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Arrogance and Ego’s.

The diving fraternity appears to be littered with small minded people with huge ego’s and totally arrant. Why?

It is with some, not all, divers get to Dive Master or Instructor and they know it all. God’s gift to scuba diving.

Look around the diving lakes, you will see some example of it. At Divecrew we are the UK’s only Gold Star Dive Centre awarded for our work and commitment to Adaptive Teaching. Almost 12 years dedication to Deptherapy.

Divecrew prides itself on working with all divers in a respectful manner putting the client at centre focus. We see some horrendous attitudes.  Here is a few examples:-

Bi lateral amputee, above and below the knee becomes a Dive Master. Instructor comments on face book stating a breach of standards as the guy cannot do a Giant Stride.

Triple amputee learning to scuba dive, Instructor states, ‘I appreciate your situation’. No you don’t not when you are not a triple amputee and have all your limbs.

Three ocean diver students are in the water. Instructor sat on the back of his car with no kit on, shouting across the car park, at the three students to do a weight check.

A nervous open water student, is hesitating at attempting a giant stride entry into deep water. The instructor pushed the student into the water from behind. Needless to say the student was very upset.

Remember instructors know BEST.

Sometimes professionals actually forget what is was like when they first got into the water. It is all alien, it is challenging, certainly in the UK with dry suits, cold water and poor viz. Your student is a paying client and needs to be respected as a client but also for any adaptive needs.

Divecrew are specialists at Adaptive Teaching. Our pro’s are monitored and assessed. Any issue with a course is fully investigated with the pro team. Why? Because we want ever improving standards, we want divers to be comfortable and safe. We want our pro team being customer focused. We want our pro team to adapt to the needs of individual students.

If you want to know more about our Adaptive Teaching contact Divecrew on 01344 771113

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Staycation or Overseas Diving

2021 is going to be a great year, diving, right here in the UK. Divecrew are already working on overseas trips, subject to Covid and air corridors. Get Hammered is always a popular trip to the Red Sea and 2021 will see the brand new luxury boat being used by Divecrew. But, we also dive the UK. Shore and boat dives. Sea and inland lakes.

As well as these overseas trips like Get Hammered, Divecrew are investing lots of time and effort into diving in the UK. There are some incredible places to dive and not all inland lakes either. Here is just a few sea dives: Swanage Pier – shallow water diving circa 6 metres great for new divers. Chesil Beach – an easy shore dive with circa 12 metres maximum depth, again great for new divers wanting to cut their teeth. Lundy and Farnes – ever popular with our Divecrew Divers. Boat dives with normally the first very shallow circa 6-8 metres. Why so shallow? Well when the divers get in the water all the seals know it is playtime. A truly incredible experience and the reason it sells out quickly. Porthkerris – boat dives circa 25 metres maximum depth. Includes wrecks, pinacles and an amazing ‘river’ dives (shallow circa 6 metres) collecting scallops.

Divecrew also have inland lake opportunities for divers pleasure diving and or lessons. Wraysbury near Heathrow is fairly shallow with platforms around 4 to 7 metres and lots of attractions. Vobster is deeper circa 35 metres, again with lots of underwater attractions. Or the NDAC Chepstow (National Diving and Activity Centre) with a maximum depth of 75 metres and tons of attractions to keep divers amused. In some locations one can expect good visibility to be circa 6 to 8 metres.

So cold water diving or should we say COOL diving. You can dive all year in the UK. However, 5mm wet suits may be okay for short dives in the summer, but, to be really comfortable and safe you need to be a dry suit diver. Hypothermia is not good for divers.

Divecrew have a range school rental suits or you splash out with a made to measure suit. Want to stay on a tighter budget? Check out the dive centres SALE RAIL. Just check with the dive centre and or the on line shop. Some incredible dry suits and incredible prices. Quality Scubapro, Aqualung or Typhoon suits reduced in price.

Diving in the UK makes diving overseas a real walk in the park. Buoyancy is pivotal to good diving and being a motor skill, the only way to be good is constant practice. Being in the water regularly makes everyting second nature.

The UK trips do invlove a cost as the boat has to be paid and there is your accommodation. Some UK trips like Swanage and Chesil have a very small fee as they are shore dives. Inland lakes have local fees for diver entry.

