BSAC OWIC June 11, 2007
Posted by chris in : Uncategorized , add a commentThe Open Water Instructor Course (OWIC) is the second half of BSAC’s instructor development program. It builds on the pool work and teaches you to instruct in open water. Once again it was organised by our regional coach, Laurent and we were looking forward to seeing him again. This time however, I ended up with National Instructor Brian and Kelly with NI Jeff. So new faces and us working apart for the first time in a long while.
After a short lecture in the morning we set off to the lake near Heidelberg for the practical training. By the time we got there the air con was running hard on the car and the outside temp nearly 30. The lake was surrounded by Germans of all shapes and sizes sunbathing and swimming plus a couple of groups of divers already there. We were warned to take everything we needed as the kiosk closed for lunch and if you left something in the car you couldn’t get back in. So in boiling heat and drysuits we lugged everything through the gate and onto the bank. Job number one - jump in and cool off.
The first lesson was to be compass work. Great. In 30C heat with a kit bag over your head walking out in a drysuit…. Brian demonstrated the lesson for us to see the correct teaching techniques. Sadly the guy was a bit nearsighted and missed the fact the distant object we all had to take bearings of was a topless sunbather. She was about 5 degrees South of Brian’s intended object but oddly enough all three of us ended up with the same bearing to walk towards.
First up of us trainees was Lukas. His lesson was AAS. His English wasn’t brilliant and you could see the stress was making him struggle a little bit more at the same time. Brian was good and calmed things down. After Lukas’ brief and dry run we entered the cool water - a relief from the baking sun. The lake bottom was silty and we soon had vis down to a meter pulling and tugging at each others octopus and generally making a bollocks of things.
At the debrief Brian was quick to reassure us and point out what the issues were. Trying to do too much in the available time was the big sin. I was next, would I learn from this and not make the same mistake? No. Of course not.
I got the oro-nasal rescue breaths and unconscious diver tow. Laurent had demoed the rescue breaths on the IFC so it was gonna be easy. Err no. After a few moments Brian intervened and “my” lesson soon became his. As it turned out Brian was a paramedic and so all three of us got a fantastic lesson in extending the neck properly and the proper way to do this critical skill. If you extend the neck properly the “casualty” cannot swallow. Its instant feedback if you are doing it right. It is really difficult. But the light came on and at the end of the session all three of us got there.
The last lesson was rushed as the sky had darkened and the expected thunderstorm was clearly visible in the distance. We rushed through DSMB deployment and all the “sports diver trainees” suddenly had a skill level a bit suspiciously high. Nonetheless the inclusion of a dry run made us all realise how vitally important that part of teaching is. Your slate is your friend, the dry run your buddy. It had come together and we had all learned huge amounts about teaching, diving and about ourselves.
Back in the classroom for the debrief before some welcome beer and the evening’s barbecue and a recap on what we had learned. What makes a good instructor? Think, they said, of someone who impressed you and why. I thought about the people that taught me to dive. Only two have ever really impressed me. Laurent on the IFC and Brian, that same day on the OWIC. 20 years of diving and it has come to this - I have ended up a bloody BSACer.
