A rescue divers story

This course started as all courses do at DiveMania with a very in depth briefing of requirements and what was expected of us. These briefings were given ahead of each session we took part in. Running the course were Instructors Paul French and Martin Betts, who were also assisted by Divemaster trainee John Sadler.

The first session started quite easily throwing a rescue line, not quite as easy as it first seemed but we cracked it in the end, followed next by helping a tired diver close the waters edge by either reaching or by using something to extend your reach. Other challenges did follow, where among other things we worked on tired diver tows at the surface using 3 different methods, this was quite easy with a relaxed diver, however a big shock followed……….

Panicked diver time! I'm sure the instructors were looking forward to this part the most, as they pretended to panic and we were pushed under water, used as places to get out of the water on top of or knocking our masks . We all got the approaches correct at the end of the session – I went home worn out!.

Probably the hardest skill of all of them that we learnt, was non responsive diver at the surface, we were briefed about the skill and after an in water demo we all got started!

A barrage of DIVER DIVER and PIZZA PIZZA followed whilst turning the diver face up and checking for breathing. The hard part was giving rescue breaths, whilst removing the divers kit as well as your own. Exhausting!

Another one of the skills is unresponsive diver underwater this was also quite tricky to complete but very rewarding when we did.

These weren’t all of the skills we completed, but just some to give you an idea.

I also completed the emergency o2 provider course, this gives you a great deal more information than just the basics that are provided as part of the Rescue Diver Course itself. Really informative.

Next on the list was emergency first responder (First Aid) this course was so much fun and very useful, not only in diving but in everyday life. Having skills to help you save a life is very rewarding. My name is Steve, I am an emergency responder, Can I help you?

Our final Rescue pool session had us practicing the skills we were not happy with under the eagle eyes of the instructors - With the occasional instructor needing rescuing!!

Finally it was time for exams - panic time for me - I don't do exams – I passed, and the ones I didn’t get correct, were reviewed – For me – I wanted 100%, but I didn’t quite make that!

So onwards to Stoney Cove, and our Saturday morning started with a site and course briefing. Again it started with an easy line throwing exercise, and we moved onto other things such as recovery of a tired diver. Jumping in for the first time was a bit of a shock! The water was shall we say a little fresh!!

After practising recovery of an unresponsive diver it was time for a well earned cup of hot tea, then back into the water searching for missing divers, panicked divers and lifting non responsive divers to the surface. A brief break, and we went through all of the other skills we learnt in the pool.

Lunchtime – Well earnt bacon cobs and more tea!

After lunch it was full on rescue time, off went the instructors hiding in the water as missing divers, waiting for us to find them, recover them and get them to the surface. A second scenario followed where we all worked as teams to get a non responsive diver to dry land. Once on dry land its time to spring into basic life support, CPR, administering oxygen and the use of the AED. We saved our instructors – PHEW!

The results all of us passed, well done guys great effort by all.

Overall view of the course: