The RNLI
Thurs 27th October 2011 @ 8pm (doors 7.30)
Oxford BSAC Clubhouse, Hinksey Park (via Lake Street), Oxford, OX1 4RP – Location
Bar and refreshments available
FREE ENTRY
Author: Alex Gibson
Speakers Night Proudly Present
Thames Valley Police
Specialist Search and Recovery Team
The Specialist Search and Recovery Team (SSRT) is involved in far more than diving.
The SSRT is a specialist team with training and expertise in search and recovery in hazardous environments. It works over land and under water, searching for and recovering items such as firearms, drugs, property, explosives and missing persons.
The team is made up of eight officers – one sergeant and seven constables – plus one police staff dive technician. The unit is involved in around 350 operations each year.
Thurs 22nd Sept @ 8pm (doors 7.30)
Open to the general public.
FREE ENTRY
Scapa Flow 2011 Trip Report
July 24th – August 5th 2011
A two week stint in Scapa Flow is any British diver’s dream. Frequently suggested as the best diving the UK has to offer it should certainly be on your to-do list if you haven’t already been, and almost certainly on your ‘must return’ list if you’ve experienced it already.
Once you’ve recovered from the drive – from Oxford it takes about 11 hours + the ferry crossing to reach Stromness in Orkney, far north of Scotland. It really does make sense to fly, but only if you can get someone else to take your kit – excess dive baggage is apparently frequently discarded when planes are overweighted. The drive beyond Glasgow is quite scenic though, as is the ferry from Scrabster to Stromness, so that helps. It is certainly even better on the way south.
Boat Handling Course Report
The Course
As the first stage to qualification for skippering the club boats the BSAC Boat Handler course is now being taught at Oxford BSAC. This equips trainees with the skills necessary to safely take charge of a vessel in open water. An additional 20 hours experience is required before then moving onto the Diver Cox’n (diver coxswain) course which then qualifies us to pick up divers and snorkelers. A bit of a palava, but it then means we are insured, which with an adventurous sport is a bit of a must.
*SHARKS!
Oxford BSAC present a talk about Shark Tagging by Dr Ken Collins
Senior Research Fellow at the School of Ocean and Earth Science, University of Southampton, National Oceanography Centre
ANGLER, DIVER or VOLUNTEER?:
The programme is aimed at sport shark anglers who record, tag and release the sharks that they catch.
How to Sex a Shark
What we hope to achieve
How Tagging Works
Why Tagging?
Weigh slings
What to do if you catch a tagged shark
Followed by questions and answers
Dive Officer Tweeting from Scapa
Ian Banton will be tweeting the fortnight away from Scapa Flow – you can follow him @OxScubaDiveClub, or watch the Tweets in the right-hand column of our homepage.
Charity Pirate Day
Divers and snorkelers from the club were more than happy to help out when asked by eighteenth-century re-enactors who were putting on a Charity Pirate Day at the Swan Hotel in Radcote, Oxfordshire.
Britain’s Secret Seas
A glance at the TV listings for this weekend should turn your attention to the new series set to cause an explosion of interest in UK diving.
Britain’s Secret Seas is presented by BSAC scuba diver Paul Rose and his team, and the first episode, ‘Giants of the West’ – will be televised this Sunday, BBC2 at 8pm.
The website for the show says “Featuring glorious underwater photography, this HD series reveals our native waters as being every bit as dramatic, colourful, and surprising as the oceans of the world” – we can hardly wait….. and if anyone else feels the same they can watch preview clips on the Britain’s Secret Seas website.
Naiad
The latest addition to the club’s roster of boats is a brand new Humber 16ft RIB (Rigid Inflatable Boat), christened Naiad.
With a £10,000 grant awarded by Sport England to help the club advance snorkeling from the pool to open water, this boat promises exciting times ahead for snorkelers young and old.
Many thanks go to Debbie White, John Waterhouse and all those whose hard work means that the club’s snorkelers have such a bright future.
FREE Try Dives on 30th April
Have you ever thought about learning to dive but were unsure how or where to start? Now is your chance to take that first step by coming along to Hinksey Outdoor Pool Open Day on Saturday 30th April 2011.