about usO2DIVE was formed in 2001 by a group of keen amateur divers. The Club is affiliated to the British Sub Aqua Club (BSAC) but is open to members of any other diving organisation (most notably PADI). The Club is relatively small but provides a friendly and supportive environment for newly qualified and more experienced divers. O2DIVE membershipMembership of 02Dive currently costs £50 a year plus an additional £43 (depending on qualification) for BSAC membership. For this you get:
committee membersAny member of the O2DIVE can stand for office at the Annual General Meeting (AGM). The committee meets approximately 4 times a year. All members are welcome to attend, and committee meetings are normally held in the Greyhound Pub. The current committee is comprised of the following:
communicationsO2DIVE has an e-mail group that allows Club members to keep in touch with each other easily. This group also allows the Club to advertise diving and social events, equipment for sale, meetings etc. . Members who wish to publish information on this website are invited to submit material such a reference material you may have collected, events to go in the club calendar, links to useful websites or even if you have some diving related kit to advertise. Contact Chris if you wish to submit anything or have suggestions for the website BSACBritish Sub Aqua Club BSAC was formed in the early 1950's and is the UK governing body for the sport of diving. BSAC is now the worlds largest single diving Club, with membership of over 45,000 divers through more than 1,200 branches. BSAC membership provides internationally recognised qualifications through instruction by highly qualified instructors, following one of the world's most respected training programmes. As a member of a branch you have the opportunity of pursuing diving with similarly minded friends, often using shared equipment such as branch owned boats, compressors, etc. Members enjoy third party liability insurance world-wide and receive monthly copies of DIVE magazine to keep them up to date with all that's new in diving. DIVE magazineDive magazine is an independently edited and published world class full colour diving magazine contracted to BSAC to be its journal. Besides a much-appreciated broad spectrum of regular departments, DIVE articles cover all aspects of diving with regular equipment, travel and technical reviews. Members receive the magazine monthly as part of the membership package, keeping them up to date with BSAC developments and happenings in the diving world in general.
|
new diversScuba diving is an exciting but potentially expensive hobby! The basic kit required to start training is a properly fitting mask, snorkel and a pair of fins. Your mask must be the right size and shape for you. The glass must be toughened or tempered and the nose piece must be separate to the glass and open to the surrounding water pressure. Nowadays if you wear glasses you can have prescription lenses in your mask (but for a price!!). Pool fins fit like a shoe, are worn with bare feet and are designed for use when snorkelling and pool training. Open water fins are more robust and have a half shoe arrangement. They are designed to be worn with diving boots and have a heel strap to secure them. A good mask costs from £20 upwards, a snorkel costs around £10, pool fins from £15 upwards and open water fins from around £45. As your training progresses you may wish to purchase additional kit such as a BCD (buoyancy control device), a cylinder, regulators, weight belt etc. Once open water training starts you will need to purchase a suit of some kind. This is obviously where the costs start to rise significantly but good second hand kit is available and remember that we have agreements with local dive shops to get members a discount!. Semi-dry suits are like a thick wet suit but have tight cuffs to keep the water inside the suit (and so maintain temperature). A semi dry can be worn in UK waters in the summer months. A dry suit is designed to keep water out of the suit and these can be membrane or neoprene. Dry suits can be worn year round in UK waters. club nightsThe Club meets at Ipswich Boys School pool every Wednesday evening between 7 - 9:15, then down the Greyhound Pub. The pool sessions allow members to test kit, practice snorkel techniques and swim. The pool is 20m long and 2m at the deep end. Members are welcome to bring family and friends along to these sessions. Click the photo above for a map to the school. Afterwards we head down to the Greyhound Pub at about 9.15pm for a few beers, some sandwiches and a chat. This is a great opportunity to get to know fellow club members and to pick the brains of more experienced divers on various issues! This is also where most of the diving and social events are planned so it's worth popping in even if you can't make the pool beforehand. Click the photo above for a map to the pub trainingO2DIVE has as its members more than half a dozen BSAC qualified instructors at Club Instructor, Open Water Instructor and Advanced Instructor levels in addition to a highly qualified PADI instructor who can offer you PADI courses through his dive shop Galaxsea . Although training is not the primary focus for the club, a small intake of beginners is taken each year in addition to advancing the skills within the club. Training from scratch to BSAC Ocean Diver will take approximately 12 weeks involving a few hours each Wednesday evening. These sessions will involve lectures, pool training and open water dives. If you have gained non-BSAC qualifications elsewhere such as on holiday then you may be elegible to cross-over to BSAC with a "Statement of alternative training" or SALT, issued by our Diving Officer after a short assesment, or additional training. Further information about this can be gained at the BSAC website or email our club secretary using the link above. If you are yet to take your training we can offer the choice of BSAC training in the club or advise you upon PADI training, whichever best meets your timescales & budget. To gain further information then click here to email our club secretary then come down to the pool or pub and meet us. Also you can read about BSAC & PADI below or visit the BSAC and PADI webistes for more info and to whet you appetite for getting under the waves. Click on the logo's to visit the websites. PADIProfessional Association of Diving Instructors PADI is the world's largest recreational diving membership organisation. The membership includes dive businesses, resort facilities, academic institutions, instructor trainers, dive educators, divers, snorkellers and other watersports enthusiasts. Professional PADI Members (dive centres, resorts, educational facilities, instructors, assistant instructors and divemasters) teach the vast majority of the world's recreational divers, issuing nearly 946,000 certifications each year. PADI Professionals make underwater exploration and adventure accessible to the public while maintaining the highest industry standards for dive training, safety and customer service.
|
