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SPARE US FROM BADGE BIGOTS PLEASE
As a PADI and IANTD instructor with the additional benefit of being a BSAC diver from the early '70s, I am horrified at the attitude of some of the divers who write in to Off-Gassing. Two letters in March include phrases that highlight this: "For all the problems we seem to find with the PADI system" and "BSAC will die or become indistinguishable from the other lower dive associations".
Sorry, guys, but can't a point be made without being judgmental of other agencies' standards and practices which, though different from the BSAC's as our type of diving is different, do the job they set out to do?
Considering the massive numbers of people PADI has introduced to diving and trained over the years, fatalities have gone steadily down since I started diving, not up. Is it possible that our training methods are not as inept as some might think?
Over the years I have shared good and bad dives with divers from many countries and organisations and yes, shock horror, have dived with BSAC instructors I wouldn't trust to take care of themselves, never mind a novice. There are sloppy or careless divers in all organisations, so can we reduce the "holier than thou" attitude just a bit, please?
On a lighter note, thanks Diver for a great magazine, which is read by most people I know here in Asia.
Vince Shepherd, Hong Kong

Novel approaches to crisis management
I was most interested to read the recent letter from BSAC Chairman Chris Allen about the activities of Ned Middleton, who is standing against current National Diving Officer Bob Boler for the chairmanship.
I have always understood that the basic principle of a democratic society was that of open debate. I have no quarrel with the Chairman's somewhat emotional rebuttal of Mr Middleton's attacks on the current management of the BSAC, but surely an organisation which has admitted to financial problems should not spend money to oppose a candidate who has as one of his stated aims reforming the management structure to eliminate the chances of this happening again.
It would have been better if Mr Boler had sent out a letter at his own expense. It sounds as if the Chairman and Committee are using Club resources to influence the outcome of the election, so it is not surprising Mr Middleton has referred the matter to the Electoral Reform Society.
The affair sounds like a continuation of the whole way the Committee has run the BSAC in recent years: changes introduced to the training system with little or no consultation, the ignominious expulsion of the BSAC from CMAS, the dumping of Diver just after the AGM and now the mess over the Club's financial affairs.
If I had read about this saga in the pages of Private Eye, I would be beginning to think Lord Gnome had been at the port and was suffering from his usual overactive imagination. Sadly, this is not the case.
Major Duncan ByrneLisburn & Glenavy SAC, N Ireland

My wife and I are deeply concerned about the BSAC's reported "financial crisis", why it occurred and how it is being handled. The situation appears so serious that a statement from the Chairman would seem to have been the appropriate way to have informed the membership. Instead it is a reporter telling the public first in Diver, which hits the news-stands before it is seen by the membership, while in the same issue the Chairman's only comment is to extol the virtues of 12-year-old divers.
Meanwhile the prospectuses of last year's Council members hoping for re-election have appeared full of claims as to the financial, business and management skills they could bring to the BSAC. We can only assume that these are newly acquired skills, as they apparently were not available last year.
We would like to see a clear statement from the BSAC regarding the "financial crisis", how and when it developed, what they consider were the causes, what has already been done and what further actions are to be taken.

David & Pauline Carter, Horsham, W Sussex

Solo no go
As a divemaster in the Red Sea, I constantly have to be on the look-out for solo divers. My employer and I ban anyone from further diving if they are caught. The solo divers I have encountered all seem to share the same problem - they think they are the best divers on God's Earth.
Strange then that most of them can't even manage to give a 100 bar sign, don't carry out safety stops, etc. The solo divers I have met are generally a dangerous type. If they have a deathwish, terrific, but not in my presence.
Stuart Munnery, Hurghada

With reference to T J Smith's letter (April) advocating solo diving, one might conclude not only that Rheindahlen SAC allows solo diving, but also that our instructors teach divers self-sufficiency.
Our branch has never advocated solo diving. We consider it, as does the BSAC, a dangerous practice. Mr Smith has not dived with or visited our branch for at least 18 months.
R H D Martin, DO, Rheindahlen SAC, Germany

