Primary donate in UK ice-cold water

[Wibble]

(dup - please delete)

 

[Jacob BV]

Primary Donate seems so easy: I grab the longhose reg I'm breathing from and thrust it towards the other diver with my right hand and scoop up my backup on the necklace for me to breathe. Simples.

But... I cannot remember what it was like the first time I did this all those years ago. Subsequent donates were after much practice.

I have also seen within BSAC many people without PD training doing it best case unoptimally to worst case in ways that would be unsafe. I totally agree with Wibble, it can seem a simple skill, but there are enough nuances in the kit set up and technique that can get in the way. And the biggest thing for BSAC divers (or anyone who learnt SCUBA secondary donate) is that the first few times they see an out of gas signal there is quite the pause as they fight their muscle memory and need to think what to do.

I joined my local club and enrolled on this trip, telling the group leader my equipment configuration exactly before agreeing. The trip was a bit badly planned and many dropped out, so we ended up with only two qualified and non-instructing divers, me and another person. All other instructors were occupied with trainees who were doing their first ever open water in life.

You're situation is a common one. Some personal friction with I assume an older diver who has dived for a long time, with you a newer member/diver with a kit configuration that people can be resistant to. I would just not rise to the personal stuff, smile and wave. When diving with people who are resistant just dive secondary donate but still with the hog loop - just get an AS clip and clip the long hose to this on the right shoulder d ring, then breath from the bungeed short hose. Once they have dived with you a while and trust you teach about primary donate before being kitted up. The policy from BSAC is very clear that a) you need to have proof of PD training (if you do email BSAC and they will award you a BSAC PD certificate that might go down better in your club), and b) the policy says you have a duty of care to explain this method not just in the buddy check you have to explain the method before kitting up, in a budy check, and even in the water.

 

[Jacob BV]

(posted twice some how too, please delete)

 

[DiveLikeAMuppet]

I joined my local club and enrolled on this trip, telling the group leader my equipment configuration exactly before agreeing... All other instructors were occupied with trainees who were doing their first ever open water in life.

... buddying with her friend instead (an OW trainee) and refused to help me gear up - I usually needed someone to help me clip up my drysuit rings ... My LP hose then disconnected from my long hose second stage - something I did not anticipate as I have inspected this connection part at least 5 times before this dive to ensure nothing went wrong...

...this person told other instructors she felt unsecure with them compass navigation skills. I recently watched the Flowstate Diver's series on this skill and immediately show them Flowstate's video on compass navigation. Instead of watching they used my phone to click into my Youtube's browsing history, which consisted of almost 70% scuba skill and gear configuration videos... and asked if "I learnt scuba diving with Youtube".

You need to understand the other party too. You joined a university club, with volunteer instructors who themselves might not be the best divers or who need to follow course materials to the letter to avoid liability. If they are employed by the university, their real jobs are at risk. They are trying to get a number of students through a course, on a budget, in their spare time and clearly were low on numbers. So it was a very stressful situation.

Meanwhile someone very eager who might have learned how to dive from YouTube shows up, possibly with loads of untested, new or freshly purchased gear, possibly with little experience and looking a bit nervous, tries to talk to other trainees how things are done contrary to what the instructors might be teaching.

You might come across as someone very opinionated, yet your gear is broken (Disconnected LP hose? Really? Can't tighten it on the boat in 2 minutes? Why did you inspect it 5 times?), you clearly don't have much drysuit experience (Can't kit up by yourself? Need help to put on drygloves?) and might or might not be trained in a critical skill. There might have been some boat or quarry drama too with new gear.

I would jump in with you but I like to collect instabuddy stories - I already have "Mr Bean goes diving" and "The cardiac arrest", always wonder what the next highlight in my collection will be . Your fellow club members may not be into collecting stories.