bsac scuba diving

May 2012
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bsac scuba diving

Scuba Diving – BSAC or PADI?

Out of BSAC or PADI, which is better for someone taking up scuba diving. I hear PADI gets you diving quicker but BSAC is more informative???

What are the Pro’s and Con’s of both aswell please? An whats better if you want to become an instructor one day too?

Thanks! =D

The main difference is, BSAC’s a club, PADI’s a business. Therefore BSAC training (at least through a BSAC club) may be on a more ad hoc basis (i.e. when someone has time to teach), whereas training from a BSAC school (which is a rating applied to dive shops) is more customer-oriented (i.e. when someone has time to learn!), just like PADI.

Another major difference is the training philosophy. PADI teaches exclusively non-decompression ‘recreational’ (‘rec’) diving, i.e. PADI divers (even up to the highest instructor levels) are taught to stay within their ‘no-stop’ depth-time limits, allowing them to surface directly in the event of an emergency. Because a large part of UK diving is wreck-diving (where seabeds tend to be deep and flat), BSAC includes decompression-stop planning in its higher qualifications, starting with Sport Diver (although a new Sport Diver should not really be making deco-stop dives).

NB The distinction between recreational and decompression (‘tech’) diving is not artificial: tech-diving involves much higher risks than rec-diving, and thus requires exemplary diving skills, much more careful dive planning, and more complex equipment, which are beyond the abilities and aspirations (and budget!) of most new divers–and also many experienced divers–regardless of who certified them. (PADI offers tech-training [including trimix] to experienced, well-qualified divers through a separate corporate arm, DSAT).

That said, the entry-level courses (BSAC Club/Ocean Diver, depending on whether you train with a BSAC club or a BSAC school; or PADI Open Water Diver) teach virtually identical skills and theory (we’re all diving the same planet, after all!). The course structures are also very similar–you will learn dive theory through private study/classroom lectures, practice skills in a pool, and demonstrate mastery on 4-5 open water dives under instructor supervision.

Thus, the final qualifications are also similar, in terms of who you can buddy with (diver with similar/better qualification), permitted max. depth (PADI: 18 m; BSAC: 20 m), no-stop diving, and dive conditions (PADI: “familiar sites/conditions”, which includes sites to which you have received a surface-based orientation; BSAC: under BSAC dive marshall’s [surface] supervision). So neither entry-level course is inherently ‘better’ than the other.

If taught through a BSAC school, you can reach Ocean Diver level in an intensive 4-5 day course, just as you can with PADI OWD. However, both courses can ALSO be taught e.g. over 2-3 weekends, or on a 1-2-evening(s)-per-week-for-1-2-month basis (the usual format for Club Diver training)–actual course scheduling is down to the dive shop, not the certifying agency. If you go to a British dive shop, chances are that the resident instructors will hold both BSAC and PADI instructor ratings, although the PADI/BSAC students will be brainwashed separately!

So, neither organisation is ‘better’ than the other. The main factors determining how well someone dives are the quality of instruction they receive (which is down to the individual instructor, not the badge), how much time they’re given to practice the skills during the course, and how frequently they go diving afterwards.

Getting your Club Diver rating by going to a BSAC club night every week for six months means you will get lots of time to practice the basics, but (1) you won’t be qualified to do any ‘real’ (open water) dives during that time (except resort ‘intro-dives’), and (2) there’s nothing to stop you e.g. doing a fast-track course then joining a club (PADI diving society chapter or BSAC club) and getting that practice anyway, WHILE also being qualified to go out on club diving weekends.

On a final note however–if you hope to become an instructor working outside the UK, then PADI is probably the way to go, since most dive centres worldwide are (despite some recent defections to e.g. SSI, SDI, etc.) affiliated to PADI. If you’re hoping to instruct within the UK, or in UK overseas (ex-)territories, or in the UK armed forces, then BSAC is probably a better bet.