Skippers need to know their place
I write on behalf of the National Federation of Charter Skippers, having read Bob Elliott's Deep Breath article (Am I Taxi Driver or Dive Marshall?, April) . We fully support the general thrust that skippers have a duty of care for their divers, but believe some of the implications have not been thought through.
Bob Elliott, as well as being a professional skipper, is also a diving instructor and operates a dive centre. In the latter capacities we presume he has professional indemnity insurance and operates to HSE rules, allowing him to offer advice, instruction and control of diving operations.
This is not true for many (possibly most) skippers. So the statement "...the skipper must ensure that the site is not beyond the ability of those concerned" is asking the skipper to make decisions he might well not be competent to make. If an accident occred he would probably be held to be liable (but uninsured) if the advice he had given about the suitability of the site was found to be unsound or negligent.
I am an ex-RN diver, but it would be foolish of me to look at divers' qualifications, logbooks or certificates and then decide that a particular diver was fit and competent to undertake any particular operation. This decision must be left to the diving supervisor of a group/club or, in the case of individuals, the diver.
The skipper provides information on depth, tidal conditions, known hazards and anything else that might aid the decision. His responsibilities are primarily for safe operation of the vessel and to ensure that divers are briefed on entry and exit procedures, emergency facilities and the interface between the diving operation and the boat.
Bob is a bit out of line in suggesting that we skippers should "clean up (our) act by checking qualifications". I would like to think most skippers have a pretty clean act in the first place and that the onus must be on divers not to do things that are beyond their competence, training and experience.
M H B Snelling, Chairman, NFCS, Brighton

Bob Elliott articulated admirably concerns that many of us share. On our club trips we often encounter divers who have obtained their basic qualifications on condensed courses which seem to have involved minimal diving experience. Some are a real liability both to the dive operator and those unfortunate enough to dive with them.
We took such a "diver" as a guest on one of our Red Sea trips. He had obtained his qualification over a couple of weekends' intensive training with a commercial operation and we assumed he would be reasonably competent. He wasn't. He had never entered the water from a boat, and the first time he did so he hyperventilated alarmingly.
When he eventually made it to the bottom, he used up air at a spectacular rate. Subsequently he got a bad case of mask squeeze: his eyes haemorrhaged so severely that the doctor forbade him to dive for the rest of the week.
It was plain that he was just not comfortable in the water. His finning action was very inefficient - he was basically a poor swimmer. It is hard to see how the organisation that trained him saw fit to let him loose with a qualification. As Bob Elliott suggests, the explanation has a lot to do with pound notes.
Mike Horgan, Chairman, Wirral SAC, Merseyside

I very much agree with Bob Elliott's overall comments on training. All agencies should educate new divers in a way that emphasises safety. But the end of the article made me angry - why should British (or Dutch or German) divers be "better" than other nationalities. Are English (PADI or BSAC) diving instructors "better" than Dutch or Israeli ones? Can they swim faster, longer, upside-down?
It is not training organisations or safety procedures that are at fault but the people - Dutch, German or English - who foolishly disregard the training they are given. Need I refer back to the outrageous story regarding Rob Palmer's death?
I hope that this diving season you have the same number of fatalities we had last year in Holland - none.
Theo van Eeden, Holland

Man about the City
Regarding your article on the expedition to the wreck of the City of Winchester (Heading for the City, April), in November 1997, as Lt Commander, Royal Yacht Squadron in Oman, I dived the City along with Commander Clive Parton, when our vessel visited the Al Halaniyah islands en route to Salalah.
We located the wreck quite easily by contacting local fishermen, who showed us the exact spot, which we confirmed with our echo sounder and bearings given to us by the Royal Navy of Oman.
I agree with your article - it was a fantastic dive, easily the best I have done. The abundance of marine life around the wreck was astounding. Unfortunately we managed only two dives on it.
Robert Hogg, Montrose

Scientist-infested waters disturb
I was angered by the ITV programme Shark Pod on 18 April. The sharks were obviously suffering a lot of discomfort and distress by being given electric shocks through sensors in their mouths. And the divers/scientists were showing no consideration for their surroundings.
We all know how fragile coral can be, but not only were they sitting and walking on the coral, but tying large lumps of bait to it. As the sharks fed from this, large pieces of coral were being ripped off.
TV producers should take a more responsible attitude, and we the audience, divers or otherwise, have a responsibility to complain about programmes that show the thoughtless destruction of our aquatic life.
Mark Ninnim, Bury St Edmunds

