15 minute read
News
from Scuba Diver #38
RAID JOINS FORCES WITH DEPTHERAPY TO CREATE NEW ADAPTIVE TEACHING PROGRAMMES
Following a presentation at the GO Diving Show in Coventry, UK, at the end of February, scuba diving rehabilitation charity Deptherapy has announced that it is working on a series of exciting new programmes with diver training agency partner RAID. These new programmes are destined to transform scuba diving training for all abilities.
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Award-winning Deptherapy is the acknowledged world leader in Adaptive Teaching – training those with lifechanging mental and/or physical challenges through specially designed scuba diving programmes that enable divers to achieve standard agency certifications. Many of Deptherapy’s programme members have suffered limb loss and other significant physical injuries. 80 per cent of members are suffering from post-traumatic stress disorder or other chronic mental illness. Sadly, people with all kinds of disability are still actively discriminated against inside and outside the scuba diving industry. However, the work of Deptherapy has shown that even those with massive injuries can still meet all the standards required to become main agency qualified divers without the stigma of ‘disability’ being shown on their certification card.
Successful Adaptive Teaching requires considerable additional effort from the instructional team, working very closely with the student, to think ‘out of the box’ so that the individual can achieve the required standard.
Until now, the majority of Deptherapy programme members have been UK Armed Forces veterans, but the charity has long been a champion of the cause to make scuba diving accessible to all those with disabilities.
Moving forwards with RAID, Deptherapy and its training arm Deptherapy Education are now working towards extending their programme to push the boundaries of Adaptive Teaching for a wider cohort, as well as offering an alternative for those with disabilities or medical conditions that mean standard certifications are unachievable.
Richard Cullen, Chair of Deptherapy explains: “The Deptherapy Team is realistic, and we know from experience that some divers will not be able to achieve the standard certifications, even with Adaptive Teaching, due to the nature of their illness or injury. For instance, a quad amputee or a quadriplegic cannot complete all the skills required but they can still dive on a limited certification, providing they do so with the support of a qualified team trained to support a diver with extreme levels of disability.
A new training programme for dive professionals is being finalised to facilitate the new teaching models. The new Deptherapy / RAID course for Instructors and Divemasters will prepare trainers to teach adaptively, to understand disability, to make realistic assessments and, most importantly, to support their student through the challenges of becoming a diver. The diver training programmes will then be available through RAID dive centres worldwide.
Paul Toomer, Director of Diver Training at RAID, says: “Deptherapy is unique in its vast experience of working with divers with all types of challenges. The diving world does discriminate against those with disabilities and the easy way has been to qualify them as ‘disabled divers’. We want to see a new approach, one that firstly looks at how a student could reach mainstream certification by adapting skills. If that is not achievable, then we will work to qualify them under the D1-D3 system. We are bringing together professionals from the RAID community worldwide to work on this major project.”
Deptherapy and RAID plan to run a pilot Dive Professionals course in Autumn 2020, with the remainder of the training courses rolling out from January 2021. For more information about Deptherapy and Deptherapy Education, visit www.deptherapy.co.uk
ENDEAVOUR FUND 2020 – DEPTHERAPY’S TOM OATES WINS HENRY WORSLEY AWARD
Inspirational members of the Armed Forces Community who were injured or fell ill in service have been named as the winners of the Endeavour Fund Awards, recognising their determination to recover, help support others and achieve excellence in their sport or adventurous challenge – and Deptherapy’s Tom Oates took a prestigious honour.
The awards are held annually to celebrate the achievements of those injured in service and recognise the fortitude needed to take the next steps in their lives.
Their Royal Highnesses, The Duke and Duchess of Sussex, attended the ceremony to meet the inspiring winners and nominees from the life-changing Endeavour Fund work.
Tom was one of three people put forward for the Henry Worsley Award. This award is presented to the individual who has best inspired others through the demonstration of determination in the face of adversity, while endeavouring to support others with their recovery through sport or adventurous challenge. This was presented to Tom by The Duke of Sussex and Max Worsley.
Tom said: “I have never won anything in my life before so winning the Endeavour Fund’s Henry Worsley Award is unbelievable, Without the support of Deptherapy and the Endeavour Fund I would not be alive; this Award is a true milestone for me. I hope I can give back to the charity by being a Champion for our project ‘Protecting Our Oceans’ and by supporting veterans who are new to the Programme.”
COVID-19 AND THE WORLDWIDE DIVING INDUSTRY
The COVID-19 coronavirus pandemic has had an unprecedented global impact on the daily lives of millions of people, who are now dealing with lockdowns, social distancing and other measures to try and tackle this devastating virus which has already claimed thousands. This of course is causing hardship for many, who are out of employment now or struggling to get government support. The diving industry has not escaped, and every facet of our fraternity is feeling the effects. With countries in quarantine, airlines cancelling flights, and people in lockdown, even local diving has been curtailed, and trips to exotic warm-water destinations seem but a distant dream at the present time.
