Taking it steady...

It is really exciting to hear that we will all be able to visit the underwater world again soon. This most recent lockdown has been my longest gap between dives in over 30 years, and I am certainly really looking forward to breaking this "drought."

However, I think it is worth mentioning a few key safety points before we all dive back in. This is generic advice, so not all off it will apply to everyone, but please feel free to take those bits that are relevant to you.

1. Water Temperature

Most of us will be doing our first post lockdown dives at inland dive sites. These offer ideal conditions for our re-entry, but it is important to note their water is at its absolute coldest in late March/early April. Typically this will be around 4°C (fresh still water doesn't really get colder than this). The BCU suggests that immersion in this gives only 15-30 minutes before the victim becomes exhausted or unconscious, albeit with individuals that are not wearing any protective equipment.

Of course, we wear exposure protection when we are diving, and this allows us to operate in relatively low water temperatures without becoming hypothermic. This assumes that you are wearing the correct equipment and it is functioning correctly. Putting up with a leaky drysuit may just be uncomfortable in summer, but can be physically dangerous when the water is cold. My own belief, and I should stress that this is mine alone, is that wetsuits of any description do not provide sufficient thermal protection at these temperatures, and should not be considered adequate.

During more normal times, most of us that dive over the winter dive throughout the year and will have been diving as water temperatures dropped. The lockdown has prevented this and we will not be acclimatized. Expect the water to feel physiologically colder and plan shorter dives until your internal "thermostat" adjusts.

Lastly, in our previous normal times, we could escape inclement weather and rewarm post-dive in the excellent facilities at Capernwray. Social distancing rules now prevent this and we need to be more self-sufficient. Practically, travel in your undersuit to avoid needing to change outside. Consider bringing extra warm clothes, and be prepared to curtail any subsequent dives if you cannot get warm.

2. Equipment Issues

Most of us are aware that breathing from our regulators at the surface in cold weather will often cause free flows. This is true even with regulators that are designed to work in very cold water. In general, it is best practice to avoid doing so. Similarly, avoiding using the second stages' purge buttons, either on the surface or underwater, prior to or during the dive can help prevent ice from forming. Any activity that causes the gas to flow faster in the breathing system is potentially problematic when water and air temperatures drop.

While on the subject, not all regulators are designed to work in cold waters, and some work better than others. Please check that yours is suitable!

Regulators require an annual service. This is because the first stage seals using a soft polymer seat that is pushed onto a metal cone by spring pressure. This spring pushes whether the regular is used or not and can cause scoring on the soft seat. This allows pressure to "leak" past the HP seat and increases the pressure downstream, which ultimately will force open the second stage, causing a freeflow. Most of us have had an enforced hiatus from diving, but unfortunately, our regulators will still need servicing before we venture underwater with them again.

3. Mental and Physical Readiness

It is inevitable that ALL our skills degrade if they are not used. Our brains and bodies automatically retain the most relevant information that they need to carry out tasks while discarding infrequently or less recently used motor skills and knowledge. Logically, we all know this as if we practice something long and often enough, it becomes automatic, but we are often slower to recognize that when we stop practicing, we lose this.

This is directly relevant due to our lack of recent diving. How we deal with this will vary from individual to individual. A diver with a lot of experience will lose skills less quickly than an experienced diver. There is some evidence that even with experienced divers, rarely used skills (which typically describes most emergency skills) that are not regularly practiced will still fade.

If you do not have the specific skills needed to dive safely in these extreme conditions, you need to seek out training. The obvious example here is using a drysuit, but this could also include dealing with reduced visibility, surface temperatures, and more complicated dive planning. It may be the case that you may feel safer diving with an instructor for a few dives to get you back into it.

So, it boils down to you carrying out an honest self-assessment of your ability to carry out a dive safely. This needs to include whether you have the skill currency to deal with an emergency, should one arise during the dive. If the answer is no, then either modify your dive plans or seek some kind of structured refresher.

It is interesting to note that most instructors have not been teaching over the lockdown, and their instructing skills (along with their diving ones) will need some refreshing. In this circumstance, perhaps we should choose to teach courses that are less demanding until the fluency returns?

Of course, where agency standards or procedures apply, these would supersede any advice above.

So where does that all leave us at the end of March? The best advice is to ensure that you take your return to dive seriously. You will be diving in very cold water, which in itself, is a very challenging environment. You will probably not have dived for some time and the key skills that you would need in the event of an emergency are likely to be rusty. Your dive planning needs to take all this into account and be conservative.

You owe it to yourself and your enjoyment of our wonderful activity to load the deck in your favor by ensuring you wear adequate exposure protection, plan shorter dives, and make sure your skills are current enough to deal with any issues that might arise.

Lastly, be prepared to end the dive for any reason...you can always come back another day. The “thumbs up” signal does not mean go up, it signals to end the dive, and we should always feel that we can use it in any circumstance, and not be required to justify why we have done so.

Enjoy your return to the underwater world!

Some thoughts on learning to dive

If you are planning to learn to dive, the choices and advice that are available can make this seemingly simple decision overwhelmingly complex.

Initially perhaps, you are presented with a bewildering array of initials that represent training agencies, each of whom presents themselves as being your best choice. There will also be economic decisions to make as training packages are all differently presented and priced. 

It is important to recognize that most people only undergo any training course once. Please bear in mind that while personal recommendation is a good criteria, people will suggest where they trained without any objective comparison. 

So, how do you make sense of all this and make an informed choice? 

Let's remove agency choices from the beginning. All well known training agencies will have developed an effective way of educating divers. The fact that you are reading this blog shows that you are researching your choices, and if you haven't heard of the agency that an instructor or dive center is recommending, that would suggest that they are not well known. 

Far more important is the quality of the instruction that you will receive. This revolves around the dive center and/or instructor that you chose.

Learning anything new requires education. Whilst it is important for instructors to be skilled divers, this is of secondary importance in this instance to them being skilled educators. They are there to train you to dive. Years and years spent diving will enhance any instructor's abilities, but it is perhaps more critical to evaluate how much teaching they have done in their careers.

How do they run their courses? In our experience, it is preferable for there to be hands-on personal instruction. Whilst it is entirely possible to obtain key information in an online learning environment, it offers no options to discuss any issues raised, or to provide specific individual guidelines. For this reason, we recommend that theory training incorporates sessions with an educatorlr.  

Instructors should center the educational process around what you need, rather than their convenience (or economics). This cuts both ways, in that you may need to be prepared to spend longer learning than you perhaps anticipate. For example, part of any learning process involves repetition, abbreviating this reduces course times, but equally reduces the effectiveness of the training. Whilst agencies will often allow for high student to instructor ratios or elearning to replace contact time, logic dictates that more individual time spent with an instructor is beneficial. However, low ratios and increased training time inevitably results in more cost.

To conclude, the process of learning to dive is an educational one and its effectiveness is directly attributable to the skill  of the instructor. To get the most from your diving course, you should seek out dive centers and instructors committed to providing a learning experience that gives you the time and supervision needed to make you a confident and competent diver.