Over the past 30 plus years as a sport and technical diver I have encountered many mnemonics (memory aids) that were created to help with dive planning. Some were simple to remember while others required a little more effort. What most of these mnemonics had in common was that they were agency neutral and allowed divers trained through various agencies to employ a planning aid that didn't throw marketing in the face of others. Fortunately, most of the instructors I had were totally fine with using any mnemonic that allowed for thorough and safe dive planning and not just one recommended by their training agency. However, I recently registered for a course in which it is a standard to use an agency-specific mnemonic which seems to be more marketing than memory aid.
Knowing the diving industry, I'm sure the future will see more and more training agencies employing marketing strategy in their dive planning mnemonics. I really dislike the trend because the diving industry has become divided enough without even more branding and agency politics assaulting those who at one time just wanted to make their underwater exploration dreams come true. I believe that part of the diver drop-out rate is due to the fact that agency politics grabs a hold of prospective students the moment they walk into a shop and never seems to end until a diver runs off to join a sport with a greater emphasis on community and unity among enthusiasts.
In looking ahead to the possibility of agency marketing rearing its ugly head every time divers prepare to enter the water, I wanted to employ a more subtle twist for my agency. As training director for PSAI Americas, I wanted to create a dive planning mnemonic that would:
1. Be useful and user friendly.
2. Be a tool that would allow divers trained by our organization to lead dives with divers trained by other agencies without "in your face" marketing.
3. Take advantage of the future marketing trend by supporting the organization within the mnemonic, but do so in a subtle way that might only be understood by our students.
With the above considerations in mind, I created the dive planning mnemonic, "PLANS SAVE," and I have recently refined it to make it easy to remember and allow the tool to encompass all the important elements of a dive.
With 2012 being the 50th anniversary of PSAI, I thought that paying homage to Hal Watts, the agency's founder, would be best done by acknowledging that Hal is credited with coining the phrase, "Plan your dive and dive your plan." Hence, the "PLANS" part. This part of the dive, the planning phase, may be done well in advance or at the water's edge. The second part, SAVE, is an in-water safety check. Together both parts remind us of the importance of planning a dive - to save your life.
PLANS stands for:
People
Logistics
Air Rule
Navigation
Signals
SAVE stands for:
Safety Drill or S-Drill
Air and Leak Check ("Bubble" Check) and Analysis
Valve Drill
Equipment
In the PLANS phase we start with PEOPLE and answer the questions:
Who leads? Who follows? In what order? What are the responsibilities of each member of the team? What positions do we take when equipment fails, if we are out of air or gas, or in an emergency?
LOGISTICS are "ADDED."
What Air or gas will we be using? What is the maximum and average Depths of the dive? What is the Duration or planned bottom time? What is our plan for Emergencies? What is our planned Decompression strategy and contingencies?
What AIR RULE will we use?
All air or gas usable? Half? Thirds? Sixths? Rock bottom? Other?
"ADD NAVIGATION."
What Azimuth or compass heading or headings will we be using? What Direction will we travel or what directional changes will we be making on the compass, visually, or on the guidelines in a cave? What Distance(s) will we travel such as how far from shore, from the boat, or in the wreck or cave, etc?
What SIGNALS will we use?
Hand signals? Light signals? Touch contact? Written communication? Diver recall systems? Communication with surface?
In the water or on the boat we perform the part that may just SAVE us if our plans fail.
The SAFETY DRILL or "S-DRILL" makes sure that our regulators are working and that hoses are able to be deployed without being caught on any parts of our equipment. This drill may be underwater to allow the team to practice sharing air or gas, may be done with a fully deployed hose and regulator, or may be modified as the needs of the team and the environment dictate.
Next, the divers should check AIR. Check for leaks or bubbles coming from problematic places such as valves, regulators, BC's, camera housings, scooters, etc. The team should also check to make sure that the contents analysis labels show the correct air/gas for the dive and the team should verify turn pressures. In some situations such as boat diving leaks may be checked during the descent.
VALVE DRILLS should be performed to verify that all knobs are open. This drill may be performed in its entirety underwater or modified as the team sees fit.
Finally, all EQUIPMENT should be accounted for and verified. This may be done formally such as a head to toe equipment matching exercise or individually with each person checking to make sure that he or she has all personal and team equipment and that everything is working.
