Welcome
Hello and welcome back to SCUBA after our winter recess . How have you been ? Fed up sitting inside watching dreadful television , or have you managed to get out a bit between the storms ? I know some of you have even managed to go open water diving , while others have gamely kept up your training on pool nights . Hang in there , keep active and make sure you ’ re fit and ready to resume diving when spring arrives .
This issue , we ’ re introducing a new regular column , as promised in the January / February magazine . We want our readers to come to us with questions , and two of our leading divers have stepped up to answer them . So , please welcome BSAC ’ s National Diving Officer , Sophie Rennie , and the Head of Diving and Training , Sophie Heptonstall . Impressed by their double act at last year ’ s BSAC Conference , I want to channel their wit and wisdom into these pages .
Their column is called , simply , Two Sophies ; if you have a question or an issue you ’ d like them to investigate , please contact me at the usual email . For now , I want them to focus on dive training , technique and safety ... but we may open the page up to more esoteric topics in the future !
Otherwise , you ’ ll find all your regular columnists and experts returning this month , plus kit reviews , environmental reporting , dive training , travel and the always entertaining Chat pages . If you ’ re in need of inspiration , I recommend Maggs Ashton ’ s compelling account of a trip to dive the clear water wrecks of Norway last summer ( ahh , summer ...), which you can find on page 41 .
Will you be at the Go Diving show on the weekend of 1-2 March ? BSAC will have a stand next to the main stage , so do pop by and say hello . I ’ ll be ranting about Big Animal Encounters on the Photo-Inspiration stage at 2.30pm on the Sunday ; come along and find out how to get close to marine megafauna .
Simon Rogerson – Editor simon @ scubamagazine . co . uk
Cover photo : Our World Underwater scholar Samuel Thomsen dives the Red Sea , by Simon Rogerson
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