Training Trip to Porthkerris

*JohnKendall* · April 3rd, 2006, 09:13 PM

Not really a DIR trip report, but kind of, and I hope some of you might be interested.

Each year my club (www.cuueg.org.uk) take it's new trainees for their first taste of real diving (as in outside of a pool) to cornwall for a week, at the end of March. The dates are basically set by the University term times, and so we don't really get much say in it. This is why this year we ended up with pants weather and enormous tides. It is quite hard to balance DIR principles and BSAC training procedures, however I think I've now found a good middle ground. I am not going to go into any of the details of how I actually teach any of the skills, as there will always be someone out there who wants to have a dig, so instead I'm going to talk a bit about basic principles.

For a long time I've believed that if you can teach someone buoyancy control properly, then all the other skills are easy. We played around with this quite a lot this year, and I think that the trainees that have come through this year's scheme are the best I've seen. So roughly speaking this is how we break down our training:

Dive 1 - Buoyancy skills, We do nothing in this dive except float just off the bottom, swim around a bit, and get them to think about breathing (by getting them to take their reg out, and put it back in again)

Dive 2 - More Buoyancy, basically the same as Dive 1, just more time to practice what the students are told in the debrief

Dive 3 - More Buoyancy, start Mask clearing, start Reg swapping

Dive 4 - More Buoyancy, Full mask clearing and Remove/replace, Reg swapping, start AAS

Dive 5 - More Buoyancy, More mask Clearing, More Reg swapping (inc Mod S), AAS and AAS Ascents

Dive 5 - All of the above, plus start CBL (Grips, Mini lift, but not a full lift)

Dive 6 - All the above, plus Full CBLs

Dive 7 - Experience Dive, S-drill to begin with, then a dive with students leading, 2 minute stop at 6m on ascent.

This is basically what we did, however our first 2 days were blown out, and we swapped dives 6 and 7 (we had a boat for one of the days, so did Dive 7 off the boat)

Porthkerris is quite a good site for openwater training, it has a great fill station on site, it's relatively easy shore diving, but does still have some swell, tides and a surf entry/exit to add excitement. I'll try and put up some photos when I get a chance.

Good points about the trip: 12 out of 14 OD trainees are basically finished, 2 SD trainees are well on the way, and our DL trainees gained a whole load of experience
Bad points: 5 Instructors and 20 trainees doesn't really work, and I'm knackered now.

However it was a fun week, and a lot of my training theories work nicely.

Martin Burnard · April 5th, 2006, 12:06 PM

NIce to see the basics being drilled.

I am not familiar with BSAC training, nor whether you were paid to instruct, but it would be interesting to know how much it would cost for a course with this sort of regime, and how many people would take it given the other options.

I feel diver training/instruction at basic level is undervalued and undersold.... step off the soapbox....

Interesting reading though!

Little Pete · April 5th, 2006, 04:13 PM

Sounds like a great teaching and trip idea John. I just checked out your page and found Dave Martin's awesome piccie. Please tell me it's gonna be on his GUE instructor card

*JohnKendall* · April 5th, 2006, 04:15 PM

Quote: (Originally Posted by Little Pete)

Sounds like a great teaching and trip idea John. I just checked out your page and found Dave Martin's awesome piccie. Please tell me it's gonna be on his GUE instructor card

Which Piccie?

J

Little Pete · April 5th, 2006, 10:34 PM

The lovely clean shaven one of him in twins and a groovy pool shortie wetsuit.

Maren · April 5th, 2006, 11:24 PM

Hi John,

here's one, who is interested...

Thanks a lot for the report. I'm really curious about the pictures!

We've been to Porthkerris for two weeks two years before and enjoyed diving with them a lot. I was really sorry to read that Mike lost both his parents with just a year in between.

Mike is probably still running the dive centre. What about his staff? Are Andy and Serge still with him?

Divingniknaks · April 6th, 2006, 01:12 AM

Entirely sexist comments follows (I blame the 1664)

That has to be the best looking "Gas Monkey" I've ever seen.

