Club diving

We carry out most of our diving along the south coast, mainly in Dorset. We frequently visit Devon and Cornwall and invariably have a foreign visit or two within the year.

Our Diving Officer (DO) is responsible for all diving organised within the Club. If you have any questions, the DO is always willing to discuss how the diving is organised and conducted. Any sufficiently experienced and qualified member can organise a club dive, however planning a dive must get the approval from the Diving Officer.

The Diving Officer may delegate responsibility for the safety and running of the dive to a Dive Manager whose decision on matters associated with all aspects of the dive is final. The choice of Dive Manager is based on the chosen dive site, the experience of the people taking part, together with the experience and qualifications of the Dive Manager.

For those members under 18, the parent or guardian will be briefed in full about all aspects of the planned dive and will need to give their written permission for any diving trips. Please speak to the Diving Officer or the Safeguarding Officer regarding any issues involving the safeguarding of young and vulnerable people.

Members can go on dives if they:

• Are a fully paid-up member of the Club.
• Have appropriate 3rd Party Insurance (included as part of your BSAC membership).
• Have a current medical or have a valid BSAC self-certificate medical form.
• Hold the minimum qualification required for the planned dive and have made the Manager aware of their qualification. Trainees must confirm that an instructor is available to dive with them before putting their name on the list.
• Have agreed to pay the full cost of the dive.
• Comply with the instructions of the Diving Officer or the appointed Dive Manager.
• Have made the Dive Manager aware of emergency contact details. These should be included within the membership list.
• Are aware of the risks associated with scuba diving in general and specific risks of this dive.
• When planning dive trips, it is important to give notice to other club members as early as possible via announcements on club night and via the club mailing list.

The Dive Manager can attempt to offset costs incurred based on planned number of divers, by, for example, taking deposits prior to a dive trip. During the trip some people like to pay some of the expenses, such as the boat fuel, and harbour fees in order to help pay for dives. It is important that all members pay for a day’s diving as soon as possible, preferably at the end of the day, in order to reimburse those members that have borne the days expenses.

In some cases, this may necessitate making an estimate of the dive fee and making up the difference at a later date. For weekend or bank holiday dive events, the organiser will work out all the finances after the weekend. Divers should be ready to pay their dues as soon as the organiser has calculated the finances. Allocation and division of dive expenses, e.g., fuel, towing, launching fees, is at the discretion of the Dive Manager.

All dives must be recorded on a Diving Log Sheet and a risk assessment document completed. Ocean divers can only dive together with the permission of the Diving Officer.

If you wish to volunteer to manage a dive, or assist the Dive Manager, please speak to the Diving Officer.

The Diving Log Sheet template can be found by clicking

here (doc)

or

here (pdf)