LEARNINGCURVE
The Open Water Instructor Course should also make you a better all-round diver on the day we took our Open Water Instructor Course( OWIC). It was a productive day where essential practical teaching elements were practised, and fundamentals like rescue breaths were revised ahead of the exam.
The first weekend of October, three TGSAC members drove west to Vobster Quay on a dark, rainy Friday night for an early start on a very windy Saturday. When I say windy, I mean windy! We saw waves and a tree fall on an unlucky instructor’ s car. Luckily, nobody was hurt, but the Risk Assessments needed updates! The preparation session that Saturday was extremely helpful and a great way to build confidence before the exam.
We were fortunate to wake up to a sunny Sunday. The atmosphere felt more relaxed than expected, maybe due to the better conditions, but more likely due to all the preparation we had completed.
" The atmosphere felt more relaxed than expected, maybe due to the better conditions, but more likely due to all the preparation we had completed "
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In hindsight, I can only stress how truly fulfilling the whole process has been. One of the most rewarding aspects of training and mentoring other divers is not only seeing them grow into independent divers but also continuing to learn myself while doing so, as well as sharing my passion and luring new divers into the wonderful underwater world!
Alan Laphorn
What didn’ t Pino and Tim mention?
Did they mention the existential dread the night before the exam? The stress of planning all possible lessons suitable for transfer to a dive slate at a moment’ s notice. Waking at 4am in a dark Travelodge near Vobster Quay on the windiest weekend of the year so far, with this thought running on a loop:“ Please don’ t give me compass drills, anything but compass drills.”
Strangely enough, I too passed the OWIC. It’ s been a long journey, starting at a late 90’ s ULSAC, the University of London Sub-Aqua Club, too many late nights at Fort Bovisand and hours listening to Dance Anthems on the M4 late on a Sunday with a minibus or Land Rover full of tired divers [ I still love how you can get 12 divers into that long wheelbase 4x4!]. A decade hiatus, a couple of IFCs and sufficient gentle haranguing along the way is proof that you too can become an OWI.
In hindsight it’ s been fun! The course and exam is rigorous, and rightly so, and of course there were the myriad acronyms to remember. The point is establishing that you can safely teach practical scuba skills. True, there were prep weekends, giving and receiving online lectures, and learning obscure things about cylinders, but there’ s been lots of fun diving along the way, in the UK and in warmer, clearer, waters. The OWIC and everything leading up to it, has hopefully made me not only a better diver and teacher, but also a more empathic one. Strapping on compressed gases and other weird items of apparel then jumping into water is not the most natural thing to be doing. Especially when you’ re wet-suited up in October, it’ s 8 ° C underwater, and the Vobster helicopter is the target.
The emphasis on breaking skills down and seeing from a student diver’ s perspective is something I definitely won’ t forget. A big thank you to all our excellent instructors who showed lots of simple tricks, and that skills can always be broken down just that little bit more. The mantra“ show it, don’ t talk about it” has been firmly embedded.
Thanks to everyone at ULSAC, BESAC and now TGSAC, but especially Pino and Tim for lots of mutual chivvying!
And yes, dear reader, I got compass drills... �
■ The underwater images used in this feature are stock photographs of BSAC training.