Dive team help

[snow drift]

Could I please get some helpful info on getting a serch & rescue dive team going?
I'm not part of there team. Not that I would not be but when I talked to them about it the person that I spoke with thought that I should have a 4 weeler and a snowmobile. I have over $30,000 in dive gear and training. I think not!!
I have put together some traing options. But need to get them motivated and also if there is money to help them with gear obligations. Thinking GUE open water class is the best way to go!
Any helpful info would be great.
Keep up the great work.
:06:

 

[Snowbear]

Could I please get some helpful info on getting a serch & rescue dive team going?
I'm not part of there team. Not that I would not be but when I talked to them about it the person that I spoke with thought that I should have a 4 weeler and a snowmobile. I have over $30,000 in dive gear and training. I think not!!
I have put together some traing options. But need to get them motivated and also if there is money to help them with gear obligations. Thinking GUE open water class is the best way to go!
Any helpful info would be great.
Keep up the great work.
:06:

GUE OW class may be a good start, but to be a safe and reliable PSD team, you need to follow up with one of the training programs that focuses on public safety diving.

IMHO, everyone on the team needs to be on the same page as far as training, equipment and attitude.... for that reason, I really like LGS (Life Guard Systems). From what I've seen so far (admittedly limited as far as teh other PSD training agencies), they are the "DIR" of Public Safety Diving

Just out of curiousity.... where are you located?

 

[Gary D.]

Hi Snow Drift.

You have a very limited profile so trying to help out with a team is going to be bit tough. For starters it helps a lot when we know your age, geographical location, dive training, type of diving your team will be doing, equipment requirements and if it is going to be a Rescue or a recovery team.

It sounds like you just talked to one person on the existing team. Was this the head Puba or just a member and is that info correct? Having a need for Snowmobiles and 4 Wheelers is nothing unusual. Having $10 million in gear and training is useless if you can’t get it to the dive site.

We have a Rescue Alive, several snowmobiles and 4 wheelers along with a Gator loaded and ready to at the drop of a hat. There are remote areas where these things are the only possible way to get there.

What do you have $30K wrapped up in?

Training:
Once you’re past OW or AOW there isn’t much out there that relates to being a PSD other than PSD training. They are two different worlds, so much so PSD has been moved into the commercial side of diving. That doesn’t mean you’re a commercial diver, just that you’re not a spot diver as a PSD.

DIR, GUE and several others are somewhat contradictory when it comes to PSD training. So PSD training is the way to go. Several agencies’ can handle that training.

What are your training ideas?

$$ Is always the sore subject when it comes to working with any governmental agency. There is money out there, plenty of it; one just needs to have the recourses to find it.

IMHO, if there is already an existing team in your area, that is sponsored through a governmental agency of some type, try and refine it rather than try and start another one. All you will end up doing is bucking heads to the point the job never gets done.

There is a lot more to PSD than getting some divers together and taking a bunch of sport classes.

Keep us posted on your venture.

Gary D.

 

[snow drift]

Thank you for the helpful info I'm a PADI A. I. working on my IDC staff instuctor as well as tech & cave. As far as the 30,000 I have 25 tanks, 8 sets of top of the line regs. well you get the idea I'm a dive junky. I'm in southern Idaho. there is no dive team in this county. I would also like to do PSD traning.
But if a parent made a poor choice and a kid died that would be to much for me to handle. So I think that its out of the relm of options.
I have talked to some of the other team leaders in 2 other close countys and think that thay are all rec. trained . hope this babel will help you help me

 

[bridgediver]

The other guys offer good advice and to echo the need for specified PSD training, I am also GUE trained and trust me that there is no way that GUE/DIR can be "adapted" to PSD work. Do both on as individual choice but don't expect one to apply to the other.

Curious as to why you may feel responsible for a kid drowning if you're not yet on a team? The fact is, people will drown irregardless of what type of team you have and how well it will be set up. The best you can hope for is that your team is as safe and efficient as it can be. Don't get into this if you think you're going to save people - that is very rare.

I think that Gary is fairly close to you and could be a good resource for you. I'm also just north of the border if I can help let me know

mark

 

[Gary D.]

