The scene; divers about to do a 35m dive,  one an Instructor, me,  a second diver an experienced Dive Leader the third a Sport Diver pushing to complete the depth progression dive before going on a holiday in two weeks time.  We had completed the 30m dive the day before. The dive plan, buddy check had been completed and we were all clear on how to approach the dive.

The dive site was Stoney Cove and the plan was to follow the roadway down to depth.  At 20m we stopped for gas check – the Sport diver could not find his pressure gauge, I found it for him but he refused to accept it as his gauge and pushed it away, I repeated the process and he still pushed the gauge away.  The Sports Diver by now is using lots of gas and his pressure gauge is visibly dropping.  I decide to abort the dive, the incident pit is beckoning.  The Sports Diver refuses to abort the dive and swims away to continue down to depth.  I go after him and he then responds to my signal to abort, it was a tense moment. The dive is safely aborted.  At the surface the Sports Diver is extremely unhappy all he could think about was a 35m depth progression left uncompleted and his planned holiday diving in jeopardy.

Before the dive he had changed the position of his pressure gauge, it came from a different side, so when he looked for it – it wasn’t there.  When shown his own gauge as it came from ‘the wrong side’ he didn’t recognise it, and in his mind ‘I have to complete this dive’.

The build up to the situation was a special holiday which when booked was some six months in the future.  The diver was confident that he would achieve Sport Diver and the appropriate depth progression dives in time for the holiday.  But time evaporated and the Sports Diver training was not happening, and the pressure to achieve qualifications became like a pressure cooker due to explode.  A potential solution was to have a BSAC Centre complete the depth progression.

Many of us lead busy and frequently high pressured lives but if we allow that pressure to get into our diving we put ourselves and others at risk.  So allow loads of time to complete skills and qualifications. Remember the competing time priorities faced by the volunteer instructors within a branch.  Discuss your plans with your Branch from the outset.   Think about and explore different ways of achieving the training you need e.g. Regional Coaching scheme, going to a BSAC centre and apply a mix and match approach,

I should add, the 35m dive was successfully completed the following day with the diver’s equipment back in its usual places.

Marg Baldwin, NDC Snorkel Chief Examiner