2008 Report of Panaga
Sub Aqua Club (P.S.A.C.)
Committee
The committee is as follows:
|
|
Start
of 2008 |
End
of 2008 |
|
Chairman |
Dale-Pine,
Brigitte BSP-EPE/5 |
|
|
Diving
Officer |
Tuttle,
Mark M BSP-TSM |
Tuttle,
Mark M BSP-TSM |
|
Environmental
Officer |
Allen Hazel , HRS/41 |
Allen
Hazel, BSP-HRS/41 |
|
Equipment Officer |
Moes,
Evert BSP WPE/31 |
Moes, Evert BSP-WPE/31 |
|
Secretary |
Watts,
Lee BSP-EPE/21 |
Watts,
Lee BSP-EPE/21 |
|
Treasurer |
Smith
Stephen H BSP-TSM/11 |
Smith,
Stephen H BSP-TSM/11 |
|
Training Officer |
Steinhart, Mark BSP-TSW/1 |
Steinhart, Mark BSP-TSW/1 |
|
Social Officer |
Steinhart, Elaine
BSP-TSW/1 |
Steinhart, Elaine BSP-TSW/1 |
|
Equipment
Team |
Clouatre, John BSP-BPE |
Clouatre,
John M BSP-BPE |
|
Webmaster |
Brothers,
Ryan BSP-TSM |
Brothers,
Ryan BSP-TSM/ |
|
Wellfare
Officer |
Smith,
Stephen BSP-TSM/11 |
Smith,
Stephen H BSP-TSM/11 |
There
were no changes to the committee during 2008. However in 2009, there will be
some changes due to expected departure of several key members. The new committee for 2009 will be elected at
the AGM (January 2008)
Diving
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.
We enjoyed an early start to the diving season
with the practical aspects of a Boat Handling Course conducted in conjunction
with a reef dive in early January, thanks to a brief window of calm seas during
the north-east monsoon season. This was followed by a successful trip to Kota
Kinabalu in February to complete the open water training dives for Ocean Diver
and Sport Diver candidates.
In total, the club logged 1016 dives in 2008,
excluding trips from Bandar with BSAD compared to 875 dives in 2007. This
represents a 16% increase in diving compared to 2007 statistics. 47% of
recorded dives in 2008 were conducted during trips away from Brunei, 39% of
dives in Brunei waters were on nearby reefs, 7% on wrecks and 7% on
platforms. Naga Laut reliably completed
42 journeys (12 times more than 2007) with no serious mechanical issues.
Equipment
After much effort, the bottle bank eventually
landed at KBBC premises. However, it was impossible finalize the installation
in the decomposing diveshed. Termites
had taken over the place and had settled inside the walls, king floods took the
divekit underwater by itself and damaged some of the equipment. Fortunately, the proposal for a new diveshed
came into realization and delivered a flood-free, stone wall-ed compressor/training
facility. Additional equipment was
ordered to effectively fully benefit the air storage capacity.
2008 will be the year that Nitrox was
introduced widely in the club. A
continuous blending system (‘Nitrox-stick’) was bought and installed in the
temporary compressor room. One of the Bauers is dedicated to charge the
nitrox-labled cylinders, which must be analyzed with the one of the two club
O2-analzers. This capability brings a
bigger safety margin into the diving activity.
For the technical divers, blending equipment
has been bought to prepare high O2 blends as well as Trimix capabilities. Although the installation of the system is
ongoing, it will take until the end of January 2009 to make it operational. The continuous shortage of stage bottles has
also been addressed through the purchase of four 7 lt Alu stages complete with
O2 compatible regulator sets. The
material to assemble a second twinset from existing 11lts also arrived.
For the regular heavy breather divers, four 15
lt Alus have been bought and commissioned.
These are big boys!!! The other
cylinders have been hydrotested and are in service for another 5 years.
Throughout the diving season, the Bauer
compressors have been able to cater for our air needs. Therefore, the old Hammworthy compressor,
which required fixing has been decommissioned as getting parts was getting
difficult to get and sold to the highest bidder. Hopefully, it will be picked-up soon to create space for the new
cylinder charging area where new water connections, taps and water basins have
been installed. Two new heavy-duty
benches to dry equipment have been made and guaranteed ‘diver’-proof.
Significant expenditure occurred in 2008 which
will allow the club to sustain a wide variety of diving activities in the years
to come.
In 2008
the hull was again re-painted before the season got underway. Since then, the
boat has continued to function well, although some water ingress in the fuel
compartment required regular draining.
