Hello & how do you do to everyone

[fridgman]

Hi everyone,

I qualified PADI open water in 1997 and then got ill very shortly afterwards so haven't done much since. Now just about getting fitness back after nearly 13 years thanks to modern medicine and looking to convert to BSAC and crack on with a vengeance.
Desperately lacking kit too so the bank manager (wife!) ain't going to like me very much for a while! Not going to be easy whilst out of work!!
If I can I'd like to follow my original dream and get to instructor level and maybe take a service technician course.

[fridgman]

Hi everyone,

I qualified PADI open water in 1997 and then got ill very shortly afterwards so haven't done much since. Now just about getting fitness back after nearly 13 years thanks to modern medicine and looking to convert to BSAC and crack on with a vengeance.
Desperately lacking kit too so the bank manager (wife!) ain't going to like me very much for a while! Not going to be easy whilst out of work!!
If I can I'd like to follow my original dream and get to instructor level and maybe take a service technician course.

Was just wondering why I'm the only one that no-one has bothered to reply to. If I said something wrong please put me right! I thought that this was a warm & friendly club!? :confused:

[Eddie Clamp]

Was just wondering why I'm the only one that no-one has bothered to reply to. If I said something wrong please put me right! I thought that this was a warm & friendly club!? :confused:

Welcome and sorry for the delay! :p Bin diving! ;)

Have a greenie for being so patient!

[Gav S]

Hi,

And welcome, don't take it personally - doesn't mean anything.

You may get free or cheap access to kit if/when you join a club - that way you can probably get out and do some diving without needing to find pots of money for kit. Also if you are available for diving during the week you may well:

a) find it easier to get spaces

b) find you can fall in with like minded people who are able to do mid week diving who are either not working or work weekends

I really enjoy mid-week diving (on the odd occassion I can do it) as for me it has even more of a sense of getting it away from it all.

Cheers,

Gav.

[fridgman]

Hi,

And welcome, don't take it personally - doesn't mean anything.

You may get free or cheap access to kit if/when you join a club - that way you can probably get out and do some diving without needing to find pots of money for kit. Also if you are available for diving during the week you may well:

a) find it easier to get spaces

b) find you can fall in with like minded people who are able to do mid week diving who are either not working or work weekends

I really enjoy mid-week diving (on the odd occassion I can do it) as for me it has even more of a sense of getting it away from it all.

Cheers,

Gav.


Thanks, nice ideas. My intention is to join my local club asap, mostly for the reasons you suggest, but the club annual is quite a wedge so will have to wait a little. Paticularly like the idea of mid-week diving though. Would fit round family very nicely :D

[PeteM]

Thanks, nice ideas. My intention is to join my local club asap, mostly for the reasons you suggest, but the club annual is quite a wedge so will have to wait a little. Paticularly like the idea of mid-week diving though. Would fit round family very nicely :D

Many clubs allow payment monthly for precisely that reason.

[Tony Dwyer]

Thanks, nice ideas. My intention is to join my local club asap, mostly for the reasons you suggest, but the club annual is quite a wedge so will have to wait a little. Paticularly like the idea of mid-week diving though. Would fit round family very nicely :D


Welcome. I hope you enjoy your stay. :)

Where's local for you?

[Nigel Hewitt]

Was just wondering why I'm the only one that no-one has bothered to reply to. If I said something wrong please put me right! I thought that this was a warm & friendly club!? :confused:
I fear the problem is that we all looked at 'unemployed' and 'family' and winced a bit.

Diving is horrendously expensive and I think most of us couldn't think of anything encouraging to say. We'd love to be encouraging but we don't want to lie to you.

However you already have a card so you can dive. The problem is mustering safe kit on a tight budget. A club might be able to act as an advice centre and, since they're not a shop, they aren't worried about how good you'd look in new. You might be able to borrow something short term but you can't use a club as a kit supplier for long as club kit is usually there to tide beginners over the initial stages and it is expected to be handed on pretty quickly.

I think your best bet is to talk to your local club and see what advice they can offer. I hope it works out for you.

[danielgentle]

Hi and Hello to everyone here!! I'm Daniel and I'm new here... if you like me staying here! please add me up!! Thanks again...

[fridgman]

Welcome. I hope you enjoy your stay. :)

Where's local for you?


Local is Lowestoft, Suffolk although I was born in Bristol. :cool:


I fear the problem is that we all looked at 'unemployed' and 'family' and winced a bit.

Diving is horrendously expensive and I think most of us couldn't think of anything encouraging to say. We'd love to be encouraging but we don't want to lie to you.

However you already have a card so you can dive. The problem is mustering safe kit on a tight budget. A club might be able to act as an advice centre and, since they're not a shop, they aren't worried about how good you'd look in new. You might be able to borrow something short term but you can't use a club as a kit supplier for long as club kit is usually there to tide beginners over the initial stages and it is expected to be handed on pretty quickly.

I think your best bet is to talk to your local club and see what advice they can offer. I hope it works out for you.

I hear you loud and clear and I'm feeling the frustration too. I know getting a job is going to be hard and both objectives are going to take time. I've waited 13 years to dive again and I've gathered plenty of patience along the way so a couple more months ain't going to hurt.
The real point of interest here is 'mustering safe kit on a tight budget'. Can it be done? I don't care what I look like but know it all has to work and be functional. The start of another thread perhaps? Improving uptake of the sport/hobby but getting costs down?

[Mike Halligan]

I hear you loud and clear and I'm feeling the frustration too. I know getting a job is going to be hard and both objectives are going to take time. I've waited 13 years to dive again and I've gathered plenty of patience along the way so a couple more months ain't going to hurt.
The real point of interest here is 'mustering safe kit on a tight budget'. Can it be done? I don't care what I look like but know it all has to work and be functional. The start of another thread perhaps? Improving uptake of the sport/hobby but getting costs down?

Your best chance, IMHO, is the local BSAC clubs. Someone's always ready to change/alter/amend/upgrade/downsize/flog kit and there's often a succession of former divers who approach with a view to capitalising on unwanted kit. There must be a talent you can offer to a good club in exchange for help in this way. Best of luck in your search, it starts on BSAC.COM with "Find a club" and oodles of patience. :eek: