I drove up on the Sunday night still suffering a little from a bad cold santa delivered for Christmas (obviously I wasn't a good boy in 2004
). Arrived at the digs to be met by Bob and AndyK. We rang Brian and he was nearby so we started the course with a nice pub meal and diving hero story sesh. Very enjoyable.
Capernwray was opening at 10 am and so it was pretty civilised breakfast and leisurely drive the 5 minutes from the B&B. We dragged all the gear into the classroom and started around 10:30. I met Ian (AirAssisted) near the shop and we did the Happy New Year thing.
Back in the classroom Andy did a bit of an introduction with some powerpoint slides regarding why use a scooter and the pros and cons. I like Andys presentations. He always has a relevant story to explain the point and he still manages to keep everything on track (with a few choice words when we (meaning I) get a little too enthusiastic
. After an hour or so we were then armed with screwdrivers and Andy had a power tool (eek!) with which to attack our scooters. We took out the reed switch and did a continuity test, before stripping down the back end to the little circlip thingy (no-one had circlip pliers thankfully!) and then built them up again. We tested that the clutches would slip by holding one of the blades and pressing the trigger. Bob has a habit of blowing relays apparently and confirmed this 'talent' by doing 'a Cooper' as it is now called. He has spares galore in his kit though and as he has done this a few times a quick replacement and everything was working perfectly again. It soon becomes apparent that knowing how these things work is extremely important if you are planning on using them in the field, and it was great to strip this thing down with proper guidance. Its not such a mystery anymore.
Bob showing proper trim
We then talked about weighting and, after getting suited up, spent a little while playing around with the weighting and trim of the scooters. Mine was fine buoyancywise but seemed to have a tail down attitude which was not ideal. After some discussion it was decided that I'd put the battery pack together incorrectly, as each end of the battery pack is a different thickness. A job to do for tomorrow. Adams scooter wouldn't balance at all in the water and so he had some work to do in the morning to, but for now it was time to get in the water and go play. The three of us were supposed to travel along as a team and try to speed match so we didn't lose each other. This is quite difficult to start with, as even with the pitch staying at the same setting our speed would still increase and decrease as we played with different leg positions and made buoyancy adjustments. Keeping a tidy manner and reducing false light signals is suddenly a new skill to learn as we are using both hands, the right on the scooter and the left with the light. We still have to adjust ears, buoyancy, drysuit etc and so I found it easier in the end to simply ride with the light in the right hand thumb and keeping my left free for all these adjustments until I reached a stable depth and then swap the light back again.
We reached the horse without losing each other and then we took turns aiming at the horse but doing thrust turns at the last minute for crash avoidance. We avoided the horse to the left, right, vertically and also an emergency stop by driving up and then trying to flare to create more drag to stop (nearly resulting in a particularly interesting caption opportunity
)
After a bit of that we then did some barrel rolls with varying degrees of finesse ?! but it was all good fun. After 40 minutes or do we surfaced and had a chat before heading down again for some towing prectice.
Me towing Adam and sharing gas 
Now Adam tows me sharing gas
If one of the scooters dies then you need to be able to be towed out and be able to tow a diver out. We pin the trigger and turn the pitch down before passing the towclip through the handle and shoving the whole scooter between our legs. Then we get behind the tower and grap their crotch strap and get in as tight and close as possible to minimise drag. The towed scooter is kept in position by holding it with your legs. It sounds very complicated but setting it up isn't difficult but towing is 'interesting' All of a sudden it is really important to have your fins in the right place as they become rudders and attempt to send you through the water in a corkscrew like motion. We did this for a while and then swapped round before heading back to the exit point. The 5 of us driving along with the scooters and Hids lighting our path was really cool and, as we were the only divers in the water at that time, great fun. Again, I found it easier to simply switch the light over to the right hand and keep my left free for all the buoyancy adjustments as we ascended the slope.
Me, erm, out of gas and scootering to my buddies!
We all dekitted and headed back to the classroom for some final lectures and we ended up finishing at about 7 pm at which time we headed off for dinner. It had been such a packed day we had forgotten all about lunch!
The next day we arranged to get into Capernwray early at 9am so we could get the lectures started early and start diving earlier. I had to swap my battery pack around and Adam reconfigured his battery pack to balance properly. It is really important to get these things right and to be honest doing this workshop is invaluable in shortcutting your way through all of the easy mistakes you can make which will cause so many problems. Both mine and Adams scooters were perfectly balanced on the second day and a joy to ride, whereas on the first day no-one wanted to ride Adam's scooter at all and my scooter was always trying to send me to the surface!
I also learnt that I've now been given the dubious rank of one of AndyK's 'buddies' and so I was 'fair game'. No more niceties such as asking for the reg in an OOG and so, whilst seemingly by myself at one stage Andy scootered past and pulled my reg out! I looked around and couldn't see anyone so I simply put my backup in wondering what to do next and choosing a few choice expletives as I realised I had become a little seperated from my team. Andy came around again and told me to be OOG. I took a breath and took my reg out. I saw a light about 10 mtrs away and scootered over, flashing Adam (as it turned out) frantically to which he immediately deployed (Its amazing how deceptively fast a scooter is. I've never dived with Adam before this workshop and it was a nice and straightforward OOG drill, with the only added complexity of managing the scooters. Adam pinned his scooter and turned the pitch down before tidying it up and passing between his legs. He then got behind me and set himself up for towing. I locked my fins against his body and off we went, I though it had gone quite slick and even towing, as I had my fins in the right place, was comfortable. We ended the drill and went back to practicing some tight turns and OOG parallel running and more OOG drills.
Brian and Bob in the middle of the OOG drill. Thats why you need a long hose!
We surfaced after 45 minutes or so and headed back for a bit of lunch and to warm up a bit. The last dive was similar in that we headed out to the horse and did some more crash avoidance and a lot more OOG drills, both towing and parallel running. By now I was feeling a lot more comfortable on the scooter and I also felt I was getting back to my old self regarding awareness and stuff. I was now able to stop thinking about the scooter so much and look around a lot more, more aware of my surroundings and team members, which is the whole point.
It was a great workshop and well worth doing something like this when thinking about a scooter. It was also great fun!
Thanks go of course to AndyK for the expert tuition, Bob for helping out with the video, and Adam and Brian for being great buddies.
Andy