sena_akutsa
Registered
during classes our instructor simulated. As he was "the only one" all students got the bad habit of watching him constantly without being aware of others.Thanks all,
So you know: Our first brainstorm about this was with an instructor, who challenged me to think about a way to structurally introduce this as a form of recurring training after certification. We have 4 instructors in our club, and they will be involved in implementing this after we have come up with a concrete plan on how to safely and effectively do it. They typically dive with the less experienced divers or those enrolled in a course, but if not, they are available for any other type of practice. We do weekly dives in a local training quarry with training platforms at specific heights. We typically do drills at 5-10m. All training dives will be supervised by an instructor. No instructor means no training dives (only 'fun dives'). We also have a yearly first aid class, and a yearly 'emergency ascent' training.
Please note again: this topic is not about the lack of training drills. We do that. This topic is ONLY about applying drills that the corresponding divers have (supposedly, according to their certification) mastered to real world situations. Taking them a step further and forcing divers to see a situation and respond to it with the correct drill.
In a similar way as a first aid training may teach you how to do chest compressions or how to apply a bandage, but getting an actor with make up etc. to simulate an above-water accident forces much more critical thinking to assess the situation, then come up with the correct 'drill', and finally apply that drill.
In the same way, during most certification classes we only practice the last part.
Good remark about accidently creating dangerous situation. That's something to be aware of indeed. That is why we want to adjust the cards to the diver levels, and only do this during club dives supervised by an instructor.
Of course hand signals are good to practice as well if possible. Either way having these cards also ensures that eventually a diver goes through the entire stack / list of situations we have thought of.
Later we found a different way: sometimes he writes a drill on his wet board to instruct a diver (without the buddy noticing anything), then after few minutes that diver will simulate the action like real.
The buddy has to react accordingly, all supervised from aside by our instructor (to avoid any accident).
we didn't practice with "cards" : fish lines, nets around wrecks , BCD inflators stuck by sand,.. these are a common deal here
