Sport Diver - Microdive
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6 Sport Diver AUGUST 2013 www.sportdiver.co.uk NEWS Send your dive industry news to: Email: [email protected] Or write to: News, Sport Diver, 3 The Courtyard, Denmark Street, Wokingham, Berkshire, RG40 2AZ Long-time readers may recall seeing a news item in the October 2010 issue about the innovative Micro- dive programme. The brainchild of Rob Hart - the man behind the innovative Mini-B scuba-system- in-a-backpack concept - the Microdive course was a stand-alone product aimed at getting people into the underwater world as quickly and easily as pos- sible. Microdivers - as qualified course participants were known - were limited to a maximum depth of 9m, must dive in water which is not subject to strong surge, currents or heavy wave action, offers at least five metres of vis, and features no overhead obstacles, so the course was best described as an ‘entry’ entry-level route into diving. Now the Microdive ‘family’ has expanded. The ‘Discover’ is a two-hour snorkelling course aimed at getting anyone, whatever their age, into the water and experiencing the underwater world. This is followed by the ‘Adventurer’ course, which is a three-hour trydive session, open to all ages from eight upwards. Next in line is the all-new ‘Explorer’ course, open to anyone from ten years of age and upwards, which lasts for approximately six hours and, at the end of the day, gives participants a qualification to dive to 3m. Microdive teams up with RYA The Microdive system of entry-level diving courses is set to rise to new levels following a ground-breaking tie-in with the Royal Yachting Association Running through practice in the pool Running through signals on the beach Right: RYA Basic Diver manual Rounding out the Microdive roster is the ‘Open Water’ course, which is essentially the original Micro- dive course, in that participants get a 9m qualifica- tion at the end of it. When Rob came up with the concept for the first Microdive course, his vision was that it was an intermediate activity that provided a crucial step between snorkelling and conventional deep open water scuba diving. At the time he said: “If all you want to do is learn how to safely dive with the fishes in the shallows, dive from the beach or to be able to get below the waterline to inspect the underside of your motor- boat or yacht, this is the ideal activity for you.” However, he soon found that even the 9m limit put some people off, particularly boat owners who only wanted to be able to submerge a few metres to check or work on their hulls. That got him thinking that maybe there was room for another, shallower qualification - and so the Explorer course came into being. The Discoverer, Adventurer and Explorer courses have been designed for the resort market, in warm, tropical climates. In the UK, the one-day Explorer course will be marketed as the Micro- dive RYA Basic Diver course, after Rob teamed up with the Royal Yacht- ing Association in a ground-breaking move that will push the diving market to a huge affluent member- ship. Rob always said that the short duration of the original Microdive course would tempt plenty of people into the underwater world who perhaps wouldn’t have gone the normal dive training route, and this is even more the case with the RYA tie-in. The big advantage of this was that once people have become Microdivers and got a taste for being underwater, the next logical step is moving on and completing an entry-level course with PADI or one of the other major training organisations. d
Transcript of Sport Diver - Microdive
6 Sport Diver AUGUST 2013 www.sportdiver.co.uk
NEWS Send your dive industry news to:Email: [email protected] write to: News, Sport Diver, 3 The Courtyard, Denmark Street,Wokingham, Berkshire, RG40 2AZ
Long-time readers may recall seeing a news item in the October 2010 issue about the innovative Micro-dive programme. The brainchild of Rob Hart - the man behind the innovative Mini-B scuba-system-in-a-backpack concept - the Microdive course was a stand-alone product aimed at getting people into the underwater world as quickly and easily as pos-sible. Microdivers - as qualified course participants were known - were limited to a maximum depth of 9m, must dive in water which is not subject to strong surge, currents or heavy wave action, offers at least five metres of vis, and features no overhead obstacles, so the course was best described as an ‘entry’ entry-level route into diving.Now the Microdive ‘family’ has expanded. The ‘Discover’ is a two-hour snorkelling course aimed at getting anyone, whatever their age, into the water and experiencing the underwater world.This is followed by the ‘Adventurer’ course, which is a three-hour trydive session, open to all ages from eight upwards.Next in line is the all-new ‘Explorer’ course, open to anyone from ten years of age and upwards, which lasts for approximately six hours and, at the end of the day, gives participants a qualification to dive to 3m.
