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The Great Northern Dive Show 2018

Join us in February at The Great Northern Dive Show. Once again RAID UK & Malta are proud to be supporting The Great Northern Dive Show, which is held next year at the Emirates Old Trafford in Manchester.

Following the success of this years event, TGNDS next year is set to be another extravaganza! Growing every year in popularity with both visitors and exhibitors; it is a great place to meet diving legends and grab a bargain from manufacturers.

Come along and visit our stand for a chat about everything RAID plus catch some great guest speakers, other exhibitors and demonstrations in the dive tank.

Tickets are available online now! Click here to get yours!

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RAID Connect 2018

In 2018 we want all of our divers to enjoy some great diving with our RAID centres, to help achieve this we are arranging the RAID Connect initiative across our territory. Catch up with like-minded divers, clubs and centres for various kinds of diving and socializing in the UK and Malta.

If you would like your dive centre or club to be involved in or host a RAID Connect event please contact us. Make sure you keep up to date with our event calendar to see all the latest events and follow us on Facebook for more dates and information.

Some dates already in the diary are:

The Great Northern Dive Show 17th & 18th February – Manchester

RAID Connect Malta 20th – 27th February – Malta

C&C Marine Centre Launch 7th & 8th July – Largs, Scotland

Plus dates for diving the Farne Islands and St Abbs coming soon!

Contact us to get involved. Got a dive event coming up at your dive centre? Contact us to make it part of the RAID connect 2018!

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Winter Hints & Tips

Winter is coming – for many of us it is already here with icy and snowy conditions throughout the country. This doesn’t mean that diving and teaching needs to come to a complete stop; use this time to get students interested in non-diving courses or specialities like Drysuit diving. Here is our list of RAID recommended winter month courses:

Equipment Specialty – a great course for any diver, giving them the chance to understand more about how their dive equipment works and how to care for it.

Nitrox Specialty – increase your no decompression time on recreational dives perfect for divers with liveaboard trips or diving holiday planned for next year.

First Aid – the RAID first aid course is tailored towards divers and dive related illness and injury. A fun and informative course for both instructor and student.

Drysuit Specialty – ideal for students wanting to continue their diving throughout the winter months. Drysuit diving can also help divers improve their buoyancy and trim in the water.

If you are diving throughout the winter months remember to take extra care both in and out of the water. Diving in the winter can give you some of the best visibility and conditions so enjoy it while you can!

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Why RAID?

Dive RAID is an internationally recognized diver training agency offering a fully online training platform. It is currently the fastest growing diver training agency in the world, thanks to the many benefits it offers to dive centres, student divers and instructors. 

Dive RAID is not owned by a public corporation, it was created by divers for divers. It has a strong environmental message that is backed by its 100% online presence. All course manuals are online meaning no paper or big carbon footprint for shipping manuals across the world. The online platform also means no freight costs or customs issues for dive centres, as well as lower operating costs. 

The online system allows students to study at their own pace wherever they like – at home, on the bus, anywhere. Classroom time at the dive centre is spent in the water not on land, freeing up your classroom for other more profitable uses. There is no premium for online learning, it comes as standard, making it easy to market and more attractive to the youth sector.

 RAID’s comprehensive online platform incorporates a unique quality assurance system that helps ensure a consistent quality is maintained. 

All RAID courses from beginner to instructor have a strong emphasis on buoyancy control. Once again this adds to our environmental message as well as improving the level of diver being trained. 

The online courses are automatically updated meaning you will never carry out of date stock. Each course also promotes further education and equipment sales allowing dive centres to gain revenue from a variety of sources.

 

But don't just take our word for it - here's what real RAIDers think...

Pete Black, Instructor Trainer, Deep Blue Pirates

The main plus point with RAID for me is the impressive quality assurance system; everything is signed off not only by the instructor but also by the student and the dive centre. This triple-check system is very reassuring to me as a dive centre owner. 

Since becoming a RAID dive centre and embracing the RAID way, we have found that our students follow our example. Many of them who have qualifications with other agencies are now continuing their diving education with RAID courses on our recommendation.

 

Kevin Murphy, Instructor, Severn Tec Diving

I have diving and instructor qualifications from several agencies but I chose to go with RAID because of the support and mentoring I got from Garry Dallas during my early diving journey. I believe that students choose an instructor rather than choose an agency.

 I like the online system with RAID as it allows me to monitor a student’s progress and adapt the course to fit their needs. After selling them the course pack I can invite them in for the quick quizzes before confined sessions. This gives me the opportunity to engage with them and potentially sell equipment, trips or more courses. The neutrally buoyant diver is a huge bonus for me. With RAID I can have my students neutrally buoyant in the water doing skills and have them fully ready for diving in open water. The courses focus of time in the water, which allows instructors to fully prepare their students.

 RAID seems to have pulled all the great things from other agencies and put them together into one fantastic agency. I also appreciate the knowledge and support that I get from the staff including Garry and Paul Toomer.

 

Emma Clark, Advanced 35 & Nitrox Student

“The courses are much more thorough, I feel like it teaches you the why as well as the what (which helps me understand and remember the information). I’ve learned so much from doing the reading so far. I like the emphasis on buoyancy in all courses rather than as an extra add-on. I like being able to login and access the courses anywhere without having to carry the manual. The materials are much more interesting and I’m not sorry to see the back of cheesy videos.

 I ultimately chose RAID because it was recommended by the instructors whose opinion I value. I love that they (the instructors) make sure people are trained to dive, not just pass the course. They are all really generous with sharing their expertise so I would do my qualifications with whichever agency they are registered with – but I’m glad it’s RAID!”

 

 

What's Next?

If you're new to diving or looking to take your next course, register on our online system to get started!

If you're an instructor looking to cross over to RAID, read more and check out our event schedule for cross over courses around the UK.

If you're a dive centre looking to cross over to RAID, read more or email our Membership Services Coordinator, Robyn.