Scuba Diving Training, Trips, News and Blog
Archive for January, 2009
PADI OWSI days 1 and 2
03 years ago
yesterday was the first day of the Open Water Scuba Instructors portion of our IDC. and it was a long long long day.
pete did damn well to hold our attention for as long as he did – but 8 or 9 hours in the classroom is a huge chunk of work to get through. even with double and triple teaspoons of the crappy Global Dive instant coffee.
today we headed back over to Orakei to jump in the pool for some more confined water teaching sessions.
squidleigh came along to give us a hand as a ‘student’ and as scotty has now started his OWSI, there were a few more bodies in the pool to practice on.
the two skills that i had to do were a CESA (controlled emergency swimming ascent) and buddy breathing whilst stationary. The CESA didnt go too badly – i demonstrated the whole 9m when i didnt need to and i need to work on the position in relation to the students just a little more. but i came away with picking up most of the problems and being able to correct them and also learning something from working through the skill.
now for the buddy breathing .. well i didnt read the skill properly. it was my own fault and i really mucked up this session. in terms of setup and organisation and checking the skill, i was pleased with that however i didnt see the performance requirements through.
scotty and pete in the pool at orakei
after we finished our skills, we completed a rescue workshop and assessment.
our rescue skills for divemaster needed to be at demonstration quality – now you can understand that for Assistant Instructor and Open Water Scuba Instructor – they need to be over and about that. pete worked through rescue breathing techniques and gear removal. and in the pool in orakei – the weather was perfect and the pool was extremely warm.
knowing that as soon as we got out and changed, we would have to head back downstairs to the classroom for a few hours, we all tried to stay in the water for as long as possible …
any reason not to go back to class! alex tames the shark
PADI AI day 4
03 years ago
today was the last day of our Assistant Instructor course and it was the best so far … and by far!
we started out at Lake Pupuke with our open water session presentations.
we had each been given two skills to prepare and the two we had worked out well. alex took us down with her five point descent and then the hover.
my two skills were regulator recovery and alternate air source ascent.
pete had spent time with us before we got in the water talking through open water considerations – environmental and positioning issues that form part of the instructors predive planning.
i was pleased with the way my two skills went – i learnt a lot more about positioning in the water.
there were a couple of problems with my ‘students’ reg recovery … not blowing bubbles, not leaning out or tapping the leg but i saw those. i also made sure they were in the right place and my Divemaster and i were communicating over who was watching who.
even though the lake is extremely green at the moment and the visibility is slightly worse than normal, i was still too close to my ‘student’ and copped a bop on the noggin for it. still under the water, it takes a lot for a knock to hurt!
the ascent went quite smoothly and once we were on the surface, i tried to up my positive reinforcement style.
before we got out of the water, pete worked through a Controlled Emergency Swimming Ascent (CESA) workshop with us.
control and position for the CESA was something i have been thinking about since i started interning and Divemastering on open water courses, especially when there are more than 4 students in the class. thats more than 8 descents/ascents for an instructor to manager.
he showed us how we could use the line for control and still hear the student. that keeping a hold of the student is important – when you reach the surface as well as when they are swimming up the line.
we got back to the shore and completed our briefings, i definitely saw the benefits in practice, practice, practice.
all the teaching and briefings you do as an instructor follow the same formula.
introduction, objective, value, key points and things to look out for, some positive reinforcement, clarification of a couple of problems and then a restate of the objectives and value.
i’m sure i will get into the swing of things as i get to do more of the sessions (and briefings).
pete worked through our debriefs with us. as i am sure i mentioned before, his feedback is excellent – constructive and really helpful.
we only had a couple of other things to finish off AI – one of them being another 800m snorkel. enjoying the lakes tepid 24 degrees, we jumped in and finished that off quick smart. then it was get changed, pack the car and head straight around to Eves Pantry for lunch! i was soooo hungry!!
