Saturday was the day for one of the three meetings held by the Derbyshire section of the cave diving group each year. Before each meeting a training event is organised. On this occasion it was a joint rescue practice with the DCRO held at The Rez, an underground reservoir that has been converted into a dive site.
Rolling up at the car park brought the ominous sight of the Rescue truck, the cavers equivalent of the climbers big yellow taxi. Nerves were settled by a cup of tea in the cafe along with the briefing for the days plan which finished with jobs being assigned. Paul got to be casualty in the morning, I got to be dive controller with the roles reversing for the afternoon. Jim volunteered as coms and everybody else took on the job of divers on rescue. The rescue controller, from the DCRO, was Bill. The site had been prepared earlier in the week by JT and Rich. The scenario was an overdue party of two divers who’s planned trip took them caving beyond a sump. The Rez, having two access points and 6 degree water, was playing the part of the sump.
Paul departed through the sump and a rescue party organised itself under the guidance of Bill. The scenario went roughly as planned with Paul being found, the other diver suspected missing in the sump (eaten by a shark) and various methods of coms being tried. As the rescue developed teams of divers carried kit through the sump to rescue Paul who was thinking that maybe he had a broken leg and was a little cold. Paul was then strapped to a stretcher, lowered into the water and swum out by the stretcher party before climbing the ladder under his own steam, disproving the broken leg theory.
After tidying up there was a debrief in the cafe which lasted for longer than a plate of sandwiches. Much was learnt on the day.
A big thank you must go to those who organised and set-up the event, to Bill from the DCRO and particularly to the Rez for providing a great site for our peculiar needs.
Oh, and somehow I missed the changeover time when I should have become the casualty in the 6 degree water with Paul becoming the dive controller on the surface in a nice warm coat, I don’t know how that happened.
Did anyone catch the shark?
Was there a dry place in the ‘sump’ for Paul to sit whilst he awaited rescue?
No, Paul was at the other end of the sump (third picture from top) out of the water but still cold and wet :freeze: