The best of Breakwater

[HaoleDiver]

I wanted to take the time to publicly recognize a few divers from this weekend in Monterey.
I spent this weekend assisting an 8-person open water class at (you guessed it) Breakwater, I'm almost finished with my DMC program, so that meant alot of float tending and herding.
But Sunday afternoon, after first dive, as the waves picked up, I was on the shore after helping a cold diver in, and I had the pleasure of taking part in one of the greatest things I've seen in the Bay. As 6-7 classes came in around the same time, there was a group of myself, 5-6 other certified divers from Diver Dan's, and another group of instructors and staff from (I believe) California Dive Center, and between the two groups, we probably hauled in 2 dozen students through rough surf, making sure weight belts were off and safe, fins were collected, and - most importantly - students exited safe.
I dont know the names of the non-Dan's people, but whoever you are, you have my respect and thanks.

 

[zinmaker]

What time were you helping divers in? You might have helped people crawling in from our group. People have a hard time getting up off of there knees when on the shore, especially fully weighted. If you helped people from our group, of four, thanks.

 

[diver@35]

I wanted to take the time to publicly recognize a few divers from this weekend in Monterey.
I spent this weekend assisting an 8-person open water class at (you guessed it) Breakwater, I'm almost finished with my DMC program, so that meant alot of float tending and herding.
But Sunday afternoon, after first dive, as the waves picked up, I was on the shore after helping a cold diver in, and I had the pleasure of taking part in one of the greatest things I've seen in the Bay. As 6-7 classes came in around the same time, there was a group of myself, 5-6 other certified divers from Diver Dan's, and another group of instructors and staff from (I believe) California Dive Center, and between the two groups, we probably hauled in 2 dozen students through rough surf, making sure weight belts were off and safe, fins were collected, and - most importantly - students exited safe.
I dont know the names of the non-Dan's people, but whoever you are, you have my respect and thanks.

There were definitely "class acts" out there this weekend. I'm in a very small class (myself, an Instructor, and a DM...how COOL is that??) and we were just about to head into the surf when we saw a young girl trying to get off her knees, in full gear, in about 2 feet of water. Her Instructor (maybe father) was just looking at her while she struggled...for a good 45 seconds. Since I'm a newbie I really didn't know if this was a right of passage for a young diver or not. My DM said "man...this guy is a sadist", walked over to the young girl, grabbed her by the top of her tank, hefted her up just enough to get the weight up, and then walked away without saying a word to either person (thus helping the instructor/father save face).

He handled everything very calmly, and had a quite confidence about him, not only then but throughout the whole day.

Divers are cool...

 

[jumsted65]

Divers are cool...

Yes they are. I noticed the same while hanging out yesterday, working on skills with my buds. The teamwork was a beautiful thing. At one point there were people lined up along the beach with outstretched arms, waiting for the next wave of divers. Conditions were a little rough even for breakwater. Heck, I was tempted to crawl out myself at one point, but managed to remain upright.

 

[HaoleDiver]

Yep, that was the group, there was a great system of fin and weight belt passing, so we could get people up and out quickly. It was a good thing it happened on Sunday, because by the end of the third intro dive, the divers all knew surf exits, so they knew to keep their regs in, masks on.
As far as time, I think it was sometime between 10 and noon I'd guess, I'd have to go check my computer for a closer time.

 

[zinmaker]

Thanks,

According to my computer we were getting out at 10:10 am. I had walked over to the northern bathroom, so I didn't have to go in my wetsuit. Helped someone out of the water, and carried there BC up to the lawn area. Not too many people on that side coming in or out.

 

[Ben_ca]

It was quite a show Sunday... Some things I wonder though... Most students kept making a beeline towards the stairs. Even though the water was up to the stairs and the waves were bigger toward that end of the wall...
We (a 3 man team) entered and exited toward the middle where the waves were a bit smaller. I'm not sure if it was because that's where the crowd was going or because they didn't know better... I'm just glad nobody got hurt. Besides the waves we had good dives...

 

[MontereyCADiver]

KUDOS to all involved!

 

[HaoleDiver]

It was quite a show Sunday... Some things I wonder though... Most students kept making a beeline towards the stairs. Even though the water was up to the stairs and the waves were bigger toward that end of the wall...
We (a 3 man team) entered and exited toward the middle where the waves were a bit smaller. I'm not sure if it was because that's where the crowd was going or because they didn't know better... I'm just glad nobody got hurt. Besides the waves we had good dives...

While I can't speak for all students, I figured students always exited near the stairs out of habit, because thats where classes usually teach them to go in and out. Also, especially at higher tides, that area (at the base of the sand channel) is the easiest to navigate through, most of the beach has rocks along it, and when surf got high as it did, the rocks are often just below the surface.