This weekend I had a complete change of scene as after having moved around on snow for the last 2 months I changed to the sea as my outdoor venue. I took part in the British rock and water association coasteering skills training led by Andy Spink, Earl, Drew Forbes and Dan.
It was an absolute cracking course that I can recommend to anyone involved in the outdoor industry as it is something totally different, exciting, fun and adventurous that you can target to any level in a wonderful wild environment.
The two days involved techniques for working with clients in a marine enviroment, swimming techniques, surf rescue skills, swell forecasting and bathology, tidal impact zone skills, jumping off things, the what if something goes wrong scenarios etc.
On Friday night we thought that the roof was going to blow of the building and that we would be hit by a rogue wave any minute. We were therefore surprised to see in the morning that the weather had turned to some blue sky and only a gentle breeze. We thought that we would find calm seas and a little swell but the opposit was true!!! The swell was big, choppy and irregular and super exciting to bob about in...it was also exceptionally cold!! But what a lot of fun. Swimming between different buffer zones, jumping in and getting out. Swimming into the boulder zone and dealing with rip tides etc.
On day 2 we expected the swell to be less but it was even bigger than the previous day. When we arrived at Easdale/ Seal Island at the bay we all stared with anticipation at the massive waves rolling into the bay. Hitting the cliffs on the left, bouncing off into the centre, rolling back to the cliffs to hit a 2nd time...it was absolutely spectacular but also quite intimidating, fear inspring maybe?
We started in the 'least choppy waters' to set up a swim line followed by throw line rescues which was slightly different than throw bagging on the river??? Here when on the rocks you are not dry or particularly safe as the waves come in and take you off your feet if you are not in a very pro active and stable position and the rope also floats in all directions including around the rescuers feet. Plus as the water round the rocks in the sea is flowing madly in all directions the person to be rescued can also have a very interesting time with ropes...it was very clear that ropes and water you really only want to use when no other options available.
We decided to move round to more exciting waters to do some sea level traversing and jumping of big cliffs in a biggggg swell to have a good practise at getting out of the water and back onto the cliffs. This was my favourite part of the weekend. The swell and the waves were so huge that you sometimes would end up about 5 to 10 meters higher on the cliffs than the actual sea level. It was intense but also a great feeling. The key in water is to go with it and don't work against it, don't fight it because it is much stronger than you are and you would never win! If you go with it however it is such a tremendous feeling, very relaxing I found!
We finished off with rescue scenarios and swimming with a conscious and unconscious casualty and some techniques to push your client off when they try to drown you....that is actually quite hard if you are wearing a steamer as they are so brilliantly bouyant!!
All in all a fab course and thanks to the guys for making it such a success!!!
This week I have moved back onto snow again to do another assessment course ....and since we had a decent amount of new snow in the Gorms I will try and put some powder shots on the blog this week!!!
Tada,
Chris
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