Last weekend we were assisting during OWD confined water training. This was harder than I thought, beeing a divemaster seems to be a tough work. There were 8 OW trainees doing this course, 1 MSDT, 2 certified divemasters and 2 to-be-divemasters - us:). Each of the four DMs got 2 OWD to supervise. First we had to haul all equipment (weights, tanks, regulators and wetsuits) to the swimming pool. Than make them don it all and make sure everything is connected and strapped properly. I forgot donning gear can be such a challenge:) Finally we had 8 OW trainees geared up and ready to go, and so in the water they went.
Now we had to take them to the other end of the pool. Seems easy but problems started to show up. One guy was staying behind, so I asked if he was OK, and he wasn't - he had problems breathing, his mask was fogging, he just didn't feel allright. It turned out that he forgot to wash his mask after he bought it so we swapped masks, and also that breathing from his regulator was a bit harder than usual, so he got a new one. Despite that he couldn't stay underwater for more than a minute:( What was surprising was that he was able to demonstrate almost perfectly the regulator recovery&clearing and mask clearing skills during that minute:)
During the second session this guy was doing excercises with another Divemaster so I don't know if he managed to finish the confined waters portions of the course. I was assisting some other divers, it was very rewarding to see them learn:) Of course there were some problems, but my superior demonstration quality skills:P allowed them to master (almost) these skills.
Anyways, last weekend I've learned that being a DM or an Instructor is harder than I expected, but at the same time is a much more rewarding experience than I imagined
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