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British Sub-Aqua Club

Abbreviation	BSAC
Formation	15 October 1953; 71 years ago (1953-10-15)
Type	NGO
Legal status	Limited Guarantee Company incorporated in England
Purpose	Recreational diving services, training and advocacy National governing body
Headquarters	United Kingdom
Location	Telford's Quay, South Pier Road, Ellesmere Port, Cheshire CH65 4FL
Region served	International
Membership	22,000 in 2022
President	The Prince of Wales
Chair	Edward Haynes
CEO	Mary Tetley
Main organ	BSAC Council
Affiliations	EUF
Staff	19
Website	www.bsac.com

The British Sub-Aqua Club or BSAC has been recognised since 1954 by UK Sport as the national governing body of recreational diving in the United Kingdom.

The club was founded in 1953 and at its peak in the mid-1990s had over 50,000 members declining to over 30,000 in 2009. It is a diver training organization that operates through its associated network of around 1,100 local, independent diving clubs and around 400 diving schools worldwide. The old logo featured the Roman god Neptune (Greek god Poseidon), god of the sea. The new logo, as of 2017, features a diver with the updated BSAC motto "Dive with us".

BSAC is unusual for a diver training agency in that most BSAC instructors are volunteers, giving up their spare time to train others, unlike many other agencies, in which instructors are paid employees, or self-employed.

Given that UK waters are relatively cold and have restricted visibility, BSAC training is regarded by its members as more comprehensive than some. Specifically it places emphasis on rescue training very early in the programme. BSAC also maintains links with other organisations, such as NACSAC.

Science writer and science fiction author Arthur C. Clarke was a famous member of BSAC.

The current President of BSAC is William, Prince of Wales. His father Charles III, and grandfather Philip also held that position and his brother Harry, Duke of Sussex also trained with BSAC.

Timeline

• 1953, 15 October : BSAC was founded by Oscar Gugen, Peter Small, Mary Small, and Trevor Hampton.
• 1953: Jack Atkinson, an aero engineer, was appointed as the club's first national diving officer.
• 1954: First BSAC branch formed, in London.
• 1954: Members of Southsea Sub-Aqua Club (BSAC Branch No.9), invent underwater hockey (originally called "Octopush").
• 1955, March: BSAC is accepted by the Central Council of Physical Recreation.
• 1957, January: BSAC and 14 other national diving federations create Confédération Mondiale des Activités Subaquatiques (CMAS), the world governing body for sub-aqua.
• 1959, January: Jack Atkinson, produced the BSAC Diving Manual.
• 1988: Release of the BS-AC 88 dive table
• 1990: BSAC moved its offices to Ellesmere Port, North West England.
• 1995: BSAC allows Nitrox diving and introduced Nitrox training.
• 1997, 20 May: BSAC was expelled from the Confédération Mondiale des Activités Subaquatiques (CMAS)
• 2002: The introduction of a new Diver Training Scheme (2002 to 2023).
• 2007: BSAC is the first recreational diving agency to introduce Nitrox diving as part of core training.
• 2023: Revision of the 2002 training scheme with a complete overhall of the Dive Leader course.

Recognition

BSAC is the National Governing Body (NGB) for sub-aqua within the United Kingdom, a role it has held since 1954. The body is recognised by Sport England as the NGB for sub-aqua in England, and by Sport Wales as the NGB for sub-aqua in Wales.

Regional bodies

The Scottish Sub Aqua Club, formed in 1953 (the same year as BSAC) is recognised by sportscotland as the NGB for sub-aqua in Scotland.

The Northern Ireland Federation of Sub-Aqua Clubs is recognised by Sport Northern Ireland as the NGB for sub-aqua in Northern Ireland.

Sport Wales previously recognised the Welsh Association of Sub Aqua Clubs as the NGB for sub-aqua in Wales until January 2016.

Competitive sub-aqua

While forms of sub-aqua, many competitive forms of sub-aqua are not governed by BSAC, as BSAC is not a member of the Confédération Mondiale des Activités Subaquatiques (CMAS) who is the global governing body for competitive sub-aqua.

Underwater hockey in Great Britain was governed directly by BSAC with the sport being invented by one of its branches in 1954. BSAC remain the NGB until 1977 when they recognised the British Octopush Association (BOA), who formed a year prior, as the new NGB. BSAC remained a governing body for a limited number clubs who didn't switch to BOA governance. In 2013 the BOA affiliated itself to BSAC to legitimaise its safeguarding procedure. The BOA is recognised by CMAS as the NGB for underwater hockey in Great Britain.