Divecrew will post on the web site and Facebook the list of overseas and UK diving opportunities. Divecrew state the diving conditions and recommendation on diving certification levels. Divecrew pleasure dives are always led by a Divecrew Professional. The professional is not there to teach, but, at divecrew we do look after our own divers.

Check out the various options and become a Divecrew Diver.

The Video below is Vobster Quay.

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Should I Own My Own Dive Kit Or Just Hire?

This is a question that Divecrew often gets asked.  Some customers come into our shop and say “it’s cheaper to just hire”.

Do you know that initially they are right it is cheaper, but is that the only measure that you are working on?

Benefits of hiring dive kit

You have more room in your luggage.  If you are travelling long haul, most airlines give you ample luggage room, but some shorter haul destinations are a bit miserly.  But did you know if you say you are a diver some airlines give you extra free luggage allowance.  You also avoid any servicing charges on regulators. To keep your regulators in tip top form you do need to ensure they are fully serviced in line with manufacturers requirements.  In my opinion those are the key benefits for hiring kit.

 

Benefits of Purchasing your own kit

The most significant is the fact that your kit will fit you correctly, it’s always better to visit your local dive store to seek professional advice while trying equipment on.

All too often we see people who have purchased products which are inexpensive, ill-fitting, not fit for purpose online and have had to deal with the hassle of trying to re-coup costs, time and effort sending something back overseas.

Once you have your own kit you become familiar with it and instinctively know how to use it. Adjustment settings on regulators, location of octos, clips and gauges, subtle additions of air into your BCD and finally correct weighting with your equipment.

Another major benefit of taking your own, is that you cannot guarantee the quality of the kit you are going to hire overseas. We often we hear stories of poorly serviced hire kit causing divers an issue. Or they don’t have the size you need, so you must compromise.  Most certainly they will only have unisex kit. Female BCDS will fit women better in the right places, and hire centres are unlikely to be able to offer you these.

Examples of kit defects we have seen about include:

  • Rust from the inside of 15l cylinders being drawn into the regulators causing a rust deposit being produced inside, and probably in the lungs too.
  • A cracked first stage.
  • Burst high pressure hoses.
  • Leaking bladders in the BCD.
  • Faulty regs that are not allowing sufficient air at depth.
  • Spiders crawling out of a regulator Second stage because they are not stored properly
  • And of course you now have the issue of Covid. Do you really want to share a set of regulators that 10’s of people have had in their mouth prior to yours!!!

These are but a few of the issues we have heard of or physically seen.  Some of our clients would never hire again.

If you are a travel diver there is light weight kit out there, travel BCD, travel regulators, travel fins meaning that your weight limit with these gems in your luggage is kept to a minimum.

There are also amazing colours, so everything can match and blend- an important requirement particularly for us ladies.

Ultimately you are using life support kit.  You need to be 100% comfortable with the kit you are using, in what is an alien environment to us, can you guarantee this when you are using a 3rd parties equipment?

Our recommendation is purchase your own.  You will be surprised at some of the costs associated.  With some rentals it only takes 2-3 hires to have purchased the cost of a new set of dive kit.

We would also recommmend purchasing DIN regulators rather than relyiong on a compression fit of an o’ring of a Yoke or A Clamp. I have seen diver spend ages trying to find an insert on holiday with a descent o’ring and I have witnessed an o’ring blowing on a dive when over 10 metres down.

Have peace of mind and dive safe- Get your own.

Have a look at some of the Divecrew Packages available in store today.

https://shop.divecrew.smoothconcept.co.uk/shop/divecrew-2012/en/

 

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Psychology and Scuba

At Divecrew we try not to teach divers as a homogenous group. Everyone is different. So how did we get to the this point? Well first thing is we challenge some agencies as they tend to turn our “sheep” instructors. Instructors being professional should use a range of skills and techniques so that every diver student can be taught in comfort and safety. Working with Deptherapy and injured troops heightened our senses to the individual needs of the divers. The “sheep” mentality is challenged as to what is a technique and what is a standard. For example many instructors talk of a giant stride as a deep water entry. So what is the best entry for a student? The easiest! Simple. The standards state a deep water entry not a giant stride.

