Support to Portsmouth University Divers

We wanted to say well done to the team from Portsmouth University Divers (the PADI club based at the uni) who completed a relay underwater marathon a few days ago. The team swam the distance of 26 and a bit miles at Victoria pool. We were pleased help out by providing all the air and cylinders for the event which raised several hundred pounds for charity. Well done guys.

Team Oceanic ....... or is it Team EasyJet?

Oceanic are always very generous when we go to seminars. In the past we have had fleeces, t-shirts, I was given a wonderful undersuit ... hey, we even had a sheep on a keyring once! This year they once again splashed out and we were all given very nice IQ Jackets which were worn throughout the weekend. Many thanks to Kelvin for that, and Dad says thanks as well. However, the question we all wanted to know is whether Team Oceanic is being sponsored by a. Team EasyJet, or b. Team Holland. As you can see during the champagne stop at the Tunnel (Jane as always left holding the bottle!), they certainly stand out!

Another Dealer Award - in Belgium!

We went to Belgium at the weekend with Oceanic along with around 10 other dive centres for their annual seminar and dealer awards bash. Once again we won an award (getting to be a regular thing now!) as one of the top Oceanic Dealers in the UK. Previously the function has been held at a swish hotel in Taunton, but this year for a change, they decided to take the top dealers to Belgium and combine it with a tour of the region and some of the battlefields and cemeteries. On the Sunday evening we went to the "last post" at the Menin Gate, where I was privileged to be asked to lay a wreath. It was an excellent couple of days. Many thanks to John for organising the event and to Kelvin and the rest of "team" Oceanic for being such great hosts.

More Open Water Success

The weekend was busy again as 6 more students braved the pleasures of diving in February and successfully completed their Open Water course. Many congratulations to Gareth, Sam, Andrew, Joanna, Luke and David. We look forward to seeing you again soon.

Congratulations on Passing Open Water Training

Many congratulations to our 6 newly qualified divers who passed their Open Water course at the weekend. Horsea Island lake was a positively tropical 10 degrees on the surface and with our high quality semidry suits everyone did really well in spite of it being a chilly day. We look forward to seeing you on another training programme in the near future, or at a club function. Well done everyone.

Join us for some Sport Relief - 16 March

Some of us are going to be walking, jogging, running or simply staggering for a mile on 16 March in aid of Sport Relief. And just to make it a bit more interesting we thought we would do it in Scuba Gear. If that isnt bad enough, its the morning after the Spring Ball so there might be a few hangovers going around. so why not blow out the cobwebs and join us at the Mountbatten Centre at 11.00 am. You can sign up by logging onto the Sport Relief website (http://www.sportrelief.com/portsmouth-mountbatten-centre-mile). It costs £5 then you can start collecting sponsorship. Once you have signed up why not join the team by looking for Team Triton. If you cant be bothered with all this activity then why not sponsor us by clicking here. Its all in a good cause and just imagine how we are going to feel after a night in the Royal Beach!

Nice to See You

Another good club night last night with just over 60 turning up. Chicken curry made a change and it was good to see some new faces who have recently joined. Many thanks to everyone who bought raffle tickets and donated prizes - we raised another £60 for charity.

Club Presentation - 1 May 2008

We have organized another "presentation" evening for 1 May 2008 and the next guest speaker will be Dr John Bevan. John is a well known diving expert and has given presentations on many topics to some distinguished audiences, so we are very grateful that he has agreed to join us. He has a PhD in the Development of Diving Equipment and is the founding Chairman of the Historical Diving Society. He is a qualified commercial diver, BSAC First Class Diver, and has even clocked up 100 hours in a submersible. His book, The Infernal diver" is the definitive history of diving, covering its development over the years since John and Charles Deane invented the first diving helmet. The title of his presentation on the 1st is going to be "The History of Diving in the Solent" and he assures me that he will be covering the Mary Rose, the Royal George and much more. It wil be another cracking evening and after the talk we will have a meal and the opportunity to socialise over a couple of drinks. This will take the place of the normal club night for May. The cost of the evening wil be £5 for club members and £10 for guests. Once again all the proceeds will go to charity. We will put more information in the next newsletter but in the meantime if you want to know more or book tickets contact the dive centre.

Many Congratulations

Many congratulations to the open water students, Rikkie Close, Alex Benfield, Julian Heelis, Tina Ide who all passed their course last weekend. The word is that the new suits are excellent even in the cold water at this time of year.

Small Business of the Year Award

Triton Scuba were honoured last night to be awarded the Small Business of the Year Award. The awards, sponsored by The News, Business Link and a host of other large organizations, took place at the Guild Hall. Guest speaker was, "they think its all over - it is now" Geoff Hurst who entertained over 500 diners with anecdotes and stories from 1966.

With over 180 nominations it was a great achievement for a small company like ours to come first, especially when you look at some of the competition in the same category. During the presentation, BBC presenter Sally Taylor said that the award recognized our success over the year in a number of our business ventures, and she also mentioned the huge amount of work we have done for charity and within the community over the years.

We would like to thank all the customers, friends and staff who have helped us continue to be the Premier Dive Centre in Portsmouth and now the Best Small Business. More details of the night in this months newsletter.

