First Class Diver Part 1

This week I've been spending time organising BSAC First Class Diver events. There are two prep events in Scotland as well as the exam and I am helping on all of them at the moment. I did my First Class back in 1985, four years after I started diving. I was lucky to be in a club that encouraged everyone to higher qualifications and to be diving with some of the foremost explorers of Scotland at that time so the diving I was doing was incredibly adventurous and challenging. Nowadays I feel the diving available is more packaged.

The Charna when she was still a dive boat

For an expedition to St Kilda in the early 80s we hired the Charna (now a dive site rather than a dive boat) run then by Jim Kilcullen now of the Kylebahn. We vittled the expedition ourselves, took our own compressor and our own inflatable. We researched and planned the dives we wanted to do and ran them ourselves. I took my wife Jo and my mum (she was the only one who could stand up in the galley without banging her head) as they both wanted to see St Kilda.

Here is a photo of St Kilda from the bay.

The Charna in Village Bay at St Kilda

The hard boat dives I've been on in the last few years seem to rely more on the skipper to choose the dive sites and run the dives. Not always to the best effect for the divers I sometimes feel. Is this because we have gravitated to the easy option? Are we not teaching up and coming divers the skills they need to organise these dives? Are we setting young divers a poor example so they think the norm is let the skipper choose? I think we are doing all of these things but "market forces" have also played a part. As skippers have offered a better product so they have improved their planning and control to make it easier for the divers. The PADI concept of being taken diving I feel has also had an effect.

Because of this First Class is the time when divers really have to start understanding how to organise dives and expeditions. The First Class Diver definition (from Andy Hunt, First Class Chief Examiner):

"A First Class Diver is the highest diver grade available within the BSAC and is defined as a diver

who has:

• a high level of practical diving skills and knowledge beyond BSAC Advanced diver
• the ability to organise groups of divers and lead major diving expeditions to achieve specific aims or objectives
• the ability and knowledge to contribute to the BSAC at a branch, regional and national level."

On the exam diving skills are usually good especially now most candidates have done mixed gas and rebreather diving. The problems occur with the organising, leading and achieving. Finding a location for a wreck or other underwater feature eats time and shows who has done it before. There are usually lots of bits of laminated paper with great plans on but a lack of realism and achievement. So if at this level these skills are lacking are we missing out on teaching these in the branches? Hence why we now have First Calls prep events? BSAC has spent many years saying "If we examine it then surely we should first teach it?" Well I heard someone say it once.

So the prep events this year are a hard boat out of Lochaline and inflatables from Cumbrae. Both events are well subscribed which bodes well for the exam. I am looking forward to them all.

As well as BSAC I am also a member of ScotSAC, the scottish club. ScotSAC have taken a different approach to First Class. For a number of years they have not had anyone who could teach or examine First Class. This is understandable as the last I heard they have dwindled to under 1100 members (Board Meeting Minutes, 20th June 2012). First Class used to be similar to BSAC in that you had to prove yourself via both theoretical and practical exams. Now you prove that you have experience by having logged (in the correct format) over 500 dives, have completed several nationally accepted courses and your branch diving officer feels you are suitable (full details here). This is an interesting approach to this level but I am not sure it gives a First Class Diver an active position within the club. It gives bragging rights and shows you are a survivor. But are you qualified to do anything more than a Master Diver? Is it just a different definition of "pushing the envelope"?


On a totally different front a friend contacted me with details of a dive boat operating out of, but not restricted to, the Moray Firth. Details here. It is the Monadliath which has just had a complete refit and is almost ready to go.

Loch Creran with Glasgow Uni SAC

Alex and I are helping out with Glasgow Uni SAC (BSAC) this weekend so we set off for Loch Creran at 7:30 this morning. It was -2 nearly all the way across and we had snow, rain and dismal cloud. We met up with the uni and got started and the clouds cleared giving us a glorious day.

The first dive was at the steps. A nice site and easy to take trainees in. There is plenty of life around underwater even though it is cold.

Second dive was the drift under the bridge on the incoming tide. Sunny at this end so felt good. My group went in last and it was slowing by then but it allowed us to tuck into the lee of the bridge support and have a good look at the gigantic dead mens fingers there. Some of the largest I've seen and they were all feeding. We worked our way across the current towards the shore and came up as the current eased. This photo is how the loch looked as we exited.

We are staying at Corran House tonight and are diving again tomorrow. I'll sleep well.

Well I did sleep well and we spent the Sunday at Puffin harbour getting some of the drills for sports diver completed. It always seems successful when you get people progressing so well. They are a good crowd learning in the uni at present and enjoy the diving. Puffin harbour is not my favorite site but it is very suitable for training.

