2007 Report of Panaga Sub Aqua Club (P.S.A.C.)

Committee

The committee is as follows:-

The changes over the year are documented above. Most changes occurred as a result of departure from BSP.

Diving

The 2007 season kicked off by a group going to Kapalai.  The boat went out 30 times (5 times less than 2006). Atrocious weather conditions during the spring/summer months prevented the boat behind taken out on 14 occasions. The club logged 875 dives with over 60% of the club's dives logged away from the KBBC at resorts or at Bandar.  This is again a 10% increase in away diving from 2006.

Recreational diving within the Panaga Sub Aqua Club, BSAC 0788, continued to demonstrate an excellent safety record with no incidents or injuries occurring throughout the year. This outstanding safety performance is testament to the high degree of safety awareness within the branch and reflected by all of our members.  Continuous progressive diver training was conducted and detailed below in the training section.

Boat

The annual hull inspection in January 2007 showed no damage or osmosis and the hull was re-painted before the season got underway. Since then, the boat has continued to function well, although continued leaking from the steering hydraulics has necessitated regular maintenance. Plans to get the steering system re-designed has progressed to improve operability.

Environmental Project 

The weather hampered a number of planned dives. Chearnley shoals and ridges were frequently visited along with some interesting platform dives. In September 2007 Steve Oakley gave a Marine Identification lecture with members form Bander BSAC attending.

A trip to study the progress of colonisation on Egret DP-1 was carried out showing significant increase in marine life around the platform since 2005 with many photos were taken.

The most stunning dive of 2007 for many divers was the dive off Gannet Platform. The amount of marine life was incredible not just the variety but the quantity of various shoals of fish. The visibility was excellent which made it a very memorable dive.

Finances

The start of 2007 balance was B$2,484.99

The end of 2007 balance was B$5,315.70

2007 was another busy year for PSAC with a total of B$24,432.06 income and B$21,601.35 in expenses. This has created an increase of B2,830.71 for the year.

INCOME

Dive Chits                               7,972.00

Equipment                                    40.00

Members Fees                        6,848.27

Courses                                   3277.79

Misc                                              0.00

Sales                                       4,453.00

Social                                     1,841.00

EXPENSES

Fuel                                             00.00

Boat Maintenance                    4616.96

Equipment Maintenance          1,594.50

Membership Costs                 6,801.40

Courses                                  7,198.69

Misc                                           311.20

Sales                                            00.00

Social                                      1,078.60

The first thing to note is the there was NO fuel charged for 2007 this was due to irregularities in the accountability of the fuel booking (not due to PSAC). Membership charges received were slightly more than was paid out, this is due to currency fluctuations.

The difference between the course income and the course expenses due to course packs being purchased ahead of the course being held. But B$4,046.00 from the OD and SD Xovers (also includes some membership fees) and the Boat handling course have been recouped in the early part of January 2008 and will be reflected in next year’s account. Miscellaneous expenses are attributed to chits not honoured due to late processing with departure of club members.

Sales expenditure was zero for the year, and with the continued sale of Calendars, DVD’s caps and T-shirts much of the disparity from 2006 was recovered. Big thanks to Anna Elder who continued to sell Calendars and DVD’s up until the day she left.

Social events made a slight profit B$762 which offset the miscellaneous expenses which could not be recouped.

Other capital items which were paid for by the Panaga Club include:-

i)                   Life jackets

ii)                  5 BCD’s

iii)                 EPIRB

iv)                 Bottle Bank

v)                  Nitrox Stick

Year-end review of PSAC account 3830

The start of 2007 balance was B$3,777.43

The end of 2007 balance was B$3,722.93

The slight decrease was due to entertainment of Dr S. Oakley during his lecture.

Membership

At the end of 2007, 37 divers have renewed their membership of the British Sub Aqua Club (BSAC) via the Panaga branch and an additional 20 were registered as new members of BSAC.  Many of the new divers have crossed-over from other diving organisations such as PADI.  Total club membership stands at 57 BSAC Members.  In addition to BSAC members registered through the club, any Panaga Club member who is a certified diver of BSAC Ocean Diver / PADI Advanced Open Water standard or above may join our dive trips.  In practice this means that the end of year membership database contains 109 members & guests

Socials 

Three social barbecues were held, the first early in the year together with AGM, second one was mid of the year together with farewell party for leaving committee members and third one was at the end of the year to celebrate the end of the season and farewell party for more leaving committee members. 