BSAC was the first body to govern underwater rugby in the United Kingdom, though only two clubs are affiliated to the body. The British Underwater Rugby Association (BURA) is the UK's governing body affiliated with CMAS.

Diver Training Programme

Diving Qualifications

BSAC currently has seven diver qualifications (five standard and two intermediary):

• Discovery Diver: Basic skills, supervised diving (depth limit 12 m).
• Ocean Diver: Basic skills, non-decompression diving (depth limit 20 m).
• Advanced Ocean Diver: Further Basic skills training, navigation, nitrox (up to Nitrox 36%), non-decompression diving (depth limit increased to 30 m with a series of 5 m progression dives).
• Sports Diver: Rescue, navigation, nitrox and decompression diving (depth limit increased to 40 m with a series of 5 m progression dives).
• Dive Leader: Dive leading, dive planning and management, and rescue management (depth limit increased to 50 m by completing a selection of experience dives).
• Advanced Diver: Fully trained diver capable of leading a group of divers in normal club activities.
• First Class Diver: Trained to lead a group of divers carrying out a project. This is nationally examined with a two-day practical test.

Instructor Qualifications

BSAC has eight instructor grades:

• Assistant Diving Instructor: Trained but unqualified. Must be supervised when instructing.
• Theory Instructor: Qualified to instruct unsupervised in the classroom.
• Assistant Open Water Instructor: Qualified to teach open water under supervision.
• Practical Instructor: Qualified to instruct unsupervised in open water.
• Open Water Instructor: Qualified to supervise other instructors in classroom and open water training.
• Advanced Instructor: Trained to teach advanced skills, such as boat based skills and group diving techniques.
• Instructor Trainer: Qualified to staff Instructor events.
• National Instructor: Leads Instructor Training courses and BSAC National exams.

Grades no longer awarded

The following grades which are no longer awarded may still be encountered:

• Novice I: A diver who has completed the extensive sheltered-water (i.e. pool) training of the BSAC syllabus of the time, but has not yet dived in open water.
• Novice II: A Novice I diver who has completed two open-water assessment dives.

The distinction between Novice I and Novice II was mostly for practical reasons to do with the difference between hiring a pool and travelling to the coast. A Novice I diver would normally complete the two open-water dives as soon as possible, but if this were not possible straight away (perhaps over winter) they would at least have a specific grade within the club. The lengthy and club-oriented Novice syllabus was replaced with the Club Diver and Ocean Diver syllabuses in the late 1990s. (However, some argue the Novice description was usefully accurate and aided diver safety because nobody with such a qualification would attempt dives beyond their capabilities).

• Club Diver: This is more or less the same as Ocean Diver; originally the two were operated in parallel with Ocean Diver awarded at schools and Club Diver at clubs.
• Club Instructor: An instructor grade junior to Open Water Instructor, but allowing the holder to instruct practical and theory lessons without supervision.
• Third Class Diver: This was the entry-level grade prior to the splitting of its syllabus during the mid-1980s to create the Novice and Sports Diver grades. Divers who held this grade at the time were awarded the Sports Diver grade.
• Second Class Diver: This was the immediate grade prior to the splitting of its syllabus during the mid-1980s to create the Dive Leader and Advanced Diver grades. Divers who held this grade at the time were awarded the Advanced Diver grade.

CMAS equivalencies

The following CMAS equivalencies have been agreed with the Sub-Aqua Association.

EUF Certification

BSAC obtained CEN certification from the EUF certification body in 2007 and re-certified in 2012 and 2019 for the following recreational diver grades:

• Discovery Diver – ISO 24801-1
• Ocean Diver – EN 14153-2/ISO 24801-2 – 'Autonomous Diver'
• Dive Leader – EN 14153-3/ISO 24801-3 – 'Dive Leader'
• Open Water Instructor – EN 14413-2/ISO 24802-2 – 'Instructor Level 2'
• Sports Diver – ISO 11107 – 'Nitrox diving'
• Nitrox Gas Blender – ISO 13293 – 'Level 1 Gas Blender'
• Mixed Gas Blender – ISO 13293 – 'Level 2 Gas Blender'
• Snorkelling Guide – ISO 13970 – 'Snorkelling Guide'

Snorkeller Training Programme

Snorkelling Qualifications

BSAC has four snorkeller grades:

• Dolphin Snorkeller: swimmingpool based course designed for children.
• Snorkel Diver: training for pool or sheltered water activity.
• Advanced Snorkeller: training for open water activity.
• Snorkel Dive Manager: training to plan, organise and lead snorkelling activities, in addition to snorkelling first aid.
• Snorkel Guide: furthering skills learned on Snorkel Diver Manager.

