cross over

[koldive]

Thinking of joining bsac club.Im a padi trained diver aow/nitrox with 120 dives in mainly in uk.If i cross over to bsac what qualification will i be given?Thanks,
colin

[David Walker]

Thinking of joining bsac club.Im a padi trained diver aow/nitrox with 120 dives in mainly in uk.If i cross over to bsac what qualification will i be given?Thanks,

Hi
You'd cross-over as an Ocean Diver, but if you've got the experience from diving and you wanted to progress to Sports then it should be fairly easy for you. There's quite a bit more rescue training in the Sports Diver course, well worth doing, as well as for the ability to do deco.
See <a href="http://www.bsac.org/techserv/salt.pdf" >http://www.bsac.org/techserv/salt.pdf</a>

Whether your Nitrox qualification crosses over depends on where it comes from - the PADI Nitrox doesn't I don't think, most technical agency ones will crossover to BSAC Adv. Nitrox. See <a href="http://www.bsac.org/techserv/tecpuba5.htm" >http://www.bsac.org/techserv/tecpuba5.htm</a>

That said, depending on the club and their interpretation of the rules some will be happy to dive to your PADI quals with the club, others may try to restrict you to the BSAC equivalents. Your Nitrox qualification is almost certainly going to be fine to use within a club, but again it depends on the club - you'd have to ask. Some are more accepting than others, and I remember a recent discussion where no-one could really decide whether an AOW like yourself was limited to 20m or 30m when diving with BSAC branches.

David

[Keith Lawrence(BSAC)]

Thinking of joining bsac club.Im a padi trained diver aow/nitrox with 120 dives in mainly in uk.If i cross over to bsac what qualification will i be given?Thanks,
colin

Hi Colin

Unfortunately that only makes you an Ocean Diver, the lack of rescue skills in the OW/AOW course means that you don't quite reach the level of our Sports Diver qualification. Your Nitrox qual is no problem at all, I don't think that we actually "cross-over" that (I could be wrong here) but you could still use Nitrox.

Don't let the seemingly "low" initial qualification put you off, somebody with your experience should be welcomed with open arms by a local club and they should have you up to Sports Diver in no time. You'll probably enjoy the style of teaching (by your mates in the branch) and you should have no trouble picking up the new rescue skills that you will learn.

My advice is always the same in these cases Colin - pay a few of your local branches a visit as a guest and see whether YOU like them, if you don't think that it's quite right for you then try another! There's several people on these forums who had trod this path before you, hopefully somebody will pop in and give you some tips from personal experience.

Kind Regards - HTH

Keith L

[John Williams]

Thinking of joining bsac club.Im a padi trained diver aow/nitrox with 120 dives in mainly in uk.If i cross over to bsac what qualification will i be given?Thanks,
colin

I think you've been slightly misled by the previous answers

here is my interpretation:
1) You will not be given a BSAC diving qualification at all.
(but you don't need one to dive with a BSAC club anyway! - there are equivalents that allow us to slot you into our training programme somewhere appropriate if you wish to CONTINUE TRAINING with the BSAC)

2) Your previous training and experience will be recognised as far superior to Ocean Diver ... and in some aspects superior to BSAC Sports Diver and even to BSAC Dive Leader.

3) However - there are important aspects of Sports Diver that you have not yet covered. This means that most BSAC Diving Officers would treat you as a very capable Ocean Diver (just to fit in with our system) ...but would encourage you to fill in the gaps in your Sports Diver training as quickly as possible - so as not to limit your diving in any way (and to turn you into a more useful member!)

4) The training that you HAVE done would gain you many exemptions from training for Sports (and possibly for the higher BSAC grades)

5) Welcome to the BSAC...come and dive with us, bring your skills and enthusiasm to us and we'll reward it by welcoming you, helping you to integrate with us (whilst taking on board all your good ideas too!)and have a good time underwater together!

John

[koldive]

:=Thinking of joining bsac club.Im a padi trained diver aow/nitrox with 120 dives in mainly in uk.If i cross over to bsac what qualification will i be given?Thanks,

Hi
You'd cross-over as an Ocean Diver, but if you've got the experience from diving and you wanted to progress to Sports then it should be fairly easy for you. There's quite a bit more rescue training in the Sports Diver course, well worth doing, as well as for the ability to do deco.
See <a href="http://www.bsac.org/techserv/salt.pdf" >http://www.bsac.org/techserv/salt.pdf</a>

Whether your Nitrox qualification crosses over depends on where it comes from - the PADI Nitrox doesn't I don't think, most technical agency ones will crossover to BSAC Adv. Nitrox. See <a href="http://www.bsac.org/techserv/tecpuba5.htm" >http://www.bsac.org/techserv/tecpuba5.htm</a>

That said, depending on the club and their interpretation of the rules some will be happy to dive to your PADI quals with the club, others may try to restrict you to the BSAC equivalents. Your Nitrox qualification is almost certainly going to be fine to use within a club, but again it depends on the club - you'd have to ask. Some are more accepting than others, and I remember a recent discussion where no-one could really decide whether an AOW like yourself was limited to 20m or 30m when diving with BSAC branches.

David
Hi David, thanks for response.Most of the dives i have done are 20m+ dives and i feel i would be quite restricted if i was limited to 20m depth.I will aproach a few local clubs and see what they say,thanks again,
colin

[koldive]

Hi John,now this sounds more like it,i will go to local clubs and see what they say.What is involved in getting to sports diver?I also have rya level 2 boat handling cert.I feel to be given ocean diver cert would be a step back for me and limit my diving.Thank you for your reply John,
best regards,
colin

[John Williams]

Hi John,now this sounds more like it,i will go to local clubs and see what they say.What is involved in getting to sports diver?I also have rya level 2 boat handling cert.I feel to be given ocean diver cert would be a step back for me and limit my diving.Thank you for your reply John,
best regards,
colin

Your RYA level II is equivalent to the BSAC Boathandling Course ...so you could go straight to the BSAC Diver Cox'n Assessment. However the RYA Level II does not teach all of the diving related skills that are tested in DCA...so you might benefit from a little practice/coaching before rushing to the assessment (and the BHC is good fun anyway!)

I'm not familiar enough with PADI qualifications to know what you have done...but sitting down with a DO/TO and your qualification syllabus and having a chat should sort all that out.
Why not use that process as a mechanism for finding an enthusiastic and enlightened BSAC branch to join?

John

[terryh]

Hi John,now this sounds more like it,i will go to local clubs and see what they say.What is involved in getting to sports diver?I also have rya level 2 boat handling cert.I feel to be given ocean diver cert would be a step back for me and limit my diving.Thank you for your reply John,
best regards,
colin

I wouldnt be too bothered about doing any remedial stuff. I
joined my BSAC club as a Rescue Diver with 300 odd dives and
was knocked back to 20m and had to do a few lectures etc. to
get Sport. It was seen by me (and them) as a honeymoon period,
where we checked each other out. In fact i'd be a bit suspect
of a club that didnt want to check me out. Just proves they
have good safety standards. Took me a very short time before
I was back up to my previous max depth, but with the added
advantage of being able to do deco.

Like others have said look around, ask questions, get a feel
for what each club is like. Although we might all be BSAC, we
are all individual clubs in our own right and are not all the
same.

Rgds
TerryH