A 20-mile round trip by inflatable to the island of Staffa
would be at least one nationally qualified instructor in each branch to supervise this ongoing process . And of course , since then , we ’ ve progressed to all instruction by nationally qualified instructors .
What were the landmark changes in diving during the Eighties ?
Drysuits went from being a rarity in the very early Eighties ( in Scotland , anyway ) to pretty much everyone using them by the end of the decade . They absolutely transformed diving : you could stay for longer ; you could go deeper without getting cold and you could stay comfortable on long boat trips . They were revolutionary for us . Then by the end of the decade , computers started to come in , or at least computers that were cheap enough for us to use .
There was also the introduction of the BSAC ’ 88 tables , which revolutionised things by allowing us to dive in a much more flexible way . The old Royal Navy tables had been very restrictive when it came to repeat diving , with six-hour surface intervals in some cases ... and even then you got a heavily penalised second dive . The ’ 88 tables changed the way we dived .
It was a period of considerable change in the diving world , from that flexible , relaxed style , to the more regulated approach . I think that ’ s something that happened across the board during the Eighties .
What do you think the future holds for diving ?
We ’ re in a hugely competitive world now . When I started , the natural world was dominated by Cousteau and his high profile discoveries . And now we ’ re just one hobby competing for attention in a large number of sports . I think we ’ re going to probably find that there ’ s going to be two types of divers – there will be those who just want to tick the box and move on to their next sport . But I think there will always be a large number of people who get very passionate about being underwater and want to continue .
How has your BSAC experience affected your life ?
It ’ s done a huge amount for me . From this seemingly random event that got me into diving , I became involved in instructing , despite being a very shy student at that time . I wouldn ’ t have been able to comfortably talk in front of even a few of people back then . However , becoming an instructor and going through that process of nurturing other divers gave me a lot of confidence . Today I lecture to rooms of 200 people on a regular basis ; my younger self certainly wouldn ’ t have envisaged that kind of thing . BSAC has helped me to develop professionally , as well as in diving .
A New Year dive in Loch Sunart
Object of Desire
We all wanted a drysuit , because this was Scotland and until then we ’ d be using wetsuits we made from kits . We used to have parties where we ’ d get out the glue and bond these panels of rubber to make the suit , then join the seams with yellow tape . So we all lusted after proper drysuits . There was the Poseidon Unisuit , but being students were weren ’ t looking at the top end , so I got the Typhoon , which was a perfectly decent suit and served me well for hundreds of dives .
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