The weekend of 24th / 25th October saw the NEC exhibit the Dive 2009 dive show and several members from the club went up over the two days to have a look around.

As usual the SAA was well represented by a stand with a number of prominent members from the executive and head office - making it a great place for SAA specific enquires face to face, and although there were many agencies and training centres advertising courses etc it was clear that the majority of visitors were interested in all the shiny new kit on display - if you knew what you were after there were possibilities for bargains to be had.

Perhaps a sign of the times, there was an large number of both well known and new rebreather models on show, although not many yet have CE marking so cannot be sold directly within the UK and EU.  Whether these are destined to become more popular for recreational diving remains to be seen, but with a price tag akin to that of a small car they are still not something to rushed into even if the levels of maintenance, operating cost and personal risk are mitigated.

There were of course also plenty of warmwater holiday ideas for 2010, so perhaps this is something to think about in the run up winter when weather will limit the opportunies to get out on the UK seas.  Remember though that as long as there are no storms for a few days then some of the best UK sea diving can be done during the winter months while the level of plankton etc dies back.

Several of the club recently undertook an RYA Powerboat Level 2 course at the Lyme Bay Sea School which enables them to coxwain the club's dive boat.  While handling a high speed RIB on the open sea is obviously lots of fun, it is also extremely useful for expedition planners to be able to spread out the boat handling duties (else it can get quite tiring diving and coxing in succession without a break) and also it means that the group can spend more time actually diving.

Course theory covered things like navigation, buoyage, etc and hands-on practical boathandling skills on the water included manoeuvring exercises designed to replicate everyday scenarios e.g. diver retrieval etc.  (The "diver" was substituted for a fixed buoy - a good decision based on our early attempts!".)

Unfortunately, bad weather meant that the course could not be completed that same weekend, but we hope that everyone will have managed to gain their qualifications soon on a resheduled day out on the water when the sea's a little less rough.

The club successfully ran its first "in-hourse" nitrox course at the weekend for several members.

The one-day course involved several hours of theory and some practical skills, covering nitrox for use in recreational diving, how it can increase safety margins compared to breathing normal air and how to maximise the amount of time a diver can spend on the bottom (eg on a wreck) before needing decompression stops on the ascent.  Practical skills included planning optimal nitrox dives, setting up dive computers to make use of nitrox mixtures and analysing different nitrox fills in diving cylinders.

The benefits of nitrox for recreational diving have long been well known so it's great news that CSAC, like other SAA clubs with suitably qualified instructors, can now run these courses at little expense for club members compared to doing a similar course with a commercial agency like PADI, TDI or IANTD.

Photos of events and expeditions posted onto the old website have finally been copied across into the Gallery section.

Have a look under the "Previous years' galleries" link.

The club had a fantastic time down at Hope Cove over the Whitsun bank holiday weekend.
Most camped with their families nearby on the hill overlooking Hope Cove and the sea making full use of the glorious weather.

The itinerary included trips out to the always pleasing wrecks of the Maine and Persier.
It was also great to see the usual main attractions of British marine life such as lobster, dogfish and conger eels on many of the dives, plus a rare sighting of a good sized but very well camouflaged octopus.

See the gallery section for photos.

The gallery section has been updated to allow club members to add photos to existing galleries or create new ones.
Hopefully this will mean that more photos of expeditions, holidays and social events will be posted more regularly.

Club members simply need to log in to gain access to the menu option to add or edit galleries.

Hope you've all had a good Christmas and New Year. Here's looking forward to a year of good diving.

Thanks to Amy for organising the 2008 Christmas party. Everyone had a great time - hope to have some photos for the gallery soon.

With the latest cold snap, you'd be forgiven thinking that diving in UK waters is somewhat daft, but remember that while inland sites often have water temperatures dropping to around 4C over winter, our seas remain relatively warm at around 9C and this time of year often has great visability while the plankton levels are low. So, no excuses - check out your gear on a pool night and then pester us to get the boat out one weekend sometime soon!

Reminder: the club subscriptions are now due - your SAA insurance is not valid until we have sent off your 2009 SAA membership fee, so make sure you get this sorted ASAP if not already done.