Wednesday, August 24, 2016

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Underwater Extreme: Brian's Story (Scuba Diving Documentary)



A team of University of Chester students filmed a feature length documentary that focuses on scuba diving and decompression sickness. The team members consisted of Jessica Gibbins, Ryan Cook, Lee Bennett and Matthew Thomas.

Decompression Sickness is one of the issues that surround Scuba Diving and is caused by gas bubbles that form inside the blood and tissue before the gas can be diffused and eliminated into the lungs. Scuba Diving can be a dangerous activity to participate in and the documentary itself will highlight this.

We will follow Brian Eccles on a journey as he relives the dive that almost claimed his life. Brian is a 59-year-old man who lives in Connahsquay, Wales and has suffered from the decompression sickness known as the bends 7 years ago. This happened when did a routine dive a couple of miles out of Conwy Marina and his equipment failed. The only option left for him was returning to the surface in an uncontrolled manner and this is what resulted in the decompression sickness.

The documentary will begin with Brian talking about his experiences scuba diving
We will also briefly meet Brian's wife Ruth Eccles who will discuss his diving and what her views are on this. Brian was admitted to the North West Recompression Unit in the Wirral at the time of the incident. While he was at the unit he was given medical advice and was told not to dive for a long period of time but he will return to the facility and will talk about what he remembers from the ordeal.

Brian will train inside Holywell Leisure Centre with members from the Flintshire Sub Aqua Club for the upcoming final dive on the basics of deploying a surface marker. The Flintshire Sub Aqua Club provides training at beginner level through to Advanced Diver level. Barry Freeman who is the diving officer at the Flintshire Sub Aqua Club will assist Brian as he practices the techniques in the swimming pool area before he commits to open water at Conwy Marina.
The final part of the documentary will focus on Brian preparing to dive off the edge of the boat while setting off from Conwy Marina. The training he will gain from practising at Holywell Leisure Centre will prepare him for the dive. We will follow Brian closely as he explains his thoughts and feelings from the anticipation of whether he will complete it or not.