The benefits of Ocean Diver referrals - A Training Officer’s perspective

London City Scuba’s Diving & Training Officer David Gosnell discusses the ins and outs of Ocean Diver referrals and how they benefit his club.

My scuba journey started in the PADI system. My first course comprised of the confined water and theory in London, and the open water in Barbados. Further holidays gave me the opportunity to progress my diving qualifications in various locations abroad. When I moved into the BSAC club system and become a BSAC instructor, the thought of offering students a referral was not a foreign concept to me.

So, when I became London City Scuba club's Training Officer, the referral has always been in the arsenal of tools that can help the club and student complete any level of qualification. In 2015, myself and three other club members completed our Advanced Diver training where we had sat the theory in the UK and open water part in Lanzarote, thus referring myself and others. Other members passed their Sports Diver and Dive Leader qualifications on the same trip. 

Most of our Ocean Diver trainees work in the City of London financial sector, and they find it hard to achieve a good work/life balance. With "not being able to get out of work" being a major issue with continuity of attendance, our courses can go on for weeks longer than planned and we have to re-run lectures/pool sessions for those who have missed the planned schedule.

The first segment of students who wish to qualify but shiver at the thought of UK diving, are the ones we offer the two options of referrals, which we have used successfully over many years.

David Gosnell

London City Scuba made contact with and built a relationship with BSAC Centre, Calipso Diving School in Lanzarote 

"As a club, we have found that forging this alliance with a BSAC Centre and completing referrals abroad benefits everybody."

Option one is a club holiday, where we go to Lanzarote and dive with Calipso Diving School, a BSAC Centre of Excellence in Costa Teguise. Our club is supported 100% by owner Peter Monk who, among his PADI and SSI qualifications, is a BSAC Advanced Instructor. In addition to the normal dive centre facilities, Peter supplies us with our own minibus transport, choice of dive sites for the duration of the visit, shore and boat dives. It also includes guiding if required, including the site and dive briefings. Most importantly though, the arrangement allows us to teach using our own instructors at no additional cost.

Peter has even stepped in to help out when it is needed to coach students who may be having issues with a skill, allowing us to concentrate on the rest of the group. This allows the students to progress at the same pace and therefore end the course at the same time, keeping the camaraderie intact. Peter does not charge for this additional one to one instruction.

The second option is we support the student to find a BSAC Centre to suit them, supplying the contact details. As Training Officer, I contact the centre with the background information; supplying all of the training achievements, the student's strengths and also highlighting areas where we think more work is required. We then ask the centre to sign off any dives where the student meets the criteria, and ask them to give us written feedback. We instruct the student to bring their qualification records to us after they return so we can review and sign off the qualification.

With this approach, we still keep the club/student relationship, and therefore can still try to achieve the member retention.

As a club, we have found that forging this alliance with a BSAC Centre and completing referrals abroad benefits everybody. It allows for completion of courses for all levels and types of divers (UK, warm water and holiday divers), and we’ve have found that all these types of divers can be retained using this diverse approach.

Peter Monk at Calipso Diving School, a BSAC Centre of Excellence in Costa Teguise, Lanzarote, told us:

It is great to see groups coming back time after time with new students being introduced into the sport, and qualifying them as divers in an environment they feel comfortable with. It is a pleasure to work with London City Scuba as my workload is very light when they are around, taking over my dive centre as if it is their own club kit room.

David Gosnell
Diving & Training Officer
BSAC 1771
London City Scuba Club