Functional Fitness Training in the Pacific Ocean

Talk about functional fitness on the high seas!

When I was in Oahu, Hawaii, back around 1993, I completed the PADI Rescue Diver course.

This was the most physically demanding of the PADI courses that I completed.

The capstone event for graduation was a live, open ocean rescue, from a boat. 

My "casualty" was a 250lb man, in full scuba gear, floating face down in choppy waters, about 250 meters from the boat.

As the sea state deteriorated and the swells grew larger, the instructor tells me "we are missing a man, locate the casualty and execute a rescue recovery". 

I could only wear a wet suit, weight belt, snorkel/ mask, and fins. 

First step was to enter the water and swim/fin to the casualty. 

This wasn’t easy as the rolling waves were getting bigger as a storm was rapidly moving in. The afternoon sky was growing dark. 

Finding the casualty was not an easy task as he was hard to see as you lost sight of him as the waves crested. 

The swim wasn’t without challenge as the waves and current were not helping and were actually pulling me away from the casualty. It took me way longer than I thought and I was extremely fatigued by this point. And I had only just reached the casualty!

I had to roll the casualty on to his back and open his airway and check for consciousness, breathing and pulse while being rocked by 5-8 foot waves. 

Then I had to begin swimming while towing the casualty towards the rescue boat, while administering rescue breaths every 5 seconds, while simultaneously removing pieces of the casualty’s scuba gear, without losing anything. That took a long time and I was exhausted by the time we reached the boat.

The waves were so big at this point that the back end of the boat was raising up out of the water, exposing the turning propeller blades. Then the back end of the boat would slam down into the sea. So to stay alive at this point, timing was everything. And yes, I was actually scared at this point. 

So while waiting for the right moment, the boat slammed down and provided the opportunity to roll the casualty onto the diver ramp. 

Of course, nobody onboard was offering any assistance at all. I had to wait for a couple rolls of the waves and then my chance to frantically climb aboard finally arrived. 

I had to go through CPR procedures on the casualty for a few minutes until a huge wave crashed over the side of the boat covering us in salt water. At that point the instructor said the test was finished and he told the boat captain to get us home. 

I had previously observed numerous rescue diver candidates conduct their final open water exams in sunny skies and flat calm waters. Easy breezy to say the least. 

So I was a little bit pissed off that I was the only one who had to do his final exam in the middle of a tsunami. The instructor simply said that I do wear a Ranger Tab on my uniform right? And I immediately shut up and stopped whining. 

Needless to say, I got it done but I was smoked.

It was a workout like no other. I was challenged physically and mentally in a big way. 

It was a great course! I’m very proud to have earned the rescue diver patch and certificate.

Those were the good old days! Another one of those situations where I am glad that I did it, but I would not want to do it again.