National Instructor Exam 2006
For the second year in a row the Isle of Man played host to the National Instructor Exam.
The Exam takes place over 4 days and tests candidates on 23 separate components assessing their instructing, examining skills as well as diving, seamanship and rescue skills, in fact all of the necessary attributes of a National Instructor.
For the 2006 event 9 candidates from Scotland, Wales, England, Malta and Germany travelled to the examination base, Port Erin in the Isle of Man in the hope of attaining this highest award in the BSAC. Most candidates travelled to the event early to allow time to establish themselves at their base and relax before the start of the event. The Examiner team, led by National Diving Officer Clare Peddie, mostly arrived on the island on Friday, with the addition of local National Instructor John Kermode and were joined midday Saturday by the final member of the team.
On Friday evening, 28th July the event began with a briefing to welcome the candidates and explain the timetable and general format of the exam.
Saturday 29th July
The day began with a drive to Douglas for the pool sessions starting with a brief at 0830 (Yep 8-30 in the morning!!) and then some immediate testing of the resourcefulness of an NI by starting the group planning sessions in the car park whilst waiting for the building to be opened. The pool sessions finished at noon and after a further session in the car park, this time constructing lunch from boxes full of bread rolls, cooked meats, cheese and various other staples of a diver's diet it was time to head back to Port Erin for the afternoons entertainment, the Rescue Skills workshop.
In a variation to the syllabus John Kermode had arranged for the workshop to be attended by members of the local Coastguard teams. A total of 13 Coastguards had volunteered to be involved in a workshop of skills based round the rescue techniques used by divers. The candidates were given the task of designing, resourcing and providing the training for this event and were required to teach each aspect of the various skills. This variation provided a realistic and valuable experience for all concerned and the Coastguard, candidates and examiners all admitted they learned a lot from the sessions and it is likely that the event will be developed for future use with other Coastguard teams and potentially RNLI as well. 
There was even a chance to see the new integrated drysuit defibrillator in action (right).
Returning to the exam base at the hotel the day continued with a briefing for the plans for the two diving days on Monday and Tuesday. This was followed by a formal planning session for these days and the assessed part of the day concluded at 1900, although the candidates continued to plan for some time after that.
Sunday 30th July
Open Water Instructor Trainer lessons were the first order of the day on Sunday morning, with the Examiners arriving at the jetty in Port Erin at 0800 for an examiner brief and the candidates receiving their brief at 0830. The sun was not beating down as it had been for the month leading up to the exam but it was still hot enough to warrant ensuring that everyone took precautions to stay well hydrated and some 12 or more litres of bottled water was disposed of. PIE assessments followed at 1100 and then another sandwich constructing session on the seafront this time.
It was then time to travel back across the island to Douglas and the hospitality of Glencutchery school for the sessions on Dry Practical Teaching where the candidates were given notice of impromptu teaching opportunities to cover either primary and secondary casualty assessment, stabilising a broken tibia or controlling arterial bleeding using indirect pressure. TIE assessment was next and this involved the candidates watching a video of a Classroom presentation from a TIE and marking and writing a feedback comment for it. The final part of this session was for the candidates to give a 20 minute lecture presentation on a topic they were given in advance. This year's topics were centred around Expedition Diving and Decompression. This was followed by a mad dash back to base to start the planning for the next day's diving before the examiners left for dinner. During the course of dinner the bombshell fell that the weather forecast meant that the hardboat booked for half of the group the next day would not be available as conditions were to be too difficult. The examiners returned to the hotel and after some frantic phone calls and sterling support from the local organiser a revised plan for the next day was developed in extra quick time.
Monday 31st July
The revised plan called for an early breakfast of toast and cereal and a briefing in the breakfast room at 0730 (starting to see a trend yet?). Then it was down to the quay at Port Erin to launch two ribs loaned by the local clubs and head out with the first wave of divers into a heavy sea for a drift dive off the Calf of Man. 
Those lucky (!?)) enough to be left ashore were kept entertained by the remaining examiners engaging in 5 minute presentations, branch interviews, answering spot oral questions and surface teaching before the boats returned for the second wave.
The now familiar lunchtime comestible construction and demolition event ensued before moving on to the afternoon events of task related teaching. This session encountered some substantial delays that meant that the boats were not recovered from the water until 1845 and then a mad rush back to the hotel, examiners for a debrief of the day and the candidates for more planning for the next day.
Tuesday 1st August
You can guess the time for the brief for yourselves and yes it did follow a perfectly linear progression on the previous days.
Today was hard boat diving and the plan was to dive the wreck of the Fenella Anne off the eastern shore of the Calf of Man. Well it was nice and calm in the harbour of Port St Mary but as we progressed towards the site it was increasingly obvious that whilst divers may have been able to get into the water and dive the site safely getting back aboard the hardboat could not be achieved with the same degree of consideration for people and kit and so plan B fell into action with a drift dive closer to shore and the lee.
Back in Port St Mary the change of scenery injected some welcome variety to the staple fare for lunch and an opportunity for more surface teaching before the dry run for the afternoons activities, the survey of the wreckage of a site between Spanish Head and Black Head that had been discovered recently. The objective was to try and establish which of two possible wrecks it might be. There was a tangible buzz of anticipation on the way out to the site and the shot was quickly put in and the first divers deployed.
It was quickly apparent however, that the anticipated reduction in tidal stream that equates to slack water at this site had either not put in an appearance on this day or had done so early and all groups experienced a strong current but still persevered with their allotted tasks and achieved some remarkable results in the circumstances. All underwater photographs courtesy of Andy Hunt
These were collated into a final presentation by each candidate back at the hotel. The Examination was brought to a close with a final debrief by the NDO at 1910 allowing barely enough time for people to change for the Exam dinner at 7-30.Despite all the stresses and strains of the last few days the banter across the dinner table was lively and smiles, laughs and jokes were a tonic for all (I suspect a wee drop of alcohol may have helped as well!).
Wednesday 2nd August
A mixed bag today. Most candidates were up early again to catch the early ferry for the journey home. No doubt they enjoyed a fitful sleep during the 3.5 hour crossing but at least they were on their way home.
For the examiner team it was a late(!) and for the first time cooked breakfast at 0830 before decamping one last time to Douglas for the examiners meeting. The morning was spent agreeing final marks and continuing to write comments for each element for every student. Each candidate is marked on 23 separate components including attitude and receives both a grade and a detailed comment for each section as well as an overall mark and comment. At noon we conducted a review of the exam for this year and started plans for the 2007 exam. Then the remainder of the day was spent completing comments and adding them to each individual candidates report finishing up at 1850.
The results of the Examination will be notified to the candidates by the end of August and the successful candidates will receive their awards at the Diving Officers Conference (DOC) on Saturday 2nd December.
Throughout the event support was provided by members of the local dive clubs and especial mention should go to :
Pauline Berrie
Steve Cowley
Adrian Corkill
Howard Barnes
Steve Foulis
Steve Brown
And the skipper of Castaway, Gary Smith
And of course the local Coastguard Teams from Port Erin, Port St Mary, Castletown and Peel.
Surface Photographs courtesy of John Kermode
Underwater Photographs courtesy of Andy Hunt
Page last modified: 8th Aug 2006 - 07:21:30