Weightbelts were a topic of conversation as many of the trainees were still trying to get their weight right. As ever early progression was leading to a reduction in weight. Interestingly all of the instructors wore harnesses instead of weightbelts. We also had some problems with weightbelts falling off or, in some cases, refusing to fall off. When the stab jacket is over the weightbelt it does hold it on rather well. I'll probably come back to weightbelts another time as it has become a big thnking point with me. Are we still looking at the problem as it was 60 years ago and not taking into account the changes in kit configuration?  Discuss.

Fixing the inflatables floor and Al's new stab

Two things so far today. Fixed the floor on Waspie. It needed glueing up again and I added some stainless screws to hold it together. The strain on the floor must be pretty high when you are motoring so it is not surprising there are problems. The paint is flaking as well so if I get time I'll try and give it another coat.

The problem was at the joint where the floor changes colour. Hopefully the glue and screws will hold it together. She definitely needs repainting.

 

 

Waspie back on her trailer waiting for the floor.

The stab jacket we bought on EBay arrived today. Like anything you buy secondhand it needed a service so Al stripped it, cleaned the salt buildup from the valves using vinegar and regreased it lightly before assembly. It works great on the bench so we will try it in the pool tonight. This is a Mares Morphos Twin to replace his earlier Mares that I felt was a bit low on buoyancy.

It is fitted with an Air Trim like his old one rather than a corrugated hose. I think this is a better method as I regard the corrugated hose and mouthpiece to be a hangover from early designs and no longer needed. You spend a lot of time looking for it as it floats over your shoulder. This system works well and is neat. Oral inflation is by a small tube in the pocket that works ok.
This one also has the MRS integrated weights (the red knob) so it will be interesting to see how they work in our diving.

As I was taking the photos I see that Al has already put his new carabiners on the jacket. I use a pair I bought 30 years ago from Clive Rowlands in Inverness to make it easy to pull the straps tight and add torches and cameras to my kit. Mine are climbing ones made of alloy and I am amazed at how they have lasted. Al has bought stainless steel ones and they have a spring system I really like. The clip acts as the spring by using different length legs. It seems really strong so I'll be interested to see if they last 30 years like mine. If I'm still alive and diving in 30 years I'll be more than chuffed too.

Tonight is the club pool session so we'll test the stab there. Over the last year the council has let part of the pool for an aquarobics class which seems to think the louder the music and instructions the fitter you get. You have to go underwater to get some peace as you cannot hear anything on the surface. It makes it difficult to teach. It is a prime mover in my leaving this club as I no longer enjoy the pool sessions.

Fixing the Inflatable

Yesterday was warm and sunny so Alex and I decided it was time to fix the inflatable. This boat, Waspie, is a very old Avon probably once used to invade Mafeking. On the last boat dive last year I lost the tube connecting the pump to the boat tubes. This was probably why it was the last boat dive. It was an odd connector and we cannot get anything to use instead. So, as the valves were old anyway and none had covers, I decided to replace all the valves with Leafield C7s. I bought a kit from Rib Shop on the Internet and it arrived before Christmas and has sat in the study ever since.

Now I did read the instructions. One of them was to not glue if the temperature was below 10°C.
This is Scotland. It it goes above 10 in summer that day is summer. So we had to get the boat inside to somewhere warm. Many years ago I was working on another old inflatable when we lived on the Black Isle, North of Inverness. We were rebuilding a house (I seem to have been doing that in various locations since we got married 32 years ago) at the time and I managed to get the boat into the living room for a week or two before the living room was the living room. This house that would be difficult and anyway the whole house is cold during the day. Except the kitchen where the Aga warms it. A plan was hatched.

After Jo headed off to work we removed the ice from the deflated Waspie, brought her round to the back door and lifted/dragged/cajoled her in. And she settled in front of the Aga like a contented dog.

The instructions with the valves said to "Carefully closely cut around the current valve and remove." This did look like the easiest way to do the job but it meant that when you glued the new one in then the stresses would all be on the new doubler (the patch the new valve fitted in that you glued in place) and the glue. To make it stronger I decided to cut the old valve out by just making a cross to the size of the old valve (the same diameter as the new) and turn it sideways to remove the backing part. This would leave the old layer to be clamped shut by the new valve being screwed together as well as clamping the doubler on. Stronger I hope. Here you can see the old valve and the cross I cut.

 

 We then cleaned up the fabric around the valve holes ready for glueing. We also marked the patch area to keep the glue neat at the edges. A detail sander did a quick and easy job of the sanding.

 Once sanded we inserted the inner part of the valve and hoped it wouldn't roll too far away. Then we glued using two layers on the boat and one on the valve doubler which already had one. When the glue was ready we rolled it into place giving it as much pressure as possible.

and the patch in place. The valve inner is already in place.

 Now we just had to manipulate the inners into position and screw in the top side of the valve.

The job took less time than we expected. It took me nearly as long to clean up the kitchen afterwards.
Still we now have a happy Waspie back on her trailer. A repair to do to the floor, some new grab ropes round the side and we should be back in the water. Looking forward to it.