We really hope that you enjoy this copy of BSAC Talk. If you have any comments regarding this issue, please let us know by email at maryt@bsac.com

A PDF copy of this issue of BSAC TALK can also be downloaded from the BSAC TALK index page on our website at www.bsac.org/page/93/bsac-talk.htm.

The BSAC Diving Officer’s Conference (DOC) takes place on Saturday, December 1st 2007 at the Institute for Education in London. DOC is open to all BSAC Diving Officers, First Class Divers, Instructors and all other members (as Branch Representatives). All diving instructors from other training agencies also welcome.

The BSAC DOC 2007 is your opportunity to find out about what’s new in diving.

The programme is already looking exciting and informative and all branches and BSAC Centres should try to attend to keep up to date with the latest BSAC news.

Keynote speakers such as Professor Trevor Norton - renowned author talking about The Brave, Brilliant and Barmy and Martin Dean on the latest radical new 3D imaging of wrecks will turn the programme into an interesting day.

The day will give everyone an opportunity to meet up with old friends and new over a lunch break. An optional buffet lunch is provided if people choose.

Win an Evolution rebreather!

All paid for ticket holders that come to DOC are automatically added to the prize draw. The exciting prize is an Evolution rebreather, worth £5,384 plus a 5 day BSAC training course worth £500. This has kindly been donated by Ambient Pressure.

Information regarding the DOC will be made available on the BSAC website from the middle of September. Updates and news will be sent to you all in BSAC Talk, etalk, Dive Magazine and direct emails so please keep your eyes peeled!

There's an Awards Dinner this time!

In the evening, by popular demand, there will be a black tie Awards Dinner to be held at the Hotel Russell, just around the corner from the conference. Tickets will be sold on a first-come-first-serve basis.

Booking

Booking will be easy online in the middle of September - keep an eye on the BSAC website for an announcement.

For further queries on the BSAC Diving Officer’s Conference please call 0151 350 6216 or email Mary Tetley at maryt@bsac.com.

BSAC would like to thank the following sponsors of DOC:

Book of the month
Reed's Skipper's Handbook (3rd Edition) - M Pearson
Reed's Skippers Handbook is an aide-memoire for all those who go to sea for pleasure. The next best thing to knowing something is knowing where to find out about it. This pocket sized volume will provide the answer to most of the navigation problems that are likely to arise during a coastal passage. This third edition has an extra 32 pages of important information making it even better value. Ideal for Coastal Skipper and Yachtmaster courses too.
Price: £7.99 Plus £1.50 P+P



A range of books that would appeal to our younger marine life enthusiasts

New! Visual Factfinder: Oceans

We have added this interesting book about the Oceans to our expanding bookshop section. This compact and concise book is a detailed guide to the oceans of the world. More than 2000 bulleted facts are accompanied by hundreds of illustrations, diagrams and photgraphs. An extensive index allows for easy navigation of the facts. 512 pages. Recommended for ages 7-14, but suitable for all ages.
Price: £9.89 saving £5.10 on RRP


Fish Face - David Doubilet

Fish hate to have their picture taken. For humans, fish appear as alien creatures living in a weightless twilight world. For fish, human divers appear to be not just aliens but true monsters with giant blank, masked eyes and Medusa-like pipes sprouting from their heads, making violent bubbling noises.
There are crustaceans and turtles in this book as well as fish because they share the same wonderful weightless expressions that fish have. And the variety is endless - from the nightmare-like faces of the Stargazer, to endearing faces like that of the Harlequin tusk fish with its tiny, bright blue, tusk-like teeth. Most fish Pictures show fish swimming away into the blue, but for a moment, in this book, they look at us.
Price: £12.95


Great British Marine Animals (2nd Edition) - Paul Naylor

Great British Marine Animals will open your eyes to the beautiful and extraordinary creatures that inhabit the sea around us. Photographs are used both to aid identification of the common animals and to show how they go about their lives. The book is written for anyone who loves the sea or is fascinated by wildlife, including snorkellers and divers.
Most of the material in this 2nd edition of Great British Marine Animals is the same as in the 1st edition. The book has been expanded to include details of 30 additional species, and 90 of the 420 photographs are new. By popular demand, the front cover has been changed to incorporate the charismatic tompot blenny.
Price: £15.00

Marine Life Guides

Informative and educational Marine Life Guides that are totally waterproof with a punched hole in the left hand corner to enable you to attach them to your dive kit. Available indvidually or purchase all seven and receive a discount. Price includes postage & packing - UK only.

