Archie Torbet revelling in the weightlessness of water than training or improving their snorkelling skills . Which is all fair enough .
After all , it ’ s a big ask to be perfecting your duck-dive when you have the complete menagerie of marine life swimming past you ( or hiding on the seabed ). But a swimming pool has less distractions and offers certain facilities more beneficial for training .
One of the big benefits of pool time is , well , time . The warmth of the water and the convenience of the pool meant we spent about six hours a day in the water . Just that amount of time to play and practise produces results . It ’ s a very controlled environment so we could stop and break down each skill into sections without the whole process being overwhelming or intimidating . I had the kids practise a raft of skills , including :
■ Mask removal and fitting on the surface
■ Clearing the snorkel ( which took longer to master than I ’ d anticipated )
■ Good finning technique
■ Finning with one fin ( a bit of fun , but also in case of a lost fin at sea )
■ Effective duck-diving and towing your buddy ( for some reason the funniest activity of the trip for the boys )
Hunter ’ s duck-diving confidence grew in this secure environment
Needless to say , it ’ s all excellent preparation for when they do their BSAC Dolphin Snorkeller course , which is aimed at younger children and structured over a series of seven progressive sessions .
It gave us a chance to learn small skills which will make them better snorkellers . Not only safer , but more skilful and adaptable , which will in turn help them to see and experience more . I remember when I first joined Aberdeen BSAC Club aged 12 and would go along every
Hunter Torbet getting more confident with his snorkel
Saturday to the pool sessions and snorkel . It must have been months before I was taken in the sea . But by then my confidence and ability to move in the water was such , even having practised in full wetsuit and ABLJ , that the extra effort of dealing with a cold , low-visibility and choppy North Sea was a manageable step up .
These days , I tend to train and test in environments at least as hard as those I would dive in , to ensure everything , especially me , is up to the task . But this trip reminded me that sometimes pool time allows us to experiment and try new skills in a way that allows us to take the time to work things out , rather than the ‘ that didn ’ t work , we ’ ll come back tomorrow ’ approach I am often forced to adopt .
And it proved especially productive with young children . Of course many of you out there , with your weekly club pool sessions , will know all this already . So if you have access to a pool night but aren ’ t taking advantage of your hour in the chlorine , maybe you ’ re missing a trick . �
Surface skills were part of the fun
For more information on snorkelling with BSAC go to bsac . com / snorkelling Looking to introduce snokelling into your club ? Find out more at bsac . com / snorkellinginstructor
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