@ John

Please cancel the planned cheque delivery run on Saturday by David M and substitute said lady !

OK, I'll find the coatstand myself as I leave

NickB · April 6th, 2006, 09:49 AM

Quote: (Originally Posted by JohnKendall)

Which Piccie?

That's a good-looking picture of you in your profile John. Who's the bald-headed bloke sat next to you

*JohnKendall* · April 6th, 2006, 11:17 AM

Quote: (Originally Posted by Mariiie)

Mike is probably still running the dive centre. What about his staff? Are Andy and Serge still with him?

Yeah, Mike is still running the place. Andy is still there, don't think I've ever met a Serge, but we do tend to go right at the beginning of the season (we tend to be the first group to visit).

J

*JohnKendall* · April 6th, 2006, 11:18 AM

Quote: (Originally Posted by NickB)

That's a good-looking picture of you in your profile John. Who's the bald-headed bloke sat next to you

Oi!

You know that shineys from Mods have more effect, well the same is true for non-shineys.

J

April 3rd, 2006, 09:13 PM	#1 (permalink)
JohnKendall(Offline) GUE Instructor/DIRX Moderator Join Date: Nov 2005 Location: Cambridge, UK Posts: 1,100	Training Trip to Porthkerris Not really a DIR trip report, but kind of, and I hope some of you might be interested. Each year my club (www.cuueg.org.uk) take it's new trainees for their first taste of real diving (as in outside of a pool) to cornwall for a week, at the end of March. The dates are basically set by the University term times, and so we don't really get much say in it. This is why this year we ended up with pants weather and enormous tides. It is quite hard to balance DIR principles and BSAC training procedures, however I think I've now found a good middle ground. I am not going to go into any of the details of how I actually teach any of the skills, as there will always be someone out there who wants to have a dig, so instead I'm going to talk a bit about basic principles. For a long time I've believed that if you can teach someone buoyancy control properly, then all the other skills are easy. We played around with this quite a lot this year, and I think that the trainees that have come through this year's scheme are the best I've seen. So roughly speaking this is how we break down our training: Dive 1 - Buoyancy skills, We do nothing in this dive except float just off the bottom, swim around a bit, and get them to think about breathing (by getting them to take their reg out, and put it back in again) Dive 2 - More Buoyancy, basically the same as Dive 1, just more time to practice what the students are told in the debrief Dive 3 - More Buoyancy, start Mask clearing, start Reg swapping Dive 4 - More Buoyancy, Full mask clearing and Remove/replace, Reg swapping, start AAS Dive 5 - More Buoyancy, More mask Clearing, More Reg swapping (inc Mod S), AAS and AAS Ascents Dive 5 - All of the above, plus start CBL (Grips, Mini lift, but not a full lift) Dive 6 - All the above, plus Full CBLs Dive 7 - Experience Dive, S-drill to begin with, then a dive with students leading, 2 minute stop at 6m on ascent. This is basically what we did, however our first 2 days were blown out, and we swapped dives 6 and 7 (we had a boat for one of the days, so did Dive 7 off the boat) Porthkerris is quite a good site for openwater training, it has a great fill station on site, it's relatively easy shore diving, but does still have some swell, tides and a surf entry/exit to add excitement. I'll try and put up some photos when I get a chance. Good points about the trip: 12 out of 14 OD trainees are basically finished, 2 SD trainees are well on the way, and our DL trainees gained a whole load of experience Bad points: 5 Instructors and 20 trainees doesn't really work, and I'm knackered now. However it was a fun week, and a lot of my training theories work nicely. __________________ John Kendall http://www.guetraining.com/ GUE Instruction, Santi and Halcyon Equipment NEW - Online Santi Shop

