technical diving news and events in thailand
Posts tagged ash
BSAC Cross-Over and Instructor Course in Thailand
Dec 26th
BSAC Cross-Over and Instructor Course in Thailand
Sunday, December 20th, 2009
Big Blue Tech has been hosting a BSAC (British Sub Aqua Club) instructor and cross-over course for Ash Dunn, Mark Slinn and Andy Cavell who will be working towards their BSAC Open Water Instructor rating.
The course began with an orientation and moved through topics like academic presentations, confined water presentations and open water presentations. BSAC instructor courses are more streamlined focusing on simply the instructors ability to teach diving and doesn’t put emphasis on ability to sell which is a large portion of other instructor courses.
After 2 days Andy Cavell graduated as he is already an experienced instructor (PADI IDC Staff Instructor). After graduating Andy has to wait for the other two lads to finish before more technical training can continue so he picked up some teaching work by conducting a Deep and Nitrox Specialty starting tomorrow.
Ash and Mark continued through the program delivering more presentations and learning the BSAC way of teaching. This course is essential for their upcoming BSAC Instructor course which will be done in February and ther Compressor Operator Instructor course on the 23rd.
The course was conducted by Les Skelton who is BSAC Thailand director and Instructor Trainer.
Congratulations to all those involved and good luck teaching tomorrow Andy!
Tags: academic presentations, ash, british sub aqua club, bsac thailand, cavell, club instructor, instructor course, instructor courses, instructor trainer, open water instructor, skelton, slinn, staff instructor
Full Face Mask Course in Thailand
Dec 10th
Today Big Blue Tech started a Full Face Mask course on Koh Tao. The Full Face Mask course from TDI is designed to get divers comfortable using a full face mask and understanding the benefits and advantages. The divers who joined the course was Ash Dunn (staff) and Mark Slinn (Intern). Andy Cavell was supposed to join us but instead took his girlfriend fun diving in the afternoon and then he’s leaving to take her back to Bangkok.
The full face mask we use for training is the AGA Divator mask. These masks are the most popular choice of full face mask for public safety divers around the world. One of them came from a dive in the Canadian navy who was kind enough to bring it to Thailand for us.
These masks are perfect for cold water, television or film work, low visibility or chemically sensitive water. The mask covers your entire face allowing you to breathe through your nose or mouth, additionally it helps people who have a cold or any kind of dental, nose or eye problems.
While we were working in shallow water getting used to the skill of removing and replacing the mask other staff were busy loading up for the afternoon of diving and even Emily (big blue staff) came by to give the mask a try.
In the afternoon the staff and interns were busy cleaning the Apeks regulators (xtx 200 series with environmental series) and assembling new equipment recently purchased for the upcoming busy season.
Although today is Thursday, we’ll be closing for a long weekend as Andy Cavell is away in Bangkok, Mark moves into a new flat and Ash is celebrating his Divemaster Graduation (pictures coming).
Big Blue Tech starts again on Monday with the TDI Intro To Tech and Advanced Nitrox Course followed by a trip to Khao Sok National Park for a TDI Cavern Course just before Christmas break.
Tags: aga, apeks regulators, ash, canadian navy, cavell, cold water, eye problems, film work, full face mask, fun diving, interns, khao sok national park, koh tao, masks, nitrox course, shallow water, slinn, tdi