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Dive Programme Rules

 

THE FOLLOWING PROCEDURE HAS BEEN DEVISED TO ENSURE A CONSISTENT APPROACH WHICH IS FAIR TO MEMBERS WISHING TO BOOK DIVES, WHILST ATTEMPTING TO LIMIT THE CLUB'S EXPOSURE TO PREVENTABLE FINANCIAL RISK

     

  1. A dive committee shall be appointed by the Diving Officer to determine the year's diving programme, including locations and type of diving. The Diving Officer shall make all dive bookings as recommended by the Dive Committee.
  2. Any member is eligible to complete a booking form for the dives they wish to attend. Allocation of places will be subject to the Diving Officers approval that they are (or will be) suitably qualified for the dive, and will be conditional upon required qualifications being achieved. These requests will be accompanied by the appropriate deposit for the planned dives. The payment of this deposit does not at this stage guarantee a place on any dive. Entries may be submitted as pairs or small groups. When booking on dives before the end of the year, members will be able to prioritise dives to show which bookings are first choice.
  3. The deposit required will be £15.00 per day for any dive unless the dive programme specifies a different amount in special circumstances. e.g. if spaces are booked on 10 days of diving - £150 deposit is required at the time of booking. Deposits paid are considered to be non-returnable in the event of a space being available on the booked dives. If the booking is within two calendar months of the start of the dive the full amount is immediately required.
  4. At the start of the New Year, the Diving Officer and at least one other committee member will carry out a draw to allocate spaces on any over-subscribed dives. At this stage consideration will be given to the level of experience required on the boat and every effort will be made to keep group and pairs bookings together. If priorities have been specified, they will also be taken into account at this stage as will the number of dives already successfully gained by the diver and reserve spaces already allocated. Reserve places will be allocated where there are too many divers for the available spaces in the order they are drawn. A deposit placed by a member who is allocated a reserve space may be refunded or moved at any time, but this will forfeit the reserve place.
  5. At this stage, all divers will be notified of the dives they have been successfully booked on or allocated a reserve space for. A list will also be published of which dives still have spaces.
  6. The organiser of each dive will be announced and listed on the website. The organiser will be responsible for the dive from then onwards and will notify all divers on the dive when the balance of the payment is due, giving them time to pay at least 2 months before the start of the dive. It will remain the diver's responsibility and not the organisers to ensure that this is paid in time but it will be the organiser's responsibility to account for the finances of the dive.
  7. Balances due for the dive should be paid to the Organiser, not the Treasurer or the Diving Officer, ensuring that there is a breakdown of what the payment is for. e.g. Written on the back of the cheque - date & location of dive. Cheques should be payable to Chelmsford & District Sub-Aqua Club. One cheque per dive please, to make it simpler for each Organiser to account for the dive that they are organising.
  8. Should a diver withdraw from any dive whilst there are places still available, then the deposit will be forfeited, whether or not a replacement diver can be found. The deposit is not transferable to a different dive.
  9. In the event of places becoming available, these will be offered to reserves in strict order. If a place is offered to a reserve and accepted, their deposit will no longer be refundable. Should a diver later withdraw from the dive whilst there are places still available, then the deposit will be forfeited, whether or not a replacement diver can be found. The deposit is not transferable to a different dive. If a place is offered to a reserve, they have the right to accept, refuse or remain on the list and move to the bottom. Any reserve who is offered a place will be required to decide within 3 days.
  10. Should a diver with a guaranteed place withdraw from a dive which is fully subscribed, then the available place will be offered to each reserve in order. Should this place be accepted, then the reserve will receive a confirmed place, subject to Diving Officer's approval but will lose the right for a refund of the deposit, should they later withdraw.
  11. If a Diver withdraws from a dive more than 2 months prior to the dive, they will forfeit only their deposit. If no replacement can be found for a diver withdrawing within 2 months of the start of the dive, the full amount will be paid by the withdrawing diver. If the place is filled and paid for, the withdrawing diver will lose only their deposit.
  12. If the status of any dive is changed, e.g. from a 42M dive to a 35M dive, any divers booked will have the option to remain on the dive under the new conditions, or to withdraw and take their deposit with them. Once they have chosen to remain on the dive, normal terms and conditions will apply.
  13. Should no reserve accept an available place, then it may be offered to other members of the Club, who will be immediately liable to pay the required deposit, or if it is less than 2 months until the start of the dive, the full amount. If there is still a place on the dive it will be offered to Non-Club members by any means available within safety requirements and BSAC regulations.
  14. At least two months before the start of the dive, the Diving Officer and the Organiser of the dive shall agree on the nomination of a Dive Manager for the dive. In Circumstances where the Dive Manager is not the Organiser, it is obviously preferable that the Dive Manager takes over the organisation of the dive as soon as possible, and the organising of accommodation will usually be the responsibility of the Dive Manager of the day.
  15. The Dive Manager on every dive will be an Advanced Diver or a suitably qualified Dive Leader (post-2003 qualified or pre-2003 plus additional training). For dives taking place on sites not familiar to the club, an Advanced Diver will be required to take the role of Dive Manager.
  16. The Dive Manager on the day will be responsible for all decisions regarding diving and will complete all diving logs, risk assessment and contact detail forms. At their discretion they may appoint a deputy to assist in completion of these tasks. All dive details must be logged. The Dive Manager on the day should be aware of changing conditions, particularly from day to day on multi-day dives, and if those changes are sufficient should carry out a further risk assessment.
  17. The Dive Manager will be responsible for ensuring that they have the means to pay the boat skipper for the booking. This will normally require them to give the Treasurer notice that they will require a cheque on the Tuesday before a dive is to commence. (or make alternative arrangements to collect).
  18. After the dive has taken place, the Dive Manager will ensure that all risk assessments and log sheets are returned to the Diving Officer and all financial aspects of the dive are accounted for to the Treasurer.
  19. If the dive is cancelled by the boat skipper, the Club will expect to be reimbursed by him for the deposit paid, and all payments made by divers will be reimbursed to them by the Club, whether or not they dropped out of the dive before it was cancelled. If the cancellation is instigated by the Club, normally because of too few divers wishing to attend, or because insufficient experience is booked on the dive, then the Club will expect to forfeit the cost of the deposit paid to the boat skipper. In this case, all payments made by the divers booked on the dive will be reimbursed by the Club. However, reimbursement will not be made to divers who dropped out before the dive was cancelled.
On Behalf of Chelmsford Sub-Aqua Club-Neil Barker D.O. October 2009

See also booking notes

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