Welcome
Whenever I sit down to write one of these Welcome pages, I think of you all – divers ranged across the nation, from city centres to remote isles. I think of BSAC clubs in the Middle East, the Indian Ocean, in Australia, the Caribbean... the military outposts of the Atlantic and the Med. Who have I left out? I’ m sure there are BSAC divers working in offshore research; there must be a few in Antarctica.
As I write these words on a miserable winter’ s evening, thinking of the BSAC diaspora brings on a warm glow. I like to think of all those divers out there in the knowledge that we’ re part of something unique. We have 72 years of history in the( lifting) bag, all made possible by one of the world’ s most dynamic volunteer sporting organisations.
And now we’ re looking forward to another year. 2026 beckons with all the uncertainty these strange days bring.
BSAC was born from the aftermath of a war, when contemporary wisdom held that the biggest challenge of the future would be how to occupy our spare time. Well, it didn’ t quite work out that way. Today we find ourselves in a world wracked with adversity, degradation and the unknowable implications of artificial intelligence.
The world is changing at a dizzying pace, and that includes our domain, the sea. Currents are changing, wind is changing, the water itself is changing. All this has been documented in SCUBA magazine, and we will continue to do so. But we’ ll also take the opportunity to highlight the work divers are doing to study and address the situation, including of course BSAC’ s Marine Champions initiative.
This is a project that speaks to the challenges facing the planet, but also to BSAC’ s volunteer ethos. If you’ d like to read an overview of the project in its early months, please check out the article by Katherine Knight, Chair of BSAC’ s Environment Committee, which can be found in this issue’ s Protect Our Seas pages.
SCUBA takes a little break over Christmas, but we’ ll be back in February with more dispatches from BSAC-land. Until then, please join me in raising a glass to our Marine Champions as they set out to spread their message.
Happy Christmas, everyone. See you on the other side.
Simon Rogerson – Editor simon @ scubamagazine. co. uk
Cover photo: Conger eel conga party by Kirsty Andrews
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