BSAC Club Experiences

[johnohuk]

Not the first time i've heard this... we've had several trainees say that over the years and it was down to a very conscientious and safe instructor taking his time and being a little too careful... Nowadays we try to speed things up with pool/classroom sessions on the same night and an intensive weekend away of open water dives to get it done.. but it still works out at 12 weeks approx which i think is down to it being a voluntary / flexible schedule based on everyones availability. On a commercial course it runs from A to B with little flex but thats not typical of a BSAC course. It will flex if folks can't make it etc.. Also the schedule might also be constrained by the weather/time of year, putting students in the water any earlier that April is going to put them off for life.. Just a thought..

I'd persevere, as BSAC can we be great way to learn and continue to dive in a club setting...

 

[Phil_C]

jw 2013, yes you can belong to multiple clubs - you can also become a BSAC direct member, that way you pay your subscription direct to BSAC HQ, that's what I do. Then I belong to two clubs and just pay club member ship which is something like £9 or £10 monthly each.

The club membership includes pool use, and both clubs have weekly pool sessions, so I have two pool options each week. In effect I am paying BSAC direct membership and £2.50 for a pool session if I go to every meeting.

One club has its own compressor and banked air, and the club membership includes free air fills, NITROX and TRIMIX is charged for, but much below commercial rates.

I also go along as a guest to some other clubs and just pay a dive fee for joining them on dives if I do. - Phil.

 

[jw2013]

Thanks johnohuk, I am going to persevere but at the same time do what Phil_C does and join a second club. I've got a Try Dive tomorrow evening and if all is well I'll join that club too.

I think this will give me more people to dive with and learn from as well as guarantee at least one pool session per week which will be superb! I can get plenty of indoor sessions in and practice before March/April open water!



Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

 

[lord khram]

BSAC can under the right circumstances be a good way forward if you wish to dive UK waters regularly. The essential thing in my experience is to find the right club. For those that are simply holiday divers there is no merit to BSAC what so ever.
Myself I have twice been a member of a BSAC branch. Firstly many years ago I wanted (as a PADI Rescue diver with several hundred dives) to join my local club so I could get involved with regular dive trips, however I simply met a brick wall and was excluded from going on any of the club trips to the coast with my 'lack of experience' being cited as the reason. My membership lasted only 1 year.
Around 23 years later, (3 years ago) I was at the NEC Dive Show and got talking to the BSAC Stand, had a great conversation with them, they assured me BSAC had 'modernised' and my PADI AI & TEC 50 qualifications, coupled with several thousand dives under my belt should be appreciated at any branch. I was simply looking for some people to dive with as I am generally back in the UK for the Summer, so I contacted my local branch again, found that apart from two, there was a complete new membership. When my BSAC crossover pack came. I had been fit into the organisation as Sport Diver I queried this with the DO (one of the two long standing members) who said I needed to bring proof of what training I had done!! What more should be required than a cert card and a comprehensive dive log? again I was excluded from the first trip I requested a place on, reason cited again was my lack of experience because one of the dives was 36m.

I dare say, as I was told, BSAC as an organisation has moved on during the period I mention. Just a pity some people at branch level are still stuck firmly in the past. No wonder PADI has cornered the market.

 

[Hickdive]

^^^ This is exactly the problem. In respect of divers trained by other agencies the BSAC's central organisation recognises that training and, if diving within a branch environment, you should be allowed to dive to the limits of your existing non-BSAC certification.

However, if you wanted to gain a BSAC qualification then there is a conversion table that tells individual clubs what equivalence can be presumed. The guiding principle of this Statement of Alternative Training (SALT) is that it simply shows where you can enter the BSAC scheme of training and NOT that your existing non-BSAC qualification can only be regarded as equal to that entry point. The reason for this is cover elements of training that may have no equivalence in your existing qualifications e.g. you're unlikely to have encountered BSAC decompression tables or the dive leadership skills that are introduced fairly early in the BSAC syllabus but don't really feature in PADI training until DM.

An awful lot BSAC clubs do not understand this distinction. They look up your qualification in the SALT table and assume you're only certified to the BSAC grade indicated and your participation in club events is limited to those they see as suitable for their wrongly perceived interpretation of your existing qualifications.

BSAC HQ know what they're talking about so club representatives you meet at major events like dive shows will give you the correct information - which will have been disseminated to individual branches. But whether or not branch officials bother to read that information or, if they do, bother to understand it properly is an open question.

 

[Edward3c]

^^^ This is exactly the problem. In respect of divers trained by other agencies the BSAC's central organisation recognises that training and, if diving within a branch environment, you should be allowed to dive to the limits of your existing non-BSAC certification.

However, if you wanted to gain a BSAC qualification then there is a conversion table that tells individual clubs what equivalence can be presumed. The guiding principle of this Statement of Alternative Training (SALT) is that it simply shows where you can enter the BSAC scheme of training and NOT that your existing non-BSAC qualification can only be regarded as equal to that entry point. The reason for this is cover elements of training that may have no equivalence in your existing qualifications e.g. you're unlikely to have encountered BSAC decompression tables or the dive leadership skills that are introduced fairly early in the BSAC syllabus but don't really feature in PADI training until DM.

An awful lot BSAC clubs do not understand this distinction. They look up your qualification in the SALT table and assume you're only certified to the BSAC grade indicated and your participation in club events is limited to those they see as suitable for their wrongly perceived interpretation of your existing qualifications.

BSAC HQ know what they're talking about so club representatives you meet at major events like dive shows will give you the correct information - which will have been disseminated to individual branches. But whether or not branch officials bother to read that information or, if they do, bother to understand it properly is an open question.

Very well put.

 

[lord khram]

^^^ This is exactly the problem. In respect of divers trained by other agencies the BSAC's central organisation recognises that training and, if diving within a branch environment, you should be allowed to dive to the limits of your existing non-BSAC certification.

However, if you wanted to gain a BSAC qualification then there is a conversion table that tells individual clubs what equivalence can be presumed. The guiding principle of this Statement of Alternative Training (SALT) is that it simply shows where you can enter the BSAC scheme of training and NOT that your existing non-BSAC qualification can only be regarded as equal to that entry point. The reason for this is cover elements of training that may have no equivalence in your existing qualifications e.g. you're unlikely to have encountered BSAC decompression tables or the dive leadership skills that are introduced fairly early in the BSAC syllabus but don't really feature in PADI training until DM.

An awful lot BSAC clubs do not understand this distinction. They look up your qualification in the SALT table and assume you're only certified to the BSAC grade indicated and your participation in club events is limited to those they see as suitable for their wrongly perceived interpretation of your existing qualifications.

BSAC HQ know what they're talking about so club representatives you meet at major events like dive shows will give you the correct information - which will have been disseminated to individual branches. But whether or not branch officials bother to read that information or, if they do, bother to understand it properly is an open question.

That concurs with what was told to me at the dive show, and my understanding based on my own research.

So just confirms how ridiculous it was to refuse me to go on a 36m dive as a PADI Assistant Instructor with a TEC 50 qualification and several thousand logged dives. Particularly as the club concerned only ever dive with single cylinder and 3 litre pony. I wasn't interested in club hierarchy or cert cards, simply wanted to go diving.

I do understand my experiences may have been different at a more forward thinking branch.

 

[Redshift]

You met a stupid person and those exist everywhere...

 

[lord khram]

You met a stupid person and those exist everywhere...

Yes I did, and I agree you con meet them anywhere.

First time in the club years ago there were about 20 of them, so i suppose that at least is a step in the right direction.

 

[Redshift]

Maybe you should have tried a different club...
And in that situation I'd probably have had a word with BSAC HQ.