Thanks to our instructor Andy, for taking the time to take a second team in for their Wreck Appreciation SDC practical! He has given up a lot of time for this course! Cheers Andy!!

As #volunteersweek comes to a close we just want to recognise all our instructors, assistant instructors, committee members, trip organisers, compressor fillers, cake makers and all the others who go into making our branch awesome and vibrant. This week we competed SP2 Basic Life Support with 12 branch members.

….and while some of our club were up in sunny St. Abbs (previous post) … Team 1 of the Wreck Appreciation SDC group were at Capernwray, doing an underwater survey on the ‘Ted Tandy’.
Apparently, the TT refused to show itself initially, but was eventually found… the Team then set about completing various tasks which they had all planned ahead.
All in all a good day with objectives achieved.
The proof will be in the final site sketch….
Team 1: Sam, Steve Tayor, Steve Tiff and Lee.
Thanks to Andy for instructing!
Team 2 next, in a couple of weeks!!

What a weekend!!!!!! 5 of our newly qualified ocean divers took their first giant strides into the UK sea in some glorious weather out of St Abbs at the weekend. In addition two sports diver trainees had the opportunity to lead dives and do a bit of dive management (also known as cat herding!!). Dive leader trainees using the opportunity to develop their skills and grown to be role models for the future. Our thanks to all the instructors who helped supervise, to our friends from Salford Uni branch and Sheffield branch showing how BSAC - British Sub-Aqua Club really is the biggest scuba club in the world. We were also really excited to see that this trip included 6 women and 5 men - something not often seen but great to see the female presence growing in our sport!

At the weekend, some of our club headed over to the Hyperperbaric Treatment and Training Centre over on the Wirral for a 40m ‘pot’ dive (which is a dry dive where you get to experience serious nitrogen narcosis in a safe environment)

Starting with a very informative talk from the Centre Operator Dave Adcock on the science behind, and the difficulties in, treating DCI (Decompression Illness), this was followed by a facilities tour by Jen, the centre’s Operations Manager. It’s an amazing medical facility able to cope with any and all situations.

After the tour, it was into the pot!

Once in, we descended to 40m and then the merriment began as everyone sounded like they were breathing helium at these depths - due to the thicker gas. Funny enough at the best of times, but with the narcotic effect making everyone feel like they were drunk, it was hilarious!!

After a minute, at the bottom (40 metres) we started the test we were given to do. This is where things get serious as you realise just how impaired your cognitive abilities are when you get ‘nitrogen narcosis’ (aka ‘narked’ or ‘raptures of the deep’).
Simple things become difficult - if not impossible - to do…. a dangerous situation underwater should quick thinking be required.

It certainly highlights the need to be breathing the best gases possible to combat the effects of nitrogen in our air when diving at depth.

But we all returned to the ‘surface’ safely after a few decompression stops, and followed the fab experience with a bite to eat in a local pub before heading back over the Pennines.

A top day and a great experience!

If you’d like to join us on our next adventure, drop us a line today to start your scuba diving journey!!
#bsac #LeedsScubaClub