However, while everyone just knuckles down to try and ride out this period of uncertainty, with the hope that some semblance of normality could be resumed by the summer, there are little moments of ingenuity and thinking outside the box that shines a positive light on the diving industry.
Ocean Reef, which produces full-face diving and snorkelling masks, has created an adaptor which will fit to their snorkelling product and transform it into a COVID-19 protection mask.
The consumer pricing for the adaptor is planned to be purposely low to help current owners convert their snorkelling masks as inexpensively as possible.
The adaptor fits in the connection of any Ocean Reef-produced mask. The filter can be of any type and brand, with the 40mm threading, and to reduce the exhalation effort, you can just push out the exhalation valve cover of the mask. All full-face snorkelling masks produced by Ocean Reef, including the Aria QR+, Aria Classic, Aria Una, Aria Jnr, Original Aria, Head SeaVuDry and Sport, and Tusa Sport, will accept this new adaptor. Additionally, the project is ready to be modified to work on other full-face snorkelling mask brands, like Easybreath, Aqua Lung and many more.
All Ocean Reef full-face snorkel masks can be easily cleaned and sanitised, while much of the protection equipment that is now difficult to purchase is single-use. Another benefit of a full-face snorkelling mask versus most disposable masks is full coverage of nose, mouth and eyes.
First 3D printed prototypes have already been tested over the past three weeks and full industrial production was scheduled to begin on 31 March. Initial output was to be 1,000 units per day.
GHOST FISHING CHANGES ITS NAME TO GHOST DIVING
Ghost Fishing, a well-known charity, is officially rebranding itself as Ghost Diving to make it easier for the public to understand what it does.
In 2012, Pascal van Erp founded the Ghost Fishing organisation, a non-profit that works with volunteer divers around the world to carry out environmental diving projects. Since its founding, they have managed to bring the ghost-fishing problem into the public spotlight, through key international collaborations, breathtaking underwater photography and impressive results.
“Now that the problem is identified and well known, it’s time to focus on the solution. We decided to rebrand our organisation and bring the divers on centre stage, as they are the ones who recover the lost fishing gear, once it has been lost in the seas and oceans. They deserve recognition for their truly heroic efforts,” says van Erp.
Ghost Diving will keep some elements of the old logo, so fans of the volunteer chapters throughout the world should not notice too much of a difference. The logo also includes the tagline ‘Global Mission’, aiming at reinforcing their extrovert attitude. “Our goal is that in only a matter of time our new name will become a generic term for all divers working to remove ghost gear from wrecks, reefs or the seabed,” says van Erp.
This change comes at a time when ghost gear has been identified as the biggest plastic polluter in the ocean. The Ghost Diving teams around the world are trained to combat this pollution, whether it’s found on shallow reefs or great depths - the name might have changed, but the mission and core values of Ghost Diving stay the same. www.ghostdiving.org
AQABA’S C-130 HERCULES ARTIFICIAL REEF TORN APART BY FIERCE STORMS
One of the most-popular dive sites in Aqaba – the artificial reef created by a C-130 Hercules aircraft – has been ripped to pieces by the fierce storms that swept the Gulf of Aqaba last week. The C-130, which had been on the seabed in some 18- 20m for a couple of years, was gaining a healthy coating of marine growth, particular under one of the wings, which was draped in vibrant soft corals.
Now the fuselage has been decimated, the wings have fallen on to the bottom, and it is a shadow of its former self, when it sat fully intact as if it was about to take off. However, many are now of the opinion that it looks like a ‘genuine’ wreck, and it will be interesting to see how marine life colonies the remnants of this airplane.
VMS REDBARE CCR PRICE SLASHED
VMS Rebreathers have announced a considerable cut in the retail price of its class-leading closed circuit rebreather, the RedBare CCR. The new price point makes the RedBare CCR not only one of the most-advanced rebreathers on the market, but also one of the most affordable. It is common knowledge that the initial purchase price of CCR is a common barrier for those who long to appreciate the benefits of silent, bubble-free diving, warm gas and, of course, the lower gas prices that are the hallmark of CCR diving. With the price of helium becoming increasingly high, more and more open circuit divers are starting to appreciate the many benefits that a CCR like the RedBare can deliver.
By moving its manufacturing in-house, VMS Rebreathers has been able to make considerable gains in quality control and has made cost savings that they are thrilled to be able to pass onto their customers. The headline price for a brand-new RedBare CCR is now just £6,500 including VAT - that’s a drop of almost £1,500. The only difference between this and previous version of the RedBare CCR is the removal of the TPM (stack temperature monitor) – after much testing, VMS concluded that more accurate, live calculation of remaining CO2 scrubber life is available from the unit’s live CO2 monitoring and its patented Metabolic Rate Counter. Let’s be clear – the RedBare CCR is a full, no-compromise 100m-capable unit with CO2 monitoring, back-up PO2 monitoring and deco calculation for £6,500, making it not only one of the most-capable and well-specified units on the market but also one of the safest! This price drop further cements the RedBare’s position as a class-leading product chosen by sport divers and cuttingedge dive explorers alike. For more information on the RedBare CCR, visit the VMS website: www.vmsrebreathers.com
ROBBER CRABS SUSPECTED OF STEALING $6,000 THERMAL-IMAGINING CAMERA
So-called robber crabs are suspected of living up to their name after a $6,000 thermal-imaging camera was stolen from a researcher on Christmas Island.