Training 

The level of training activity carried out in 2007 was again extensive supported by resident instructors John Elder, Mark Tuttle, Mark Steinhart, Elaine Steinhart, Matt Newman, Evert Moes, Niall Horan. 

Six new divers qualified as Ocean Divers in Kapalai. Other existing divers progressed to new qualifications and several X-over sections were carried out for divers with qualifications from  other agencies. With the club moving to use Nitrox as main stream gas, training was also provided to all that need it. Poor weather this season did affect the ability to conduct open water training locally.
 

The following training was completed in 2007

Ø      6 x Ocean Diver open water modules in Kapalai: Watts, Lee, Sleight, Janine; Carl, Brian; Cowie, Ellie; Linton, Richard; Rosemary Reddy 

Ø      6 x Boat handling theory and practicals

Ø      2 x Approved Boat Handling Instructors

  Ø      27 x Nitrox OD workshop + exams (+ possibly more in Nov 07)

Ø      18 Nitrox SD workshop + exams

Ø      6 x BSAC OD theory + exams + pool sessions

Ø      5 x BSAC SD theory modules + exams

Ø      3 x BSAC SD practical modules

Ø      3 x oxygen admin

Ø      2 x oxygen admin instructors

Ø      19 x XO to BSAC OD theory + pool as request

Ø      6 x XO to BSAC SD (incl 3 Bandar guests)

Ø      1 x XO to BSAC DL (Bandar guest)

Ø      5 x Advanced Diver theory + exam

Ø      4 x Advanced Diver Marshalling assessment

Equipment

During the beginning of 2007, two new Bauer Mariners were installed and the diving equipment moved into the big area with plenty of new rackspace.  Although it was decided to keep the Hamworthy running for as long as possible, the frequency of changing out the filters was doubled as some minor oil moisture was seen in the first of the two filters.  This would sustain the club's bottle charging capacity until the airbank arrives in 2008.  Despite serious efforts in April 2006 to get the order out, it was only until February 2007 that the actual order was placed. It took another 10 months, a huge telephone bill and lots of patience to get it actually delivered.  Planning is in full progress to get the 850kg equipment in the designated location and hooked up. The portable compressor had a repair and is operational again but is suffering from old-age.

Prior the diving season, all regulator sets were fully serviced and valves on leaking bottles fixed.  Also the emergency O2 cylinders have been hydro tested and maintained.  To accommodate the diversity of divers in the club the number of BCDs has increased with sizes ranging from S to XXL and now match the number of reg-sets.  All remaining old Buddies have now finally been retired.

Plans for 2008

This year promises to be another busy one with a strong focus on training.

Training session started in December continued in January with the first expedition for the year with 14 divers going off to dive in Kota Kinabalu.  This will complete the Ocean Diver training course. Sport Diver training and Dive Leader training sessions have also been scheduled. Training in Nitrox use will continue for those who were not able to attend at the end of 2007.

Plans are also in place to run several skills development training courses throughout the year and  instruction training courses with the assistance of an external National Instructor in late May.

To ensure the future strength of the club it is vital that there are suitably qualified divers, in particular, that the potential Dive Leaders and Advanced Divers become involved in marshalling given the departure of instructors Niall Horan, John Elder and further planned departures of others in 2008.

On the environment front, plans to publish our own fish cards to identify marine life is underway. Opportunities to dive new areas such as newly installed platforms/decommissioned site will be investigated.

A plan for replacing the boat in 2009 will also be prepared.

Web Site:

The web site www.panagadivers.com was updated throughout the year by John Elder.

Minutes of AGM 2008

The AGM was held on 15^th February 2008 at F3-2 attended by 32 club members. The above report was presented to the meeting and approved by the members. The existing committee as shown above was re-elected by the members.

Other items discussed and agreed by the members were the slight upward revision of the diving fees charged to members in order to sustain some of the diving club expenditure.