Suck-it-and-see club sessions for would-be divers can be a bit of a lottery, but Len Kerr reckons he has a winning formula
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Try-dives: why not make them better?
"Oh, that's something I've always wanted to try, but I've never got round to it!" How often have we heard that during a conversation in which the subject of scuba diving came up?
Some years ago the "try-dive" was invented, to show people that it is possible to go under water and still be able to breathe. But what exactly are try-dives, and is there any uniformity about them, beyond putting equipment onto members of the public who are keen to have a go, and submerging them in the warm, safe confines of a swimming pool?
Try-dives were usually contrived as a way of luring newcomers into joining a diving group or club and so swelling the finances. It costs money to buy boats.
But I have noticed that no two try-dives ever seem to be the same - too often it seems that they are played by ear.
Clearly there has to be a certain amount of difference, to allow for the varying degrees of confidence in each individual, but beyond that there seems to be no set programme.
Making a try-dive really interesting has depended too much on the initiative of those divers buddied up with the novice.
Not the ideal situation, but it has been adequate, and the people who were having a go were presumably reasonably happy to plod up and down the pool staring at the white tiles.
I felt that the situation needed tidying up, and a little polish applied, but where to start? Then the grey matter kicked in, and I started at the beginning.
We welcome the novices to the poolside. In the course of our initial chat, we find out whether they have done some or any snorkelling, and what size fins they are going to need.
With their basic equipment fitted comfortably, we fin off down the pool to do a few lengths at the surface. This gets them used to fins and to the water temperature.
Back at the shallow end, scuba is fitted and buoyancy checked by lying down on the bottom. Standing up, we run through four simple hand signals that are easy to remember - OK, Stop, Up and Down - and tell them to breathe normally all the time and not hold their breath. After getting an OK signal, we lie down and move off towards the deep end. After
a few circuits of the pool, giving and receiving signals, we surface back at the shallow end.
If the novice is happy, we explain how pressure under water affects air spaces such as a mask, and what to do to compensate. We also explain why divers wear lead weights on a belt.
The pool we use happens to be only 2m in depth at the deep end, so we don't need to explain about air spaces at an earlier stage in the proceedings - in a deeper pool it would clearly be wise to do so.
I remember doing a shallow dive a few years ago with a guy I didn't know, and afterwards he complained about his eyes being sore, and said it felt as if they were being pulled out by the mask.
When I explained why this happens and how to deal with it, he told me that no-one had ever told him that before. So much for his training.
After a short break, and if there are no questions and the novice is still happy, we explain how to do a couple of exercises. Then we dive again.
We fin to the deep end, stand upright on the bottom for a minute or two and then, heading for the surface, we perform a forward roll.
After the novices have done this a couple of times, we fin back to the shallow end. Here we try the novice out breathing under water with no mask on.
As we all know, this can be difficult for some people, because it is alien to breathe with your nose open to water.
But if the exercise is successful, we then complete two lengths in this manner.
Back in the shallow end we talk again, explaining how to remove the mouthpiece under water and replace it, and how to clear a flooded mask. This is then practised in the shallow end.
When the novice is happy about doing these two exercises, we fin down to the deep end for mouthpiece- and mask-clearing.
By now, you will have guessed that an hour has probably passed. It's difficult to gauge exactly, as much depends on the novice's ability.
If there is time to spare, we could give the novice a taste of the blacked-out mask for a couple of lengths, feeling his or her way in darkness, or any other exercises normally carried out in the pool.
So that is the try-dive tidied up, but what about the polish? Once the routine has been completed, novices are handed a certificate stating that they have had an introduction to scuba diving.
Later, when the film has been processed, they are given or sent a photograph of themselves under water - and that part they really like.
Emphasis must be put on how the novices feel throughout, checking each time they return to the shallow end.
If they start to feel apprehensive or worried about doing an exercise, it should not be attempted.
However, in 10 years I have only twice come across a novice who was unable to cope with the programme.
As long as they are confident and enjoying the try-dive, there seems to be no reason not to introduce the more advanced exercises at this stage. They will stand the beginners in good stead for when they join a club and start training for real.
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