Bristol Aerospace Sub-Aqua Club
Diving Officers Communication – September 2001
Well if you did not realise it before now, I’m
going to tell you that the AGM is just 5 weeks away. I wonder how many of you
will make the effort to attend this year?
The past month has been quite active with trips to
the club wreck and our annual expedition to Cornwall. Thankfully this year this
trip went without any injuries but sadly did not pass without mishap. Pete
Davies had engine problems yet again; we have said that he needs to sink the one
he’s got and spend some more on a new one. Due to the Harbour Regatta
happening early in the month, the West Wales trip had to be postponed (I
understand the boat was not available either). The Harbour regatta saw us
providing safety cover for WesFed as we do every year. It also saw members
taking part in the Gig racing and although we did not reach the finals, all our
boats recorded very good times. Mid month saw another group visiting our club
wreck and also experiencing the worst weather of all the trips. I understand
there was quite a bit of fish feeding going on aboard the boat. I would like to
thank Chris Barker, our Advanced Diver Rep, for organising all these trips to
the wreck. Late in the month saw us revisiting Marazion and Trevair campsite.
Both Val and Phil were surprised and happy to see us, especially after last year
and made every effort to welcome us. As normal we did our own thing, much to
their annoyance, but they let us get on with it. The weather was very kind to us
and we had some wonderful days when we dived the various sites available from
here. Another thing worth mentioning is that this expedition had the most number
of divers attending throughout the week that I can remember with one day having
20+ divers wanting to dive, thankfully everyone enjoyed themselves. One thing
that I am glad about is the amount of drills that we managed to complete and I
thank all those who gave up their time to allow this to happen.
The new Sports Diver program is well under way and I
have been asked to provide a new Dive Leader program. Can everyone who is
interested in this program please let me know? I am planning to carry out the
Dive Leader knowledge review in the coming weeks, so if you need to do this you
had better get studying At present there are five candidates.
Practical skills for all grades are being done when
conditions allow, Stewart Butterfield is organising another trip to Horsea
Island, an ideal site to complete drill and if you are lucky there may even be a
Bar-B-Que. again.
Over the last few months I have been saying how important it is that we get the boats in a saleable state. To that end another working party was organised on the 9th September, my thanks go to Carol Sheppard, Terry Hall, Bob Abbott (yes he’s back in the fold) Matthew Bell, Per Borjesson and Shaun Morris for making the effort to help out. Also I would like to thank Cyril Hucker for taking the time to complete the welding on the trailer, this is what has been holding us up for sometime. Although we did not complete all the work, the majority of it has now been done and hopefully the rest will be completed in the coming weeks. Sadly I do not think there is enough time this season for us to sell one of the boats, but hopefully early next year we will have both boats in a state were we can sell one of them. We have moved the Dunlop and created a space for our new boat, which should be arriving in the very near future. If you would like to be one of the first persons to have a ride in it, get your names down and see Carol Sheppard who is organising the draw.
The fund raising is still going and monies are still being raised, I know that Carol is doing a few as I write, so see her if you would like to know what is going on.
A £1 prize guessing game on how much the Dunlop boats weighs will be run as soon as it is road worthy.
A Treasure Hunt around Bristol City centre and another 'Guess Who' competitions are also being planned
Are
there any more ideas out there on how to raise funds? Come on you must have
some.
Club Diver - New program will be starting soon for new starts
Sports Diver - New program ongoing. Open Water Dives being carried out.
Dive Leader - Review to be planned.
New program being planned
Advanced Diver - Mandatory SDC's as and when required.
Optional SDC's to be discussed
See our Web Site for relevant information on dates for Lecture
program details
28th - 30th September 2001 - Porthkerris Cornwall
6th – 21st November 2001 - Phuket, Thailand
22nd December 2001 - Annual Club Dinner Dance - Jury's Hotel, Prince Street
NOTE: - There may be additional expeditions being planned that are not listed here.
See our Web Site for information on these events and other diving
expedition
I am organising an Oxygen Admin
and First Aid for Divers course over the weekend of the 3rd & 4th of
November. These are being run within the Regional Coaching group. If you would
like to attend please let me have your name as soon as possible. As we have our
own O2 kit, I think we should all be able to use it effectively so
have a think about it. The cost is £10 registration and costs on the day.
(Should be no more than £25 hopefully).
SOMETIME IT’S EASIER TO DO IT YOURSELF,
That way you know the job’s been done
Harry Ryalls
DO. BAS-AC