CUUEG (pronounced “queue-egg”) is the Cambridge University branch of the British Sub-Aqua Club. As with most BSAC branches, we’re a group of scuba divers who meet in a pub, and organise dive trips and diver training for our members. We cater for all levels of experience from complete novices to experienced divers, and run several holidays and smaller trips each year as well as complete training courses and more specialist training. Most of us are students, and nearly all connected with the university in some way or another, so we tend to base our activity around Cambridge’s (tiny) 8-week terms and the structure of the academic year.

Dive Trips

The middle of East Anglia isn’t renowned for its amazing diving, and forces us to do our training in a couple of ex-quarries-turned-dive-training-sites which have good support facilities but can’t compete with the real thing. We’re therefore keen to get away whenever we can, and run a variety of trips throughout the year to all kinds of interesting places. We tend to run a trip to Malta in Easter, which allows the more experienced divers to play in the Mediterranean whilst those who need training get to practice in warm, clear water with fish under the supervision of friendly Maltese instructors. Apart from that, our policy is to encourage anyone and everyone to think of somewhere they’d like to go and then organise a trip. In the past few years this has resulted in trips to:

and, of course

Training

We usually run two courses of Club and Sports Diver training (see below) each academic year, one starting in October and one in January, for about ten people each. Details of training for 2001-2 will follow when they’ve been decided.

The entry level course we run is Club Diver. This course involves eight theory lessons, six pool sessions and six open water dives, and by the end of it you’re ready to go diving with someone who isn’t necessarily an instructor. (In practice, you’ll usually still be buddied with someone more experienced than you, depending on how much diving you’ve done and the conditions.) This is the gateway to going out on dive trips and getting to do some real diving, because no-one does scuba for the fun of sitting around in a quarry doing skills practice. Except the instructors, who are demonstrably mad.¹

The next course up from Club Diver is Sports Diver, a shorter course in which you learn about decompression and develop a range of rescue skills, so you can help your buddy if he/she has a problem. This in practice is the really useful qualification after which you’re ready to go diving with another diver of the same qualification, and the level at which you can really get out and enjoy going on interesting dive trips.

For those who feel the need to take things further, there is the Dive Leader course, which improves your leadership and rescue skills and gives you the skills you need to lead less experienced divers in open water. Higher training is also possible, but based more on the gaining of individual skills and experience than as a course that can be run in a branch. And if your sanity is questionable (see above) but you love diving and helping others get to love it, you can train as an instructor.

We also run a range of Skill Development Courses within the club, many of which are in some way rescue or safety-based, or involving the use of Nitrox (oxygen-enriched air.)

What if I’ve trained with another organisation?

BSAC recognise qualifications awarded by all the other major dive training agencies, and when you join will “cross you over” to the equivalent BSAC qualification. We’re always happy to welcome divers to CUUEG whatever their background. For reasons of safety we may ask you to do a checkout dive with one of our Dive Leaders or instructors to make sure your skills are up to date, especially if you learned to dive abroad and haven’t sampled the delights of British waters yet. Diving in Britain isn’t as bad as some people make out, but you need to be familiar with using your skills in the colder water and lower visibility which are the price we pay for living in a country with good beer.

How do I join?

If it’s October and you’re new to Cambridge, come and see us at the Freshers’ Fair, or come to the squash (details to follow.) Otherwise, turn up to the Panton Arms on a Wednesday evening around 9:30, or e-mail the Training Officer. For more information see the CUUEG website, or feel free to contact the relevant CUUEG committee member.

Hope to see you soon – and safe diving!