Emergency First Response, Rescue Diver, Oxygen Administration and UK Skills Courses

Well, it happened!!  Read all about it here.

The debate about diver training and skill levels continues - however no-one has yet managed to argue the case that divers shouldn't have rescue training!  I'm PADI AOW with 38 dives, many UK inland and a few UK boat.  I intend to do plenty more UK diving, inland, coastal and boat and probably even a few UKRS trips!  I figured that their must be lots more AOW's like me lurking on UKRS who want to extend their diving skills and get properly immersed in UK diving.

I also reckoned that by getting enough people together we should be able to do the course at reduced cost, as well as possibly getting other skills thrown in too (the PADI AOW/No DSMB training debate also continues albeit slightly one-sidedly!).

Also it will get more UKRS participants up to the right level of training for safe diving in UK waters and the right level to give a solid platform to any further training (Nitrox, Normoxic Trimix,etc.) and most importantly give them the confidence to book on (and maybe organise) some future UKRS trips. 

And this is exactly what has happened!  Thanks to Frank Bruce and Jan van der Horst at Wittering Divers we have a package put together to close the skills gap between PADI AOW and a good standard for independent UK diving.  Including PADI Emergency First Response, PADI Rescue Diver, DAN Oxygen Administration and a tailored session covering UK specific, UK useful or UKRS recommended skills (such as DSMB deployment, rebreather familiarisation and so on).

So if you are interested in taking your diving further, get in touch (calumscott@yahoo.com) and I'll give you all the sign up information.

Dates: The dates for this package will be as follows...

Friday 9th January (evening) - Theory work including parts of EFR required for Rescue Diver.

Saturday 10th and Sunday 11th January - In-water sessions, Rescue Diver and UK Skills.

Saturday 24th January - Remaining theory work and EFR.  (This would have been the 17th but for the fact that Frank and Jan are off to Austria to go Ice-Diving!).

Location: The wet sessions will be at Horsea Island, the dry sessions are to be confirmed but will be close by.

Cost: There are two possibilities, depending on whether you have done PADI EFR or a suitable alternative.  For either option there will be a non-refundable deposit of £100 to cover the cost of the manuals which will be sent to you to complete all the self-directed study prior to the course dates.

Option 1: Everything!

Includes:-

PADI Emergency First Response, course materials and PIC

PADI Rescue Diver, course materials and PIC

DAN Oxygen Administration, course materials and certification

UK Skills training (which I understand will be under the guise of a PADI Discover Local Diving course)

Entry to Horsea Island

Cost: £235

Option 2: EFR Not required

Includes:-

PADI Rescue Diver, course materials and PIC

DAN Oxygen Administration, course materials and certification

UK Skills training (which I understand will be under the guise of a PADI Discover Local Diving course)

Entry to Horsea Island

Cost: £190

Neither option includes accommodation, food or beer.  Should you need accommodation let me know and I'll figure something out.

UK Skills:  The UK Skills course is quite flexible, details of what we are going to get will be posted here once we decide what they will be.  If there is anything you would like to see in the course let me know.

- SMB and DSMB use.

- Buddying a Rebreather Diver

- Rebreather rescue

Prerequisites:

- PADI Advanced Open Water Certification

A drysuit is _not_ a prerequisite for the course but I can guarantee that if you attempt to dive Horsea Island in January in a wetsuit or semidry you will give up diving on the spot (or just go and buy a drysuit).  Jan has offered, for anyone who doesn't have drysuit training or experience, to do the speciality for £99 and if you do this with them they will do a free drysuit rental for the Rescue Diver course.

Extras:  Jan can also offer the following extras:-

PADI Distinctive Certification Oxygen Administration -  £15.

PADI Emergency First Response Video - £15.

PADI Deluxe Emergency First Response Binder - £TBC

Pocket Mask - £TBC

Other Stuff:

- Frank has promised some form of entertainment on the Saturday night (I take _absolutely_ no responsibility for what this might be).

The following people have expressed their interest in the course:

And the following people have, oddly enough, volunteered as "victims", heaven only knows why...

Richard "Tricky" - photography

Dominic Humphries

Dave Appleby

Peter Steggle - Closed Circuit Rebreather (Hunting Dave)

Simon North-Keeling - Closed Circuit Rebreather

Interested?: Either in being on the course or just coming along to dive, be a victim (you must be at least PADI RD or equivalent and able to rescue yourself should a student get it wrong), take photos or whatever then email me calumscott@yahoo.com.