IN THE MIX
PARTTWO
Trialled in the Wild West
Fran Hockley sets out an Instructor ’ s perspective on teaching the revised BSAC Mod 1 CCR Course
Mallard Shoal , near Plymouth Hoe , is a cracking 30m + dive
The first UK national lockdown in March lead to many of the Technical Training Group finding themselves with some free time to accelerate the development of the new BSAC Mod 1 course . After hours of meticulous sifting through drafts of the ISO standards , it was great to finally be able to test-run the full course in September , alongside BSAC Centre , Sandford and Down , in Plymouth . Dave Homeyard , our student , was a double guinea-pig for this course , as not only was it a trial of the MOD1 course , but it was also the first CCR course run by the Centre . Luckily for us , Dave was incredibly flexible with our slight tweaks to the programme as we went along . Not to mention pauses during lessons as I took notes to make future changes !
The theory , dry practical and pool lessons went without a hitch , and it was really nice to be able to conduct the theory lessons which had been modernised to a clean and professional appearance . We had the
44 private pool all to ourselves , which made it easy to pop up every now and again to make equipment and weight adjustments . Due to Covid restrictions , we weren ’ t able to conduct the rescue breaths , so the best I could do was to describe what to do , but hopefully we can pick that back up this year ! We weren ’ t particularly lucky with the weather , but we managed to book a school slot at Vobster Quarry to carry out the first four open water dives , which meant we could get the basics of CCR diving sorted without the added complexity of water movement and tide . The fifth dive was a boat dive at Mallard Shoal in Plymouth , which was a wall dive , allowing us to hit the maximum depth of 30m before slowly ascending .
Dave Homeyard surfaces at Mallard Shoal
The final trimix dives were again conducted in Plymouth , one from the shore , Eastern Kings , where you can easily drop down the wall to 40m . For the seventh dive we went to the Eddystone Lighthouse , a fitting dive site to complete the course at such an iconic reef .
Dave Homeyard reports on the student ’ s experience of the Mod 1 course
This was a superb experience and
opportunity to be one of the first to complete the new BSAC MOD 1 course .
I have considerable respect and some reservations about CCR diving , so needed to find some of the best in the sport to instruct me on the AP unit . Fran Hockley , with the support of Sandford and Down instructors Scott Yeardley and Dave Pelly , plus the supervision of Dom Robinson , more than covered my expectations and requirements .
The transition from open circuit to CCR was challenging , but I always felt it was achievable , thanks in no small part to the expertise of my instructors . I had named Fran ’ s diving slates ‘ the red clip of doom ’ due to the impending feeling of doom I felt when she started to unclip it . I knew another skill or emergency scenario was coming !
The gradual skills progression on the course and superb instruction , not only made logical sense but also made the skills