Instructor Qualifications

BSAC three snorkel instructor grades:

• Snorkel Instructor: club instructing, qualified to teach Snorkel Diver and Advanced Snorkeler (provided these qualifications are held by the instructor)
• Advanced Snorkel Instructor: qualified to teach Snorkel Diver Manager and Snorkel Guide
• Snorkel Instructor Trainer: qualified to train instructors.

BSAC scuba instructors can also teach all or parts of the Snorkeller Training Programme subject to meeting pre-requisites including additional training.

Skill Development Courses

BSAC offer range of specialist diving courses known as Skill Development Courses (SDCs). While mainly for scuba divers, a number of courses can be taken as snorkeller, and some without any dive qualifications:

Courses in brackets () indicate pre-requisites for the SDC

Technical Diving Courses

BSAC offer a number of technical diving courses:

See also

Organizations

• British Octopush Association – National body for underwater hockey in the United Kingdom
• List of diver certification organizations – Agencies which issue certification for competence in diving skills
• Nautical Archaeology Society – British organisation to further research in nautical archaeology for the public benefit
• Underwater Explorers Club – British diving club, now defunct

People

• David Bellamy – English professor, botanist, author, broadcaster and environmental campaigner
• Mensun Bound – British maritime archaeologist
• William Paul Fife – US Air Force officer and hyperbaric medicine researcher
• Richard Larn – British shipwreck historian
• John Rawlins (Royal Navy officer) – Royal Navy officer and pioneer in the field of diving medicine
• Margaret Rule – British archaeologist who led the Mary Rose project
• Peter Scoones – Underwater cameraman
• Sir John Wedgwood, 2nd Baronet – British politician and industrialist

Wrecks

• Mary Rose – English Tudor warship (1511–1545)

Notes

1. Discovery Diver is an intermediary course designed to ease people into diving at a slower pace. There is no requirement to have Discovery Diver before undertaking Ocean Diver.
2. Advanced Ocean Diver is an intermediary course designed to held bridge the skill gap between Ocean Diver and Sports Diver. There is no requirement to have Advanced Ocean Diver before undertaking Sports Diver, though the Advanced Ocean Diver to Sports Diver course exists for those who have taken Advanced Ocean Diver to qualify them as Sports Divers without repeating skills covered in Advanced Ocean Diver not present in Ocean Diver but required for Sports Diver.
3. The Dolphin Snorkeller course is an intermediary course designed for children. It contains the practical elements of Snorkel Diver without any of the classroom theory.
4. ^ Basic Life Support is not a diving course and can be obtained outside of driving. Sufficient Basic Life Support skills are acquired via BSAC's Sports Diver courses or higher.
5. In collaboration with the Royal National Lifeboat Institution

