The Coventry Sub Aqua Club held a successful practical rescue management course this month, leading several divers to learn the skills necessary to manage rescues and emergencies and other divers to gain new qualifications.

Meeting at Stoney Cove one Saturday in November, a group of divers came together to practice managing the rescue of casualties from incidents in open water. Our trainees faced a range of mock incidents, from divers suffering the effects of suspected decompression illness to divers not returning from their dives.

In between mock rescues, divers had opportunities to go over lessons with instructors or to go on dives around Stoney Cove to develop their experience of certain conditions or depths.

By the end of the day, several divers had progressed with their Dive Leader qualifications; two divers had finished their Dive Leader qualifications; and one diver completed his Advanced Diver qualification.

Several divers from the group returned to Stoney Cove for more diving and lessons under supervision. We were also joined by Coventry’s first two Ocean Diver trainees of the year, who dived in open water for the first time.

Over the weekend, we were joined by several guests from the University of Warwick Sub Aqua Club. Many of these divers have now become members of the Coventry club. We look forward to diving with them again next year.

We are also grateful to club members who came along to support us from the shore, marshalling, helping with heavy equipment and also mucking in as actors in our mock rescues.