How would you characterise yourself as a diver ?
I regularly dive a twin-set , sometimes with a stage cylinder , and I still do single cylinder diving . I have a few regular buddies , a couple of them from that first year at university . I quite regularly dive with my friend Claire Verduyn . And Claire and I are both very much into our marine life and our photography , so we look at very small stuff and do macro photography together .
I also dive with my partner , Jake Williams , who I knew before university . He ’ s more into the deep , dark and challenging side of diving . I do more wreck diving with him . He ’ s a CCR diver , so I do more of the accelerated decompression and deeper stuff with him .
What do you enjoy the most ?
It has to be instructing . At any level , there ’ s something special about taking someone on their first open water dive and helping them to explore an environment that they ’ ve never experienced before . But there ’ s also something rewarding about developing Dive Leaders and junior divers looking to become instructors . In fact , one of my students who I ’ ve taught from Ocean Diver recently just passed his OWI . That was a very proud moment for me .
What changes have you seen in the diving world since you started ?
I ’ ve noticed a shift in mindset around what people can and can ’ t do with scuba . Looking at the data and making decisions about how we can make things safer is a big part of BSAC ’ s role . We can adapt our courses to make them more inclusive and friendly . I think that ’ s been a massive change .
We ’ re making it more manageable for people to get involved . We ’ re helping people to define what they want to get out of the sport . Prospective divers have the option to tailor their progression to what they ’ re trying to get out of the sport . All this makes diving a lot more attractive to people who perhaps haven ’ t been exposed to it before .
Object of Desire
When I was first training , it was the Suunto Zoop Novo . Everybody wanted a dive computer when they qualified , it was the entry level dive computer that everyone recommended ; it is still to this day a cracking dive computer . It was my baby , my precious ! I got the data cables so that I could import my profiles onto my computer . I ’ m a bit of a nerd when it comes to statistics , so I loved being able to access that data .
It ’ s really encouraging to see courses like Shore Surveyor and Underwater Surveyor coming out . These are things that families can get involved with , that help people to engage with BSAC in a different way . Hopefully it will help retain members for longer and through different phases of their
Zoops on show ! lives . We are gradually becoming more inclusive , which means there is motivation to be part of the club if , for instance , you have small children , or if you ’ re getting older , or if something else is preventing you from diving . It ’ s really nice to see that that widening up . It can only be good for us .
Posing on the sand
How do you see BSAC culture developing in the future ?
We ’ re going to develop even more of a family focus . We are going to use a variety of methods in getting people involved , whether that be for diving , snorkelling or other ways of interacting with the marine world . Part of our development will mean considering the environmental impact of our sport and what we can do to give back .
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