LEARNINGCURVE
Out on the water
over the wreck, as the GPS marks on the chart were slightly off. The adventurous dive was good fun, copying the techniques we had practised on the dry run on a real dive, keeping to the planned dive time and collecting some data on the marine life on the wreck.
In between dives, the candidates were continually asked questions to probe and test the extent of their knowledge, covering everything from weather to first aid, equipment and planning, all the while managing the diving, and teaching how to do so.
The second survey dive was collecting data on the condition of the stern of the James Egan Layne. Most of us had dived it in the last couple of years, but it was apparent that the stern had collapsed in
Sketch of the stern gun ring gear
Measurements being taken
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on itself and was no longer standing proud of the seabed. We laid( and taught) baseline tapes and each team had a different task.
The dive was complicated a little when a baseline tape snapped, but‘ overcome and adapt’ was the order of the day and we came out with some useable data. More importantly, we had plenty of opportunities to teach how to collect our data. The weather, strangely for an NI event, was playing ball. Only one of us had a bit of seasickness on the way back...
Back at Mountbatten we had less than an hour to come up with a quick summary presentation – we all thought no way could we do it in that time, but amazingly we pulled it off and gave feedback on what we had collected on the dive.
Pinging the Elk
Bad news
Saturday saw us back at Mountbatten, where we split into teams to dry-run laying out a grid to conduct a marine survey on the quayside. Unfortunately, the seasick candidate still wasn’ t feeling well and had to pull out, and the weather had properly closed in.
The candidates made the decision to move the dive location from the planned Glen Strathallan to inside the breakwater near the fort, as the wind had increased to a force 6 southerly which made the Glen undiveable, it being fully exposed to the wind.
Boats loaded, we headed off, taking the opportunity to teach some boat handling, and how to teach the teaching of boat handling. We all had some pre-prepared information slates. I could simply whip the slate pack out of my pocket and use the slates as a visual aid when teaching something.
I even had a prompt slate pre-prepared for a bubble check, as you are expected to use more advanced complimentary teaching techniques, not just demo-mimic. Plus you can hand the slates over to the examiners and ask them to teach it back to you, which gives you a break from the incessant questioning!
My examiner had a new camera with a macro lens, so we discussed what skills were relevant and worked out a few simple things to teach on the dive, from back-finning to advanced, fine buoyancy control. We also planned to teach torch communication, and laid a line to practise using zero viz touch signals, a technique used in cave diving, and something that would surprisingly come in useful on dive two!
The surface interval was again full of more questions and teaching, although at one point I had to ask the examiner to pause for a minute so I could shove a sandwich into my face.
The wind had, as forecast, picked up from the west, so the choice of Cawsand Bay was a wise one, it being well sheltered. We had a brief discussion about getting back to Mountbatten, and worked out a quick alternative passage plan that involved hugging the coast to minimise our exposure.
That done, we dropped into the water as two buddy pairs with mesh bags full of kit to lay out, and teach the laying out of a 3x3 grid, then conduct a survey. At the bottom of the shot, the visibility was drastically reduced to less than half a metre. Again, we had to‘ overcome and adapt’. Even in poor conditions, the candidates had to work out how to make a lesson work, then give the examiners an opportunity to teach the lesson back to us.