BSAC Ocean Diver swimming test & owning a car?

[dkayuk]

Hi

I am in the process of completing my PADI OW and would really like to join a BSAC club afterwards to get some UK diving experience; I would like to do the BSAC Ocean Diver / Sport Diver training through a BSAC club. I'm getting in touch with a couple of clubs but in the meantime a couple of questions:

- what does the Ocean Diver swimming assessement test include in terms of distances and strokes that I need to know?

- I don't currently own any serious scuba gear (I have a mask, snorkel and fins though) and don't have a car (not really keen on buying one either).

When doing UK dives, is it normally necessary to transport gear in a car or does the club usually help? I wouldn't really like to find myself in a situation where I've done the training but can't go on proper dive trips.

I am happy to buy the diving gear I need but not really intending to buy a car at this point.

I would appreciate any info on these two questions from BSAC members that are in my situation (no car!) and if so, how they are dealing with it.

thx

DK

[steveowens]

Hi,

It's common practice in my branch to share lifts to dive sites.
It helps keep the cost down, Means the driving particularly on long trips can be shared.

As long as your willing to foot your share of the costs then It has never been a problem Even when there has been limited space club members have often transported other kit while they travel by other means.

When you join a club it has been my experience that the more you help other the more others will help you... good way to build freindships to!

Steve






Hi

I am in the process of completing my PADI OW and would really like to join a BSAC club afterwards to get some UK diving experience; I would like to do the BSAC Ocean Diver / Sport Diver training through a BSAC club. I'm getting in touch with a couple of clubs but in the meantime a couple of questions:

- what does the Ocean Diver swimming assessement test include in terms of distances and strokes that I need to know?

- I don't currently own any serious scuba gear (I have a mask, snorkel and fins though) and don't have a car (not really keen on buying one either).

When doing UK dives, is it normally necessary to transport gear in a car or does the club usually help? I wouldn't really like to find myself in a situation where I've done the training but can't go on proper dive trips.

I am happy to buy the diving gear I need but not really intending to buy a car at this point.

I would appreciate any info on these two questions from BSAC members that are in my situation (no car!) and if so, how they are dealing with it.

thx

DK

[terryh]

Hi

I am in the process of completing my PADI OW and would really like to join a BSAC club afterwards to get some UK diving experience; I would like to do the BSAC Ocean Diver / Sport Diver training through a BSAC club. I'm getting in touch with a couple of clubs but in the meantime a couple of questions:

- what does the Ocean Diver swimming assessement test include in terms of distances and strokes that I need to know?

- I don't currently own any serious scuba gear (I have a mask, snorkel and fins though) and don't have a car (not really keen on buying one either).

When doing UK dives, is it normally necessary to transport gear in a car or does the club usually help? I wouldn't really like to find myself in a situation where I've done the training but can't go on proper dive trips.

I am happy to buy the diving gear I need but not really intending to buy a car at this point.

I would appreciate any info on these two questions from BSAC members that are in my situation (no car!) and if so, how they are dealing with it.

thx

DK

Welcome to BSAC DK

Your PADI OW will crossover to Ocean Diver and you will go
straight onto Sport. Clubs love this, as it means you can get
wet and into club diving right away.

I'm afraid the rest of your questions will depend entirely on
the club.

Remember we all belong to BSAC, but within that umbrella are
thousands of clubs with quite different ideas and aims.
Dont just pic the most local one to you, look around. Same
for joining any club, it's the people in it and how willing
they are to help that makes the diffrence.

HTH
TerryH
PS: Transport has never been an issue in any club i've been in.

[Helen Butcher]

I am in the process of completing my PADI OW and would really like to join a BSAC club afterwards to get some UK diving experience

Great idea - one of my friends did this and its meant he could learn by getting out there and diving with experienced club members - got him wet a lot quicker than me too as though the ocean diver training is superb with my club it does take a while!


what does the Ocean Diver swimming assessement test include in terms of distances and strokes that I need to know?

