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Jon
Kernow ' s quiet comeback
A MINI KERNOW DIVE FESTIVAL HAS BEEN SUCCESSFULLY HELD following a year ’ s hiatus due to the Covid pandemic .
The popular annual event , organised by a group of Cornish BSAC clubs and held in Penzance , has been running for almost 20 years . With last year ’ s festival cancelled , organisers decided to stage a ‘ mini Kernow ’ to whet divers ’ appetite and lead into a full event being planned for next year .
Postponed from June , the 2021 mini festival saw 10 BSAC clubs come together for a weekend in September to enjoy 100 dives on a range of dive sites . The event organisers were Mid-Cornwall Divers , supported by Bude SAC , Ilfracombe SAC and Peninsula Divers
The festival culminated with a barbecue where £ 2,500 was raised for the festival ’ s charity , DDRC Healthcare . To date , Kernow has raised over £ 45,000 for the Plymouth-based hyperbaric medical centre .
Kernow 2022 – which will celebrate the event ’ s 20th anniversary – is now scheduled for 11 June . For more information , go to www . kernowdiving . org . uk
BSAC ' S SAFETY GROUP LEAD , JON PARLOUR , REPORTS FROM THE KERNOW DIVE FESTIVAL .
I ’ ve just returned from an exciting weekend of diving out of Penzance at the ‘ Mini Kernow ’ event . The Kernow Dive Festival is an annual event usually held in June , but was cancelled in 2020 and postponed this year . The organisers opted for a low-key event , ‘ Mini Kernow ’, in September .
The main day of the event is the Saturday , when several waves of diving are carried out on a range of sites to appeal to all interests and experience levels . This year six sites ranged from Low Lee Reef in Mounts Bay to the Runnel Stone at the tip of Lands ’ End . Over the weekend more than 60 divers , from 10 branches , made over 100 dives .
The underlying theme of the weekend is to provide a safe and enjoyable environment where divers can share experiences and ideas with those from other branches . It is organised so that buddy pairs are allocated to boats with pairs from other branches . For example , the Plymouth boat also had pairs from Totnes ( Devon ), Peninsula ( Cornwall ) and Seaways ( Penryn ) joining us for our trip to the Runnel Stone and City of Westminster wreck .
For me , it was an opportunity to continue my progression back to diving after a layoff of more than six months following surgery and Covid . Three relaxing dives of 25m ( Alice Marie ), 30m ( Runnel Stone ) and 35m ( Hellopes ), each with a different buddy , provided a chance to refresh skills . Over the weekend , I met several other members who are going through the same process after Covid and being signed off as fit to dive by a UKDMC diving medical referee .
The layoff from diving provided time to address our rescue skills training with NDC colleagues reviewing the Diver Training Programme . One of the changes has been the integration of the use of AEDs ( defibrillators ) into Basic Life Support training in the Sports Diver syllabus . BSAC ’ s free , online AED Awareness package is well worth having a look at , providing an introduction and also a mechanism for refreshing knowledge .
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