 Rudolph being rescued Let’s take a journey back to 2010. I had just completed my advance open water, and started to build up my collection of kit. After I had completed several dives, I was comfortable with diving, my kit, and confident in the water. So, what was my next adventure? Following the standard PADI ladder, the next step from Advanced Open Water was Rescue Diver. This is one of the most useful and rewarding courses that you will ever complete. I’m not going to lie; the rescue course was tough, but fun at the same time. The skills that I got out of the rescue course was well worth the effort, knowing that you are going to come out of this course with a different skillset and mindset towards diving is well worth the hard work. Like all courses, rescue started off with some theory and reading the manual this was in the days before e-learning. E-learning allows you to start NOW. Once I had covered the 5 theory segments, drank lots of tea and completed the exam it was off to the pool to brush up my self-rescue skills, remember those from Open Water? We then began to work though 10 different situations, realising just how dramatic the Dive Rutland staff can be. The self-rescue section opens your eyes as to how you will save yourself in the majority of issues, at the end of the day you need to be able to look after yourself before you can rescue anyone else. The first time I did a lift was a little daunting, I watched the instructor make it look so easy I didn’t want to it mess up. Don’t worry about it, it will go wrong the first few times (it did for me), this is where the laughs came in. Your instructor will show you what is considered to be the best practice, but it is important to realise that there is no one right way to do a rescue. Once the pool sessions were complete it was off to Stoney Cove where the real hard work began. I needed to complete 2 rescue scenarios which were testing as we were in full open water kit but once this was done to standards, I was qualified! It was hard! It was the end of Feb and the water was probably as cold as it would get, I had only practiced this in a wetsuit in the pool, now I had hoods, gloves, dry suits and extra weight to deal with. This is what I normally dive in, so I needed to be confident that I could complete the rescue in my open water kit; hoods, gloves, and drysuit! With the 2 scenarios done and dusted and my missing diver found, rescued and brought back to life I was a qualified Rescue Diver. So, what are my memories from the course, what did I take from it and where did it take me? This course helped me go to the next step with my diving. It helped me gain confidence within myself but also the ability to question why people do things and have discussions with them, you start to spot the errors before they happen. I started to see and look at things in a different way. It will help you to see mistakes before they happen and intervene. You’ll gain more confidence in your own diving and it's also the last recreational qualification before you move on to the Divemaster Course. This course is about becoming a better and safer diver for yourself first, and those around you benefit from your continued training. If you want to discuss any diver training then get in touch with the dive centre, they are a friendly bunch and are happy to answer your questions Written by James Dames Internally referenced from Rescue Course page
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