SCUBA Editor Simon Rogerson interviews the club ’ s new National Diving Officer , Sophie Rennie , one of BSAC ’ s most prolific volunteers
VOLUNTEERLIFE
Sophie Rennie is your new National Diving Officer ( NDO ), a role she ’ s been moving towards for more than 20 years . As long as I ’ ve been covering BSAC as a journalist , it seems Sophie has been volunteering in some capacity ; bossing events , helping people , setting standards . So why ’ s now the right time to step up ?
“ I ’ ve thought about it for ages , but the time was never right ,” Sophie says . “ But I finally thought now was a good time to go for it ... and I got the vote . I have a good team in the HQ staff and NDC , and I want to be able to see things to fruition .”
Sophie lives in picturesque Dartmouth on the South Devon Coast , and is a member of Britannia Sub-Aqua Club . In her professional life , she is Navy Cadets Liaison Officer for the South West working at Britannia Royal Naval College .
She travels regularly and is a fan of big fish , but when in the UK she does most of her diving out of Plymouth . “ I ’ m in a syndicate with three others ,” Sophie says . “ We have our own RIB and do dives such as the Coronation project , or muck diving in Cawsand Bay . My favourite spot of all time is Darwin Island in the Galapagos – big fish country and a site that always delivers . I ’ ve been there three times .”
Sophie first got into diving in early 1990 while backpacking around Australia , visiting the Mike Ball centre in Townsville . “ My early memory was of the Great Barrier Reef being amazing , despite a recent cyclone that had blown through the area ,”
Officer Class
SCUBA Editor Simon Rogerson interviews the club ’ s new National Diving Officer , Sophie Rennie , one of BSAC ’ s most prolific volunteers
Ready to dive off Plymouth
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