The seven individual Marine Guides are available for The Mediterranean, The Red Sea, UK Freshwater, UK Coastal, The Maldives, The Canary Islands and The Caribbean.

Each guide normally retails at £3.50 each or £21.00 for the full set of seven guides.
BSAC Members price is £2.99 for each guide or £17.50 for the full set of seven guides.

For more information about books the BSAC shop sells or other products, please go to www.bsacshop.com.

BSAC compiles a comprehensive Annual Incident report (see http://www.bsac.org/page/547/annual-report.htm) to aid diver safety by sharing information and allowing all divers to learn from the reports of others misfortunes. The report is published and launched at the annual Diving Officer’s Conference (1st December 2007).
The reporting year runs from 1st October to 30th September each year to fit with both the diving season and to allow compilation of the report in time for DOC. It is important that all reports are submitted as soon as possible in order to be included in this year’s report and so we would remind all members to submit reports for any incidents, occurring between 1st October 2006 and 30th September 2007, before Friday 19th October 2007.

Please note that all reports are treated in strictest confidence and reassurance that names and other identifying characteristics are not included in the published report.

A series of local regional meetings will be held with branches to allow more branches to meet the Coaching Team and to find out what we can do for the branches. The series of meetings will take place in October and November. Each meeting will be held for branches within half a county or island and will take place in an evening for 2 -3 hours. We are looking for branches to host these meetings. If your branch would like to host one of these meeting, please e-mail Mike Smith at southern.coach@bsac.com.

Mixed Gas Instructors
With the launch of the Mixed Gas Diver courses, we need instructors to teach these courses. The Southern region will run training for potential instructors before attendance on an instructor workshop run by the NDC Technical Group. We are looking for Nitrox Instructors, with a minimum of 50 hours of mixed gas diving, to teach the Sports Mixed Gas Course and Nitrox Instructors, with a minimum of 100 hours of mixed gas diving, to teach the Advanced Mixed Gas Course. You will also be trained to become Extended Range Diver course instructors.

If you are interested please e-mail Mike Smith at southern.coach@bsac.com.
If you want to receive regional updates from the Southern Region, please e-mail southern.coach@bsac.com.

Cardiff SAC has just celebrated its official twinning with Sydney SAC, bringing together ‘new’ and ‘old’ South Wales. Although thousands of miles apart, the official twinning announcement has cemented a long-standing relationship between the two clubs.

“We have a great deal in common,” says Cardiff Chairman, Mark Gosling, “Steve Taylor, now chairman of Sydney SAC was previously our chairman in Cardiff and their expedition leader Ben Crossett trained one of our latest members, Bijal Bhagwan"

Steve, who packed his dive bag and set off for antipodean adventures several years ago, said "It made sense for the clubs to twin - not only because of the role I used to play within Cardiff BSAC - but also in our love for the sport – our diving takes us all round New South Wales as well as other parts of Australia and the rest of the world"

Cardif SAC prides itself on its training programmes and the diversity and frequency of their dive programme. "We dive all year - in the last two years we have organised trips to the Red Sea, Oban, Scapa Flow,The Scillies and The Isle of Man, not to mention numerous trips to West Wales and the south coast of England using both hard boats and our own club rib," said Mark.

Steve recently came back to Wales, to celebrate a friend's and fellow diver's marriage and took the opportunity to finalise the twinning with a night out with his old club. "This will not be an empty gesture" said Steve, "We're looking forward to having joint club dives in the not too distant future".

Kendal & Lakes Sub Aqua Club (KALSAC) were pleased to be part of the week's activities for the Gurney Fund once again this year. Thirty young people between the ages of 12 and 16 recently joined the club for the evening at Kendal Leisure Centre to have a 'Try Dive'. The youngsters, all from East Anglia, Wales & South of the M6 regions, spent the week enjoying a diverse range of activities in and around the Lake District. This annual week long event is organised by the Gurney Fund, a charity set up to help children not only of Police Officers who have died, but of those who have taken early retirement on ill-health grounds within the 22 subscribing Forces.

More information can be found on the Gurney Fund at http://www.gurneyfund.org.

