love
their diving and offer support and
encouragement to others but being
laid-back is one step away from being
careless. Let’s not slip into careless
mistakes. Good practice, with clear,
well-structured checks and support where
support is needed gives new divers
confidence and ensures that their first
experiences are safe and enjoyable.
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7. |
Equipment Officer's Report
e-mail has been sent to all members about
the rules of getting air fills.
Some trainees have kit – Chris Knight to
chase up.
Stewart to liase with Chris Knight to sort
mask, fins and snorkels
Helen Briggs – has lots of random dive kit
in her garage and wants it removing. First
aid stuff to be put in club garage. Some
old boat stuff to be sold.
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9. |
Life Guard Problems
Stewart Leahy has some concerns about
lifeguards forgetting to turn up, arriving
late or leaving early. People should not
be entering pool without a lifeguard and
it clearly states in the contracts with
KAL that we require one to be on poolside
at all times.
Jill Pickup to e-mail all lifeguards and
stress importance of being on-time and
staying until the last person exits the
pool.
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