Everyday Expeditions II :
Return to the RIB
After a brief return to boat diving last year , Andy Hunt offers advice for its expected resumption later in 2021 , as well as a tour of some of his local dives in the Isle of Wight .
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As lockdown continued to ease last year , boat diving was allowed and the club set out how to work with the Covid rules and transition to boat diving safely . By now we had just about got our heads around trying to get 2m distance on land , so now started the challenge of figuring out how to implement the boat guidance .
This required a degree of discipline to carefully read BSAC ’ s guidance alongside Government Guidance and apply with common sense , and pragmatism . With the 2m rule even in our large club RIB it wasn ’ t really going to happen , so we waited for the
Editor ’ s Note
At some point in 2021 RIB diving will be back on the agenda , and we felt that this article by Andy Hunt would help everyone prepare for its return . If in doubt about the legality or guidelines for the return of boat diving , please go
to bsac . com / covidsafediving
introduction of the 1m + rule .
Now , I ’ m not saying implementing the guidance was convenient , but equally it wasn ’ t desperately that inconvenient either . That said , some members took the decision not to boat dive in 2020 based on their own assessment of the risk ; in some case they or their loved ones are in a higher risk category so they are minimising contact full stop or in some cases are happy just to get some good shore dives in and wait it out .
For those that wanted to boat dive , we put together a Boat Covid kit which comprised some anti-bacteria / viral wipes , some ‘ Wight Wash ’ ( hand sanitiser turned out by the local gin factory in response to the Covid crisis ) and some rubbish bags to contain the used wipes . We left it on the boat so no-one could forget to bring it .