Where at in Idaho?

I also have way tooooo much gear plus all the toys at work.

As far as regs go, top of the line, magazine rated stuff for sport is not the way to go for PSD. Sports cars are not good for hauling freight. This job needs a freight hauling truck and that’s why we settled with Sherwood years ago. Trust me we have tried a plethora of brands and models.

PSD is PSD and it is/can be very contradictory to ALL the sport diving styles. We do stuff there that causes coronaries with GUE/DIR and even Sport divers. That is one reason we like to train from scratch stopping at AOW as far as the basic certification.

We do a lot of old school training. During training dives we do, or at least try and do safety stops and slow down to 30fpm. We don’t use any of the redundant systems due to excess bulk and you are trained from the start as a SOLO, self-reliant diver. On an operation we aren’t solo but things can go wrong at the drop of a hat and the diver needs to know what to do.

We train as if Murphy were there as your tender or back-up diver. There are no buddy checks so when you get ready you better be right. There are times we are headed for the bottom still getting suited up. It’s just something we train for to get the response times down.

There is a lot to it. It’s not as simple as getting certified, taking a couple of dozen sport classes and forming a team.

Good luck with your choices.

Gary D.

 

[snow drift]

Thank you for the advice. So OPW then strait to PSD training?
I spend all summer working with & teching kids and also trying to be a positive influance. All to many come from rough homes. I just hate to see bad coming to children do to an adult with lack of brain cells or poor judgment. I tend to lose my cool with the on who is suposed to know better.
As to the statement to the gear it was only to the fact that you asked what I spent 30,000 on. My wife could tell you to the penny and on what LOL!!
You all are being alot of help. I have not had any formal conversation with the grand poba yet. Need to have a lot better knowlage of PSD so I don't look like a total fool.
I know that it is most unlikely to save some one to much response time.
As to me being a PSD maybe but I've got some other traing that I want to do first. I.E EMT,tech,cave and my instuctors ya tall list but oh well.
The 4 weeler is do able BUT THE SNOW TOTALY SUCKS!!!!!!!! ya dumb I live in Idaho and have for 34 years. I see sand and palm trees in my future .
Did I say I'm very new to GUE,DIR so don't beat on me just an Idea but I think it's the coolest thing since sex LOL

 

[leam]

Hey Snow Drift, lemme share a newbie perspective.

I've gotten the GUE/DIR books and videos and gone through them, and have been to Extreme Exposure in in FL, their storefront HQ. From all I've seen JJ is a cool guy and not like the Cyber-DIR Nazi's that have caused many others to dislike DIR. I had planned on going tech this summer and was using the GUE stuff as a guideline until I could get into a fundies class.

Then I met the PSD opportunity and my heart hasn't been the same. The task has gone from "sight-seeing with skills" to "dive with a team, dive with a mission". PSD is different and there is so much to learn and I can't move forward nearly as fast as I'd like. I go to the YMCA even when sleepy because I don't want to poop out on my team. My wife just started geo-caching and I have a map of "my" county so we can learn the roads and major areas. I spend an hour or two a day thinking about my history and skills and seeing what I can bring to the team in non-diving areas.

My suggestion would be to talk to the Head PSD pooba and see how you feel after that. If it's an "area of interest" you want to pursue it then do so in addition to your other stuff. But if you just can't quit thinking about it and your heart aches then realize your priorities are being challenged and you have a chance to change your life.

ciao!

leam

 

[snow drift]

Ya I think you may be right. If it's got a chalenge to it I'm game I'll try all most any thing. Its somthing that I have had on my mind for a while now.
Plus it would be a lot more fun to dive with a team insted of solo all the time. Dont get me wrong I love to solo but it dose get boring.
THANX AGINE

 

[kenoo]

Snowdrift:
Any technical training would be helpful. You might also contact one of the professional PSD teams and ask them to share their SOP's etc.

I think NAUI is the only world wide org that has a PSD specialty certification. They only have a few instructors and I am one. If you had five students it might be worth a class. Otherwise for now get some good technical training. I think Cavern might be a good start.

However technical the training, none of the sport training can prepare you for the demands and hazards of PSD diving.