Readers may wish to consider the potential risks they face with what is often considered a safer side of diving. In the case of my brother, Peter Dixon, he died in July 2007 aged 52, as a result of complications associated with a malignant melanoma, directly attributable to an incident whilst snorkelling in the Maldives.
Unable to scuba dive due to sinus problems, Peter had been a keen snorkeller since his early teens in the 1960s and had snorkelled in many countries, including in the early 2000s, snorkelling with his partner in the Maldives. He had not realised the strength of the sun and was wearing insufficient protection, either clothing or sun screen/block and as a consequence he suffered acute sunburn, in particular to the area behind his ears.
In 2004 he was diagnosed as having skin cancer, which proved to be highly aggressive and Peter underwent considerable treatment, including surgery and radiotherapy to his ear, neck and lymph system. Despite all this, Peter was soon diagnosed as having reached stage 4, although he survived rather longer than the prognosis suggested.
This illustrates the perils of snorkelling in what might be considered idyllic circumstances. My family and I are keen that others take note so that further such tragedies are avoided.

David Dixon
BSAC Council Member

Surface Safety
In reporting diving incidents it is not often that the consequences of the weather are directly implicated as the main cause of an incident, except perhaps with rough sea conditions?
With the substantial increase in recent years of travel to exotic locations more and more notice needs to be taken of environmental conditions.

Surface Protection
There is a wealth of information available to all travellers to warmer climes on how to avoid the problems associated with sunburn and heatstroke. Some very simple precautions are understood by most of us but the sheer intensity of the sun can still lead to problems from very momentary lapses in precautions. Simple safeguards include: wearing a broad brimmed hat and light protective clothes, using high protection factor sun creams and reapplying them regularly and avoiding exposure around midday. It is also very important to be aware of the cooling effect of coastal winds or a moving boat will have in reducing one's awareness of the sun's intensity.

Snorkelling
Snorkelling, particularly in an attempt to cool off during the heat of the day has particular risks associated with it. The cooling effect of the water makes it difficult to appreciate the effects of the overhead radiation. Many divers have suffered severe sunburn as a result of this, that have often spoilt the enjoyment of an exotic holiday. Some simple precautions would include, wearing a protective T-shirt and head and neck protection, a bandana or similar light scarf is ideal and make liberal use of water resistant, high sun protection factor sun creams (don't forget the back of legs and neck if exposed and limit time in the water).

Internal Protection
Don't omit the importance of maintaining a healthy internal environment. Making sure that you keep well hydrated will not only ensure that you replace the fluids lost due to the heat but it also can reduce the risks associated with DCI. Taking care with the food you eat will also help with general well-being as the debilitating effects of sickness and diarrhoea are kept at bay.
On occasions the weather in the UK warrants similar precautions being taken. Make sure your preparations to dive take account of the prevailing weather forecast and follow the simple steps above. Additional consideration may need to be given to situations where working hard in a drysuit or thick wetsuit, such as launching a boat, may lead to overheating.

Think SAFE - Dive SAFE
Jim Watson
BSAC Safety and Development Manager
For more detail and information please visit www.bsac.org/page/45/diving-safety.htm

The Nautical Archaeology Society (NAS) is now half-way through a two-year initiative sponsored through The NAS and the Heritage Lottery Fund. One strand of the initiative is a rolling programme of presentations to interested clubs and societies.
During the last 'winter season', evening presentations were made to about forty organisations, many of whom were, of course, dive groups. We are now looking to develop a programme of presentations for the winter period 2007-8.
Nautical archaeology and heritage is a natural extension for divers interested in wreck sites - but the field is much wider, covering foreshore, inland waters and canals - and the presentations would be of interest to non-diving partners!
Branches interested in participating in the presentation programme should initially contact the Project Officer, Ian Barefoot, at ian@nauticalarchaeologysociety.org.

And the best aspect is - the presentations are FREE (although, as a charitable society, we welcome any donations)!

