Kirsty Andrews raises a glass to the adventurous souls who cemented BSAC ’ s strong association with expedition diving
UKDIVING KIRSTYANDREWS
Expeditionary party
Kirsty Andrews raises a glass to the adventurous souls who cemented BSAC ’ s strong association with expedition diving
When you hang up your fins for a final time , how will you be remembered ? What will your contribution be to the grand canon of diving knowledge ; to the collective endeavour and the history of our sport ? These thoughts have occurred to me often recently , although I hope I won ’ t be hanging up my fins for a good time yet . Put like that , it sounds a grand ambition , but even on a small scale we can all put in our tuppence-worth . It ’ s been a while since I instructed , but going back a little bit I ’ m proud to say that I helped launch many baby scuba divers ; some of them I know became instructors themselves so there are possibly generations of divers finning about with my knowhow in there somewhere . This is a pleasing and mostly not-worrying thought . Perhaps you will be remembered as a club stalwart who single-handedly kept the boats on the water or the compressor operating , or the clubhouse bar fully stocked . Worthy pursuits indeed and essential to our collective club life .
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But is there more in you ? Could your diving exploits be more purposeful ? I was led down this line of thought on a recent voyage to St Kilda . I felt lucky enough to be one of a relatively modest number of divers who has managed to make it out at all to this remote outpost of the United Kingdom , 40 nautical miles from the next nearest major landmass ( Uist in the Outer Hebrides ). I felt even luckier that other divers had gone before me , and had laid the groundwork for me to make the absolute most of my trip . I refer to the black and white grainy copy of ‘ St Kilda – a submarine guide ’ written by BSAC ’ s own Gordon Ridley a full four decades ago . I found this modest , ring-bound pamphlet to be a gold mine of
St Kilda underwater : a vista of kelp and anemones information , listing no less than 185 dive sites with a paragraph each and in some cases , minimalist but enticing dive site diagrams . This labour of love was put together based on the notes taken over the course of Gordon ’ s five expeditions between 1975 and 1983 , together with input from other cooperating divers ’ trips over that time . The guide was put together as part of the newly formed BSAC Expedition Scheme , which Gordon was instrumental in starting - he also wrote several
The legendary Gordon Ridley and his guide to St Kilda guides to Scottish diving that I ’ m aware of , and probably a lot more besides . Of course , such a guide can only be a snapshot , influenced by prevailing conditions , the biases and vagaries of its creators . Indeed , some of the 185 sites were suggested but not yet dived by the team . Still , it was an invaluable starting point to feed my own enthusiasm and thirst for knowledge , both in
advance planning and on the trip itself . I do feel that there was perhaps a golden age of pioneering divers , where new sites were often being discovered , and that perhaps now we rely on that existing knowledge and are more modest in our ambitions . However , the ethos of BSAC remains , with expedition planning part of the qualification structure for our advanced qualifications ( I ’ m still working on those myself …)
I love the idea of sharing my knowledge not just with my immediate buddies and club , but with a wider audience who in turn can take it further . I hope you too are inspired by the BSAC Expedition Schemers of years gone by , and look forward to hearing about the adventures you get up to and the dive sites you discover . �