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.

Many thanks for all your inquiries and feedback on BSAC's recently announced Direct Debit branch levy scheme which is to be piloted from January 2008.

We now have a total of 14 branches signed up to trial our Direct Debit monthly instalment pilot, with branches also expressing their interest in the annual payment plan.

Information packs will shortly be sent out to all branches who have registered their interest.

The branch levy by Direct Debit pilot is being introduced in response to member feedback and follows BSAC's successful launch of Direct Debit for BSAC subscriptions 18 months ago.

If your branch would like to know more about the branch levy Direct Debit scheme and would like to be involved in the pilot - either annual payment or instalments, please contact sandrac@bsac.com.

We're currently looking for a new photograph for the BSAC membership card next year and would like to invite members to contribute.

If you have an eye-catching, diving-related image that can be used in landscape and you are happy to give permission for it to be used on the BSAC membership card, we'd like to hear from you.

Please email your photo to sandrac@bsac.com

The HQ Membership team is constantly striving to ensure all our member database records are as accurate and as up-to-date as possible.

We're currently looking to make sure we have the correct details for your main branch contact, their main telephone and email address.

If you've had any recent changes or a new addition for your main branch contact please let us know so we can ensure your branch details are correct.

To check your current branch contact details as held by BSAC HQ, please go to www.bsac.org/page/22/bsac-branches-by-region.htm. If they are incorrect or details are missing please let us know.

Updating your main branch contact details is easy online . . .

To do this, please go to www.bsac.org/page/566/contact-update-form.htm and fill in the main contact section on the form. Alternatively you can email the correct details to membership@bsac.com.

Shark and marine conservation organisation, Bite-Back has produced this limited edition 2008 calendar which would make an ideal gift for the marine lover in your life!

Fish Face - David Doubilet
Fish hate to have their picture taken. They dislike it even more than cats, birds, wild orang-utans or two-year-olds - a fish portraitist is an underwater oxymoron. It is virtually impossible to be a Karsh of the coral reef. Exquisite photographic moments in the sea are even more rare than those on land, and time underwater is constantly constrained by physics and physiology. 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. When we do meet it is fleeting, but at times we are face to face, and I am looking into the extraordinary turret eyes that see 180 degrees on each side of the fish's face. Then there are small moments when suddenly there seems to be an expression. Fish are caricatures of humans - floating cartoons. Groupers look like everybody's Uncle Max and should be smoking cigars. Parrot fish, with their protruding teeth, all seem to be named Lou. The Red velvet fish from Tasmania has a swept back dorsal fin that resembles a pompadour, giving it an Elvis-like look. The Elephant fish looks like Eleanor Roosevelt or Margaret Thatcher.

There are crustaceans and turtles in this book as well as fish. I have included them 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.

ISBN: 0714843016

NOW only £10.00 plus P+P cost of £3.00

Order your copy now at http://www.bsac.org/page/514/bookshop.htm, or alternatively call the BSAC shop on 0151 350 6222/6225.

The Yorkshire region is pleased to announce that their next conference will be held on Sunday 6th January 2008 at the Askham Bryan Agricultural College in York.

The conference programme is currently being finalised however you can expect an exciting mix of speakers and presentations that will be of interest to all divers.

In addition to the presentations, there will be a photo competition (to be judged on the day) and a raffle.

Further information about the conference and submission of photos for the photo competition is available at http://www.bsac-yorkshire.co.uk/conference and also via Lou Whitehouse on 07964 301747.

This year the Kernow Dive Festival, held in Penzance over the weekend of 7/8 July 2007, raised the sum of £1350. This is the 5th year the festival has been running and so far a total £5500 has been raised, with all the monies going to support the work of DDRC.

127 divers took part this year, from 10 different dive clubs, mainly from the SW of England. The following clubs were represented: Coventry, Duchy, East Cornwall, Ilfracombe, Mid Cornwall, Peninsula, Plymouth, Tolgus, Totnes and Watford. Over 200 dives were completed over the weekend, at 10 different sites. There was also a BBQ party on the Saturday night and the organisers would like to thank Skinner's Brewery and Seventenths clothing for their sponsorship and support and also Penzance BSAC for the gracious loan of their clubhouse in Penzance for use as a base for the weekend.

More details of the weekend, and of the Kernow Federation of dive clubs can be found at their website: http://www.kernowdiving.org.uk.

I was diving a 35 metre wreck with a buddy on OC Nitrox. He is a good competent tech diver. The wreck was on its side so when we made it back to the bow and exchanged signals that it was time to end the dive we were on a metal slope leading down to sand.

he signalled. I replied.

He produced a blob and started fiddling with it. It was a nice buddy self inflate. (I had one myself hanging off my right hand wing D-ring.)

Fiddle. Fiddle. Turn. Twist. Rearrange. Pull. Straighten. Fiddle. Finally he got it away but it had taken five minutes, We were on our way up. I subsequently checked the profile from my computer download which revealed that we slid the best party of five metres down the side of the bow.