The
proposal for a new dive boat to replace the aging Naga Laut was accelerated
into 2008 with funds become available earlier than expected. Specifications
were prepared diligently by our resident boat experts and a firm proposal put
forward for BSP endorsement. IRE/PR/PO were put together. Building of the new dive boat in KK started
in October 2008 and was completed in 2008 after much effort from several
committee members. The club took the opportunity to upgrade some safety feature
for the boat such as inclusion of life rafts and replace fuel type from petrol
to diesel to reduce our hydrocarbon footprint.
The
boat was named Naga Loncat, “Jumping Dragon”, the name selected via a
competition within the PSAC club members. Mark Steinhart submitted the winning
entry. It is expected to sail the boat back from KK for the start of the season
weather permitting. A plan for Naga Laut is be put together.
Environmental
Project
Offshore
activities did not permit the annual photographic survey of Egret. However,
Gannet platform was visited on three occasions with spectacular photos taken. A
large ray was spotted on several occasions in the deep with schools of
barraculas/jacks and batfish photographed. Chearnley
shoals and ridges were frequently visited along with some interesting platform
dives. Plans to dive the newly installed Mampak platform were investigated
but did not proceed due to possible interference with project activities.
A fantastic
selection of underwater photographs taken by PSAC members were collated
together and digitally enhanced to form the basis of the PSAC Calendar for
2010 to be published in July 2009.
A talk by Jan De Bruin on seismic activities and impact on
the marine environment was given.
The impact of
the work done with the environment projects is being leveraged around BSP and
in Brunei with for example the Life Underneath the platform film done by the
club being shown at Bandar airport. Around the office you will also note large
scale pictures of the marine environment which visitors note.
Year-end review of PSAC account 3442
The start of 2008 balance was B$5,315.70
The end of 2008 balance was B$13,470.56
2008 was another busy year for PSAC with a total of
B$32,126.29 income and B$23,971.43 in expenses. This has created an increase of
B$8,154.86 for the year.
INCOME
Dive Chits 13,108.00
Equipment 75.00
Members
Fees 6,293.29
Courses 10,690.00
Misc 200.00
Sales 80.00
Social 1,680.00
EXPENSES
Fuel 00.00
Boat Maintenance
4,110.36
Equipment
Maintenance 5,370.94
Membership
Costs 6,558.87
Courses 4,212.56
Expeditions
& Extra Curricular 2,969.70
Sales 00.00
Social 749.60 (does not include catering for the
last 2008 BBQ)
The first
thing to note is the there was again NO fuel charged by the club to the
section. This will change in 2009 with the new boat being Diesel and will mean
the fuel will have to be procured commercially.
Membership
charges received were again less than were paid out, and this will need to be
monitored with the coming membership renewal to make sure costs are recovered.
The
amount of training carried out this year has be the largest in the branches
history and was the second largest part of the sections income. However,
expenditure on course material result only small amount of income. There is a
difference between the course income and the course expenses due to course
packs being purchased at the end of 2007 being used ahead of the course being
held.
Sales
expenditure was zero for the year due to lack of stocks
Social
events have been well attended and a slight profit has been accrued from these
events. However, the largest income was from diving with B$13,108.00 in chits.
This was only offset by equipment maintenance of B$5,370.94 and boat
maintenance of B$4,110.36 as there were no fuel charges. With this in mind it
has been decided that there will no increase in any diving charges in the near
term. However, this will be monitored to ensure the purchase of fuel does not
make dive trips uneconomic.
Other
capital items which were paid for by the Panaga Club include:-
i)
Bottle bank piping and panelling (being installed)
ii)
Re-designed Equipment store / class room /
compressor room
iii)
New Dive boat the “Naga Loncat”
iv)
New Cylinders and other equipment
v)
New drying benches
vi)
Binoculars
Year-end review of PSAC account 3830
The start of 2008 balance was B$3,722.93
The end of 2008 balance was B$3,399.93
Slight decrease due to late accrual of BBQ charges
for Dr. S. Oaklys visit.
It is planned to close the 3830 account and absorb the money into the 3440 account.
Membership
At
the end of 2008, 28 divers have renewed their membership of the British
Sub Aqua Club (BSAC) via the Panaga branch and an additional 43 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
71 BSAC Members. This represent an
increase of 14 BSAC members or 25 % increase over 2007. In addition to BSAC
members registered through the club, any Panaga Club member who is a
certified diver by diving organisations such as PADI may also join our dive
trips. In practice this means that the
end of year membership database contains 89 members & guests
Socials
During the calendar year, three social barbecues were held. The first
was on the 15th of February together with AGM
with farewell party for leaving (ex)committee members/instructors, second one
was on 6th of June,
coinciding with the visit of the NI Dave Lock and qualification of various
instructors, and the third one was on 13th of November to celebrate
the end of the season and to announce the name of the new boat (Naga Loncat).