Annabel Dorrestein, from the Western Sydney University, is studying the island’s flying fox population, and had set up a specialised camera system, complete with tripod and external battery. The next morning, when she returned, the camera was gone. However, she had clues to the culprits – there were claw marks on the tripod, and the cable that attached the camera to the battery was twisted and mangled. She said: “Basically, a big robber crab ripped the thermal camera off and crushed the cables so it came loose and just dragged it into the forest.”
Robber crabs, also known as coconut crabs, can measure up to a metre wide, weigh up to 4kg, and live up to 80 years. They are well known for their kleptomaniac tendencies – Christmas Island National Park chief ranger Rob Muller explained: “They are very inquisitive, and this combined with their exceptional sense of smell means they get into all sorts of places that arouse their curiosity – and if they find something that peaks their interest, they want to drag it away for a closer look.”
BRITISH SUBMARINE FOUND DURING NINTH EXPEDITION SANTI ODNALEZC ORLA
On 9 March, the expedition SANTI Odnalezc Orla 2020, which was conducted in cooperation with the Danish company JD Contractor and Sea War Museum Jutland, was completed. This year’s team members checked 30 unidentified positions, indicated by JD Contractor during its daily works in the North Sea, when the company has developed a wide knowledge of the wrecks lying there. The five-day exploration resulted in the verification of 20 unmarked wrecks, two of them being submarines. The first one has been identified as the wreck of the British submarine HMS L10.
This year’s aim was to check British and German minefields. The Odnalezc Orla team failed to locate the position of a legendary Polish submarine, ORP Orzel, but they found two other submarines. The wreck is destroyed and incomplete, but even in low, barely two-metre visibility at the bottom, divers confirmed that the sub found near the island of Terschelling is the British HMS L10, which was lost during World War One. The wreck was also explored with ROV.
The second one, just 160 metres from HMS L10, ended up being a torpedo boat, which hasn’t been identified yet. There is a plan to identify it later this year.
It is the seventh year of searching for the Orzel, and it was a very unique ninth expedition, because of the 80th anniversary of the disappearance of the Polish submarine. During all these expeditions, ORP Orzel team found 400 wrecks, in among them three submarines. In 2017, they also discovered the position of another British submarine, HMS Narwhal. This year’s exploration was carried out on M/S VINA, which is 77 metres long and 14 metres wide, belonging to a Danish partner. The vessel is used for working in the North Sea on a daily basis and is fully equipped and adapted to working with divers. This year has not given the expected results, however, the whole team is determined to find ORP Orzel, so another expedition will take place soon. More about the project: https://www.facebook.com/SantiOdnalezcOrla/
TURTLES ATTRACTED TO DISCARDED PLASTIC – BECAUSE OF THE SMELL
We have all seen images of turtles eating plastic bags, and it is easy to see why the animal could confuse the waste with a tasty jellyfish, but now scientists have uncovered new evidence that shows that floating plastic could give off a similar odour to their normal food.
In the findings, published in Current Biology, US researchers said that this ‘olfactory trap’ could explain why so many turtles end up eating plastic, or getting tangled up in discarded nets. The scientists worked with 15 young loggerhead turtles that were raised in captivity – they introduced odours into the air about a water tank and then recorded the turtles’ reactions with cameras. This showed the animals responding to smells from conditioned plastics the same as they did to food, like shrimps or fish.
Dr Joseph Pfaller, of the University of Florida, Gainesville, explained: “Plastics that have spent time in the ocean become colonised by microbes, algae, plants and tiny animals and thus develop smells that turtles are attracted to. This is an evolutionary adaptation for finding food, but it has now become a problem for turtles because they’re attracted to the smells from the plastics, along with fish and even seabirds.”
Dr Pfaller continued: “Marine predators like sea turtles, whales and seabirds forage over a vast area to find food, and it makes sense that they would use chemicals in the air or water to do so. It’s not just a visual thing - they’re being attracted from probably long distances away to these garbage patches out in the open ocean.”
While the danger of items like straws and plastic bags to sea turtles is well known - a video of a plastic straw stuck up a turtle’s nose went viral on social media in 2015 - Dr Pfaller said all types of plastic were a threat. “Anything out there can grow bacteria and animals on it that turtles want to eat and so it smells to them like something they should go check out and possibly consume, which can lead to their death,” he explained.