April 5th, 2006, 04:15 PM	#4 (permalink)
JohnKendall(Offline) GUE Instructor/DIRX Moderator Join Date: Nov 2005 Location: Cambridge, UK Posts: 1,100	Quote: (Originally Posted by Little Pete) Sounds like a great teaching and trip idea John. I just checked out your page and found Dave Martin's awesome piccie. Please tell me it's gonna be on his GUE instructor card Which Piccie? J __________________ John Kendall http://www.guetraining.com/ GUE Instruction, Santi and Halcyon Equipment NEW - Online Santi Shop

April 6th, 2006, 01:12 AM	#7 (permalink)
Divingniknaks(Offline) Resident purveyor of shiney kit.... Join Date: Nov 2005 Location: Midlands UK Posts: 1,038	Entirely sexist comments follows (I blame the 1664) That has to be the best looking "Gas Monkey" I've ever seen. @ John Please cancel the planned cheque delivery run on Saturday by David M and substitute said lady ! OK, I'll find the coatstand myself as I leave __________________ Phill ----------------------------- Salvo Lights, DirZone Gear , Frog Wings Dive ? http://www.divingniknaks.com

April 6th, 2006, 09:49 AM	#8 (permalink)
NickB(Offline) Always lowering the tone Join Date: Dec 2005 Location: Cardiff, UK Posts: 341	Quote: (Originally Posted by JohnKendall) Which Piccie? That's a good-looking picture of you in your profile John. Who's the bald-headed bloke sat next to you __________________ SnowHeads / BreastFriends / Free Money!

April 6th, 2006, 11:17 AM	#9 (permalink)
JohnKendall(Offline) GUE Instructor/DIRX Moderator Join Date: Nov 2005 Location: Cambridge, UK Posts: 1,100	Quote: (Originally Posted by Mariiie) Mike is probably still running the dive centre. What about his staff? Are Andy and Serge still with him? Yeah, Mike is still running the place. Andy is still there, don't think I've ever met a Serge, but we do tend to go right at the beginning of the season (we tend to be the first group to visit). J __________________ John Kendall http://www.guetraining.com/ GUE Instruction, Santi and Halcyon Equipment NEW - Online Santi Shop

April 5th, 2006, 12:06 PM	#2 (permalink)
Martin Burnard(Offline) New Member Join Date: Nov 2005 Location: Plymouth, UK Posts: 580	NIce to see the basics being drilled. I am not familiar with BSAC training, nor whether you were paid to instruct, but it would be interesting to know how much it would cost for a course with this sort of regime, and how many people would take it given the other options. I feel diver training/instruction at basic level is undervalued and undersold.... step off the soapbox.... Interesting reading though!

April 5th, 2006, 04:13 PM	#3 (permalink)
Little Pete(Offline) New Member Join Date: Nov 2005 Location: UK Posts: 509	Sounds like a great teaching and trip idea John. I just checked out your page and found Dave Martin's awesome piccie. Please tell me it's gonna be on his GUE instructor card

April 5th, 2006, 10:34 PM	#5 (permalink)
Little Pete(Offline) New Member Join Date: Nov 2005 Location: UK Posts: 509	The lovely clean shaven one of him in twins and a groovy pool shortie wetsuit.

April 5th, 2006, 11:24 PM	#6 (permalink)
Maren(Offline) New Member Join Date: Nov 2005 Location: North of Germany Posts: 80	Hi John, here's one, who is interested... Thanks a lot for the report. I'm really curious about the pictures! We've been to Porthkerris for two weeks two years before and enjoyed diving with them a lot. I was really sorry to read that Mike lost both his parents with just a year in between. Mike is probably still running the dive centre. What about his staff? Are Andy and Serge still with him?

April 6th, 2006, 11:18 AM	#10 (permalink)
JohnKendall(Offline) GUE Instructor/DIRX Moderator Join Date: Nov 2005 Location: Cambridge, UK Posts: 1,100	Quote: (Originally Posted by NickB) That's a good-looking picture of you in your profile John. Who's the bald-headed bloke sat next to you Oi! You know that shineys from Mods have more effect, well the same is true for non-shineys. J __________________ John Kendall http://www.guetraining.com/ GUE Instruction, Santi and Halcyon Equipment NEW - Online Santi Shop