Congratulations as training gets underway in 2008

We have a full programme of courses planned for the year from Open Water to Instructor. This weekend we got the programme off to a flying start with Open Water and Drysuit starting. And with many courses filling up quickly it looks like being another good year ahead.

Many congratulations to our first drysuit course students of the year who braved the elements and plunged into a freezing Horsea this weekend.

"Making Blue Movies" a Great Success

It was a full house at the Royal Beach hotel for the first club night of the year and the presentation by Mike Pitts. Mike very kindly offered to come along and talk on his experiences as an underwater film maker. Over 100 turned up and it was nice to see so many from some of the other clubs in the area, including, Hampshire Police, Southsea, and Cockleshell Divers. The event was not only great fun, but also raised £400 for charity. On behalf of the club I would like to thank Mike for giving up his time to come and speak to us and making the event such a success. I have posted a couple of images on the website if you want to take a look. We hope to run more events of this type in 2008 so watch this space.

BBC Shoot at Stoney Cove

Well it was not quite Mexico, but the shoot at Stoney Cove on 9 January went really well. We provided diver and supervisor support for the day which had divers taking surface collision flares underwater. We knew they worked from the rehearsal day just before Christmas and although we never got to see the final results the word is that camereman Mike Pitts got some excellent footage. It was long day and great fun, but you will have to wait until next year to see the results. I have posted some images from the day in the gallery under the special events section.

Call the Fashion Police!!!!

We have to be honest, we missed it at first! Alex's shocking fashion statement at Vobster Quay caused many a hardened BSAC diver to feel quite ill. So for those of you who didnt't quite see it ..... here it is again. Be afraid, be very afraid ...

Last dive of 2007

A good number turned up at Vobster for a last dive of the year the day after Boxing Day. The water was a chilly 6 degrees but with only a few people around vis was up to about 15m. It was a great way to end the year and we look forward to plenty more club dives next year.

Nice to see so many of you

The Moose Milk weekend was even busier than previous years and it was great to see so many club members and customers and be able to say Happy Christmas. With a course going on in the main classroom the shop got a bit full at times. We reckon about 80 or so dropped in over the Saturday and Sunday to say hello and join us for a glass of Moose juice.

For those that we didnt see in person, we would like to thank you for your support this year and we wish you a very merry Christmas.

Congratulations to our New EFR Instructors

A huge well done to Hannah, Ruth, George and Kevin who all successfully passed their Emergency First Response First Aid Instructors course on 23 December. We hope to see them teaching in the centre in the future.

BBC Rehearsals - Definitely not the Sea of Cortez

As you know we have done a bit of work for the BBC recently. There is another film shoot coming up in January for the LIFE series. So this week we went on a recce to check out a suitable alternative - and the site chosen was .......... yes, Stoney Cove. We went in advance in order to find the spot in the lake for the shoot, sort out logistics and run trough various light sources to see which one was the best on camera. As night fell we went back out to the designated spot and tried out various torches, high intensity light sticks and flares. Our view was that the flares looked amazing, however with only a minute of burn time getting a film sequence is going to be interesting. We will let you know how the film shoot goes next month.

Another Donation to Charity - The Rainbow Centre

Once again we have made a lot of children smile. For the third year running we have donated enough money to buy the Christmas presents and fund the Christmas party for the Rainbow Centre in Fareham. The centre provides care, support and education for children with Cerebral Palsy. Over the past 3 years we have raised thousands for the Rainbow centre and we were delighted to hand over a cheque for £1000. Donk and Tina helped out once again, standing in for Father Christmas and Chief Elf (who are a bit busy at the moment), and Rhiannon sprouted fairy wings for the occasion and handed out the sweets.

This year has seen us continuing to support our regular charities as much as ever with your help. In May you will remember that we handed out cheques to the Rainbow Centre, RNLI, Project AWARE and Rowans Hospice totalling £3000. This year we have raised a further £2600 through various means, such as raffles and sponsored events. As well, we raised a additional £500 for the Scuba Trust when we held the Monty Halls evening and £150 for the Fire Service Charity in the summer. Coupled with our continued support to Enham Alamein, The Harbour School, The City Boys School, Positive Futures, and Bayhouse School, amongst others, we continue, thanks to your help and support, to make a small difference. Thank you for all your efforts, no matter how small, and we look forward to another positive year in 2008. Have a great Christmas. All the best from the Triton Team

Scubapro Launch New Computer Software - Press Release

UWATEC Launches PDIS - Profile-Dependent Intermediate Stops
UWATEC, the industry leader in dive computers, introduces PDIS, a unique algorithm option for technical divers as well as recreational and advanced divers. Due to the physiological concept behind it, PDIS boasts total versatility and adaptability to all types of dives.

Although a trend towards ‘deep stops’ has infiltrated the dive computer industry, UWATEC has responded with real science. UWATEC’s intermediate stops take key elements into the equation and actually incorporate your profile into the calculation, considering: Nitrogen accumulated from the ongoing dive , nitrogen accumulated from previous dives (repetitive diving dependent)and the type of breathing mixes you use. For more information go to the equipment news page on our website.