Back on the boat I asked him what the problem was. "What problem?" he replied. It should have take maybe 45 seconds not 5 minutes. He was on Nitrox and I was on the rebreather with 20/30 trimix. His brain was at about 30-32 metres and mine at 13-15 metres.

I like Helium. Helium lets me remember a deep dive. Helium means I get better pictures. Helium means I will be more use to a buddy who has problems and far more use to myself if I have one.

As I said: I'm worth it.
Nigel Hewitt
BSAC Member Sean Gribben

The Right Gas?

Getting the right gas for the dive is as important as the right training and the right kit.

Is the gas we are brought up with and live with throughout our lives. It is freely available and relatively simple to compress into our cylinders to allow us to breath under water. It is not designed for that purpose however and the negative effects of the nitrogen (DCI and narcosis) and oxygen (O2 toxicity) it contains provide limits to the safe use of it as a breathing gas.

Nitrox
For shallow (< 40m) diving the benefits of reducing the nitrogen content of the breathing gas can contribute to safer diving by reducing the risk of DCI. The use and benefits of nitrox are now well established to the extent that BSAC incorporated the training for the use of basic mixes within the diver training courses of Ocean and Sport Diver grades in January 2007. Workshops have been produced to allow divers with existing qualifications to gain this valuable upgrade in diving safety and we would encourage all members to avail themselves of this option. The down side of course (because there always is one) is the increased potential for oxygen to cause problems but this is easily controlled through training and careful planning and monitoring of dives.

Many experienced divers insist that the 'real' benefits of nitrox lie in the way it can be used to enhance decompression profiles by using high % oxygen mixes to flush absorbed nitrogen out and increase oxygenation of the tissues. The risks of oxygen toxicity obviously increases and so it is essential that proper additional training and practice are undertaken to ensure the skills are applied safely.

Trimix
The use of trimix (a mixture of nitrogen, oxygen and helium) is becoming well known in recreational diving circles as a gas used for deep diving. The principle is to use helium to replace some (or for very deep dives all) of the nitrogen to reduce the debilitating effects of nitrogen narcosis. This is because helium has a much lower narcotic potential than nitrogen.

What many do not routinely consider is the benefits of using trimix to reduce or remove the narcotic effects of the breathing gas in the 40-50m diving range. Commonly referred to as deep air diving in this range involves the diver balancing their experience to offset the debilitating effects of narcosis. All divers will be affected by narcosis, to a varying extent, as they progress deeper than 30m on air. The slowing of reaction times, lack of awareness of surrounding and developing situations could impact on the safety, enjoyment or recollection, of a dive. A simple analogy would be with drinking and driving. Over the years the legal drink drive limits have steadily reduced as the degrees of impairment have been demonstrated at even quite lowlevels of intoxication and serious consideration is being given to recommending that no level of alcohol be allowed.

If you know you are susceptible to narcosis but wish to dive safely beyond 30m then a Sport Mixed Gas course would be the only way to go. If you are convinced that you are unaffected by narcosis when breathing air to 50m then trying trimix just once may change your view. The gas may cost a bit more but to quote Nigel once more "Helium - because I'm worth it"

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

Andy Moll, the BSAC Honorary Secretary is accepting nominations for BSAC council and officer positions which will be vacant from the 2008 AGM in May.

There are 6 council positions becoming available. The position of Chairman, Vice Chairman and Honorary Treasurer are also becoming available. Anybody wishing to stand should contact either Mary Tetley or Wendy Davies for a nomination form at maryt@bsac.com or wendyd@bsac.com; for further information go to bsac.com. All nominations need to be received at BSAC HQ by no later than 31st January 2008.

Any motions to be raised at BSAC's AGM must also be submitted by 31st January 2008. Motions to be raised at the AGM submitted by a branch committee must be accompanied by the relevant extract from the minutes of the branch meeting. Motions submitted by a voting member must be seconded by at last four other voting members. All such motions must be sent to the club's Honorary Secretary c/o BSAC HQ for the attention of Mary Tetley.

With regret the Marine Conservation Society (MCS) has decided to postpone its march on Westminster in support of a Marine Bill. The need for a new Marine Bill is still paramount, and MCS will continue lobbying hard. However, the timing for this particular event was affected by uncertainty surrounding a possible autumn general election. There has also been recent positive movement from government on this issue.

On Wednesday 17th October the Marine Conservation Society, the RSPB, The Wildlife Trusts, and WWF jointly delivered a 250,000 signature petition to Downing Street calling for a ' Marine Act Now '. Jonathan Shaw MP, Minister for Marine, Landscape and Rural Affairs responded that day with a statement that the government is "committed to a Marine Bill and a draft bill is expected early next year." We expect a draft Marine Bill to be included in the government's forthcoming legislative programme to be announced in the Queen's speech at the state opening of Parliament on the 6th November.

Thank you for registering your early support for a Westminster demonstration. MCS is keeping open the possibility of organising an action sometime in the New Year in support of a new Marine Act. We will keep you updated with news of future events, and in the meantime continue working hard on your behalf to ensure the Government fulfils its 2005 manifesto commitment to a new Marine Act.

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