The change to a new caterer (curry house Cozy Corner in Seria) proved to be a
success with the attendees and has resulted in a higher attendance of guests
and occasional divers.
Four expedition/extended dive trip were organised. The 1st in
February over Chinese New Year to Kota Kinabalu with 14 divers. A trip to dive
some wrecks in KK was also organised in May 2008. The 3rd trip was
to Kapalai in October over Hari Raya with 22 divers and 2 snorkellers, one of
the largest club trip for the club. The 4th trip took place in November over
the school holidays to Mabul with 9 divers, 5 adults and 10 kids. Both groups
experienced at first hand the new restrictions imposed with diving around
Sipadan with the 1st group managing to complete only 2 dives per person on average on Sipadan
over 3-4 days period. Fortunately the 2nd group had a slightly
better experience at a different resort where guest number were smaller and
managed to get on average 6 dives on the Sipadan over a 4 day period. The rest
of the diving was done around Mabul, Kapalai and the new sites around Siamil
islands.
Training
The level of training
activity carried out 2008 was even more extensive than 2007. In the first half
of 2008, training was supported by resident instructors Mark Tuttle, Mark
Steinhart, Elaine Steinhart, Matt Newman, Evert Moes. Matt left BSP in the
summer to PDO but in the 2nd half of the year instructor
reinforcement arrived from Thomas Kuehnel and Donald Twaddle who kicked off OD,
X/O, DL training and pool training.
We have managed to provide
an amazing 124 courses (ranging from one evening X-over to full Dive Leader
theory (12 modules) + practicals (2 Modules and 6 dives).
A National Instructor from
the UK also trained up several people from PSAC, PBC and RBYC to higher levels
than Dive Leader.
Evert Moes, Matt Newman,
Mark Steinhart, Ian Jones (PBC)
New Open Water Instructor:
Brigitte Dale-Pine,
Stephen Smith, Hazel Allen, Frits vd Ree, Paul Turton (RBYC), Nigel Goring
(RBYC), Angela Hadfield (PBC),
In the run up to the
instructor training and exams Mark Tuttle pursued the completion of Advanced
Diver Training and the instructors pushed the Dive Leader Training which was
mostly completed.
A total of 14 divers
headed to KK to give/get training during Chinese New Year.
Five new divers qualified
as Ocean Divers at Mamutik, Borneo Divers facility, in Kota Kinabalu in February. In parallel 4 OD’s completed their Sports
Diver dives in the same weekend.
Training for a 2nd
set of 6 novice divers kicked off in January but casualties were suffered due
to conflicting calendars, offshore work and health reasons. One Ocean Diver
qualified in Mabul during the October trip.
Other existing divers
progressed to new qualifications and several X-over sections were carried out
for divers with qualifications from other agencies. The high level of advanced
training in combination with the low number of instructors this season did
affect the ability to conduct open water training locally for lesser levels.
With the club moving to use Nitrox as main stream gas, training is needed for
the new novices and sports divers to gain an explicit OD nitrox and SD nitrox
certificate. This will be scheduled in the early part of 2009.
The following
training was completed in 2008
ü
6 x Boat
handling theory and practicals: Paul, Peter, Brian, Nigel, Andre, Hazel, John,
Ryan, Ying
ü
5 x Ocean
Diver open water modules in KK in February: Liz, Tara, Astrid, Jan, Robert
ü
3 x Ocean
Diver Theory and open water modules ad-hoc in H1 2008: Gary, Gabriel, Wendy
ü
4 x SD open
water modules in KK: Ryan, John, Bas and Irene
ü
16 x XO to
BSAC OD theory + pool as request
ü
4 x XO to
BSAC SD: Nico, Timo, Alessandra, Hilko
ü
11 x Ocean
Diver Theory in October-December Pam, Monique, Katja, Juliana, Mark R, Paul W,
4 Donaldson, Suhail
ü
8 x BSAC SD
theory modules + exams: Brian, Robert, Alvin, Ryan, Bengi, Poul, Andre, Craig.
3 of them have already completed all Open Water Modules.
ü
6 x oxygen
admin in Feb: O2: John C, Martin J, MatthewT, Frits, Stephen, Hazel,
ü
4 x oxygen
admin in Nov: Tara B, Hilko de J, Lindsay N, Ryan B.
