FAVOURITEKIT
Edmond in action raising ghost nets and recovering plastic rubbish
FAVOURITEKIT
I’ m an open-circuit diver and
“ snorkeller. My most useful kit is my ghost net knife [ a 17cm Victory dive knife made by Green River ] which has a decent, long serrated blade perfect for the job of recovering lost gear. Other than that, I like to keep my kit simple and reliable.
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“ I did the Sport England snorkel instructor course years ago too,” he says.“ But the activity wasn’ t taken onboard by the club. It just didn’ t get off the ground.”
“ Then Covid came along, a group of trainees had finished in the pool but had nowhere to go diving. So, I set up a snorkelling group to keep them engaged. We went to beautiful out-of-the-way places such as Flamborough head and saw the amount of man-made stuff washed up.
That’ s where the litter picking idea came from. We did the risk assessments and got it off the ground.”
Flamborough head has plenty of caves and swim throughs, but you need to know your tides to dive there. For shore snorkelling, Edmund makes plans to ride the tide in one direction to an inaccessible bay, litter pick, then ride the changing tide back to the start.
Going to extremes
Edmund’ s extreme beach cleans featured on the One Show in March 2025. It was brilliant to see how it was put over, he says, with mention of all the good that it does for the local wildlife.
“ I’ m 60. I grew up on a farm near Scarborough and as a kid I didn’ t see plastic on the beach. Now it’ s everywhere. We make a difference, and everyone gets a good feeling from doing it. It’ s good teamwork. There’ s laughter and a bit of banter going on.”
Today, the club offers snorkel courses to anyone expressing interest in diving, then refunds the cost against any subsequent diving training.
“ Snorkellers can get in anywhere. It’ s easy to do after work. There’ s minimal kit to look after. If you get involved in snorkelling, you learn basic skills, get the chance to go out on boats. That all helps when you learn to scuba dive. Otherwise, trainees have a lot to take on.”
Edmund stopped logging every dive years ago, saying he must have some 1,000 + dives by now. I ask about favourite dive sites and Bridlington Bay gets a plug, including HMS Falmouth, a Battle of Jutland veteran that makes a great training site. Edmund has volunteered with a local ghost net team, Fish Net Zero, for six years, work now supported by the Green Britain Foundation. A lot of the team are BSAC divers, and they are currently recruiting new members with 100 UK drysuit dives logged. If you’ re interested email Louise. delisle @ greenbritainfoundation. co. uk
To make your diving more enjoyable, Edmund recommends looking for a reason, a purpose to dive. It might be as simple as researching a site so you can navigate it and understand it. Or it might be a bigger project like his extreme litter picks. Do your research on clubs too; a club that has plenty of activities for members, shows that it is making an effort. �
TEACHINGHIGHLIGHT
Supporting the instructors at a local
“ swimming group for disabled people to introduce snorkelling sessions, doing demos and stuff. I helped a couple of younger members, one physically disabled, one non-verbal, build up their finning and surface diving technique until they could swim full lengths and pick up objects from the bottom. It gave me a lump in the throat seeing that, it was really rewarding.
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A Spud we all like
Become an Instructor!
Sports Divers and up( for scuba) and 16 + year olds( for snorkelling) can start instructor training.
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Or visit bsac. com / instruct 51