References

1. "BSAC Council". British Sub-Aqua Club. Archived from the original on 15 July 2019. Retrieved 15 July 2019.
2. "BSAC HQ". British Sub-Aqua Club. Archived from the original on 3 May 2012. Retrieved 14 June 2014.
3. ^ Geraint, J.; Campbell, K (1996). Handbook of sports and recreational building design. Vol. 3. Sports Council, Technical Unit for Sport. Architectural Press. p. 191. ISBN 0-7506-2256-3.
4. Diving Officers Conference 2003
5. "HRH The Duke of Cambridge takes the lead at BSAC". British Sub-Aqua Club. Archived from the original on 19 May 2014. Retrieved 22 May 2014.
6. ^ BSAC. "Section 1.1 A Brief History of the British Sub-Aqua Club". BSAC. Archived from the original on 6 September 2007. Retrieved 5 September 2008.
7. Vallintine, R. The Club: A celebration of the history of the British Sub-Aqua Club 1953-2003. Circle Books. ISBN 978-0-9538919-5-5.
8. "C.M.A.S." Luigi Ferraro's official site. Retrieved 29 March 2013.
9. Adkisson, G (1991). "The BS-AC '88 decompression tables". South Pacific Underwater Medicine Society Journal. 21 (1). ISSN 0813-1988. OCLC 16986801. Archived from the original on 15 April 2013. Retrieved 19 November 2011.{{cite journal}}: CS1 maint: unfit URL (link)
10. Allen, C (1996). "BSAC gives the OK to nitrox. reprinted from Diver 1995; 40(5) May: 35-36". South Pacific Underwater Medicine Society Journal. 26 (4). ISSN 0813-1988. OCLC 16986801. Archived from the original on 24 October 2008. Retrieved 5 September 2008.{{cite journal}}: CS1 maint: unfit URL (link)
11. "(CMAS / BSAC) The Chronology". Archived from the original on 19 May 2014. Retrieved 4 August 2014.
12. ^ "70 years of BSAC and diving safety". British Sub-Aqua Club. Retrieved 19 June 2024.
13. ^ "Sporting activities and Governing Bodies recognised by the Sports Councils" (PDF). UK Sport. Archived from the original (PDF) on 10 October 2015. Retrieved 27 November 2015.
14. ^ Lawrence, Richard (11 January 2019). "Recognised Governing Body for Sub-Aqua in Wales". Sport Wales. Retrieved 27 September 2019.
15. "Scottish governing bodies of sport, Scottish Sub Aqua Club". sportscotland. Archived from the original on 19 April 2014. Retrieved 30 March 2016.
16. "Sporting activities and Governing Bodies recognised by the Sports Councils". UK Sport. Retrieved 8 November 2012.
17. Underwood, Cliff. "How the BOA was formed". British Octopush Association. Retrieved 14 June 2013.
18. "Which sports do we recognise?". Sport England. Archived from the original on 20 May 2013. Retrieved 14 June 2013.
19. British Sub-Aqua Club SCUBA magazine: October 2024 Issue, pg 29.
20. https://archives.cmas.org/federation-list/british-underwater-rugby-association
21. "Diver Grade Courses". BSAC. Retrieved 31 May 2024.
22. "Discovery Diver course". British Sub-Aqua Club. Retrieved 19 June 2024.
23. "Ocean Diver course". British Sub-Aqua Club. Retrieved 29 July 2024.
24. "Advanced Ocean Diver". British Sub-Aqua Club. Retrieved 29 July 2024.
25. "Advanced Ocean Diver to Sports Diver".
26. "Sports Diver". British Sub-Aqua Club. Retrieved 29 July 2024.
27. "Dive Leader". British Sub-Aqua Club. Retrieved 29 July 2024.
28. "Advanced Diver". British Sub-Aqua Club. Retrieved 29 July 2024.
29. "First Class Diver". British Sub-Aqua Club. Retrieved 29 July 2024.
30. "Instructor progression flowchart". British Sub Aqua Club. Retrieved 7 February 2013.
31. Sport Diving: The British Sub Aqua Club Diving Manual, 1985, Stanley Paul & Co. London, page 244.
32. Sport Diving: The British Sub Aqua Club Diving Manual, 1985, Stanley Paul & Co. London, pp. 244–245.
33. "CMAS Equivalency Cards". BSAC. Archived from the original on 19 April 2012. Retrieved 11 January 2013.
34. "Club Crossover Guidance Chart Re Equivalent Qualifications" (PDF). Sub Aqua Association. Archived from the original (PDF) on 11 February 2014. Retrieved 11 January 2013.
35. BSAC HQ (21 May 2018). "BSAC retains EUF accreditations for scuba diver and instructor qualifications". www.bsac.com. Retrieved 18 November 2019.
36. "EUF Certified Training Systems/Training Organisations". EUF Certification International. Retrieved 30 September 2013.
37. "BSAC EUF accreditation maintained". British Sub-Aqua Club. 22 May 2012. Archived from the original on 23 September 2015. Retrieved 30 September 2013.
38. "Snorkel Grade Training". BSAC. Retrieved 31 May 2024.
39. "Become a Snorkelling Instructor". BSAC. Retrieved 11 January 2013.
40. "Skill Development Courses (SDCs)". British Sub Aqua Club. Retrieved 31 May 2024.
41. "Technical diving courses". British Sub-Aqua Club. Retrieved 29 July 2024.

External links

• British Sub-Aqua Club - BSAC website
• BSAC Japan
• BSAC Korea
• BSAC Thailand

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Some sports are run jointly with Northern Ireland, Scotland and Wales; see Category:Sports governing bodies in the United Kingdom

• Underwater diver organizations
• Organisations based in Cheshire
• Sports governing bodies in England
• Sports governing bodies in the United Kingdom
• Sports governing bodies in Wales
• Underwater diving in the United Kingdom
• Underwater diving training organizations