Gary D.:
Hey, isn't that an alarm clock on your back with the look-a-like regulator on it?
Hehehe... I've been found out
Today was another long day. After the briefing, the first dive was a rapid deployment with me as the primary diver. I became a "diver in distress" and was "rescued" by the backup diver. They had a fun time trying to get my limp body in full gear on and secured to the sled..... with 4 people in the 6' X 6' triangular hole. It was pretty comical until they actually got the sled back out of the hole with me on it.... my tender lying on top of me had me pinned face down on the board. Then it was OWOWOWOWOWOW all the way back to shore :11:
For the afternoon I was assigned IC (Incident Command). We switched to recovery mode and my job was to rotate 11 divers through all the positions. The instructors were expecting this to take until 8 p.m. We got it together and got it done so well that they made the last 2 dives rapid deployment dives. And still got out of there by 5 p.m.
I was a primary tender for both of the last dives - my first time in that role.... Even though the ice is 2' thick, we are simulating a thin ice situation, which means the first person (backup tender) goes out on the sled until s/he falls through the ice. That person then becomes the human anchor against the edge of the ice. Next in the hole is the primary tender (in this case me) on a seperate tether. Then the backup diver and lastly the primary diver, both of who get hooked to the human anchor. The 90% ready diver waits on the sled ready to dive except for mask. If a victim is found, the 90% rolls of the sled. If there's a problem with one of the divers (like today the primary diver lost his weight belt when he got in the hole, so he was yanked out and the 90% went in). So anyhow - the tenders end up staying in the icey water for what seems like a long time, but in a rapid deployment scenario should actually be less that ~ 45 minutes.
As Gary noted, overheating can be a problem. We had that problem yesterday. It was sunny and warm and I was actually sweating. Today it was overcast and cold and breezy. The warming tent and hot cocoa got used a lot more!!
A few more pics were taken, but since I had to come back to the station to finish out the shift, then back for more training tomorrow with A shift, they won't get downloaded until tomorrow night. I'll post 'em when I get 'em.....
