Submitted
At its Annual General Meeting, the Battlefords Scuba Community reported a busy year to its members. And the members saw evidence of some of the activity as the entries in the Underwater Photography Contest were on display.
Training has always been an important part of the club, and this year was no exception. Forty-nine individuals took part in a variety of certification courses, including the club’s first Master Scuba Diver. With the financial assistance from BATC and a great deal of volunteer time and effort from the membership, the club was able to introduce almost 340 students to scuba diving through its Discover Scuba for Schools project at no cost to the students. Twenty-three schools took part coming from as far away as Debden, Rosetown, Lloydminster and Warman.
In January, the club hosted its annual Underwater Gymkhana, a morning of games and contests for skin and scuba divers together. Twenty-four people came out to enjoy the time in the water which was followed by a lunch with the opportunity to get caught up on winter diving plans.
In March, BSC hosted the Saskatchewan Underwater Council’s DAN Dive Emergency Management Provider Instructor workshop. DAN is the Diver’s Alert Network, a great resource for divers that we all hope we never have to use, and the course involved that organization’s standard first aid course specifically geared to scuba divers. Two local club members attended along with four from Saskatoon. Curtis Temple from Moose Jaw was the instructor trainer.
During the winter months many of the club members had taken trips to various tropical destinations, and over the course of season some 146 dives were logged – a not unimpressive number for a small group! Members visited Mexico, Roatan, western Australia, Thailand and The Maldives
The club invited some instructors from the Saskatoon club to visit one Sunday morning to introduce a style of diving new to the club members – side-mount diving in which two tanks are mounted to the sides rather than carried on the back, and two regulators are used for breathing. Half a dozen club members gave it a try and came away enthusiastic about the different configuration of equipment. Thanks to Justin Rings, Scott Beck and Sheldon Funk for coming out to make the introductions.
The third weekend in June featured Definitely Diving Days at Atton’s Lake – two days of diving with new buddies. It was a chance to try different things in familiar territory with comfortable buddies. And two weeks later members got to do some deep diving in Lac Eau Claire – comfortable buddies doing different things in less familiar setting.
Club members celebrated Women’s Dive Day with a Beach Clean-Up at Turtle Lake Lodge beach. Divers sectioned off a piece of the bottom, below where the ice “fisherfolk” like to position themselves, and carried out a search pattern picking up the lighter objects and marking the heavier objects with buoys to be raised later in the day. When the silt settled, the divers had recovered 24 lures, eight empty bottles, six empty cans, one full bottle of hooch, one hatchet, one ice ladle and three boat anchors – there was a fourth one that did not get raised. The day wrapped up with a potluck barbecue dinner. A big thank you to the Rumpf family for hosting the event again.
The year wrapped up with the Underwater Photography Contest. Twenty-one entries crossed the five categories. Judge Paul Sayers made Cassie Kos the big winner, taking first in four of the categories and Best in the Show. Congratulations, Cassie! And thank you, Paul, for doing a tough job.
New members are welcome, divers or not, and a variety of training is offered. Members and non-members are encouraged to watch for course and event posters at the pool, other city facilities, and sporting equipment outlets. From mid-October through the end of May the club meets Sunday mornings from 10 a.m. through noon at the Battlefords Co-op Aquatic Centre. The first Sunday of each month is a social, featuring a potluck brunch supplied by the members, and on these days guests and associate members swim free of charge. During the summer months the club dive night is Tuesday at 6:30 p.m. at Atton’s Lake, and every diver is welcome to join us on these evenings.
For more information, people are encouraged to check out the club’s website at www.battlefordsscubacommunity.caor e-mail us at battlefordsscubacommunity@gmail.com. At least one of the members is always taking a plunge.
