Practical Skills

1.   Regulator purge and switch to backup regulator

Exercise 1.1, regulator out/in

  • Grab the primary first stage hose with the left hand, close to the second stage
  • Take the regulator out of your mouth with the mouthpiece pointing downwards
  • Put the regulator back in your mouth and drain it from water it by blowing into it
  • Repeat the exercise the same way but use the purge button on the second stage to drain the water
  • Grab the primary first stage hose with the left hand, close to the second stage
  • Take the regulator out of your mouth with the mouthpiece pointing downwards
  • Lift you longhose over your head and extend it forward with straight arm
  • The student switches to the backup regulator and drains it from water using either method
  • When the student has taken a couple of breaths from the backup regulator the primary regulator is taken back over the head and the backup regulator is switched for the primary regulator and is drained from water using either method
  • The receiver clearly signals “out of gas”
  • The second stage is donated by the donor, who grips the hose near the second stage with the right hand and “nods” so the long hose easily slips over the head and the second stage is clearly presented to the receiver
  • The donor switches to his backup regulator when the receiver is breathing from the donors regulator
  • The receiver clips his primary regulator on his right d-ring
  • When the receiver has replied to the donors “OK”-sign, the entire long hose is extended from the canister/waist belt
  • The students breathe normally until the instructor signals that the exercise is over. The receiver unclips his primary regulator from the D-ring and holds this before the donated regulator is returned to the donor
  • The donor sorts his longhose and switchs back to his primary regulator
  • Make the team aware of the out-of-gas situation by flickering the lamp of by touch contact
  • Swim up to the closest team member and make the sign for out-of-gas, “hand pulled over throat”
  • The team member donating gas strectchs out his regulator by holding to the longhose (not the regulator itself), this way the receiver can purge the regulator easily
  • When the gas share is initiated and the situation is calmed down, the longhose is extended to its full length and all snags are sorted. The receiver positions himself on the right side of the donor and put the longhose behind his neck
  • The receiver clips his primary regulator on his left D-ring
  • Abort the dive and swim towards the shot line or the point where the ascent is planned to be
  • The receiver always swims ahead of the donor
  • If there is bad visibility or when the receiver has no reference, the Rimbach method is used
  • The team must show determination while swimming back to the shot line, not to lose any precious time
  • Make the team aware of the out-of-gas situation by flickering the lamp of by touch contact
  • Swim up to the closest team member and make the sign for out-of-gas, “hand pulled over throat”
  • The team member donating gas stretchs out his regulator by holding to the longhose (not the regulator itself), this way the receiver can purge the regulator easily
  • When the gas share is initiated and the situation is calmed down, the longhose is extended to its full length and all snags are sorted. The receiver positions himself on the right side of the donor and put the longhose behind his neck
  • The receiver clips his primary regulator on his left D-ring
  • When the longhose is adjusted so that the divers can position themselves in front of each other the ascent can begin
  • Give the sign for ascent (which is replied) and start the ascent. The ascent is done while facing each other with at least one simulated deco/safety stop

Exercise 1.2, change regulator

Exercise 1.3, stationary gas sharing

Exercise 1.4, gas sharing while swimming

Exercise 1.5, Gas sharing during ascent

2.   Mask exercises

Clearing the mask

The fingertips or the wrist is placed on the top of the mask so that the water can escape from the bottom part of the mask.

The diver bends his head backwards and breaths out from the nose until the mask is fully cleared.

If the diver is using a hood the mask is placed “inside” the hood and the mask is cleared of water. The clearing should not be forced, with a low profile mask a light exhale from the nose is enough.

Exercise 2.1

Standing in the water so that the student has their head above the water line. The student removes the mask while breathing from his regulator with his face under water.

Exercise 2.2

The student is lying on his belly on the floor of the pool and clears a filled mask.

Exercise 2.3

Mask clearing and mask off/on while stable neutrally buoyant

Exercise 2.4

Swimming without mask. The starting point is stable neutrally buoyant.

