Training

Diving Training

SCUBA Diving is a potentially hazardous sport and requires a certain degree of mental and physical maturity, however once you have joined the Scottish Sub Aqua Club and completed a Medical Declaration, your diving training will take place in the safety of the swimming pool at the Playdrome in Clydebank. After a Basic Swimming Assessment, you will learn the various techniques of SCUBA Diving.
All the time you will be safely gaining experience and confidence in this three dimensional underwater world. Your training and experience will be recognised throughout the World. You will progress through the SSAC Sport Diver Training programme under the the care and guidance of an experienced, qualified Instructor. All the equipment is provided by Clydebank Sub Aqua Club. Eventually, when you are ready, you will continue your training in the sea at safe, well known diving locations. It won’t be too long before you are broadening your experience all around Scotland and perhaps other parts of the World.

There is great deal of gear to learn how to use, and techniques to perfect, but don’t worry, we all had to learn, and before long you will be very familiar with terms like “Basic Equipment”, “Demand Valve”, “Dive Computer”, BCD and “Drysuit”. The Club initially provides the main items of gear but eventually you should buy your own gear. The choice is infinite!

We go diving at the weekend-weather permitting, mainly on Sunday. We often have a few weekends away throughout the year, usually May and September. Some members dive all year round, even though the water can be a little cool in the middle of Winter. Others go off to the Red Sea, the Med or perhaps the Caribbean for a week or two. There is always somewhere in the world where you can enjoy excellent diving all year round. Of course the best times in Scotland are from April to October when the days are longer, the water is warmer and the weather somewhat kinder.

We try to dive many areas around Scotland but being a west coast Club most of our diving takes place in the west, however we make summer visits across to Eyemouth and St. Abbs in the South-east of Scotland. We sometimes visit the Sound of Mull, famous for its wrecks and probably one of the best diving localities in the UK. On our doorstep we have the sea lochs of Loch Long, Loch Goil and Loch Fyne.

A Basic Summary of SCUBA Diving Skills
Basic Swimming assessment without equipment including distance swimming, surface diving, swimming underwater, breathe holding, floating and treading water. (See Below)

Basic Equipment: Mask, Snorkel & Fins, Fitting equipment in the water, surface diving, swimming underwater, life-saving techniques, Rescue breathing and casualty resuscitation.

SCUBA equipment: Assembly and Fitting Equipment, Mask clearing underwater, Demand valve clearing underwater, sharing air supply with buddy, communication underwater, buoyancy control, underwater rescue skills, surface rescue skills including towing and landing a casualty, in water resuscitation, out of water resuscitation, cardio-pulmonary resuscitation, recover position, use of wetsuits and dry suits.

Theory lectures:
on the Human Physiology and Physics of Diving: Blood Circulation, Respiration, Hypoxia, Anoxia, Drowning and Hyperventilation, Hypothermia, Gas absorption Laws: Boyle's Law, Dalton's Law, Charles' Law, Henry's Law, Oxygen Toxicity, Nitrogen absorption and Decompression theory, Nitrogen Narcosis, Principles of the Aqualung and Demand Valve and other diving equipment, Increasing Pressure with depth, Dive & Expedition Planning, Rescue & Emergency Procedures, Weather and Tides, Risk Assessment.

Basic Swimming Assessment
You should be able to complete the assessment comfortably and in a reasonable time.

Swim 200m freestyle (except backstroke) without stopping.

Swim 100m on the back.

Swim 50m wearing a weight belt of sufficient weight (3kg-5kg), not to be over buoyant.

Float on back for 5 minutes with minimal hand and leg movement.

Tread water for 30 seconds with hands and forearms clear of the water.

Recover three objects, one at a time, from a depth not less than 1.8 m or greater than 3m.

Swim a distance of 15m underwater.