Coventry Sub Aqua Club returned to Stoney Cove this month to run another Practical Rescue Management course for trainees taking the BSAC Dive Leader course.

On Saturday and Sunday, under the supervision of instructors from Coventry Sub Aqua Club and the University of Warwick Sub Aqua Club, trainees participated in a series of mock rescues, each requiring their own response, ranging from a little tender loving care to the administration of oxygen and basic life support to unconscious casualties.

Organising the event was Peter, a Dive Leader trainee who is a member of both clubs. Peter proposed the event and invited members of the clubs to get involved.

Instructors from Coventry Sub Aqua Club planned various rescue scenarios, based on the BSAC Incident Report, released every year, and their own knowledge and experience of real-life incidents.

As is common, the carefully-constructed plans for the weekend’s activities went out the window when the group arrived at Stoney Cove first thing on Saturday morning only to hear that Peter, who was carrying almost all of our scuba gear and safety equipment, had had an accident on his journey. Thankfully, Peter joined us at midday, Coventry’s instructors hastily redrew plans and the rescue scenarios no longer depended on trainees’ imagination and mime-acting!

Our instructors also taught several other lessons on the Dive Leader course, some of which involved practicing leading less-experienced divers, rescuing divers whose air supply has been exhausted or who have been incapacitated underwater.

By the end of the day, several members of the University of Warwick branch had made great progress towards the completion of their Dive Leader qualifications and several newly-qualified Open Water Instructors of Coventry Sub Aqua Club had opportunities to get stuck into teaching.

Diving at Stoney Cove this weekend was chilly but relatively relaxed. While the Dive Leader trainees practised their rescues, our new Chairman and Secretary, Ben and Tony, enjoyed two fun dives on Saturday, looking around the underwater structures dotted about the quarry at a depth of around 20m.