  • The student takes his mask off
  • The student gives his mask to a team member or to the instructor
  • A team member grab hold of the students left upper arm, just above the elbow
  • The team member pilots the student by using touch contact while they swim at least 15 metres
  • After the swim the student gets his mask back, puts it on and clears water from it

3.   Trim, buoyancy and finning techniques

The trim and buoyancy exercises should not be seen as separate skills, the student should be encouraged to try to achieve and maintain proper trim and buoyancy control in all diving. The purpose of the following skills is to discover and to further practice proper trim and buoyancy control.

Exercise 3.1 and 3.2

The student should find a good horizontal trim and understand the changes in balance that can be achieved with different positions of the body

Exercise 3.3 to 3.6

The student should practice buoyancy control by using wing inflator, breathing and drysuit (if used).

Exercise 3.7 Flutterkick

The “usual” finning technique where the fins are moved up and down with almost straight legs.

Modified flutterkick

A smaller variant of flutterkick that sends the power up or straight back and as a result will not stir up as much silt as the normal flutterkick. The angles of the knees should be between 45-90 degrees.

Exercise 3.8 Frogkick

The frogkick is performed in horizontal position with the knees at a 90 degree angle and the fins pointing straight back. From here the legs are extended back (not entirely straight knees) and the fins are put together with the soles of the feet towards each other.

One thing to keep in mind is to not let the knees drop below the line of the body, this decelerates the movement forward. Also try not making the frogkick too wide as this also makes it ineffective.

The strength and movement of the frogkick is made as big or small as necessary.

Exercise 3.9 Back kick

The starting position is in horizontal trim.

The swimming technique should be trained and performed with both big and small movements. The knees should never dip more than 10cm below the body horizontal line. The technique should be symmetrical. The angle of the knee should be between 45-90 degrees. The fins should not drop below the horizontal line. The angle of the ankles should be between 45-90 degrees.

To pass the Scuba Diver course the student should be able to swim backwards 3 meters without deviating more than +/- 1 meter in depth.

Exercise 3.10 Helicopter turn

The starting position is in horizontal trim.

The swimming technique should be trained and performed with both big and small movements. The swimming technique should be performed using the divers midpoint as the axle. The angle of the knee should be between 45-90 degrees. The fins should not drop below the horizontal line. The angle of the ankles should be between 45-90 degrees.

To pass the Scuba Diver course the student should be able to turn 360 degrees in both directions.

4.   Descents and ascents

The first time the student descends to deeper waters (below 5 meters outside pool like conditions) they must be accompanied by an instructor/assistant.

Exercise 4.1 Descents

One student is set to lead the descent in a team of two or three.

The students start by doing an S-drill and place themselves so that they can see each other.

The leader of the dive starts the dive by giving the “thumbs down” signal, the rest of the team responds with the same sign.

The descent starts by exhaling and deflating the wing.

When the diver starts the descent he “falls forward” and goes from vertical to horizontal position.

The leader makes sure that no one is left on the surface. If this happens, the leader aborts the descent and everyone returns to the surface.

During the entire descent the divers must keep eye contact with each other and should never be more than arm’s length away from each other.

The descent is stopped about one meter above the floor.

At the bottom the leader gives OK sign to the rest of the team, they respond with the same sign if everything is OK.

Exercise 4.2 Ascents

One student is set (before the dive) to lead the ascent.

The students place themselves so that everyone in the team can see everyone and the ascent reference.

The leader gives the signal for ascent (thumbs up) and the rest of the team respond with the same sign.

The ascent is started and the leader makes sure that no one is left on the bottom. If someone is left the leader aborts the ascent and the rest of the team returns to the diver at the bottom.

During the entire ascent the divers in the team keep eye contact and stays within arm’s length of each other.

The ascent is stopped half way up to the surface where the students stop, while keeping trim and buoyancy, for about one minute.

A safety stop should always be practised when possible. This is done at 6 meters for at least 5 minutes.

The ascent time from 6 meters to the surface should be between 1-3 minutes.

On the surface all students must fill their wings.

