I had planned to take the Rescue Diver course sometime in the spring since I had heard a lot about it and people had spoken highly of it. I decided to take it earlier for a few reasons. One was that I was doing so much diving. The chances of coming across a rescue situation were a lot higher. Two, Kyle convinced me to join in. There were not that many who had signed up. Three, the next rescue course might have conflicted with the GUE Fundamentals class that I want to take in February. Four, I wasn't doing anything else that week!
In the end, taking this combined with the prerequisite Emergency First Response course, as well as finishing the Nitrox course meant that I had a lot of studying going on for several weeks. I'm glad it was finally over! Now I could get back to reading some of the GUE material that I had on the go. The class work for the Rescue Diver wasn't too bad. Every session we'd head to the pool for some confined-water practice of the skills we learned about after reviewing some material in class. I think I spent a week going through the book and answering questions in preparation for the written exam. I'm sure that was over-kill, but I figured you weren't just there to pass, but to learn about how to save someone. The more you know, the better I figured.
There were two pool sessions for us. They kind of ran together in terms of what I can remember. Fun things I remember were doing the different diver carries, bringing an unconscious diver up from the bottom, dealing with a panicked diver and practicing out of air situations. We had quite a few laughs in the pool, really.
Saturday was what I really looked forward to, since we'd be out in the ocean practicing the same things. The day was very sunny, but windy and cold! There was also a huge tidal exchange (16 feet or so), and the current out past the bay was just ripping along. Even in the bay at Whytecliff things looked a bit rough. I'd never seen the tide up so high, either. An open water class was going out that day too, I felt sorry for them!
I also felt sorry for myself, since I had spent a lot of the evening agonizing over gear choices. From all I'd heard, with the dragging and carrying and lifting, your gear took a lot of abuse during the course. So, I had rented a drysuit to use instead of my regular TLS350. The boots on my regular suit were designed for range of motion and not durability, so I didn't fancy putting a hole in them. Especially since I planned to go to Tuwanek diving the next day! However, that meant that the rental suit didn't have drygloves, and I'd need to use wetsuit gloves. I also didn't put on my regular thinsulate undergarment because I wanted it to be dry and in good shape for the dive the next day. I wasn't quite sure if the layers I had on, or the wetsuit gloves would keep me warm enough. In the end, it wasn't too bad, though. Also, I probably should have just worn my regular suit. There wasn't nearly as much equipment abuse as I thought there'd be.
Kyle was being assisted by Vince, and there was myself, Jason, and two others named Neal and Dan. Kyle was looking pretty tired and not overly happy about being out in such cold temperatures. He also ended up forgetting to put on his thinsulate booties, so his feet slowly froze throughout the day making him more cranky. Too bad for him! He and Vince spent more time in the water than the rest of us though, so it wasn't surprising that he got cold.
Dan was in wetsuit gloves too, and Neal's drysuit gloves failed so he was basically in wetsuit gloves too. Not a good start for being warm! I was happy to find that I wasn't as cold as I thought I might be. My wetsuit gloves weren't too bad. I also had some hot water on hand to pour into them periodically which made a big different. My feet were pretty comfortable, as well as the rest of me. So the layering worked out ok. I was still cold near the end of the day, but not as bad as it ended up for Dan. But that's for later.
The first set of skills was helping a tired diver out by towing them around. Then we got to act like panicked divers and do the same thing. This was all pretty fun, because everyone was still pretty warm and happy. Kyle was complaining that his head felt like being squeezed in an ice vice when he went under water, but I didn't think it was that bad. The surface water was pretty chill though. Deeper the water was the constant 8-9 degrees it had been for most of the fall.
We did some out of air practice after that, which all went well. Dan and Neal had a problem when Dan was using Neal's alternate air source. I watched as it happened. The hose was tucked up through his D ring, and when he gave the regulator to Dan, the hose got pinched and Dan really didn't get any air at all. Good thing they didn't have far to the surface. Yet another validation of the DIR gear configuration I was using. We don't mess with giving alternate regulators, we donate the regulator we are breathing, and switch to a backup that hangs around our neck. There's no chance someone will not get air in that case. Vince also pointed out later that when Neal was donating air to Dan, that the regulator was upside down. That meant Dan got a big mouthful of water, since regulator mouthpieces don't work well unless orientated properly. Again, a big validation to the DIR system since you know the orientation of your regulator since you are breathing off of it!
Next was bringing an unconscious diver up from the bottom. Here is where we got to act some more, but it was pretty easy just hanging there limp. No Oscars awarded here! We all had a problem bringing up the person slowly, and went a bit too fast. It was difficult keeping your diver from rolling over along with keeping both your buoyancy's under control. But, the goal was to bring them up in a controlled way, and we did that. Knowing that you had to pay attention so much to your buoyancy was a good lesson. I was surprised that your diver would roll over so much. It wasn't like that in the pool.
Next was dealing with unresponsive divers at the surface. Again, more acting! Basically all we had to do was flip them over, see if they were breathing, and start rescue breaths if not while towing them. The big challenge here was to get their airway open, and not get water in their face. Kind of hard to do when you had to pinch their nose after your hand came out of the water! Shaking your hand helped, but it was still a bit uncomfortable for the “victim”. Also, kicking up high enough to get your mouth into the right spot to give the breaths was very hard. Much harder than I thought it would be. Add in towing them, and it was very very tiring. You had to do all this while doing 2 breaths every 5 seconds. There's not much time to do anything else!
Here Jason and I got a break after I towed him in to shore. Neal and Dan had to finish off their rescue of the unresponsive diver at depth, as well as their tows and gear removals. Since it was sunny, it was not hard to get warmer sitting still, but I used some of my hot water to help my hands. A big wave came in and soaked my food bag which was unexpected. At least things inside were well sealed.
We had to do our gear removals next, and that took a long time since you were doing rescue breaths in between. Again, there was hardly any time to do anything with just 5 seconds. We also did some carries, and everyone got to drag someone out of the water. Finally we got all this done, and everyone took a break for lunch.
At this point, Dan was shivering almost uncontrollably. He was in pretty bad shape, and instead of having a real rescue situation on our hands, it was decided that he needed to sit out. Kyle also wanted to cut short some of the scenarios, since he was in pretty bad shape too. We agreed to do the missing diver search, and the underwater bleeding scenario and call it a day. The other scenarios were towing, rescue breaths and gear removal which we'd already done. Granted, it would have been more practice, but at that point the cold was becoming a real factor, so it made sense. I'd just make sure to practice some of those later, and probably sit in on a few of the upcoming rescue classes. Landon said anyone was welcome to come along.
After eating and warming up as much as we could, we started the missing diver scenario. Kyle and Vince hid a Mountain Dew bottle out on the bottom of the bay, and we'd need to work as a group of three to set up a search pattern and find it. We tried our best to keep track of where their bubbles went, so we had a pretty good idea of where it might be. They also told us approximately the location and depth, so it wasn't totally cheating! We went out and did a three abreast line search, and Jason found the bottle pretty quickly. On the way back, he lost one of the weights on it though. Whoops!
The last scenario was dealing with a bleeding diver under water. Vince was going to be the victim, and Kyle whispered to me to stage an out of air situation as well. Vince did the acting thing, and Neal attended to him first, and got pressure on it. Then I signalled out of air to Jason. It took him a bit of time to figure out what was going on! Whoops again. But he got it, and then we all ascended as a group. Not too bad!
In the end, I realized just how much there is to know, and to practice with this stuff. Getting more familiar with everything looks to be very important. I learned a lot in the course, and I'll need to keep learning and practicing. Hopefully I'll never need it, but I'm glad I'm better prepared just in case.
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