Originally from South Wales , Will Schwarz is today a member of Plymouth Sound Divers . A National Instructor and MOD3 Rebreather Instructor , he also works in commercial diving . Is this the man who cannot dive enough ?
BSACDECADES
2000s
Originally from South Wales , Will Schwarz is today a member of Plymouth Sound Divers . A National Instructor and MOD3 Rebreather Instructor , he also works in commercial diving . Is this the man who cannot dive enough ?
What attracted you to diving ?
Watching James Bond in Thunderball ; that was the beginning of an obsession . I remember , as a young child , buying a black rubber mask with a yellow frame on Tenby beach for about £ 1 ... all my pocket money . I was must have been about five to seven years old and it was just the most amazing thing in the world ; snorkelling off Tenby . I grew up in South Wales near Swansea , so spent a lot of time snorkelling around the Gower . That ’ s how I got into snorkelling , then the minute I was old enough , I did my BSAC Novice 1 and 2 .
Which club did you join ?
I approached Swansea Yacht & Sub Aqua Club ( SYSAC ) when I was 11 , which was too young to start the BSAC courses ; you had to be 14 then . So I spent the next three years practising for my A-tests , swimming up and down the pool at Swansea Leisure Centre . Then I finally started training – what a great club it was , and still is .
Did all that swimming give you an edge when it came to diving ?
The confidence I gained playing about snorkelling and breath-holding set me up nicely . For an 11-year-old , Swansea Leisure Centre was incredible . You had a six metre pit for diver training . There were two hatches on the ( false ) bottom and the challenge was to breath-hold down through one hatch , pick something off the bottom at 6 metres and breath hold back up through to the other hatch . As a kid that was just incredible !
Where did you do your open water training ?
It started in Lliw Reservoir , on the darkest , most miserable day in January . It was bitterly cold , windy and there was snow on the ground . I vividly recall getting into a damp semi-drysuit and then doing two 30-minute dives in the reservoir , but being too young to have a car to escape into . Then we came back and finished our day in the Mason ’ s Arms , because that ’ s where everyone went after a day of training . I remember having to use the local payphone with my BT charge card , calling my folks to ask them to come and pick me up . It was brilliant and it was miserable at the same time .
Did any of the Swansea ’ s senior divers take you under their wing ?
I had two incredible characters to mentor me at SYSAC . The chief being Dr Mike O ’ Kane , who sadly passed away a couple of years ago . He took me for my first open water dive and taught my Novice 2 . His son , John , is one of my best friends to this day . Then there was Paul Nusinov , who is the current Equipment Officer of SYSAC . He too was massively influential and taught me a lot .
Will ’ s dad , Phil
Will ’ s inspiration : Thunderball
48 Shore dive and scallops