Any stroke, and as far as i recall was just about 10 lengths of our pool we use for training, no fins, within something like 20mins. I am not particularly fit (and certainly wasn't when i did mine) but had no problems. I also had to do 3? minutes of treading water with my arms above the surface, no fins as far as i remember, and another 10 lengths snorkelling, with fins, with a duck dive on every other length to about 2-3m depth to retrieve an article (rubber brick i think it was)
However, you should be able to complete a cross-over to Ocean Diver from PADI open water, as this is recognised by BSAC as an equivalent qualification, so depending on the club you may not have to do this. Our club normally asks that at least the first and sometimes the first few dives are completed buddied with an instructor or Dive leader or above, but doesn't genereally require that the swimming test is done.

- I don't currently own any serious scuba gear (I have a mask, snorkel and fins though) and don't have a car (not really keen on buying one either).

Depends on the club - our club rents gear to members (but not suits), especially beginners until you're sure you really want to take this up as a sport, as the equipment is not cheap.
You will certainly want your own mask, fins, and snorkel as a basic kit, plus consider your own suit as its not fun diving in something that doesn't fit right, and most clubs don't have masses of sizes available.
Worth considering also is the second-hand route especially once you've joined a club as people normally have older but still functioning kit which they will generally pass on to you at a reasonable price. This works well till you know what you like and don't like, and can work out as cost effective as hiring kit. Get it serviced though if it hasn't been used for a while!

When doing UK dives, is it normally necessary to transport gear in a car or does the club usually help? I wouldn't really like to find myself in a situation where I've done the training but can't go on proper dive trips.

Again depends on the club, a fair bit of transport gets shared in our club, to save on petrol and parking, but almost all of us drive and have our own cars. One member doesn't drive, and generally manages to wangle a lift as he lives close to several other club members. It can make life slightly more difficult especially if we are travelling a long distance or leaving early to have to pick someone else up, but it can also make the journey go quicker!

Welcome to BSAC, shop around till you find a club you like as thats the best bit of BSAC! There's one for everyone somewhere!

Helen

[Mike_Firth]

Hi

I am in the process of completing my PADI OW and would really like to join a BSAC club afterwards to get some UK diving experience; I would like to do the BSAC Ocean Diver / Sport Diver training through a BSAC club. I'm getting in touch with a couple of clubs but in the meantime a couple of questions:

- what does the Ocean Diver swimming assessement test include in terms of distances and strokes that I need to know?

- I don't currently own any serious scuba gear (I have a mask, snorkel and fins though) and don't have a car (not really keen on buying one either).

When doing UK dives, is it normally necessary to transport gear in a car or does the club usually help? I wouldn't really like to find myself in a situation where I've done the training but can't go on proper dive trips.

I am happy to buy the diving gear I need but not really intending to buy a car at this point.

I would appreciate any info on these two questions from BSAC members that are in my situation (no car!) and if so, how they are dealing with it.

thx

DK

Welcome. As the first chap said go with other like minded club members. Use their transport until you get your own. As for kit try hodive.net for value for money kit. 15l cyls ?99.0 and Posiden Jetstream for ?179 you wont go far wrong there.

Suits go for Otter of Bradford for good suits and vfm.

And of course enjoy yourself in safety when youve got this kit.

Mike

[Tony Dwyer]

:= what does the Ocean Diver swimming assessement test include in terms of distances and strokes that I need to know?

Any stroke, and as far as i recall was just about 10 lengths of our pool we use for training, no fins, within something like 20mins. I am not particularly fit (and certainly wasn't when i did mine) but had no problems. I also had to do 3? minutes of treading water with my arms above the surface, no fins as far as i remember, and another 10 lengths snorkelling, with fins, with a duck dive on every other length to about 2-3m depth to retrieve an article (rubber brick i think it was)
However, you should be able to complete a cross-over to Ocean Diver from PADI open water, as this is recognised by BSAC as an equivalent qualification, so depending on the club you may not have to do this. Our club normally asks that at least the first and sometimes the first few dives are completed buddied with an instructor or Dive leader or above, but doesn't genereally require that the swimming test is done.