Microdive teams up with RYAThe Microdive system of entry-level diving courses is set to rise to new levels following a ground-breaking tie-in with the Royal Yachting Association
Running through practice in the pool
Running through signals on the beach Right: RYA Basic Diver manual
Rounding out the Microdive roster is the ‘Open Water’ course, which is essentially the original Micro-dive course, in that participants get a 9m qualifica-tion at the end of it.When Rob came up with the concept for the first Microdive course, his vision was that it was an intermediate activity that provided a crucial step between snorkelling and conventional deep open water scuba diving.At the time he said: “If all you want to do is learn how to safely dive with the fishes in the shallows, dive from the beach or to be able to get below the waterline to inspect the underside of your motor-boat or yacht, this is the ideal activity for you.”However, he soon found that even the 9m limit put some people off, particularly boat owners who only wanted to be able to submerge a few metres to check or work on their hulls. That got him thinking that maybe there was room for another, shallower qualification - and so the Explorer course came into being.The Discoverer, Adventurer and Explorer courses
have been designed for the resort market, in warm, tropical climates. In the UK, the one-day Explorer course will be marketed as the Micro-dive RYA Basic Diver course, after Rob teamed up with the Royal Yacht-ing Association in a ground-breaking move that will push the diving market to a huge affluent member-ship.Rob always said that the short duration of the original Microdive course would tempt plenty of people into the underwater world who perhaps wouldn’t have gone the normal dive training route, and this is even more the case with the RYA tie-in. The big advantage of this was that once people have become Microdivers and got a taste for being underwater, the next logical step is moving on and completing an entry-level course with PADI or one of the other major training organisations.
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The Microdive courses open up diving to those who want to stay in the shallows
With the new line-up, this is even more true - you have a steady progression from trydive to 3m qualification, to 9m qualification, and then on to a standard 18m Open Water Diver qualification and beyond.
GETTING TRAINEDThe courses are quick and easy to complete. Participants obtain a training pack, read the glossy manual, watch the demonstration on the DVD and then answer a series of questions in the quiz section of the manual. Next they find a dive centre where they have their quiz reviewed and are taught in-water skills in the pool. Then comes the open water dives, and that’s it. They gain a Microdiver card and certificate for the appropriate level, and they are ready to go.Any qualified diving instructor, be they PADI, BSAC, SSI or any of the other big organisations, can review the quiz answers and complete the Microdive dives. The manuals contain all the documentation that the instructor needs to be able to handle the training. All they have to do is register with Microdive to prove that they are current instructors with a recognised training agency.
“In the UK, the one-day Explorer course will be marketed as the Microdive RYA Basic Diver course, after Rob teamed up with the Royal Yachting Association in a ground-breaking move that will
push the diving market to a huge affluent membership”
THE MINI-B The Mini-B is the obvious gear of choice for the Microdive courses, as it is so simple to use, and it will adjust to fit anyone from eight years upwards. However, the Microdive family of courses can all be completed with regular scuba diving equip-ment as well.
And that’s not all. People with a PADI Divemaster certification can quickly and easily become a Micro-dive Open Water Instructor, opening up another revenue stream for them as they gain more experi-ence enroute to their full PADI Open Water Scuba Instructor qualification. Similarly, PADI OWSIs can become Microdive Open Water Instructor Trainers, teaching DMs to be Microdive Open Water Instruc-tors, which builds confidence and experience as they move towards becoming a PADI Staff Instructor or Master Instructor.Leading dive centres Stoney Cove and Andark have already embraced the Microdiver programme to complement their existing scuba training, and you can be sure other centres will follow suit as interest grows.www.microdive.com
