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Just watch out for reactions with the patches, some people have bad ones. Two lessons I learnt about them from others were: 1) always wash your hands after touching one, if you get some in your eye it can make your pupil dilate (for about 3 days) 2) never put two on at once (I.e. forget...

I’m not sure of the entire truth of it but I’ve been told that apart from cosmetics the XTX50,100, and 200 are identical. The XTX40 doesn’t have the same adjustment controls but is the same otherwise. Most of the difference in the Apeks kit seems to be in the first stage, I’ve got a DST which...

DSC and AIS definitely beat a whistle, I’m a firm believer and these links will explain why! My 100 minutes lost in the most inhospitable seas on earth http://www.mcmurdogroup.com/wp-content/uploads/Clipper-AIS-MOB-Rescue-Case-Study-2014.pdf This is really the same technology used in the...

A potentially useful addition to that list is a DSC (Digital Selective Calling) VHF Radio, internationally you get voice comms, but where people are set up for it you can trigger an audible alarm over the radio which sends them your gps position. If the recipient has their radio wired into a...

If you have arrested your drift be aware that the people looking for you are using a climatic and tidal model to predict where you are (at least in the US and the U.K.). It’s quite likely that a search would start on your predicted position and then proceed back along your predicted line of...

I guess that taking longer is relative, while you could in theory probably get all the content done in under a week for Ocean Diver you do need to fit that in around life, leave, and work. With the way that I did my course it fit around work and life pretty well. The club meets Wednesdays so...

Good correction, in my case the Lead Instructor was the DO, but I guess that varies from club to club to centre.

While the lean on this board is decidedly North American it is one of the easiest places to find if you’re looking to research how to dive. In that vein I thought I’d put up a little piece about learning to dive with BSAC in the UK. A bit of background on my position, I’m in my mid-20s and...

You’ve got to be extra careful with trackers now, as lots of them have Li-ion batteries which are not allowed in hold luggage in a lot of the world after they set a couple of 787s on fire (Luckily on the ramp).

A bit further West than Newchurch but easy ish to get to on the M65, Chorley BSAC have been really helpful to me and are very active, they might be worth a shout.

Pretty rarely! But then how many of them are still relavent? Most are replaced by sound signals (the turn left, turn right stuff) or VHF (especially with other tech like AIS so you know who to talk to). It’s just the stuff that you don’t want to constantly broadcast I think. When we sail we...

There is a semi-joke amongst sailors that around the UK, you can tell when people are undergoing boating exams when they’re using day-shapes. There have been prosecutions in Europe for not using them though (France from memory).

There is a signal for at anchor, but it’s a Day Shape not a flag. It’s a single black ball flown from the “mast”. There a whole series of them, the biggies being the cylinder = restricted by draught and ball-diamond-ball = restricted in ability to manoeuvre.