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Enjoying the RIB at Portland
Not all clubs welcome junior members , why do you ?
Youth members are a great way of bringing in parents to the club too . Three years ago , we removed our age-limit on membership , and we now have four families training / diving with us . It ’ s great to see mum / dad / kids all diving together .
Eighty-four is already a big membership …
It is our highest number of members so far . In 2022 , 56 were full diving members . To give you an idea of the spread of qualifications , right now we have : seven on our Ocean Diver waiting list ; 14 Ocean Diver
Ready to dive at Stoney Cove
30 trainees ; 18 Ocean Divers ; 17 Sports Divers ; 21 Dive Leaders ; and five Advanced Divers . Membership is growing steadily ; around 10 new members joined in the past year . We have a wonderful , passionate Training Officer , Ian James , who has increased the number of instructors we have , in turn leading to a record number of Ocean Diver trainees and new members .
What resources does the club have ?
We have a clubhouse , with a classroom , kitchen and compressor . Membership includes unlimited free air fills . We ’ re in the process of introducing nitrox , to appeal to a wider range of divers . We ’ ve set up partial pressure blending and if there ’ s enough take-up , we are thinking of investing in a booster pump and additional storage banks to provide pre mixed 40 per cent nitrox . The club has a boat . It ’ s a Tornado rigid-hulled inflatable , call sign Redbreast . We use a swimming pool on Friday evenings , for training or chilling after a busy week , and we have membership at the local water-ski club and sailing lake , where we regularly take the RIB for boat handling practice . Oh , and we hold a licence to dive in a local lake .
Tell us more …
Members dive regularly at the Blue Lagoon in Bletchley ; known to us as the Bluey , a nationally recognised Local Nature Reserve on private property . MKSAC holds the licence for all diving activities in the lake , which comes with many restrictions on dates , times , access , maximum number of divers / vehicles .
What ’ s it like diving in the Bluey ?
The lake , a former brickworks pit , has a maximum depth of 18 metres . Over the years , the club has planted many items underwater for divers to explore , including two cars ( a Capri and a Metro ), a bus and a