5.   Rescue a unconscious diver and towing a diver

Exercise 5.1 Rescuing

  • The student first stabilizes his own buoyancy
  • The student checks that the simulated unconscious divers regulator is in their mouth
  • If a drysuit is used the exhaust valve should be fully opened
  • Create neutral buoyancy for the diver by using his wing inflator
  • Make sure that the head of the diver is his highest point
  • Start the ascent and be prepared to adjust the divers buoyancy using his inflator
  • Maximum ascent speed should be 10 meter/minute
  • At the surface make sure to establish positive buoyancy for yourself and the diver

Exercise 5.2 Towing

Towing should be made by swimming at least 25 meters with a simulated unconscious diver.

The student should practice at least two different methods to tow a diver.

6.   Free flowing equipment

Exercise 6.1 Free flowing regulator

  • The student use light signals to get the teams attention, gives the sign for sharing gas and start the procedure (see exercise 1 for sharing gas procedures)
  • The team shuts off the students valve to stop the free flow
  • The students controls the depth and reference
  • If the depth and the reference has changed since before the gas share the team returns to the original
  • The students should keep position and reference for at least 30 seconds
  • After this the team opens the students valve and he changes his regulator to his own and breaths normally
  • The exercise is also made in open water, this time while swimming
  • The student grabs the drysuit hose near the valve with the left hand
  • Grabs hold of the nipple with the thumb and index finger
  • Removes the hose
  • The hose is thenreattached and the student checks that it is connected properly by pulling lightly
  • The student angles his body slightly upwards to easier remove air from the wing
  • Grab the inflator with the left hand, pull it upwards and place a finger on the dump button without pressing it
  • With the right hand remove the hose from the inflator
  • The hose is thenreattached and the student checks that it is on properly by pulling lightly
  • The student angles his body slightly upwards to easier remove air from the wing
  • Grab the inflator with the left hand, pull it upwards and place a finger on the dump button without pressing it
  • With the finger on the dump button and the inflator as the highest point, get the teams attention
  • The student give the sign for gas-share and starts sharing gas
  • The team member shuts off the students valve
  • The student removes the hose on the inflator with the right hand
  • The students check the depth and reference
  • If the depth and the reference has changed since before the gas share the team returns to the original
  • The students should keep position and reference for at least 30 seconds
  • The hose is then reattached and the student checks that it is on properly by pulling lightly
  • After this the team opens the students valve and he changes his regulator to his own and breaths normally
  • The student makes the sign for SMB deployment
  • The SMB and a spool is taken out of the left pocket
  • The line from the spool is attached to the SMB
  • The SMB is unfolded to its full length and a little gas is added to it, just enough that it stands up in the water. Make sure to not have excess line out freely in the water from the spool
  • The line on the spool is secured with the index finger
  • The student looks towards the surface to make sure that the water column is free from obstacles, like other divers or boats on the surface
  • The student now fills the SMB with enough air that it will stand on the surface with at least half the SMB visible
  • The spool should be held away from the body while the spool reels out and is held lightly between the thumb and the index finger
  • When the SMB reach the surface excess line is reeled in to keep the tension on the line
  • The line is after that secured with the p-clip on the spool

Exercise 6.2 Free flowing drysuit inflator

Exercise 6.3 Free flowing wing inflator

Exercise 6.4 Free flowing wing inflator while sharing gas

7.   SMB (Surface Marker Buoy) deployment

Exercise 7.1

8.   Equipment off/on at the surface

The students should be able to show that they can do this exercise individually, but furthermore they should be encouraged to help each other and be good team members

Exercise 8.1 Equipment off

  • The student dumps just enough gas from the wing to be able to move the arms backwards without restriction but still be able to float
  • Remove the primary regulator and extend the entire longhose
  • Remove the backup regulator
  • Remove the drysuit hose
  • Put the primary regulator back in the mouth and breath normally
  • Open the waist belt and remove the couch strap
  • Remove weight belt (if worn)
  • Get out of the webbing with the right side first
  • Wear the weight belt (if used)
  • Pull the arms though the webbing, right side first or both sides the same time while sitting on the rig
  • Grab the crotch strap and attach it to the waist belt and fasten this tightly
  • Put the backup regulator on
  • Put the longhose in place
  • Attach the drysuit hose
  • Perform an S-drill
  • The team members check that there is no entanglements or snags on the hoses or webbing

Exercise 8.1 Equipment on