Quick question

[napashock]

Hi there, bit of advice needed please!

I've done a try dive whilst travelling and loved it. Now I'm home I'm looking into finding a club to become certified. I mentioned this is passing to my brother and he said that it something he would also like to do.

My question is do I find a club myself then tell him my plans once I know what I'm doing (planning on visiting dive shops tomorrow & calling local clubs) or wait until we are both have some free time to looking into diving together?

I really like the idea of having someone to learn with, especially my brother as we used to spent alot of our spare time in water ie club swimming, water polo, snokelling etc. But I'm not sure how committed/serious he will be a few months down the line. We do have different priorities in life ie he's married with a mortgage and I'm still living with the parents!!

Any suggestions?
Many thanks

 

[El Orans]

Do the preparations youself. Obviously you have less financial obligations than your brother.

Why not start with this link: A beginner's guide to the ScubaBoard.Com forums.
It will give you lots of info regarding ScubaBoard.

Please fill out your Public Profile (and Dive Info) when you've got the time so we can get to know you a little bit better. If you want to, you can have a look at my Public Profile for inspiration.

Have a look here as well: New Divers & Those Considering Diving.

For local info and/or (future) buddies, just follow the path or have fun along the way by clicking on any of the given links: ScubaBoard.Com > Regional Travel & Dive Clubs > Europe > UK Wreck Ferrets.

Laurens

BTW, welcome (Scub)aBoard! :happywave

 

[Mike7]

I would say check out the places with each other as its all apart of the fun, meeting the owners of the shops and looking around etc, but thats not stopping you looking at the shops / clubs that are in your area so you know what the best option could be. Like do they have swimming pools to use once / twice a week and monthly do's, all that kinda things.

 

[suthnbelle]

Napashock, welcome to Scubaboard! When I was certified last year I talked one of my friends (a coworker) into taking the class with me. I also made friends with classmates that I later dived with as well. My friend that took the class never dived again after our checkout dive in Florida. She had a blast in the class and during the OW dives, but didn't have any interest after that. Because of that and the fact my classmates didn't like quarry diving, I had to meet other divers in my area in order to find a buddy. That is where Scubaboard helped out. I logged on here and met friends thru the NC forum. So after you're certified (and before) this board is a great resource for making friends and finding dive buddies. Also, fill out your profile so everyone will know more about you.

Mel

 

[Diver0001]

Hi there, bit of advice needed please!

I've done a try dive whilst travelling and loved it. Now I'm home I'm looking into finding a club to become certified. I mentioned this is passing to my brother and he said that it something he would also like to do.

My question is do I find a club myself then tell him my plans once I know what I'm doing (planning on visiting dive shops tomorrow & calling local clubs) or wait until we are both have some free time to looking into diving together?

I really like the idea of having someone to learn with, especially my brother as we used to spent alot of our spare time in water ie club swimming, water polo, snokelling etc. But I'm not sure how committed/serious he will be a few months down the line. We do have different priorities in life ie he's married with a mortgage and I'm still living with the parents!!

Any suggestions?
Many thanks

Welcome to the board.

In England you have two main choices for learning how to dive. PADI and BSAC.

PADI courses are short and high tempo and based around skill acquisition (as opposed to skill and experience). Many PADI shops have dive clubs that you an join once you're finished but it's usually opt-in and loosely organized. The advantage of PADI is that you can do what you want once you're certified. The disadvantage is that it's often harder to find buddies and you get your experience *after* the course, as I said before.

BSAC training takes longer (sometimes a *lot* longer -- sometimes painfully long) but the system is based around a club. You can't get BSAC training without joining a club and that has it's advantages and disadvantages. One of the main disadvantages of the club system is that there is someone in the club who will be able to tell you when and with whom you can dive. Not all clubs are the same but some of them are very strict this way so ask about it. The main advantage is that the training is intended to give you both skills and experience under supervision. Some people will suggest that this makes the training better or more complete but in my experience this only makes a difference if you approach your diving like a daft cow. for the rest of the world it's 6 of one and 1/2 dozen of the other.

Having said that I would seriously suggest looking into the BSAC route. The club system is probably what you're looking for and the training program is highly respected both in the UK and internationally.

R..

 

[napashock]

Hi, thanks for your replies. I'll pop over to the dive shops tomorrow and have a quick chat with them to find out about what's on offer locally then report back to my brother and see what happens from there. I would hate to stick around waiting for him and lose my enthusiasm but at the same time would like to share the experience!

I've updated my profile but as I haven't started diving yet there wasn't alot to say!

Thanks again

 

[napashock]

Welcome to the board.

In England you have two main choices for learning how to dive. PADI and BSAC.

PADI courses are short and high tempo and based around skill acquisition (as opposed to skill and experience). Many PADI shops have dive clubs that you an join once you're finished but it's usually opt-in and loosely organized. The advantage of PADI is that you can do what you want once you're certified. The disadvantage is that it's often harder to find buddies and you get your experience *after* the course, as I said before.

BSAC training takes longer (sometimes a *lot* longer -- sometimes painfully long) but the system is based around a club. You can't get BSAC training without joining a club and that has it's advantages and disadvantages. One of the main disadvantages of the club system is that there is someone in the club who will be able to tell you when and with whom you can dive. Not all clubs are the same but some of them are very strict this way so ask about it. The main advantage is that the training is intended to give you both skills and experience under supervision. Some people will suggest that this makes the training better or more complete but in my experience this only makes a difference if you approach your diving like a daft cow. for the rest of the world it's 6 of one and 1/2 dozen of the other.

Having said that I would seriously suggest looking into the BSAC route. The club system is probably what you're looking for and the training program is highly respected both in the UK and internationally.

R..

Me again! Thanks for the information on PADI & BSAC. As you suggest I prefer the idea of the BSAC training, but when you suggest it can be painfully long, how long could that be?

 

[Diver0001]

Me again! Thanks for the information on PADI & BSAC. As you suggest I prefer the idea of the BSAC training, but when you suggest it can be painfully long, how long could that be?

I think you'll have to ask locally because I suspect there are large variations from one club to another. I live in the Netherlands and some of the clubs in the Dutch version of the BSAC (called the NOB) was, until very recently, taking an average of 6 months of pool work before you were cleared to dive in open water.

In contrast, PADI divers typically learn how to dive in 6 weeks (with the caveat that we're comparing apples and oranges because the material is somewhat different)

In any case there is a big difference in PADI and the BSAC in this respect. On the one hand the BSAC is much more careful to make sure your basic skills are well drilled in the pool before taking you into open water. On the other hand, they seem to often go too far and hold you back when you're ready, sometimes to the point of making people either overconfident or increasingly insecure....

Does that answer your question?

R..

 

[napashock]

Does that answer your question?

R..

Yes that does, thanks