I went to a dive shop today which offers training the PADI way. The owner, a Professional Association of Diving Instructor, asked me who I was training with and snorted distainfully when I said BSAC. He suggested that it wasn't too late to change, joining one of his courses.
When I first mentioned the possibility of diving to a friend, a few months ago, they immediately recommended that I train with BSAC. The British Sub Aqua Club training, they assured me, is for proper divers, not just the fair weather sort who'll only go into warm tropical waters.
Not surprisingly, they'd been BSAC trained themselves. I received the same advice from a member of Scot SAC, the Scottish Sub Aqua Club (who are different from the British version, apparently).
On their website PADI describe themselves as "the world's leading scuba diving training organisation", with over 135,000 professionals world-wide.
BSAC are "the UK's leading dive club and the sport's national governing body".
PADI have hundreds of training centres around the world, where you can sign up for a course. According to their website my local centre would charge me £299 for basic training, plus £100 if I wanted to do open water dives (that is, in a lake or the sea). The course fee includes supply of the necessary equipment.
BSAC, on the other hand, have lots of clubs around the UK, some of whom offer training. Their charges are much less, under £200, but they may not be able to supply all the gear you need for open water diving. My group supply everything that I need for training in the swimming pool but that's it.
PADI instructors make money from training people whereas BSAC don't - they're all volunteers and their charges simply cover costs, such as club membership and access to pools and open water for diving.
I'm sure that as I encounter more divers I'll discover more about this evident rivalry between BSAC and PADI. At the moment it feels as if PADI position themselves as the up-to-date professionals and regard BSAC as the well-meaning but slightly backward amateurs. From the other side of the pool, BSAC think of the themselves as the guardians of true diving and see PADI as focusing on deep dives into your wallet.
There is, I think, a healthy mutual respect between members of both organisations and they often dive together. At the end of the day, when you're under water you want the confidence that your dive buddy is going to look after you, regardless of whether they're BSAC or PADI trained.
The shop owner that I met today was definately pro-PADI and scorned much of the advice I'd received from my BSAC colleagues. But interestly, when he was out of earshot, his shop assistant, himself a regular under the water, confided that he envied BSAC because they did what he called "real diving".
BSAC Vs PADI a very interesting question on diving instruction, oddly I have been trained by both so (in my arrogance) I support I am well qualified to answer that question.
ReplyDeleteI first started diving some 23 year ago and I was trained with BSAC Southsea Sub aqua club excellent training. The only down side was the club nights started at 21:00 for training and I was shattered before I started. As all the lecture were carried out by volunteers they sometimes did not turn up some that did slow things up.
For all that the training, although slow, was very methodical and excellent and has put me in good stead all these years. I dived with the club for two years but had to stop due to work and family pressures.
Some 5 years ago I started up again, my wife booked me a ‘try dive’ while we were on holiday in south west Ireland. Loved it as some as my head was under water and all the old feelings came back.
I had a problem with going back to BSAC and the club nights when to be truthful I wanted to be settling down to a bit of quiet evening by 21:00.
So I undertook a refresher with a local PADI dive centre Andark with the idea that I just paid for the dives I went on. With the BSAC club I paid a membership fee and then expenses for the dive. So with BSAC the more dives you do in the year the cheaper per dive they are.
I started to then dive with dives organized by Andark and then increased my diving skill with some PADI training to the next level. Early last year I undertook some more dive training with another dive centre [The Dive Connection] so I am now what is called a ‘Rescue Diver’. With some 160 dives logged over the last 5 years.
What I have noticed is that the PADI diving is in smaller bites, and less intense; compared to the BSAC which is bigger steps and in-depth. The major feature is that the BSAC better prepares you for carrying out your own dives. These would be where you and your buddy go diving by yourself and your have worked out all the tides, dangers, resources, back up, all by yourself.
Don’t get me wrong PADI divers do the same it is my opinion that BSAC divers are better prepare for that type of diving.
I find that I have some three dive centres in my area (Portsmouth) that advertise dives, I book which ever ones I wish to go on with a dive buddy and go diving. I can do the same when on holiday in the UK and overseas. PADI is more recognised overseas than BSAC. I have only done 2 dives out of the last 150 that I have planed and organised myself to make sure my buddy and myself had a great time and were safe.
There is a definite them and us between BSAC and PADI and the worse divers do come from PADI, not from any lack of training, but there are more people training with PADI so you get a larger number of fools. Equally without the brotherhood of a club around you the foolish can go off and do foolish things!!
Still I have dived with both BSAC and PADI divers and have divers from both camps I never want to dive with again.