About Us

 We are an active Branch and dive throughout the year as often as members want to turn out! Dives are arranged weekly at our Monday evening meeting. Wreck Diving, Reef Diving, Drift Diving, Deep Diving, Scenic Diving, Night Diving etc. - all depending on our members' interests and capabilities. In the main diving season, diving takes place virtually every day with several dives each weekend day. Most diving is within a range of 20 miles from Plymouth Sound. Regular away trips take place to other parts of Devon and Cornwall. Members also arrange trips abroad. Launching from our base at the Mount Batten Centre could not be easier. The centre has changing facilities, hot showers, bar and food usually available all day. As a Plymouth Sound BSAC member you have centre membership as well with its discounts and privileges. For frequently asked questions please click here.

We have many Nationally Qualified Instructors and offer the full range of BSAC Courses for Ocean Diver, Sports Diver, Dive Leader and Advanced Diver. We can  even provide your equipment for the early stages of your training. Our wide range of members interests, expertise and qualifications means that we can also offer a wide range of BSAC Skill Development Courses - Boat Handling, Nitrox & Advanced Nitrox, Oxygen Administration, Practical Rescue Management, Search & Recovery, Marine Life Identification, First Aid for Divers, Lifesaver & Advanced  Lifesaver Awards to name a few.

Club Chairman, Officers and Committee Members with special responsibilities:

The Committee was 'renewed' on 25 January 2010. The section below will be completed when we have pen pics and images to add (and when we have identified a Secretary and, at the first Committee meeting, appointed a Membership Secretary).



Jon Parlour, Chairman.  Despite having been diving for 40 years, I still get a buzz out of every dive. I like to think I can pass on that enthusiasm and excitement to others. I was lucky when I started diving. Still at school and without a car, older branch members were always ready to give encouragement, and lifts to pool and divesites. I believe it is vital for clubs to provide similar opportunities to both young and new (not so young) divers. I enjoy learning new skills and enabling others to do the same, safely. I have been an instructor with BSAC for more than 30 years and am involved in regional coaching and on the Instructor Training Scheme. My other passion in diving is underwater archaeology, and shipwrecks in particular. I recommend Plymouth Sound BSAC to anyone wanting to get more out of their diving. It's a friendly club with first class facilities, which you can read more about on this website.    
Barrie Arch, Deputy Chairman. After initially learning to dive with a group of ex-pats in Spain, who had formed a BSAC club on the Costa Blanca, I qualified as a BSAC Advanced Diver in the UK in May 1992. In 2000 when Nitrox was still the "new wonder gas", I qualified as an Advanced Nitrox Diver, and since then have concentrated less on further training, and more on enjoying my diving. I joined Plymouth Sound BSAC in 2005, and enjoy both the variety of diving available to our club members, and the opportunity to dive almost anytime that suits. I enjoy mainly wreck diving in the UK, reefs in the Red Sea, and Liveaboards just about anywhere, provided the sun is shining and the sea is flat calm. My passion for diving is only ever curbed by rough seas and high winds, and I look forward to each new Diving Season with a renewed enthusiasm. 
Roger Libby, Training Officer. I started spearfishing around Plymouth in 1959; Hans Hass was the early influence. I organised many spearfishing competitions through the sixties, including the first international contest held in Britain (‘Mayflower 70’). I was diving on/off until taking a PADI course in Plymouth in 2000. I have dived the Caribbean, Red Sea, Cyprus, Crete, and joined Plymouth Sound BSAC in 2006. Still diving in a wetsuit – always a talking point on cold ‘wintry’ dives. I am still struggling to get decent UK underwater pictures on film despite the superb conditions off Plymouth.

Mark Prior, Honorary Treasurer. 53 (age, not IQ). Ex-journalist, ex-publican, ex-yacht deliverer, ex-husband. Now a dry cleaner, photo processor, and frustrated round-the-world sailor. BS-AC Advanced Diver, newly-qualified trimix diver, chasing 2,000 dives since starting in 1989. Plymouthian, but don’t hold that against me. I joined Plymouth Sound after more marital discord forced a change of address in 1992. I have held posts from Chairman to now Treasurer. I enjoy all sorts of diving. Hobbies: the World Wars, diving, crosswords, Stella. Likes: good vis.; being at sea. Dislikes: fools; limited opening hours; poor vis. Favourite saying: “It’s positively tropical”.

Pete Flaxman, Diving Officer. As DO my job is to make sure the club does lots of interesting and varied diving for all i.e. safe diving from ocean diver to trimix. The 80 plus dives sites we have on our doorstep covers everyone’s type of diving from our two RIBs. We provide free air and have a Nitrox station to supply Nitrox at £1-50 along, and are in the process of setting up a technical trimix group. I learnt to dive with Cambridge City BSAC in 1984. There, I held the posts of Boat Officer, Diving Officer and Chairman. I joined Plymouth Sound BSAC after retiring and moving down to Plymouth in 2005. I live on an old wooden Grand Banks fifty foot motor-cruiser from were I can see PSBSAC club house. I am a BSAC Advanced Diver and Advanced Instructor and after 1500 dives still have the same enthusiasm as I did when I started. It doesn’t get much better than diving every weekend with PSBSAC out of Plymouth.
Hon. Secretary 
Jim Kiltie, Equipment Officer. I did my training with Plymouth Sound BSAC and dived locally for a number of years. Then, most of my diving was in Scotland where I was Diving Officer of a special branch connected to the Civil Service. I dived at Scapa Flow for ten years. Having retired, I came back south and joined Mount Batten Divers before re-joining Plymouth Sound BSAC. I have been diving regularly for 30 years. My job in the Club is to make sure that the equipment works and is maintained in good condition - which doesn't mean I do everything! Several Club members have 'specialisms' and we all muck-in to occasional clean-ups. The Club frequently updates its equipment so I am also involved in getting best deals and in sourcing new or replacement kit.
Membership Secretary.

 


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