Author: RAID UK

BLUE ABYSS – CHRISTMAS 21′ UPDATE

The world’s biggest and deepest pool for testing the latest underwater technology, helping advance subsea robotics and even training astronauts is being planned in Cornwall.

Blue Abyss, a £150 million facility which has the support of British astronaut Major Tim Peake, will be the world’s leading extreme environment research, test and training centre serving the offshore energy, marine, defence and space sectors.

“Against the backdrop of our personal lives and the political landscape dominated (again) by global health issues, the Blue Abyss team has continued to work incredibly hard and as the year draws to a close, we find ourselves tantalisingly close to realising the Blue Abyss vision”.

Blue Abyss CEO, John Vickers

For more details visit: www.blueabyss.uk

RAID WELCOMES DORSET DIVING SERVICES

As of 1st January 2022 RAID will be welcoming Dorset Diving Services as a RAID affiliated Dive Centre. The guys there will be offering both recreational and technical RAID courses and we are super happy to have this professional outfit working so closely with us. So who are Dorset Diving Services? Here’s a little background.

Dorset Diving Services was setup in 1982 by Dave & Janice Kingsbeer. As avid scuba divers and instructors themselves they enjoyed providing dive training, kit sales and equipment services to not just local divers but other divers from afar. Along with regular local boat diving and numerous holidays they soon became the diving hub of Dorset. At its prime they ran from 3 units in Bournemouth and even had their own club boat! Over the years the operation sadly slowed down due to retirement plans. The 3 units became 1, training stopped and the centre ran on reduced hours due to ill health.

In the Summer of 2019, Leon, of Coast2Coast Scuba Diving, purchased Dorset Diving Services and refreshed the dive centre back into what it was (apart from the extra 2 units!). Leon had been running Coast2Coast Scuba from home and the back of his van since the beginning of 2017. As the company grew more and more popular he knew that taking this giant stride into becoming a dive centre owner too was the right way to go and couldn’t let the opportunity pass him by.

Originally operating under Coast2Coast Scuba for the training and kit sales and Dorset Diving Servicing for equipment servicing, in 2021 we decided to merge both companies into one and stick with the name Dorset Diving Services. There are many reasons behind this decision, but one being that we feel Dorset Diving Services explains exactly what we do in 3 words and the fact that it is already a well know, established brand in Dorset.

In March 2021 (yes, in the middle of a pandemic!) we also made a decision to move to slightly larger premises. After just over a year at our current location we realised that we had already outgrown these premises and with the renewal of the current lease coming up decided to take another giant stride.

So, what are you waiting for? Pop over and meet the team! The kettle’s always on and there’s always some biscuits going. 👍🏻

www.dorsetdiving.co.uk

RAID ZERO FEe-MEMBERSHIP

RAID will shake the dive industry to its roots today by announcing Zero FEe-Membership* to all its professional members and dive centers. The industry norm is to charge instructors and dive centres an annual fee to do business with them. RAID has torn up the status quo and once again offered something new and unique in the diving marketplace. At a time when the diving world is still reeling from the ravages of COVID and its impact on the adventure travel industry, the benefit of not charging a fee to teach for the agency, is obvious and far-reaching.

The power of zero membership is a paradigm shift and shows you are appreciated for being a diving professional and supporting this agency.

Some will say that this is a race to the bottom, but nothing could be further from the truth. Membership has become a major hurdle to new instructors entering the market and existing instructors remaining in active status and solvent. By having no membership fee at RAID, we have future-proofed the agency as this initiative does not only work for the pandemic, but also for many other global economic issues.

The scuba industry looks to Dive RAID International for innovative leadership, and this radical move is a definite game changer and unprecedented.

Many agencies talk about business support, but we feel that some form of financial support is what is needed to help our members to succeed.

As we move into a new year, with new norms, and a new outlook, RAID will continue to deliver the best business support for our members, while helping them provide safe, inclusive, and technologically innovative Dive Training in a Class of its Own.

RAID Zero FEe-Membership is the latest initiative from the industry’s lead innovator and follows its FREe-Learning program and other business-support programs released in 2020. FREe-Learning opened all RAID academics to divers, dive pros and dive centres free of charge, and issued a wake-up and follow us call to the industry. 

CONTACT info@diveraiduk.com or your local RAID Regional Office for full details and for instructions on how to remain in status for 2022 or cross your instructor membership or business over to Dive RAID International.