Dacorum Sub Aqua Club
History of the Club : 1974 - 1992
Some members think the club goes back this far
1974
Dacorum Sub Aqua Club was founded on 7 November 1974 as as Dacorum Divers.
According to BSAC, the founding Members were:
- M Kaufman
- D Ibbs
- Ron Lloyd (Treasurer)
- Roger Greenway (DO)
- Mike Dunsford
- R Amitt
- A Reid
- E Kaufman
1975 - 79 era
We don't know much about what early members of DS-AC got up to, because none of them seem to remember many of the details. One thing we can be sure of is that Dacorum Divers didn't have very good memories.
We welcome any reminiscences from former members who recover from their amnesia and are able to help piece together the missing years of the club.
Training:
The sequence of qualifications awarded at this time is: Snorkel Diver, Third Class, Second Class and then First Class Diver.
The Snorkel Diver course consists of: the A test in the pool, 11 class room lectures, the B and C tests in the pool and the D test in open water.
The Third Class Diver course consists of: 12 class room lectures, the E and F tests in the pool and the G test in open water. The student has to do 10 qualifying dives of varying types, conditions, locations, depths and durations.
The Second Class Diver course consists of: 10 class room lectures. To qualify the student had to pass 2 Dive leading assessments, 2 Marshalling assessments and do 20 qualifying dives of varying types, conditions, locations, depths and durations.
Open water training takes place at Glebe Lake at Calvert, the Blue Lagoon, Bletchley or at Stoney Cove.
Equipment:
This period is the start of a new era of equipment design:
- twin hose regulators gave way to single hose
- people buy suits rather than DIY with rubber sheet and glue
- some people still make torches from pressure cookers and motorbike headlights (or that's what they look like)
Cylinders: Capacities are quoted in cubic feet of air and ats. 1 cu ft = 27 litres. 1 at(mosphere) = 1 bar.
Common cylinder configurations are:
- 72 cu ft, 207 bar, Luxfer (9.3 litres water capacity, 1944 litres air capacity)
- twin 45 cu ft, 180 bar, IWK with one regulator (13.5litres water capacity, 2430 litres air capacity)
Suits: These are mostly wet or semi-dry. They seem to only come in one colour: black.
Buoyancy compensators: Everyone uses ABLJs (Adjustable Buoyancy Life Jacket) - they look like horse collars. With early ABLJs, the diver has to inflate device underwater with exhaled air. This is very inconvenient and can be dangerous - the diver has to remove the demand valve from which he or she is breathing and then exhale into the ABLJ at the busiest time of the dive, the descent. Soon direct feeds, which inflate the ABLJ at the squeeze of a button, are introduced.
Instruments: Watches, analogue depth gauges and the RNPL/BSAC Decompression tables are used to provide information for safe decompression.
Trips: Many of the sites we still dive today off Dorset and Devon are being dived.
A big debate goes on in the British diving world about spear fishing. Spear fishing fizzles out.
Trevor Davies, now in charge of rescue skills on the BSAC National Diving Committee, dived with Dacorum Divers during 1979 and met his wife, who was a member, at the club.
1980 - 87 era
The club changes its name to Dacorum Sub Aqua Club.
The end of an ice dive at the Blue Lagoon in the early 80s.
(Note the Fenzy ABLJ, wet suit and high volume mask.)
Training: The sequence of BSAC diver qualifications changes to: Novice Diver, Sports Diver, Dive Leader, Advanced Diver and First Class Diver.
The Novice Diver course consists of: a 100m swimming test in the pool, 13 class room lectures, 8 pool sessions, 2 pool tests, a full equipment pool test and a theory test.
The Sports Diver course consists of: 9 class room lectures, 3 open water sessions, a theory test and a rescue test. The student has to do 10 qualifying dives of varying types, conditions, locations, depths and durations.
The Dive Leader course consists of: 6 class room lectures, 3 dive leading assessments, a theory test and a rescue test. The student has to do 10 qualifying dives of varying types, conditions, locations, depths and durations.
The Advanced Diver course consists of: 10 class room lectures 5 practical courses, a theory test and a rescue test. To qualify the student had to pass 4 Marshalling assessments and do 10 qualifying dives of varying types, conditions, locations, depths and durations.
Open water training takes place at Stoney Cove.
Two dive logs from that era
Courses: (similar to the Skill Development Courses) offered by BSAC include: ABLJ training, the Open Water Rescue and Recompression Chamber Operation. The Oxygen Administration course starts.
The club also helps Dacorum Leisure Centre run the Centre's own snorkeling and diving courses.
Instructing : four members become the club's first nationally qualified instructors.
Boats: The club has two inflatable boats. The first, a Bombard, with aluminum flooring is stolen from the boat store. The second is a Zodiac.
Trips: People started doing more adventurous trips to places like St Kilda.
The bombard inflatable in Portland harbour in the early 80s.
1988 - 90
The club buys a 5m Humber Alpha RIB. It is named "DS-AC". It uses the engine of the stolen, first inflatable. Its emergency engine is broken off its mounting and sinks at sea after an accident when towing another boat.
Around this time there is the seal distemper outbreak when a lot of seals die on the east coast. DSAC takes part in rescue efforts ...
Dive computers become much more advanced and more widely used.
The BSAC 88 decompression tables come out just in time to be made redundant by dive computers.
The stab (stabiliser jacket) is introduced and begins to replace ABLJs. Some people argue that ABLJs are more safe than stabs - ABLJs tend to float an unconscious diver face up - with a stab an unconscious diver can float face down.
For several seasons there are live aboard trips to the Hebrides.
1991
DS-AC1 is damaged when a large wave grounds it on rocks near Portland. It is out of action for 6 months.
Two club members are separated for an hour from their hardboat in fog off Littlehampton.
Dry dives take place in a recompression chamber at Stoney. The chamber is a large steel cylinder with domed ends. It can hold four sitting adults. There is an air-lock at one end and a glass port in the middle allowing the operator to see inside the chamber. The operator "inflates" the chamber with air at 6 bar, which is equal to the pressure at 50m underwater, over 1 or 2 minutes. The pressure stays constant for a minutes or so and then it is slowly released over a period of 4 or 5 minutes.
You get these sensations in the chamber:
- as the pressure increases on the "descent", the atmosphere in the chamber warms. You rush to equalise the pressure in your ears to prevent painful "squeeze" inside them.
- at simulated depths below 30 to 40m your voice goes "Pinky and Perky" and you start giggling with the narcosis
- by 50m the its difficult to stop laughing, especially when you hear the ridiculous sound of the others' voices
- on the "ascent", the air becomes moist and you can see "clouds" of water vapour in the air as the temperature falls lower than the dew point
Later, the operators of Stoney Cove stopped doing dry dives due to safety fears.
1992
The second inflatable is sold.
Two divers are picked up by a helicopter after becoming separated, because they can't be seen due to tall waves, from a RIB owned by a club member.
BSAC introduces a new training scheme with depth and deco limits for inexperienced divers. This encourages people to gain qualifications so that they can do the diving they want. For the first instructors in branches must be supervised by a nationally qualified instructor.
The club takes part in Children In Need
We do a 24 hour underwater bike ride in shifts to raise money for Children In Need.
Suffering from neglect and poor management, the club's bank accounts are almost empty.