When working with the troops, some of whom have missing limbs, it is seen so often that instructors know best. Normally the instructors do not have limbs missing. Therefore, one cannot put themselves in that students place. Sometimes the instructor has to state the output and ask the student how they think they can best achieve it.

Divecrew have been fortunate to work with an autistic group. Many wrote the group off stating scuba was just too much for them. Wrong! The students completed their open water but a miraculous change happened. At the beginning the students were withdrawn. We struggled to get them to participate. Eventually the barriers went down. By the end of the training, the students were laughing and joking with the team. Their confidence went through the roof.

So do we deploy different tactics. Yes we do. Divecrew are multi-agency and believe no one agency has it completely right. PADI, SSI, RAID and BSAC. So what our senior instructors do is work with the agencies standards then add value to the course by supplementing skills and training techniques. Our speciality courses are enhanced giving any diver more value, more skills, more understanding. Once the senior team agree on a skill, the skill and technique is cascaded down through professional master classes. These free classes for Divecrew professionals teach skills, techniques and control. We discuss the psychology of scuba and students. Everything possible is undertaken to ensure our students re well trained and at all times feel safe. We undertake our own Quality Assurance through the senior professionals. So regardless of the course being taught, a Master Instructors may show up to observe. When we have new instructors, they must go through an internship. Unfortunately too many instructors believe once they have the ticket they have the right to teach. Some lapse into bad habits. Some become complacent. Some out of date and out of touch. Unlike some other sports, scuba instructors do not have to have annual assessments to ensure they are up to date and technically correct.

Divecrew believe agencies should do more to teach instructors adaptive methods and how to treat divers as individuals. The psychology of scuba should be a pivotal component in the instructor candidates development. Blindly following a set powerpoint and or a slate, is not conducive to teaching professionally. It makes a mockery of being “Professional Educators”.

So our advice. If your chosen dive centre do not treat you with respect and as an individual, find another dive centre.

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BSAC Fast Track Centre

We may have been locked down but Divecrew have not stopped innovating. The country’s first commercial BSAC Fast Track Centre is Divecrew. Working closely with BSAC, you can complete you Ocean Diver with Divecrew and return to the BSAC fold trained to dive. Divecrew are used to delivering courses through paid instructors. A typical open water student takes three weekends to complete. This includes theory, confined water and open water. So cutting the time does this mean cutting the quality. No. In short we operate small groups of student divers. We operate with senior instructors. Divecrew is the UK’s only Gold Star IDC Centre. Quality is our ethos our mantle our reputation. We do not take it lightly.

To find out more contact Divecrew working in partnership with BSAC.

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Part 1: Christine Grosart

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Time for change

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Gold Star?

So what is this Gold Star? Divecrew is the UK’s only Gold Star Dive Centre. This was awarded to Divecrew for the work they do in Adaptive Teaching. Divecrew works with veterans of Afghanistan and Iraq that have suffered life changing injuries. PTSD, missing limbs, broken back etc. Using scuba diving as a means of helping rehabilitate, adaptive is about finding ways to certify divers regardless of their physical or mental challenge. Previously PADI, now RAID, different techniques are used to ensure the diver meets all the requirements.

Divecrew Master Instructor Martin has worked with a number of triple amputees and was the instructor using adaptive teaching to certify the worlds first PADI Rescue Diver – triple amputee.

Divecrew have taken years of adaptive teaching experience and also used these skills in the local community. A pilot study of seven Autistic young adults took place despite lots of ‘they cannot do that’ and the usual risk management and health and safety.  Out of the seven students six passed their full open water completing their deep dives right here in the UK.

Divecrew have taught partially sighted, profoundly deaf, MS sufferers, non weight bearing, paraplegic and students with learning challenges.

Martin said, ‘Never under estimate these challenged divers. Instructors do not know best, ask the diver how they think they can achieve mastery of a skill. I worked with one guy who had a through the shoulder amputation. He was strong as an ox. He could tie his shoe laces and his tie one handed. Above all, think outside the box! Most of our pro team are adaptive. Our senior instructors are very experienced in working with challenged divers. It is not some tick box exercise. Our training and techniques makes any instructor much better. This is not about some role play tick in the box’.

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