By Jill Mayers (GreaterSport and Tameside Divers)
GreaterSport (a county sports partnership) runs a successful young volunteer programme, which incorporates Millennium Volunteers and Step into Sport. This programme aims to encourage young people aged 16-25 to give their time and skills up as volunteers. Young volunteers receive formal accreditation for their time and receive access to further training and support. This enables a club to receive support in rewarding their volunteers and ensuring that they are trained and supported effectively in their volunteering role.
This is a scheme run across England and whilst schemes vary, young people can gain accreditation for their time.
If you have club members who would like to get more involved and are aged between 16-25 then this scheme could help you. Go to www.millenniumvolunteers.org.uk for information about your nearest project.
‘Since our young volunteers (7 of them) joined the scheme there seems to be a renewed interest in helping and a new keenness to do something, they seem to get on and do it rather than waiting to be asked.
As a result of their endeavours and the time spent volunteering they are benefiting by courses such as BSAC IFC's, RLSS NPLG and ASA Swimming Teacher courses being paid for.’

Bob Healey, Training Officer & Volunteer Liaison Officer Tameside Divers (right)

Visit BSAC at this year's Dive Show in Birmingham and you could win some dive gear, courtesy of Typhoon International.

To be held 13th and 14th October at the NEC, Dive 2007 promises to offer all divers something of interest - with all the best holiday companies and diving kit, as well as seminars, try dive pools and our very own BSAC stand and rebreather pool.

Visitors to the BSAC stand will also be able to enter our fantastic prize draw. The winner can choose one of the following from the latest Typhoon range - a Pro Sport Drysuit, a BCD or a Seamaster Drysuit.

So if you are visiting Dive 2007 make sure you make a beeline to the BSAC stand and you could be our winner!

You can buy tickets now online at http://www.diveshows.co.uk.

13/14 Oct 2007
Instructor Foundation Course
Yorkshire
0151 350 6259

13 Oct 2007
Practical Rescue Management
Dorset
07885 474310

13/14 Oct 2007
Instructor Foundation Course
Eastern
0151 350 6259

14 Oct 2007
Practical Instructor Exam
Isle Of Man
0151 350 6259

14 Oct 2007
Practical Instructor Exam
Cirencester
0151 350 6259

13/14 Oct 2007
First Class Diver Examination
Northern Ireland
0151 350 6259

13/14 Oct 2007
Snorkelling Instructor Training Course
South East
0151 350 6259

14 Oct 2007
Combined Nitrox Diver
East Midlands
01332 864894

14 Oct 2007
Chartwork and Position Fixing
London
07788 525922

14 Oct 2007
Boat Handling
Tayside
01456 476237

14 Oct 2007
Practical Rescue Management
Dorset
07885 474310

20 Oct 2007
Theory Instructor Exam
Worcester
0151 350 6259

20 Oct 2007
Open Water Instructor Course
Horsea
0151 350 6259

20 Oct 2007
Practical Rescue Management
Rother Valley
01332 864894

20 Oct 2007
Advanced Lifesaver Award
Eastern
07801 533325

20 Oct 2007
Practical Rescue Management
Eastern
07801 533325

Tuesday October 16th sees the first meeting of the East Midlands Underwater Photographers (EMUP). This is a new group which will meet monthly at Stoney Cove in Leicestershire.

With the advent of digital photography, the number of divers with cameras has greatly increased in the last few years. Peoples interest in underwater photography ranges from those that wish to snap images of their dives right through to those that are publishing material. For all diving photographers, the most common factor is a serious outlay in money in order to capture the underwater world. We aim to offer advice and share knowledge to get the most out of this expensive kit; many people do not know that a few simple alterations of settings and a couple of simple rules underwater can transform anyone's photographs.

At EMUP we aim to promote underwater photography for all abilities and aim to give talks of interest not only to those interested in underwater photography but non-photographers, topside wildlife photographers and even non-divers. Each month we will have an experienced, acclaimed and distinguished invited talker. Our first will be Tony White, who will explain his transition from topside photographer to world-renown underwater photographer. In addition members will be invited to submit photographs into a light-hearted monthly competition, which is then judged on the evening by our invited speaker.

This is a great opportunity for us in the East Midlands, where nearby diving and photographic opportunities are in short supply to get together to share ideas and experience. The catchment area within 1 hour of Stoney Cove is a considerable diving population, all of whom would have to travel to London for BSoUP, Manchester for the NUPG and Bristol for the BUPG. We will also put on video evenings, so it is not exclusively for stills photography.

The evening will begin at 7:30pm downstairs in Nemo Bar, Stoney Cove's very own pub. There will be a small charge each month based on numbers attending and sponsorship obtained, further details of this charge will be provided nearer the time. For more information on EMUP and details of future meetings please visit www.emup.org.uk