Safety Culture - diving in the zone
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“Thank [beep] for that! How lucky were we? We better not do that again.
Don’t tell anyone though, we don’t want to look like amateurs...”
Tech and Training
Technical Diving & Training
Section
Out of Air with Plenty to Breathe
Take responsibility for opening your own cylinder valve before a dive. If someone else wants to do it for you or touches it to check it is open, politely refuse.
It was a beautiful day in Indonesia’s Banda Sea. Richard rolled back into the warm waters and swam over to join his wife, Florence. After exchanging signals, they descended together, heading for a patch of bright yellow sea fans on the reef wall at 30m, where their guide had promised to show them pygmy seahorses. The guide was already there below, searching for the elusive little creatures.
RESA and RTC are in concord over training standards
Prior to this meeting the Rebreather Education and Safety Association (RESA) and the Rebreather Training Council (RTC) had been having a robust active discussion about industry-wide rebreather training standards. It seemed sensible therefore to take the opportunity for the two organisations to find a common path forward.
Mark Caney from PADI and the RTC stated "The key item to come out of this meeting was an agreement for a joint committee to look at standards issued by both organisations, and work objectively towards harmonisation of standards.
Thailand Cave Rescue: Brit cave divers report "gnarly diving"
The Cave
This cave system runs for many miles underground and is explorable from November to June. It is prone to seasonal flooding during the monsoon months: June to October. Apparently there are warning signs discouraging visits during the rainy season.
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The moment the group are found
This is the transcript of the conversation between Rick Stanton, John Volanthen and the trapped children.
John: How many of you [are there]?
Children: Thirteen
John: Thirteen? Brilliant!
John: There's two of us.... we had to dive.
John: We're coming, it's ok. Many people are coming. We are the first.
Children ask what day it is
John: Monday. One week and Monday. You have been here 10 days. You are very strong, very strong.
Exley's 'Blueprint' Available for Free
The booklet had ten chapters that covered various topics including the guideline, air supply planning, panic, lights, emergency procedures and physiological emergencies.
Since it was published Blueprint has certainly saved lives.
Training vs Experience
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Andrey Bizyukin
“Experience is what you get when you don't get what you want.” It is an old and well-worn phrase, but is it true?
Leadership Rescue Workshop Series to be Launched in Bimini, March 2018
The Leadership Rescue Workshops are open to any certified dive leader, including divemasters, assistant instructors and instructors from other agencies.
The workshop is designed to teach the most effective, state-of-the-art diving rescue techniques in a rigorous three-day program conducted by Course Directors Walt “Butch” Hendrick (NAUI 1724) and Andrea Zafares (NAUI 10533) of Team LGS, the most globally recognized authority in diving rescue and public safety diver training and education.
Achieving Our Teaching Objectives
Diving instruction has standards, qualifications, materials, governing bodies and best practices. So why do we see such poor examples of diving practice? Why do so many new divers struggle with basic skills? Why do tech divers forget some key techniques? Is it poor instruction or something else?
RTC publishes first standard
This first standard is called "RTC Rebreather Diver Level 1," and it delineates a stage in a diver’s development where he or she is trained to dive with a rebreather to a maximum depth of 30m (100ft) with no planned stage decompression stops, and without supervision by an instructor or divemaster.
This standard will make it easier to compare certifications from different agencies, and is intended to be followed by others later.1
The Swimming / Diving Disconnect
You must walk before you can run, so why do so few dive centres teach people how to swim before they learn to dive?
Task Fixation
When divers on technical dives become task-fixated, critical cues that warn divers that their broader attention is needed can be missed. Psychologist and technical diver, Matt Jevon, discusses the effects and dangers of flow and task fixation in diving.