CLUBFOCUS
A sunny day on Taurus J- Lindsay Reid, Alastair Skene and Penny Martin
January sunset at 3pm involved with an early version of the BSAC Underwater Surveyor course. The club has made its own Baited Remove Underwater Video( BRUV) setup, using a GoPro camera, which we regularly take with us and deploy around Orkney during dive days. The data collected from this is fed back to Seasearch. So far, we haven’ t seen anything particularly notable on our BRUV, but we’ re hoping eventually we’ ll get lucky and capture some footage of a rare flapper skate.
Does the club offer diver training?
We face a few challenges to deliver training. Practical training is sometimes restricted by changes in the weather, but our main limitation is the number and availability of local instructors. We have one active Open Water Instructor and one Advanced Instructor, but we want to expand. We plan to address our instructor shortage by developing assistant instructors alongside diver training.
How are you coping in the meantime?
Our members have been very lucky to be invited by Aberdeen Sub Aqua Club to join their online diver training and have participated in Ocean Diver through to Advanced Diver sessions, as well as online lectures for Skill Development Courses such as Boat Handling. Other BSAC instructors from across the UK are frequently in Orkney to dive the German Fleet and have generously given their time and expertise to support the progression of diver training for our members. Our club would not have grown to the extent that it has within the past few years without their support.
What is the club most proud of?
Since joining BSAC, our club membership has expanded and club dives now take place most weekends. So much more diving is going on. We have explored many new dive sites around Orkney that were previously either unknown to us or had not been dived since the 1990s. We have built friendships with other clubs both in the UK and across Europe, and with marine charities such as Project Seagrass and Ghost Fishing UK. This has resulted in widening the diversity of dive sites and the dive projects that our members have been involved in.
What is the club planning for the next few years?
We are organising a club trip to Unst in the north of Shetland this summer, to explore some scenic sites new to us, as well as visit some classic wrecks such as the British submarine E49, which hit a mine in 1917 and was lost with all her crew.
As part of the North Scotland BSAC region, we are planning to join forces with other clubs in the region to deliver training courses. We have already started to link up on trips with the view to organise more shared trips in the future. We welcome guests and are happy to answer enquiries from divers interested in our club. �
Many dive days include exploring uninhabited islands
Duncan and Jenni celebrate their completion of the Underwater Surveyor course
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