At Bedford Sub-Aqua Club we carry out all of our training under the British Sub-Aqua Club's (BSAC) banner. Below is a brief overview of the training that takes place for the BSAC Ocean Diver and Sports Diver qualifications. 

Ocean Diver  

The aim of the Ocean Diver course is to produce a diver who has gained open water diving experience and may conduct dives with another diver of the same level up to a maximum depth of 20 metres; provided they are properly supervised and have agreed their diving plan in advance with the club’s Diving Officer.
The course is divided into three main elements.

  1. Theory lessons take place at the Rowing Club, Embankment.        A theory assessment takes place at the end of all the theory lessons and when all the trainees are happy with their content.

  2. Sheltered water lessons take place in the pool at the Boy's School, De Pary's Avenue, between 21:00 and 22:00pm
    (approximately 40 minutes in-water time). They are designed to prepare trainees for the open water environment and contain essential practical skills.

    Skills are practiced until the instructor determines that the student is able to complete them competently and safely. Once the sheltered water lessons and theory lessons and assessment have been successfully completed, the new diver is then ready to progress to open water training.

  3. Open water dives provide the new diver with the opportunity to put into practice both the theory and practical elements learned. During Ocean Diver training, the emphasis is on building a sound foundation of open water skill and experience through a series of five open water experience dives supervised by a BSAC Nationally Qualified Instructor. Again, diving skills are practiced until the instructor determines that the student is able to complete them competently and safely.

Anyone who has already trained with another diving organisation, eg PADI, SAA, NAUI, CMAS, to a level that is comparable to Ocean Diver can complete a BSAC cross-over programme if they wish to do so. Alternatively, they may arrange to join BedSAC and dive using their existing qualification, provided they are properly supervised and have agreed their diving plan in advance with the club’s Diving Officer.

The Ocean Diver course costs £220. This is in addition to the cost of joining BedSAC and BSAC and does not include individual student costs for open water dives, eg cost of cylinder fills and entry to quarries, but does cover all instruction and student packs. Price comparison between our club and other please click  here .

Payment for training can be broken down and paid in instalments as agreed with the club’s membership secretary.

 

 

 

Sports Diver  

After successful completion of the Ocean Diver course new divers can continue on with the BSAC Sports Diver Course.

This course aims to produce a diver who has gained open water diving and diver rescue experience and may conduct dives with another diver of the same level up to a maximum depth of 35 metres, following supervised depth progression. They must still be properly supervised for any dives that go beyond their previous experience, and must have agreed their diving plan in advance with the club’s Diving Officer.

The course has four main elements.

  1. Six theory lessons including :-

    The lessons are followed by a theory assessment.

  2. Sheltered water lessons that focus on diver rescue skills.

  3. Five open water dives that focus on:
  4. A dry practical lesson dealing with dive management.

Once the Sports Diver qualification has been awarded there are three supervised depth progression dives:  

The first part of the course costs £60 to cover course materials and pool training.

The open water part of the course is financed through the students involved in a training event covering the costs for instructors providing the instruction for the event These will be limited to site entry ( quarries etc. ) and gas fills.

Anyone who has already trained with another diving organisation to a level that is comparable to Sport Diver can complete a BSAC cross-over programme if they wish to do so. Alternatively, they may arrange to join BedSAC and dive using their existing qualification, provided they are properly supervised where necessary and have agreed their diving plan in advance with the club’s Diving Officer.

Further Training 

As the largest diving club in the area and with a dedicated team of Nationally Qualified Instructors and Assistant Diving Instructors, we can offer further training to divers who wish to progress their diving and boat skills. We can also run many of BSAC's Skill Development courses in-house, saving the trainees both time and money. With 2 Advanced Instructors, we can also "boss" skills development courses (SDC's) for other clubs. We have an Approved Boat Instructor who can teach you how to drive a rigid inflatable boat (RIB) and with our Open Water Instructors, can teach both BSAC's Dive Leader and Advanced Diver courses. For details on any of these courses please contact us.