One-day medical
I wholeheartedly agree with Dr Ian Sibley-Calder that the BSAC Sports Diver medical should be scrapped (Scrap Medical, says Doc, April). The wording on the certificate alone makes me feel it's not worth the paper it's written on. It invites the examining doctor to claim that the named person "is in my opinion fit to dive at the time of examination. Any changes in medical health should be declared".
Anyone reading this could be forgiven for interpreting it to mean that it is valid only for that particular day.
Dorothy Slater, Hull

I don't dispute that in their present form BSAC medicals might be of little use, but to scrap them altogether is a little foolhardy, even though I understand that PADI already does without them.
As a commercial diver since the mid-'70s, only hanging up my flippers a couple of years ago, each year I had every orifice poked, prodded and looked into by that fine body of men at the North Sea Medical Centre, Great Yarmouth. I would not have thought that whether the diving was recreational or commercial was relevant to a hyperbaric incident, but a diver's fitness is certainly relevant. An annual medical is the best way to confirm that.
Andy Roberts, Great Yarmouth

Don't help paedophiles
I am a police officer and find offensive the letter from Andrew Phillips about the BSAC's child abuse declaration (Abuse Form an Abuse, April). Does he realise that under new legislation the BSAC has no choice but to invoke this procedure? This legislation affects all clubs that deal with children, including scout and guide troops, Church organisations, youth football clubs and many more.
I have heard a number of club members moaning about this. The problem is that the BSAC has not publicised it in a sensible manner. If any members object to safety measures to protect our children from predatory paedophiles, please get out of the BSAC. I would not wish to dive with you.
Steve Bendell, Training Officer, Avon & Somerset Police SAC, Bristol

More on DAN cover
I was fascinated by DAN's response to Diver's comments on its insurance (DAN's Side of the Story, March). As a qualified DAN Oxygen First Aid instructor, I am not so convinced about DAN Europe. What put me off was that everything an instructor needed was impossibly expensive. All the figures for insurance cover were in Italian lire, which looked impressive until you realised that 8 million lire was around £3500!
In hard cash the cover provided by DAN was minimal. In Eilat, where I was then working, £10 a year purchased insurance cover in Israel and Sinai. When I opted out of DAN, an annual premium of £134 would cover the cost of medical treatment after a serious emergency in Israel. However, the policy figure for specialists' fees would cover perhaps half the actual cost, and the sum quoted for medically supervised repatriation would barely fuel an air ambulance.
In other areas of the world such as the USA and the Caribbean, the policy limits were a joke. Considering that many countries within DAN Europe's catchment area have reciprocal agreements with the UK to cover medical costs, the whole deal looked pretty uninviting.
Professor Cali-Corleo asks whether it is right to compare DAN with commercial diving insurance policies. The answer is: yes. In the end what any diver needs is a guarantee that his medical needs, physical and financial, will be met by the insurers in full. The professor ducks this point, arguing that somehow DAN is different. Not very convincing when you are stuck somewhere in urgent need of treatment.
Many insurance companies offer full hyperbaric medical support, and the DAN hotline is open to non-members, so what it comes down to is money. If DAN Europe wants the business, it needs to provide adequate insurance, not make lame excuses.
John Evans, Southampton

Iro Cali-Corleo, Vice-President of DAN Europe replies: DAN Europe does not serve its members only in its "catchment area". The best diving areas are not in Europe, so unfortunately European divers have to pay for any medical services they require on a diving trip. He is right that some people found the figures in lire confusing, but in future insurance limits will be quoted in Euro.
My point on the difference between DAN and an insurance company is that DAN does not expect you to fend for yourself in the event of an accident, and then eventually recover the cost of your medical bills. DAN organises the rescue, ensures that the injured diver receives the best possible treatment and transports him back to his home country.
In our 20 years of operating, at no time has a service not been provided because the limits were exceeded.
Lastly, only DAN members are entitled to the hotline service but DAN will not slam the phone down on a diver in distress. This is typical of the selfish attitude of some divers who expect to use a service paid for by others without contributing themselves.

Readers should note that Diver Forum is now open on Divernet for all those of you who would like to exchange messages directly.

Appeared in DIVER - June 1999

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