I wanted to share this with the board to provide an example of the constructs of a good dive planning memory tool and to remind everyone to take the time to thoroughly and properly plan their dives.
Dive planning reduces confusion and stress and serves to unite divers prior to the dive when communication is greatly enhanced through speech.
I invite members to share their planning mnemonics, thoughts, feedback, and stories in this thread.
Knowing the diving industry, I'm sure the future will see more and more training agencies employing marketing strategy in their dive planning mnemonics. I really dislike the trend because the diving industry has become divided enough without even more branding and agency politics assaulting those who at one time just wanted to make their underwater exploration dreams come true. I believe that part of the diver drop-out rate is due to the fact that agency politics grabs a hold of prospective students the moment they walk into a shop and never seems to end until a diver runs off to join a sport with a greater emphasis on community and unity among enthusiasts.
In looking ahead to the possibility of agency marketing rearing its ugly head every time divers prepare to enter the water, I wanted to employ a more subtle twist for my agency. As training director for PSAI Americas, I wanted to create a dive planning mnemonic that would:
1. Be useful and user friendly.
2. Be a tool that would allow divers trained by our organization to lead dives with divers trained by other agencies without "in your face" marketing.
3. Take advantage of the future marketing trend by supporting the organization within the mnemonic, but do so in a subtle way that might only be understood by our students.
With the above considerations in mind, I created the dive planning mnemonic, "PLANS SAVE," and I have recently refined it to make it easy to remember and allow the tool to encompass all the important elements of a dive.
With 2012 being the 50th anniversary of PSAI, I thought that paying homage to Hal Watts, the agency's founder, would be best done by acknowledging that Hal is credited with coining the phrase, "Plan your dive and dive your plan." Hence, the "PLANS" part. This part of the dive, the planning phase, may be done well in advance or at the water's edge. The second part, SAVE, is an in-water safety check. Together both parts remind us of the importance of planning a dive - to save your life.
PLANS stands for:
People
Logistics
Air Rule
Navigation
Signals
SAVE stands for:
Safety Drill or S-Drill
Air and Leak Check ("Bubble" Check) and Analysis
Valve Drill
Equipment
In the PLANS phase we start with PEOPLE and answer the questions:
Who leads? Who follows? In what order? What are the responsibilities of each member of the team? What positions do we take when equipment fails, if we are out of air or gas, or in an emergency?
LOGISTICS are "ADDED."
What Air or gas will we be using? What is the maximum and average Depths of the dive? What is the Duration or planned bottom time? What is our plan for Emergencies? What is our planned Decompression strategy and contingencies?
What AIR RULE will we use?
All air or gas usable? Half? Thirds? Sixths? Rock bottom? Other?
"ADD NAVIGATION."
What Azimuth or compass heading or headings will we be using? What Direction will we travel or what directional changes will we be making on the compass, visually, or on the guidelines in a cave? What Distance(s) will we travel such as how far from shore, from the boat, or in the wreck or cave, etc?
What SIGNALS will we use?
Hand signals? Light signals? Touch contact? Written communication? Diver recall systems? Communication with surface?
In the water or on the boat we perform the part that may just SAVE us if our plans fail.
The SAFETY DRILL or "S-DRILL" makes sure that our regulators are working and that hoses are able to be deployed without being caught on any parts of our equipment. This drill may be underwater to allow the team to practice sharing air or gas, may be done with a fully deployed hose and regulator, or may be modified as the needs of the team and the environment dictate.
Next, the divers should check AIR. Check for leaks or bubbles coming from problematic places such as valves, regulators, BC's, camera housings, scooters, etc. The team should also check to make sure that the contents analysis labels show the correct air/gas for the dive and the team should verify turn pressures. In some situations such as boat diving leaks may be checked during the descent.
VALVE DRILLS should be performed to verify that all knobs are open. This drill may be performed in its entirety underwater or modified as the team sees fit.
Finally, all EQUIPMENT should be accounted for and verified. This may be done formally such as a head to toe equipment matching exercise or individually with each person checking to make sure that he or she has all personal and team equipment and that everything is working.
I wanted to share this with the board to provide an example of the constructs of a good dive planning memory tool and to remind everyone to take the time to thoroughly and properly plan their dives.
Dive planning reduces confusion and stress and serves to unite divers prior to the dive when communication is greatly enhanced through speech.
I invite members to share their planning mnemonics, thoughts, feedback, and stories in this thread.