If you did 'Ocean Diver' and not an older qualification, this was way over the top! All that is required is a 200 mtr freestyle swim. The following is quoted from the Instructor Manual - Ocean Diver section:

"Swimming Assessment

A basic level of comfort in the water is essential for all divers. This is evaluated during a swimming assessment which comprises a 200 mtr freestyle swim in basic swimwear only. Students should complete this assessment comfortably and with ease, speed is not on of the relevant criteria.
It should be recognised that some students will benefit from a period of swimming practice to build up their stamina, which may be undertaken in parallel with their Sheltered Water lessions. The swimming assessment bmust however be satisfactorily completed before they progress to Open Water lessons & dives."

Note, there is NO reference to treading water, snorkelling or duck dives. Those went out with the infamous 'A' test, years ago.
Snorkelling is however included in the Sheltered Water training. It is not a required training entry skill!

regards

Tony

[Helen Butcher]

If you did 'Ocean Diver' and not an older qualification, this was way over the top! All that is required is a 200 mtr freestyle swim.
Note, there is NO reference to treading water, snorkelling or duck dives. Those went out with the infamous 'A' test, years ago.
Snorkelling is however included in the Sheltered Water training. It is not a required training entry skill!

oh well - i did it easily(!) so no problem. was useful actually as they taught me to snorkel before the test - i've never managed to snorkel and duck dive before so it boosted both my skills and my confidence - not bad for one pool session...

[Tony Dwyer]

:=If you did 'Ocean Diver' and not an older qualification, this was way over the top! All that is required is a 200 mtr freestyle swim.
:=Note, there is NO reference to treading water, snorkelling or duck dives. Those went out with the infamous 'A' test, years ago.
:=Snorkelling is however included in the Sheltered Water training. It is not a required training entry skill!

oh well - i did it easily(!) so no problem. was useful actually as they taught me to snorkel before the test - i've never managed to snorkel and duck dive before so it boosted both my skills and my confidence - not bad for one pool session...

Sounds as though they got you into OS1, the first Ocean Diver sheltered water lession and extended it a bit.
But the treading water is not on as part of the course.
I'm glad to hear that your confidence was lifted, I use snorkel training with new members in that way too, parallel to SCUBA training.
I have trained divers that could not swim when they started with us. One of them is now a BSAC Instructor and an Advanced Diver.

[TerryH]

But the treading water is not on as part of the course.:=

Fine if it's a requirement for joining that club. There is
BSAC rules and branch rules. Hardly worth doing two sessions
just to see if he can tread water.

We have always had this as part of our swim test.

TerryH

[Nigel Hewitt]

Hardly worth doing two sessions just to see if he can tread water.

That's good because I can't.
Virtually nothing I do with my feet and legs sems to affect how much of me sticks out of the water. Is there a trick to it? Doing the PADI DM swim tests I just treated breathing as optional during the hands-out-of-the-water section.

[TerryH]

:=Hardly worth doing two sessions just to see if he can tread water.

That's good because I can't.
Virtually nothing I do with my feet and legs sems to affect how much of me sticks out of the water. Is there a trick to it? Doing the PADI DM swim tests I just treated breathing as optional during the hands-out-of-the-water section.

I've found that experienced divers already have the buoyancy
control to fill there lungs and breathe with just the last
bit. Bit like a pant, but with very full lungs. Do it right
(no pun intended) and you have a good 5lt of buoyancy and you
dont even need to tread. Mind you gets a bit iffy if you have
waves bigger than 50mm!

Rgds
TerryH

[Nigel Hewitt]

I've found that experienced divers already have the buoyancy control to fill there lungs and breathe with just the last bit.

That's about what I did. It's not just me then. Thanks.