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Boat work party didn ’ t get used enough . Apart from the occasional beach dive for training , nearly all our dives take place from our hard boat , which can easily accommodate eight divers . We can even provide a post-dive breakfast aboard .
Who are your members ?
Members come from all walks of life and bring a range of skills to the club . The builders and motor mechanics are especially useful , but the occasional lawyer and scientist have their uses too . Age-wise , they range from early 20s to into their 70s , but the average age is weighted towards the older , more experienced divers , which probably reflects the fact that Torbay is also a popular retirement destination . Having said that , we are keen to recruit younger members and pass on some of that experience to them .
How many members do you have ?
About 35 full diving members with a couple of social ( snorkel ) members and three life members . More than 30 per cent of our members are Advanced Divers , just over half are Dive Leaders , and the remainder are roughly equal numbers of Sports Divers and Ocean Divers ( or equivalent qualifications ).
What resources does the club have ?
Torbay BSAC has always owned a hard boat . The biggest achievement in the past year has been the purchase of a larger , more powerful dive boat to replace our faithful , but ageing , Aquabell 27 , which we agreed to sell early in the year . A lot of hard work and generous donations by many members allowed us to replace the boat within just a couple of months .
That ’ s a big purchase . How did you go about it ?
It involved visiting a number of potential new boats across the country , negotiating a good deal for the best candidate , and transporting it by road all the way from Suffolk . The chosen Aquabell 33 with flybridge needed a re-fit to get her dive ready .
We bought a RIB too , a few years ago , but it was eventually sold because it
And your land base ?
We are fortunate to have a valuable berth in Torquay harbour , where we also have a storage and compressor room . We don ’ t have access to a pool but meet socially every Wednesday evening at the local rugby club , where our Diving Officer compiles the dive lists for the following week .
How does the club raise the funds to run a hard boat ?
Mostly from our annual subscriptions and dive fees . Members pay a dive fee of £ 20 a day when using the club boat . Air fills are free from our own compressor . However , for extraordinary expenses such as our compressor upgrade in 2020 or our new boat purchase this year , we relied heavily on generous donations from many of our members . We have tried applying for various grants , but apart from a successful Lottery Fund award many years ago , we haven ’ t been successful .
Torbay Diver hits the water
Sporting conditions in the Red Sea ( l-r ) Mike Osler , Dave Perrett , Jerry Blackler , Tony McCarthy
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