ü
2 x oxygen admin
instructors- Brigitte and Paul T
ü
4 x
Coxswain ticket: Brigitte, Stephen,
Matt, Peter E
ü
6 x SMG: Pete E, Nigel
G, Paul T, Neil D, Evert M, Matt N
ü
6 x ERD: Brigitte,
Stephen, Pete E, Nigel G, Paul T, Neil D
ü
3 x
Advanced Instructor as mentioned
ü
7 x Open
water instructor as mentioned
ü
1 x SMG instructor – Mark T
The total of
85 looks different from the 124
mentioned earlier in part because the list of 124 includes the breakdown into
IFC, PIE and TIE which leads to the Open Water Instructor qualification.
At year end
training is ongoing for 3 DL candidates: Hilko, Ryan, John, Lindsay They are
due to do their theory exams and then pool and open water training modules.OD
pool sessions for next batch of OD divers also continued.
Plans
for 2009
This
year promises to be another busy one with a focus on training and making full
use of our new boat !
Subject to funding, it is proposed to upgrade
the wet storage to minimize equipment degrading due to the high humidity. That
means walls, proper ventilation and storage racks sufficiently high above the
floor to prevent equipment getting wet once KBBC premises are flooded from
time-to-time. A plan for the future of Naga Laut will also be made.
The following
courses are scheduled for Q1 2009
ü
Sports
Diver Theory and pool session in January- 8 candidates
ü
Open water
training modules for novice ocean divers in February 2009. A small
expedition with 6 divers is going off to Kota Kinabalu to finish off the OD
course in February and some members learning through Borneo Dream PADI
school. Further session to complete the
Ocean Diver training course will be planned subject to instructor availability.
ü
X-over
session to BSAC OD and BSAC SD end January: 7 potential candidates
The following
courses are being discussed/considered
ü
Boat
handling
ü
Ocean Diver
and Sports Diver nitrox theory
Despite all the
training, the level of qualifications in the club is low: we remain dependent
on a handful of qualified people to organize our dives. We will lose the
services of Mark Tuttle, Mark Steinhart and Elaine Steinhart in Q1 2009, so it
is imperative that the new instructors step up to fill the gap and members step
up to acquire more skills and qualifications.
It is proposed to get some more PSAC merchandise such at T-Shirts, caps
and possibly log books. Laura Stephen is in the process of designing a new logo
for shirts, caps. Hopefully we will be in a position to reveal it at the AGM.
On
the environment front, a calendar will be published in the summer and
activities organised to record what we see on our reefs/platforms.
Web
Site:
The web site www.panagadivers.com was updated throughout the year by Ryan
Brothers.
The AGM was held on 16th
January 2009 at G9/42 attended over 50 club members/guests. The above report
was presented to the meeting and approved by the members. The 2009 committee
members were voted in :
|
Chairman Dale-Pine, Brigitte BSP-EPE/6 |
|
Diving Officer
Moes Evert BSP-WPE/31 |
|
Social Secretary
Allen Hazel, BSP-HRS/41 |
|
Equipment Officer
Twaddle, Don BSP-TWD/21 |
|
Secretary
Yong, Ivan BSP-EPE/31 |
|
Treasurer Smith, Stephen H
BSP-TSM/11 |
|
Training Officer
Kuehnel Thomas TSG/2 |
|
Environmental Officer Grant, Craig BSP-TSW/1 |
|
Boat Officer
Clouatre, John M BSP-BPE/3 |
|
Webmaster Brothers, Ryan BSP-TSM |
|
Expedition officer
Van Delden, Robert BSP-EPE/11 (new position) |
|
Welfare Officer
Astrid Felius BSP-BLNG |
AGM attended by
Peter Henneberg, Robert Van Delden,
Craig and Cassie Grant, Liz Wood and guest, Ivan Yong, Don and Cathie Twaddle,
Benggi, Ian and Karen Donaldson, John Clouatre, Paul Strobech, Brian Carl, Mark
Tuttle, Hilko and Alex DeJong, Mark Rae, Mark Reider, Astrid/Irene Felius, Ryan
Brothers, Mark and Elaine Steinhart, Ying, Evert and Rose Moes, Brigitte Dale,
Vince Stratton, Dave and Mas Outhwaite, Peter Elvin, Nigel/Linda Goring +
guest, Daryl and Wendy Williams, Stephen/Maeow/Fiona/Laura Smith, Rudy and Juliana,
Hazel Allen, Tim and Ying Brown, Eddie and Vanessa Fitzgerald.